CABANA BOY COOKS: Getting into the Holiday Season

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Getting into the Holiday Season

Thanksgiving is over and the end of the year holidays are closing in on everyone. Gift buying & wrapping, holiday parties and making holiday treats as well as planning the holiday meals will all make December a very busy month. It is best to take a moment and make lists, mark calendars and start the planning before it becomes overwhelming to you. Don't get so busy that you forget the meaning of the season or not enjoy all that makes this a truly wonderful time of the year.

I'm starting today with the cookie making as our four children are spread out and care packages will need to be sent early. On Friday, I will have one of my favorite holiday cookies for the recipe. I hope you will enjoy them.

Slow-cooker Buffet

In getting ready for the season, there are a few items that I thought should be brought to your attention. As I'm looking at ads, catalogs and shopping the hot item this season is slow-cooker buffets. I've seen them from 2 to 5 crocks and in various sizes. I'm sure you can find the one that is just right for your needs at one of my favorite shopping places, Kohl's, Food Network or QVC. I believe I have a couple of photos of them.

Electric Roaster

The other item you should look at is an Electric Roaster. If you don't have one, you need to get one. It freed up my oven for all the other dishes as the turkey cooked to perfection in it. They are not only great for the holidays that we have in November and December but for those big family get-together events in the summer. Look in to one and see if it might not be a good idea for your family.

Since we didn't do the WeightWatcher points the last couple of weeks, I'm putting the last two in this week. Wednesday will be for the points in the Baking & Desserts chapter. Then on Thursday, we will finish it up with the Odds & Ends chapter of the cookbook. Thank you for being patient with me as we got them all out to you.

Barry Rd. Hy-Vee in KC

I now have cookbooks at the Hy-Vee just off of Barry Road in Kansas City, Missouri. Here is a photo of them in their book area. If you are near there, please check them out. Thanks.

I wish all of you a "Happy, Holy and Merry Holiday Season" and a great year to come.

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About the Blog

Cabana Boy Cooks is a food blog that gives a little insight and help on Tuesdays. That is followed by recipes on Wednesdays and Thursdays each week. This blog is for all who enjoy cooking but is geared towards new & inexperienced cooks.

This food blog came about because I wrote a cookbook for new and inexperienced individuals wishing to learn their way around the kitchen. It is an extension of that cookbook and offers more than 600 recipes here. The cookbook has an additional 125 recipes plus helpful instruction and advise..

I try to offer recipes that cover all aspects of cooking. You'll see on the tabs above that the recipes are broke into categories. Gluten-Free and Vegetarian recipes are marked behind them with a (GF) or (V) sign. Many of the other recipes can be adopted to meet gluten-free or vegetarian by making minor changes.

Please, don't hesitate to contact me through the comments section of the blog with questions or concerns.

Remember to share my link with family, friends and co-workers.

Thank you for following my food blog and "Happy Cooking."

My Cookbook

More Than Your First Cookbook

Every year, thousands of young people graduate high school or college and find themselves on their own for the first time. Amid all the excitement and freedom that comes with this fresh start, many of these newly independent people will find themselves out of their comfort zone when it comes to one critically important area--food.

This cookbook helps those people establish a new comfort zone in the "Kitchen" and learn to enjoy being creative in their culinary pursuit.

The cookbook draws on all the years of my life to collect the recipes, tips, anecdotes and life advice that will help everyone. From safety and sanitation to menu planning and budgeting, I walk new cooks through all the basics of food preparation. A great gift for children or grandchildren just beginning to cook for themselves and a useful reference for more experienced cooks, this cookbook offers readers 125 mouthwatering recipes to match all tastes and abilities. I believe that cooking should be fun and personal, so all the recipes leave room for experimentation. There are even tips on how to make a few of the dishes fit into a vegetarian diet.

Breakfast, soups, salads, sandwiches, entrees, sides and desserts are all covered, along with a few odds and ends. Whether you're looking for the right way to set the table for a formal dinner, you want to take your grilling to the next level or you just want to figure out how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, The cookbook will help you find the answer.

GLUTEN-FREE Recipes and Information

A few years ago, my granddaughter discovered she has Celiac and needs to be Gluten-Free. I started doing a special week of Gluten-Free information and recipes on this blog then and they appear every four (4) weeks. So if you happen to be on a Gluten-Free diet or know someone that could this help, please check it out.

There is a recipe tab above that holds all the GF recipes (in alphabetical order). It also holds the information posts in the order they have been posted.

All Gluten-Free recipes have this (GF) mark behind the titles. There are many other recipes on this blog that are or can be easily adapted to be Gluten-Free. So you may want to check other recipes too.

I also try and mark VEGETARIAN recipes with a (V) behind the titles as well. I hope these features help many of you that want or need these options for your lifestyle.

About the Blog's Author

I spend over 40 years in the food industry doing everything from pot scrubber/dishwasher to managing around 250 employees. In 2009 I retired from my career to start a new adventure. That adventure was to write and publish a cookbook for new and inexperienced cooks. Many of my years in the industry involved working in "Higher Education." I saw a need for such a cookbook as I watched college students move on to a life on their own. So it has become a mission of mine to help anyone that wants to improve their cooking skills and learn to enjoy being in the kitchen.

In April of 2011 I started my food blog "Cabana Boy Cooks" as a continuation of the cookbook. The blog covers many areas and topics. It also offers at least two (2) recipes a week not found in the cookbook. There is now over 200 recipes for you on this food blog.

Once a month, I write a food column under "Cabana Boy Cooks" in the weekly newspaper, Nodaway News Leader in Maryville, MO that includes a recipe. Some of the recipes are from this food blog and others come from my cookbook "More Than Your First Cookbook"