Wisdom From Grandma

Household hints and tips on life, cooking, and cleaning.

Grandma’s Holiday Punch Recipe

Filed under: Grandma's Recipes — kthomas at 11:09 pm on Thursday, November 24, 2005

Although this recipe is one of Grandma’s later creations, it is still a family favorite. This quantity of holiday punch will fill a standard size punch bowl.
Ingredients:
2 2 liter bottles of ginger ale
1 64 ounce carton of no pulp orange juice
1 64 ounce container of red fruit punch or red cranberry juice (The kids prefer fruit punch)

Directions:
Simply combine the ingredients in a punch bowl and enjoy. If you prefer a more festive look, you can freeze part of the red punch or cranberry juice in a jello mold ahead of time and add it to the bowl at the last minute. (Be careful so that you don’t splash punch everywhere!)

Too Many Thanksgiving Leftovers?

Filed under: Kitchen Tips and Hints — kthomas at 6:44 pm on Monday, November 21, 2005

Grandma always cooked up a storm for the holidays and there were always a ton of leftovers. Although everyone enjoyed eating turkey, ham, sweet potatoes and stuffing for several days afterwards, Grandma was concerned that some of the food would go to waste.
Immediately after Thanksgiving dinner, she made up five plates of food, wrapped them, and stuck them in the freezer. A few months later, she would pull out her homemade tv dinners, and everyone would be able to enjoy that delicious Thanksgiving feast all over again.
Today, I still prepare enough extra Thanksgiving plates for the family and pop them in the freezer for another day. However, I use my Foodsaver to be sure the meal doesn’t get freezerburn. If you have a Foodsaver, be sure you freeze the plate for about a half hour to allow the liquid to firm up before sealing the meal. Otherwise, your green bean juice will end up in your pecan pie.

Don’t Go to Bed Mad, Dear

Filed under: Life Tips and Hints — kthomas at 6:14 pm on Saturday, November 5, 2005

Like many people who have a successful marriage, Grandma knew that letting go of your anger and making up the same day was important for a healthy, lasting relationship. No matter how mad Grandpa made her when he tracked mud into the house or put his dirty tools on the kitchen table, she always made sure she told him she loved him before the day was over. As Grandma always said, It is hard to stay mad at someone when they look you straight in the eye and say ‘I love you.’