How to Make Holiday Cooking Stress-Free: Part Two
All the things to make cooking enjoyable, plus a few gifts for the chef!
Hi friend!
We’re only 2 1/2 weeks away from Thanksgiving (US) and the kickoff of the Christmas season.
Last Week I introduced a three part series: How to Make Holiday Cooking Stress Free
In the spirit of the holidays, next week I’m starting a 3-week holiday series Real Food Sanity style with freebies and discounts galore!
Part One: Everything But the Bird This past Friday, November 8 as promised, I published “Everything but the Bird” digital cookbook with over 20 real food recipes for everything from appetizers to sides, brunch to leftovers, including drinks, too.
Part Two: Prepare for Success - Today, I will be sharing all my very favorite tools, pans and other kitchen equipment to make preparing your holiday feasts enjoyable. From the absolute necessities to those I dream of receiving, in this post, I’m spilling the tea on all of it!
Part Three: Real Food Sanity Holiday Version - Finally, next Monday the 18th, I will be sharing my method for the juiciest bird (Hint: no hoisting a 10 lb bird out of slimy turkey water) and my secrets for getting Thanksgiving/Christmas or other holiday dinners made in advance so you can actually enjoy the day.
I’m Extending my Holiday Discount
Get full access to my digital cookbook, "Everything But the Bird”, Weekly Budget Friendly Meal Plans in an organized PDF each week, and more at 20% off for the year.
All The Things to De-Stress Your Holiday Cooking
You know how those beautiful garages look with a pegboard on the wall and all the tools needed are in their place? There’s the perfect tool for any job.
To make cooking, whether holiday or otherwise, stress free, you need a well-equipped kitchen. Think about it…you’re probably doing something in your kitchen 7 days a week. How often do people use all those perfect tools in the garage?
If you’re trying to function by “making do” with inadequate tools, dull knives, not enough pans, you’re never going to enjoy cooking but to truly destress your body, you need to cook mostly from home.
I’ve published my Kitchen Essentials List for cooking and meal prep in this post so that’s the place to start if you’re wanting to really set up your kitchen for efficiency. But the items below are specifically for the holiday season. (Hint: Order them now for your own Christmas gifts!)
Prepping Things
Microplane Grater – For orange zest for Creme Brulee and Cranberry Sauce.
Basic Knife set - This whole set is under $70 are highly rated and very sharp. It contains an 8” chef’s, 3.5” paring knife and serrated knife for bread and tomatoes for the perfect leftover sandwiches.
Turkey Roasting Things
Roasting Pan with Rack - This set has a U-shaped rack which is much better than the V-shaped one I have, plus the tools for basting and removing the turkey.
Digital Thermometer - Essential for properly roasting.
Carving Set - 10” knife and long-tined fork to help carve the perfect slices
Carving Board - Made from bamboo, this platter is large enough to handle your big bird and has a well to collect juices to add back to gravy or broth.
Serving Platter - Whether you like to serve the bird whole or pre-cut, you will need a large platter.
Classic Platter - This is a platter you can use all year long for large cuts of meat. It’s wavy design is definitely more old school and classic.
Large Modern Rectangle with Handles - I love these handles. The turkey and platter together can come in around 16-20 pounds, so having handles gives you a good grip.
Thanksgiving-y - If you lilke themed serving ware, this is an understated white-on-white turkey motif.
Cooking and Baking Things
Lodge Cast Iron Griddle/Grill - For the Pumpkin Pancakes!! This stays on my stovetop. With both a griddle side for pancakes, quesadillas and toasting burger buns and a grill side for indoor grilling of meat, fish and veggies, we use this a TON!
9 x 13 Baking Dish - A double recipe of cornbread for the dressing needs a deep dish. Once you’ve baked and crumbled the cornbread, this lead-free pretty dish can be used again for oven to table serving the dressing. Grab two so you can make both the dressing and the Sausage Green Chile Casserole for breakfast ahead of time.
Oven to Table Serving Dishes - These large oval bowls are perfect for Green Bean Casserole or salads.
Glazed Ceramic Deep Dish Pie Plate - This lead-free, forest green pie plate will be beautiful on your dessert table. It’s fluted on the edges making even the most imperfect crustmaker (me!) can make a pretty pie.
Glass Deep Dish Plate - This is basic and not as pretty as the one above, but it’s functional plus it has a lid.
6 oz Ramekins - If you’re making the Pumpkin Spice Creme Brulee (which I highly recommend as a stand-in for pumpkin pie!) from Everything But the Bird digital cookbook you will need these. They are lead-free and very fall looking, but with brown and creamy white, they can be used all year long as charcuterie board containers.
Creme Brulee Torch - This is essential to make the crunchy top of Creme Brulee. While you can use a hand torch like welders, but this one is much easier to store and use for many kitchen uses including toasting herbs and citrus zest for craft cocktails, quick cooking just the outside of beef and fish.
Utensil-y Things
Strainer Spider Skimmer - This is perfect for removing the green beans for the green bean casserole from boiling water after blanching but the rest of the year I use it for straining pasta directly into a pot of sauce and many other stovetop tasks.
Potato Masher - Rather than the typical shape. The handle on this OXO model absorbs the pressure and also evenly mashes the potatoes.
Fat Separator - This is the coolest. Whether it’s the turkey juices or you make bone broth, it’s important to separate out the fat to keep the broth from being too rich. There’s a bottom release hatch that allows the broth to run out with the fat staying on top. (Important: Let the broth sit until the fat rises to the top.) It also comes with a BONUS 3-in-1 peeler.
Storing Things
Anyday Glass Dishes - Beautiful for serving and storing, these are my new favorite everything dishes. If you like cooking in the microwave these are safe for that and have built in functionality such as steam release to make microwaved food taste better and retain moisture.
Stand Up Bags – This is the best price I’ve found on this style and there are 3 sizes and several colors
Gifting Things
I could have written 10 posts on kitchen gifty things, but these are either my favorite things or they’re on sale currently.
Nespresso Pop+ Vertuo with Aerocino - For only $125 this is a great deal. True rich, dark espresso and the Aerocino makes perfect foam. We love it’s small footprint and lightweight design so we can throw the box in the car whenever we visit family or stay somewhere overnight where there is no guarantee of good coffee….yes, we’re those people! (Price was a limited time deal and at the time of writing it was this price.)
Aerocino - If you already have a coffee maker you love, but you love cappucinos and lattes, this can be purchased on its own. The XL is good for more than one person drinking a latte at a time. By the way, the smaller one is $75 and the same one that comes with the Nespresso making that deal above spectacular!
Sok-It Iced Drink Sleeve - It’s like a Koozy for your iced coffee. A friend had one the other day and I’d never seen one. It gets rid of that annoying puddle of water when you’re hanging out working at your favorite java joint. Great “friend” gift or stocking stuffer!
Instant Pot Air Fryer - This is my favorite air fryer. It holds a lot and we use it almost every day.
Caraway Cookware - A client had this cookware line and I loved cooking with it. It’s definitely on my wih list!
Bonus Thing
Both a gift and a beverage, as long time readers know, GHIA non-alcoholic elixirs are my obsession. This non alcoholic brand is our house non-alcoholic beverage for celebrations and they’re offering awesome gift bundles right now (see below.)
The beautiful bottles contain a very delicious, slightly bitter aperitif that feels much more adult than the typical juice and soda. (Psssttt…the original and berry bottles are reusable and come with cork and labels to write on what’s in them when you’re reusing them.)
Le Fizz, an elegant slightly fizzy, aperitif is the newest addition. It pleased our whiskey drinking friends that came over while they were observing Sober October and is what I’m enjoying right now as a brunch alternative to mimosas. It’s also dry enough to serve as an alternative to wine with all your holiday meals.
Besides the one and two bottle packs and multi sets with several GHIA products, there are also two super chic sets ready for gifting!
Le Fizz with Beautiful Martini Style Sparkly Glasses - 5 dreamy colors for the glasses named with all places I would love to be sitting and sipping Le Fizz!
Le Fizz with To Go Cups - Tumblers to take Le Fizz to the pool, beach or hot tub.
OK…now you’ve got all the tools you need and even some gift ideas. (Can you tell I love anything that involves beverages? You should see my glass collection.)
You can certainly make holiday and year-round meals without any of these things, but you will love cooking more when you have the right tools for the job.
Feel free to reach out by replying to this email to ask any questions.
Cheers!
Christi