Good Bye Naughty Aughties.....

Hope all our wonderful readers are having just as much fun as me and Petey...

Here is what I'm drinking to tonight:

To....

Not being bankrupt (yet)

Not having any of my children in the Police Log (today)

Not having to work on Saturday (this week)

Not losing to a pair of outhouses (they were damn cute)

Not getting canceled (thanks Felice)

Not breaking up with Robin (it was close)

Not getting fired (no one has lost a foot)

Not having to get dressed today (or tomorrow either )

Not having to live through 2009 ever again (whew)

Happy New Year. (hic)

Pulled Pork

Pulled Pork is one of those dishes I have avoided thus far. I know this sounds terrible.
Pulled Pork? Everyone loves this dish.

Not me.

The first time I saw this southern favorite I was a bit taken aback--a large pot of stringy white meat with a squirt bottle of barbecue sauce sitting next to it?
What the heck? Not very appetizing to say the least... people were in line with plates in hand, raving about the barbecue?
I passed, not wanting to go there.

Well since then I have had several pulled pork discussions and I have learned,
this is a big deal. It seems most everyone I have asked has a favorite recipe or restaurant that makes the best stringy meat with sauce.

Still not impressed, that is until family and friends brought some to a potluck feast at my home this past month.

The crock pot was brimming with something I was a bit unsure of, I tasted it reluctantly and was surprised at how yummy it was. The sauce was sweet and smoky and the meat was tender and delicious.

Um, I may be jumping on the pulled pork train.

My children were the test. Well they gathered around quickly with plates in hand and before I knew they were raving about the barbecue.

When I inquired and found out how easy this is it jumped onto my list of favorites.

If the people are happy with full bellies it works for me.

I am sure you also have a favorite recipe but give this a try--you can be guaranteed it requires minimal effort (along with a frugal price if it is on my menu).

4lbs fresh pork butt
1 cup ginger ale
3 onions sliced
1 bottle Sweet Baby Ray's brand barbecue sauce (any flavor)

Slice onions and use 2 to cover the bottom of the crock pot
Place pork on top, cover pork with last onion
Then pour ginger ale over pork
Turn crock pot on high and cook overnight or at least 8 hours.
Drain accumulated juices from crock pot,leaving pork and onions.
Cover with sauce and pull pork apart with two forks
And there you have it!
Serve with rolls for a southern delight.

Ring the New Year in Right: Beef Tenderloin with Blender Bearnaise Sauce

Ok ladies, today I am going to stretch the term frugal to mean time. Cause with this recipe, it sure as sherbet doesn't mean money...

Tenderloin is Fillet Mignon all in one piece, and it is tender and lean and lovely.

Correct me if I'm wrong but about the only thing worse than spending a hundo on a piece of cow would be to make it dry and tough, so just to be sure I don't screw it up I wrap the whole thing with bacon. Carnivores unite!



Here's how to do it:

Roasted Beef Tenderloin
to serve about 10 people (without leftovers)

1 5 pound tenderloin, trimmed and tied with cotton kitchen string.
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground five pepper blend
4-5 strips bacon

Remove the tenderloin from the fridge and bring to room temperature, about 1 hour. By having the meat at room temperature, it will cook more evenly.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Place the tenderloin on a foil lined cookie sheet or other shallow baking pan. Smear the meat with the mustard, then sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
Drape with the bacon.

Roast for 18 minutes for medium rare meat. After about 14 minutes start to check for doneness. For medium rare the meat should still have some give when pressed with a finger.

Let the meat rest, loosely covered with foil, for 10 minutes before carving into 1 inch thick pieces.

Serve with Blender Bearnaise Sauce, a 1960s innovation that I'm pretty certain Joan Holloway could whip up without a recipe....

1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, or 1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped
2 tablespoons minced onion or shallot
3 large egg yolks
2 sticks butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Bring the vinegar, wine, tarragon and onion to a boil in a small pan. Continue to boil until the mixture boils down to a few tablespoons of thick and syrupy liquid.
Set aside off the heat to cool.

Whirl the egg yolks in a blender until thick and creamy. Slowly add the vinegar reduction while the blender is running. After a few seconds start to drizzle the melted butter into the running blender. Continue to dribble in the butter until it is all incorporated. Continue to run the blender until the sauce is thick and creamy. Add the salt and pepper and whir to combine. Taste and correct seasoning.

Will keep at room temperature for an hour or two, but cover with plastic to prevent a skin from forming.

Note: if you haven't been, take a trip to Concord Beef and Seafood--a little shop tucked into a strip center on Main Street. Run by a couple of thoroughly decent guys, they specialize in top quality protein, as they say on Top Chef.

For Christmas dinner we spent $20 a pound for a tenderloin that was expertly trimmed and tied. for $95 we got dinner for 7 and two days worth of sandwiches.

Frivolous? Of course. Delicious? You bet your ass.

p>

A Dress a Day

Does it get any better than these Mad Men women?




When surfing one day I stumbled upon the blog of my dreams...

A Dress A Day

It has all the things I love:

Dresses

Sewing

And The sixties!

It's a Mad Men Women Paradise!

Enjoy!

We Wone! We Won! Woo Hoo! Wait, what did we win?

Photo courtesy of The Concord Monitor

Sadly there is no cash nor prizes. just bragging rights.

Head on over to The Concord Monitor to see the results

Twelve Days Before Christmas

I have not blogged for many days and I want to tell you why

On the first day , making one giant list
On the second day, checking all the charge card balances
On the third day, making all the stops, praying for the card approval
On the fourth day, lugging all the stuff in, checking the list
On the fifth day, checking the list AGAIN
On the six day, addressing 60 cards, baking 400 cookies
On the seventh day ,wrapping, wrapping ,wrapping,
On the eighth day, attending my childrens' performances over and over again, wrapping, baking, and cooking
On the ninth day changing all the beds to make room for homecomings, making 400 cookies checking the list
On the tenth day cooking, cooking, cooking and wrapping, wrapping, wrapping, checking the list again, shopping for all that was missed
On the eleventh day, cooking, shopping, cleaning, signing, wrapping, praying,

On the twelfth day
burning the list, promising to relax next year, loving, enjoying and letting it all go..........

At least until next year

Merry Merry Christmas

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I just finished reading The Help, the first novel by Mississippi born Kathryn Stockett. The story is about the interwoven lives of the black maids and the privileged white women they serve in Jackson Mississippi circa 1963. I could not put it down. It was a great story, and yet, I'm not sure what to think.

On the one hand, the two black maids who shape the story, Aibileen and Minny, jump off the page, fully drawn and pulsing with life as it surely was for many of the southern black women who worked six days a week for white families -- cooking their meals and raising their children but forbidden to use the family bathroom. It's a world that is a foreign to me as can be. I grew up in New Jersey -- without domestic help and in a neighborhood where only a few families even had a weekly cleaning service. My community was predominantly white, the few black families I knew were middle class just like mine, with mothers who stayed home and fathers who worked white collar jobs in Philadelphia. And that has remained true--I still don't have a lot of black friends and the ones I do have are living lives a lot like mine. I don't understand racism, never experienced Jim Crow laws and have certainly never seen or been subjected to the type of embedded racism that rules the lives of the people in The Help, where lines between classes and colors are sharply drawn and difficult to cross. The story in this book was like a window into a parallel world. I sped through, eager to understand the specific time and place of this story.

None of which changes the fact that this book is deeply flawed. It was a fairly ludicrous conceit that these hard working, strong and loving black women would risk their lives and their livelihoods to help out a young white woman. Skeeter Phelan, fresh from graduating fourth in her class from Ole Miss, decides to write an anonymous tell-all about what really goes in in the white households. She risks social isolation and *gasp* the loss of her tennis partner as word gets around that she might be the author of the book, but the black women who share their stories risk much more--and the truth of that plays out in a very muted fashion, as the real events of the time barely get a mention in this book.

The biggest flaw, the one I couldn't get over, is that the author cannot view the African American experience other than through the prism of her white, privileged life. Kathryn Stockett doesn't seem to notice that while she renders the speech patterns of the housekeepers in southern dialect as thick as corn pone, the white society women of Jackson speak perfectly enunciated English, even the poor Celia from Sugar Ditch who grew up without shoes or electricity or much education. It's the differences between black and white that she sees, not the shared common experience of everyone being born and raised in Mississippi. The black folk in this book are decent and hardworking for the most part, and the white families they work for are only concerned with status and frankly are pretty lousy people and worse parents. I see this sort of mind set sometimes from some of my liberal friends who want to believe that poor people are the salt of the earth. I'm no brain surgeon but I'm pretty sure there are good and bad of every color and every rung of the social ladder. People are people and while some of them are great, some of them suck.

The blondus ex machina device of the noble white woman sweeping in to raise up the black community by sharing their story rang false, and it is hard to understand how the context of the story supports her ability to gain the trust of the domestics. Why would they risk everything they had to contribute to Skeeter's book? These women knew all the rules, and lived in fear of breaking them. The book makes very clear that transgressions of race are punished with the inability to find another job in the small world of Jackson where word travels like wildfire and reputations are ruined in a heartbeat. And the whole "grateful negro" shtick of having the black Minister get every member of his congregation to sign a copy of the book for "the white woman" left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

I am left to wonder what kind of book this could have been in the hands of an African American author who would have had a better sense of tone and place. Or maybe what I'm wishing is that the author had a black collaborator, so that just like in the fictional book within this book, we could benefit from the two separate racial experiences of growing up in Jackson. When I was in college my favorite professor always used to admonish her students to "write what you know". This book could have been so much better had Kathryn Stockett taken that advice.

Anyone else have an opinion on this?

Merry Christmas, eh?

Merry Christmas from the great white north!

Somehow this was funnier before I lived in New Hampshire in a house full of hosers.

I mean men.

Sweet Treats: Snowflake Cookies

About the only good thing to come out of the gingerbread contest was that I had loads of gingerbread dough left over and was able to make these cookies as hostess gifts.

The dough recipe comes from our frenemy Martha Stewart--with the typical modifications that her recipes always need in order to work in a kitchen not staffed with hundred of paid minions.

I coated them with royal icing and piped on the snowflake design, but these would be equally adorable just dusted with some colored sanding sugar, the large chunk colored sugar that Sue Chandler sells at Chandler's Cake and Candy on Perley Street.

Gingerbread Dough

Makes enough for one giant shoe and 24 cookies or 35 outhouses.

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter at warm room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup molasses
8 cups all-purpose flour

Stir together the baking soda, powder, salt and flour. Set aside.


In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in all the spices ad the salt. Beat in the eggs and molasses.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Divide dough into 4 pieces, wrap in plastic and chill for at least an hour. Overnight is better.

When ready to cook, heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out 1/4 inch thick on a well floured surface. You really cannot use too much flour, and don't go too thin or the pieces will be impossible to move.

Cut the dough into desired shapes. Transfer to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes, until firm but not so long that the edges start to brown.

Cool completely before frosting.

Royal Icing

2 pounds powdered sugar
4 tablespoons meringue powder
8-10 tablespoons water

Stir the sugar and meringue powder together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Slowly add the water until the mixture is thick but smooth. Beat for 3-5 minutes. Add more water or sugar until the consistency is spreadable. You'll know you have the right consistency when you drag a knife through the bowl and the resulting line disappears in exactly 10 seconds. Any less and the icing won't be smooth; any more and it will be too runny.

To make the dark red in the photo I used A big spooch of AmeriColor Super Red with a touch, and I mean a tip-of-a-toothpick-sort-of-touch of Leaf Green.

To make the green in the photograph I used Cake Craft Standard Lime Green with a dab of AmeriColor Avocado Green. All of these colors as well as a huge assortment of cookie cutters, can be found at Chandler's Cake and Candy Supplies.
If you haven't been, go already. And tell Sue that I said hey! This whole job thing has put a huge cramp in my baking efforts.

Maryland Crab Soup

Nothing says Christmas in New Hampshire like a steaming bowl of Maryland Crab Soup!

OK so maybe not but this is hearty and delicious and since Market Basket has pound cans of "special" crab meat right now for $11.99, and this batch serves about 10 it's practically frugal!

I made this recipe up and it's only as authentic as a Jersey girl who lived in Annapolis for 8 years' recipe can be. Which is not very.

Maryland Crab Soup

3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 large stalk celery, diced
2 small carrots, diced
2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
1 can beer -- nothing too dark or flavorful. Budweiser is perfect here
2 quarts low sodium chicken broth
1 pound package frozen mixed vegetables
1 pound "special" crab meat

Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add the onion, celery and carrot and saute over low heat just until the vegetables are softened, do not brown. Add the Old Bay and mix well. Add the beer and the chicken broth and bring to a simmer.
Add the frozen mixed vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes to cook the vegetables and meld the flavors.
Add the crab and stir gently. Soup is ready when it returns to a simmer.

Serve in shallow bowls garnished with additional Old Bay.

Gingerbread, Yo!

Isn't it lovely?
There sits 80 bucks and 40 hours we'll never see again.



Get a load of Robin --
So, so happy to be a part of this fachadick mess she can barely contain herself.




And there's our Suzie, jittery from the crack-laced fancy coffee that her friend Kendra served earlier on Friday -- which totally prevented Suzanne from piping any sort of straight line.
Hence the wickety wack windows and such.




By the time we got to the offices of The Monitor all the wheels were off the Fru-Gal bus,
not to mention several of the gingerbread trees,
which keeled over during the two wheeled, gray hair producing ride over in the
Ellinwoods' Subaru P O S

Thanks for the ride Gordon!

That boy can not drive worth a damn.
(at least not while texting and changing music on his iPod)

At least we were able to return, rested and refreshed, to Suzanne's kitchen:

The holidays are SO relaxing!

A little Christmas Gift for You

I wasn't a math major or anything but I think it's just about 8 months until Season 4 of Mad Men will be back on our teevees on Sunday nights.


Wish I could think of something I could do to occupy myself while waiting.
Other than making a baby, that is.

*shiver*

Here is an interview with Matt Weiner, creator of the series, that ran on E Online.

It's a little bit spoilerish but what the hell. Here's the dish.

Easy Entertaining: Buffalo Chicken Dip

Holy shit I think I'm turning into my mother.

It was bound to happen.

It happens to all of us, eventually doesn't it?

And not that I'm really complaining. She is a lovely person.

It's just that like any good house wife who was entertaining in the 1960s, she can't pass up any recipe she can peel off a can.

Which in 1967 was undoubtedly the height of gourmet entertaining.

So here I am in 2009 channeling Harlie and Betty Draper and recommending this Buffalo Chicken Dip, straight off the Frank's Hot Sauce label.

Mmm Mmmm Good!

1 8 ounce block of cream cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar
1 cup Frank's hot sauce or any other Louisiana style hot sauce
1 cup Marie's Blue cheese dressing
1 pound chicken, simmered and shredded

To serve:
celery sticks
sturdy tortilla chips

Dump all the ingredients into a medium sized sauce pan and heat slowly until well combined. Serve hot with tortilla chips and celery sticks.

Photo by Campbell's Kitchen

Sweet Treats Double Chocolate Tart

A dessert that is simple and elegant. Not to mention easy. And it can be completely assembled and ready to serve in about an hour and a half. Perfect if you've completely forgotten that you promised to bring dessert to a dinner party until the morning of...

and if you've forgotten until 45 minutes before, just make the mousse. Plop it into martini glasses with a few fresh raspberries and call it a night.

Double Chocolate Tart

makes 10 servings

For the Crust:

1 package Famous Wafers.
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Blitz the famous wafers in a food processor until uniformly ground, maybe 20 seconds. Add the sugar and the melted butter and blitz again to combine.

Dump the mixture into a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Or use a shallow pie plate. It won't look as cute, but it will be just as delicious.

Use a short,straight-sided glass to mash the crust into an even layer across the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Use the flat of your hand to create a flat top even with the top of the tart pan.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Crust should be firm and fragrant but not any darker than when you started.

Cool to room temperature, either on the counter or in the freezer. If you use the freezer method the crust can be filled in 20 minutes, about the amount of time it takes to make the filling.

White Chocolate Mousse

8 ounces premium quality white chocolate (Lindt and Ghiradelli are two good brands you can even get at the dirty downtown Market Basket)

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate in a large bowl over a pot of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the hot water or you'll run the risk of burning the chocolate.

While the chocolate is melting, beat the heavy cream with the powdered sugar until the cream will stand up in stiff peaks. The stiffness of the cream makes all the difference in the quality of the tart. If the cream is too soft, the tart is impossible to cut.

That being said, if you over beat it the cream will turn to butter......

when the chocolate has melted remove the bowl from the heat and let the chocolate cool to warm room temperature.

Using a spatula, gently fold the melted chocolate into the cream, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure that all the chocolate is incorporated into the cream.

Spoon the mousse into the cooled crust and smooth with an offset spatula.

Garnish with fresh raspberries or with chocolate curls.

To make the curls, melt an additional 4 ounce bar of white chocolate. Smear the chocolate on the bottom of a clean cookie sheet and let cool until the chocolate has lost its shininess. Hold a dough scraper or flat, flexible metal spatula at a 45 degree angle and slowly scrape the chocolate off the sheet. Use your fingers to guide the scrapings into curls.

Pile into the center of the tart.

And if you really want to get fancy, defrost and strain a bag of frozen raspberries. Add a quarter cup of sugar to the juice along with a splash of raspberry liquor and boil down until syrupy. Spoon a small puddle into the center of each dessert plate before putting the slice of tart on it.

New Frugal Feasts Column Today in the Concord Monitor

Photo by Ken Williams for The Concord Monitor

One of the problems with my new job is they expect me to actually work while I am there. So I can't upload today's column until I get home this afternoon.

Not to worry, here is a link to The Concord Monitor

Today's Column

Game On

Tim O'Shea, The Concord Monitor's Man with a Plan, or at least a llama, has challenged us to a gingerbread house making contest.

We are hard at work trying to come up with an idea, not to mention the time to bake and decorate the damn thing.

We are hoping to do better than this.....

Homemade Hummus

After years and years of just trying to get the meal on the table, things have settled a bit and I have a little more time, and with time comes the thought of an adventure-- like making something with the food processor--what a concept!

I was alone Thanksgiving morning at 4:30 and realized I had obtained all the ingredients needed for this wonderful treat.

Although I have never been a fan of pre-made, processed anything I have always bought hummus. The thought of turning on the food processor was too much for my plain and simple brain. That was until I tasted this homemade version, made with caramelized onions.

It was worth every bit of scraping the damn food processor to get the last of the creamy goodness out....and the crowd went wild!~

Here's a shocking side note: Never am I prepared, this being reason it took me so long to make the darn stuff (about 3 months since I first asked for the recipe) and I kept forgetting to buy the tahini (the price was part of the issue) but I waited so long that it was discovered by my friend, the wonderful cook Lucy Coles, that hummus can be made without tahini (at $6.99 a can, thank God).

Olive oil in, tahini out....

The first thing was to caramelize the onions, I used Mark Bittman's recipe. He is always guaranteed to make it work without a lot of nonsense-- simple and straightforward, just like me :)

Caramelized Onions

3 med onions, sliced
3tbls butter
2 tbls sugar
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbls vinegar, any type

Place butter in a medium skillet and turn heat to med. when it melts add onions and cook until they begin to brown all over about 10 minutes.
Sprinkle with sugar and stir. Add liquid and raise heat to med-high cook stirring frequently,until onions are glazed and liquid almost completely evaporated, about 5 mins.

Stir in vinegar and continue to cook until the onions are syrupy, another minute or two.

Hummus

2 cups canned chick peas well drained
3/4 of the onions
3/4 cup of olive oil
2 small cloves of garlic, peeled
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbls ground cumin or to taste
juice of 1 lemon
approx 1/3 cup water

Place everything except water in the food processor and begin to process, add water as needed to make a smooth puree. Taste and add more garlic, salt,lemon juice or cumin as needed.

Garnish with remaining onions. Serve with veggies, crackers or pita
So easy it is at the top of my list and the family is still begging for more....

Sweet Treats: Marianne’s Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Marianne adapted this recipe from the TV show America's Test Kitchen. She substituted 3/4 Cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 3/4 Cup peanut butter chips instead of 1 1/2 C semi-sweet chips.

The Recipe

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 C bittersweet chocolate chips
7 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 C sugar
1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
3/4 C semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 C peanut butter chips

1. Melt unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chips and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring frequently, until completely smooth and glossy. Remove bowl from pan and set aside to cool slightly.
2. Stir coffee powder & vanilla together in a small bowl until dissolved.
Beat eggs & sugar in a large bowl at med-high speed until very thick & pale, about 4 min. Add vanilla-coffee mixture and beat until incorporated. Reduce speed to low, add chocolate mixture & mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. Using a rubber spatula, fold flour mixture and semisweet and peanut butter chips into batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 20-30 minutes, until batter firms to the consistency of a thick brownie batter.
4. Drop batter by tablespoons onto baking sheets lined with parchment.
Bake at 350 degrees until cookies are shiny & cracked on top, 11-14 minutes.
Cool completely on baking sheets before removing.

Makes 2 - 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Shelly O!

Michelle OBama, The First Lady in Photographs is on the top of my wish list this year. I plan to pour a giant glass of wine, snuggle into my snuggie (hint hint) and bask in the beauty that is our first lady. That girl can dress like nobody's business.

And knows how and when to let her hair down....

me likey!

Christmas 2009

In the rush to get it all done before everyone comes home for the holidays there were only a few of us to take the annual trip to get the tree.

So we headed out to the local ice cream/Christmas tree stand and found a most beautiful tree.

Of course we jumped at the chance (always camera ready) to document the event

Once in awhile it would be great if I thought about the details....Like, Hello? There's a dumpster in the picture

:0)

Merry Christmas

Teacher Gifts: a small token of our huge appreciation

Listen up ladies:

The last day of school before vacation is coming quick.
And not lame gifts that fall in a reasonable price range are hard to find.

So head over to Eddie Bauer and order up a bunch of these. I mean seriously, who would not love to have a toasty, down filled mitt to surround their ice scrapah? It sure as sherbet beats the credit card I usually have to use.

Advice not valid if you live in Concord and your kids have Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Becker or Mrs. Downing.

In that case BACK OFF

Teacher Gift Ideas: Just another service lovingly provided by your friendly neighborhood Fru-Gals!

Holiday Helpings: New Column Exclusively in The Concord Monitor

Photo by Ken Williams for The Concord Monitor

Since we started writing the Frugal Feasts Column we have been flattered and surprised by the number of questions we get from readers.

Flattered to think that anyone would want our opinions, and surprised that more of the questions don't pertain to ingredients we've somehow left out of the printed recipes.

A lot of the questions are good ones. The answers, well, let's just say we might often be wrong, but we are never in doubt. So pour yourself another cup of coffee and settle in while the Fru-Gals answer your questions on how to make it through the holidays with a few of your dollars and marbles intact.

Question: I read in a magazine that I should stock my kitchen so that when unexpected guests drop in I can serve something stylish and fun. What do the Fru-Gals keep in their pantries for unexpected guests?

Robin would like you to know right up front know that she hides upstairs when her doorbell rings. Suzanne depends on cheap wine, cream cheese and a decent box of crackers. Cream cheese can be doctored up with garlic and Worcestershire sauce and some herbs or crumbled blue cheese and served with the crackers. The wine just needs to be served in large glasses.

Question: Can you suggest one "must have" wardrobe item for this holiday season?

We are firm believers in the Mother of a Certain Age Holiday Uniform: black pants and party sweater. But this year we are making a bold new suggestion: go up a size. Instead of suffering through the holidays crammed into a pair of pants that will fit us perfectly if we lose five pounds, we are going to treat ourselves to a pair of pants that will still fit when we gain five pounds.

Question: Santa gifts: wrapped or unwrapped?

Santa wraps the gifts he brings to our houses. Let's just say it's been a lean year at the North Pole and Santa's sleigh is going to be a little lighter than normal. Unwrapped Christmas would be over in about 8.2 seconds. And that Santa is so thoughtful. He uses the wrapping paper we leave out for him so that all the presents match. Heh, heh heh.

Question: What would be a good $10 Yankee swap gift?

You can't go wrong with any of the vices, especially alcohol and lottery tickets. One size fits all, and you've got to love a gift that even a husband can't screw up on the way to the swap when he stops for gas.

Question: I heard the Fru-Gals and their husbands have taken the No Gift for Spouses Pledge this year, and that you plan to stick with it. So the question is: How long will Dave and Peter be in the dog house if they honor the pledge?

Oh goodness, don't get us started.

The holidays have started and here are two great recipes that are nutritious, delicious and darn adorable. Both are perfectly appropriate for a family dinner, and even better to bring to holiday pot luck.

Macaroni and Squeeze
A Broadbent family favorite created by Victoria Parmele, Robin's stepmother

3 winter squash – acorn, butternut or other hard winter squash
3 tablespoons olive oil, approximately
½ teaspoon kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 16 oz can of stewed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups shredded extra sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped fine
1 pound box short pasta, cooked according to package directions until firm

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the acorn squashes in half and remove the seeds. Brush the insides with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast until cooked and soft, about an hour. Gently scoop the insides of each squash shell into a large bowl and mash smooth. Be careful when removing the squash to leave about a quarter inch of squash flesh attached to the shells, which should remain intact.

While the squash is roasting, sauté the garlic in a saucepan with a little olive oil over low heat, then add the stewed tomatoes with half their liquid. Cook this mixture for about 10 minutes to blend the flavor, and then mash the tomatoes together with the chipotle pepper. Add to the roast squash, along with 2 cups of the cheddar cheese and the pasta and stir gently. Test for spiciness; if more is needed, add some of the adobo sauce, a half teaspoon at a time.

Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Divide the mixture among the squash shells, and sprinkle the tops with the remaining cup of cheese. Bake the filled squash for 10-12 minutes to thoroughly warm the pasta and melt the cheese.

Skillet Apple Pie

4 tablespoons butter
8 Granny Smith or other firm apples, peeled, cored and sliced thinly into wedges.
½ cup sugar
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 premade pie crust (half of a standard package)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt the butter in an ovenproof skillet approximately 10 inches in diameter over medium low heat. Add the apples and sauté for 5-7 minutes to brown the apples slightly. Add the sugar, lemon juice and spices and stir to combine. Continue to cook for an additional 5-7 minutes to cook the apples until tender but still firm, stirring occasionally. Unroll the crust and drape it over the apples, tucking it down along the edges of the pan. Cut two or three small holes in the crust and place in the preheated oven. Cook for 15-18 minutes until crust is browned and apples are bubbling. Serve from the skillet, warm with vanilla ice cream.