Our gingerbread “people” are a big hit this time of year.  Frost them or just add raisins and candy to decorate with.  Have fun with them!

A turkey carcass with a little meat left on it makes a tasty broth.  Try this recipe:

Every Thanksgiving I serve a turkey with mashed potatoes and all the trimmings.  For Christmas I serve a ham and scalloped potatoes with all the trimmings.  This recipe works well with both.

I never buy white bread except at Thanksgiving. When my mom taught me how to make Thanksgiving stuffing, she always used 1/2 a loaf of white bread. And I still make my stuffing the same way my mom did.

That leaves me with 1/2 a loaf of bread that I don’t really like to eat. But add some raisins — maybe even some apples — and leftover bread becomes delicious bread pudding. And a bonus…it’s better with stale bread too!

This is an easy project to save on your budget and the environment. Take a package of soft cloths (e.g., generic brand of J-Cloth) and cut them in half. Soak in fabric softener, wring out well, and hang dry.

When ready to put a load of clothes in the dryer, slip a dried softener sheet in. These can be used a few times over and then you can start the soaking process over again. The sheets last forever and you’ll never need to buy fabric softener sheets again.