Holiday Party Punch

My mom likes to throw these big, informal, everyone-come-on-over get-togethers, especially around Christmas. She’ll set out a bunch of food, while Dad gets the firepit going.

One perennial favorite of her holiday buffets is a delicious hot punch with spiced cranberry and citrus flavors. It tastes like the holidays and makes the house smell amazing. It’s particularly excellent for sipping around the fire on a chilly night.

The recipe makes enough for a crowd without requiring a lot of fuss, so you can focus on decking the halls and whatever else you need to do.

Mom makes it (by the gallon) and serves it in her crockpot to keep it hot all evening. She’ll put a ladle and a stack of festive mugs next to it, so guests can help themselves.

Although the title on her recipe card says “cranberry tea,” the tea part is actually optional. Most of the time, she leaves it out. Then you have an equally delicious hot cranberry punch.

Hot Cranberry Tea (or Punch) Recipe

1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup loose black tea (omit for punch)
3 cups sugar
2 cups orange juice
1/2 gallon cranberry juice
1 cup lemon juice (or substitute a 12-ounce can of frozen lemonade and reduce sugar to 2 cups)
10 cups + 6 cups of hot water

Optional: orange and/or lemon slices and cinnamon sticks (for garnish).

Wrap the spices and tea in a piece of cheesecloth or place into a tea infuser.
Steep in 10 cups of hot water for 20 minutes.
Add sugar, juices, and 6 more cups of hot water.
If desired, garnish with orange or lemon slices and cinnamon sticks.
Serve hot.

Makes about 7 quarts of punch. (Invite a lot of people over.)

Cheers!

Thanksgiving picnic with family — Phillip, me, Dad, Mom on Thanksgiving Day a few years ago.

November 15, 2017November 28, 2023

DIY Pumpkins and Pie!

Here are 11 pumpkin-pie-inspired ideas you can bake or make!

Eat+Drink

Pumpkin Pie – First, a classic. You can make pumpkin puree for pies and other recipes from a sugar pumpkin or even a regular carving pumpkin. (Really! I did it!)

Holiday Spice Mix – Blend these ingredients for a versatile, cinnamony spice you can use as pumpkin pie spice or sprinkle into hot chocolate.

Spiced Pumpkin Pie Martini – A pumpkin pie garnish on your cocktail?! Why not? After all, it is the holidays.

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread – You can use canned pumpkin or your own pumpkin puree for this addictively good quick bread.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie – This is a great breakfast on-the-go – especially during the holiday season when you have a lot of pumpkin around and not a lot of time. I added pecans and an extra cup of plain Greek yogurt to Jamie’s recipe.

Pie Slice Cookies – I haven’t made these, but they were so adorable that I had to include them! (If you’re looking for cookie decorating ideas and tips, there are TONS on the Sweet Sugarbelle blog!)

Craft

Thanksgiving Pie Garland – Turns out paper pie slices make perfect pennants! #TeamPie

Fall Succulent Planter – Rachel of Maison de Pax planted succulents directly into ceramic pumpkins. Another option would be to place potted succulents inside a real (or ceramic or foam) pumpkin and take them out when you take down the autumn decor.

Pumpkin Pie Friendship Necklaces – StudioDIY shared a tutorial for this making polymer clay pumpkin pie necklaces as part of a Friendsgiving post!

Mini Pumpkin Candles – A simple project from Faith Durant at The Kichn that turns a pumpkin into a candle.

Botanical Pumpkins – Fall leaves and Modge Podge are a striking way to decorate pumpkins!

Photos via:
1, 2, 4. Me.
3. A Beautiful Mess
5. Love Bakes Good Cakes
6. Sweet Sugarbelle
7. Martha Stewart
8. Maison de Pax
9. Studio DIY
10. The Kichn
11. Country Living

November 30, 2015May 23, 2023

Thanksgiving at Usery Park

Every few years, my mom decides it’s time for a Thanksgiving picnic.

We’re kind of spoiled here in the Phoenix area by almost always having gorgeous weather on Thanksgiving Day. I guess we kind of pay for it with the crazy hot summers.

Anyway, ever since I was a kid, some years we have traditional Thanksgiving with a whole turkey and a dining room table, and other years we have turkey sandwiches at a desert picnic table.

This year, it was just my parents, Phillip, and I. We kept things super simple and picnicked at Usery Mountain Regional Park.

We still had the boisterous, house-full-of-people experience with Phillip’s side of the family the following Saturday.

But Thanksgiving Day was all blue skies and saguaros.

After picnicking, we took a short hike, chatting some and listening to the gravelly trail crunch under our feet, a cactus wren calling to us, and far off coyotes howling. The sun dipped low to backlight the landscape, putting glowing edges around fuzzy chollas and creosote bushes with their tiny, fragrant leaves, and making the evening seem magical.

—

November 25, 2015January 4, 2018

DIY Holiday Spice Mix

I have a present for you.

I’m going to give you the (up until now) secret holiday spice mix recipe I created myself. It was part of a set I made for family gifts one year and sold at a fundraiser another.

I looked at combinations of spices in some our favorite dishes and cuisines, found commonalities and experimented until I had the proportions just right for a delicious and versatile blend.

I’ve substituted it for pumpkin pie spice, including when I made pumpkin pie from scratch. It would be fabulous in spice cookies or sprinkled over a whipped-cream-topped dessert. You can use it to make chai or Mexican hot chocolate, or add a dash when you brew your morning coffee for pumpkin spice without all the sugar.

It even works with some savory dishes. Think Indian curries or Morrocan chicken with raisins.

Fill up a spice jar and tie with a ribbon or some baker’s twine, and give it as a hostess or holiday gift. There will be printable labels for this in an upcoming issue of our newsletter (before Christmas), so make sure you’re on the list!

Ingredients:

1.5 TBSP Ground Cardamom
6 TBSP Cinnamon
1.5 TBSP Ground Clove
3 TBSP Ground Ginger

Mix well and use as needed.

Makes approximately 3/4 cup (12 TBSP), about enough for 2 small spice jars. Give one and keep one. Or increase the recipe to make additional batches.

November 26, 2014January 4, 2018

Carving pumpkin into pie

As a kid, I didn’t understand where pumpkin pie came from. My best guess was that it was somehow made from the goopy insides we scooped out while getting ready to carve jack-o’-lanterns. I thought of the outside as kind of a hard shell and was surprised to learn that (minus the peel) is actually the edible part. It seemed like magic, and I knew I had to try it one day.

Fast forward to November a couple years ago when I finally gave it a try.

I started with the wrong kind of pumpkin. At least that’s what people kept telling me. This giant orange carving pumpkin came with our CSA box. Even though I knew it wasn’t a pie pumpkin, that’s what I had, and I wanted to make it work. A little internet research made me think it could be done, so I gave it a shot.

I scooped seeds, cut the squash into pieces, and baked it. Phillip helped me remove the peel.

One of the downsides of a carving/non-pie pumpkin is they tend to be more watery. The fix is letting the baked pumpkin set for awhile and then pouring off the excess water. Easy enough. I did this a couple times, then immersion blended it into a puree.

The taste seemed a little bland (another one of the potential side effects of carving pumpkins) until I added my homemade spice blend. All of the sudden it tasted like pumpkin pie.

I had decided not to do the crust from scratch – another project for another time. I made 3 pies and later pumpkin bread. I froze the extra pumpkin puree in large freezer bags.

The pies got rave reviews.

The process took way longer than I expected. Still, I enjoyed the magic of transforming a pumpkin into a pie. And watching the naysayers eat their words.