Its been a while but heres a Thanksgiving for the broke post for ya

Its been over 6 months since I have been able to post anything, but that is sort of what happens when you work long hours for acorns (which by the way, are less than peanuts).

Thanksgiving is a few days away and if you are like me, thats means that you are broke and have siblings who will be coming over for a meal and might or might not bring a dish or at least a bottle of wine. 

If you have the money to spent everything from table cloths, napkins, napkin rings and new china then by all means, but if you are like me and cant spear much here are a list of fast last minute ideas for your Thanksgiving dinner. 

I find that if you are looking for a classic and cozy center piece like candlesticks, it will cost you twice as much as it use to (silver, pewter, brass, wood or crystal candlesticks now a days will cost you an arm and a leg, which I need both of) Thank the stars for Ebay though! 

I was able to find 12 brass candlesticks for a whopping.....drum roll please.......$21.00 (with shipping). Now if you cant spare even that, you can always go to a Michaels and pick up a few unfinished wood candlesticks for $1.99 to $4 a candlestick or look online for unfinished wood candlesticks (with inserts) and buy a small can of wood finish (or leave it unfinished). The end result can be quite nice 

If you are looking for a more modern approach and happen to have a few empty wine bottles in your recycling bin you can always soak off the labels and use them as candlesticks like i did last Thanksgiving.  

 

Or if you have a glass cutter lying around your house somewhere (or if you can spare a few bucks you can pick one up at Michaels as well) you can also go for a different approach 

If this is not your cup of tea, and you happen to be living near a wooded area and would like a more organic feel to your table you can always go to your back yard and cut a large THICK branch of oak or or a tree with a nice bark and cut it in to segments. It will make for a lovely center piece 

You can also collect fresh Pine branches and add that to your table and take a piece of the stump and glue a plate on the top to make a lovely cake plate for a few bucks 

or if you are from NYC but cant make the trip upstate and don't have a saw handy, you can always visit the flower district or 14th street Union Square outdoor market. They sell tree stumps, plants, flowers, gooseberry branches that can be sprayed to last till Thanksgiving. 

As for the rest of what go's on the table, here are a few places that wont squeeze your wallet till it cries.

I found that while Pier One Imports, Create and Barrel, Bed Bath and Beyond and Macy's all say they they have holiday specials, they fall short of being affordable if your weekly paycheck is sadder than your bank account then try. 

First up is Marshals 

I found a lovely cake stand (it looks similar to this one) for $10 

cake slicer (a lot nicer than the one in the pic) for $8

and soup bowls for a few bucks a piece. 

Next up is 

TJ Maxx

They have a lot of the same things that Marshals have but if you don't find it at Marshals you might just find it at TJ Maxx for the same price or cheaper. That and they have lay away (this being my first time trying it I have to say, why haven't I tried it before! its a great way to shop for what you need ahead of time and pay it off slowly which is so much better than saving up and coming back to find what you wanted already gone). 

I found lovely Ralph lauren table cloths from $15 to $35 dollars (I went with this lovely olive colored one but there were so many to choose from) 

I also found beautiful candles for my candlesticks that were about $8 for a box of 6.

Next up is only an option because of the vintage sales section (and if you are not from NYC sorry, they only have locations in NY) 

You can find mix and match plate sets in their sales section for anywhere from $1 to about $6 a plate/bowl (there are lovely choices in the dollar range) 

And then there are the dollar stores. Every once in a while you can find useful things in your local 99c store if you look hard and in a few of them (not just one) If you live in NY they are EVERYWHERE!!  so take your time and you might be able to find dishware and flatware and dare I say wine glasses that might just do the trick as well. 

As for napkins and place settings, I'm skipping the place settings this year and I decided to make my own napkins (I cant afford a NICE set of 12 napkins for the price they were offering. I mean come on...a set of 4 Ralph lauren napkins were $10 and i didn't everything on my table to match that much) so I was off to the garment district here in NYC to pick up 2 yards of fabric (which ran me $10 and i had enough to make a lovely table runner) 

As for napkin holders, there are blogs with DIY's up the wazoo that can help you make your own napkin holders. I however, chose to use simple thread as my napkin holder. I walked over to my local 99c store and purchased some eggplant purple thread (I think they meant to make it brown but it came out a deep purple brown). I pulled about 4 yards of it out and joined the tips together 4 times until it was a until it was a fairly thick strand. Then I tied knots at the ends and cut the remaining thread to make them even ( I would suggest making it about 12 to 13 inches long when all is said and done). I'll tie it in a bow and maybe add an acorn (that I was able to pick from my front yard and or patch of grass if you may because who really has a proper front yard in Brooklyn NY) and vuala! my search is done.

If however you do want napkin holders you can always try Ebay. :)

And lastly, Ikea 

Why? because they carry a wide range of cookware and have a sales section that might be a life saver 

That and their prices are great for wine glasses (6 for $6 i think it was) and cheap tableware 

Hope this makes things easier for you this Thanksgiving :) 

  AMAZING vegan Pear Plum (mini)Pie (filling) 

I hadn't intended the pie filling to turn out vegan but because i am trying to eat healthier, i left out the butter because i forgot and it turns out..its super tasty without it :p. I searched for a good, home made pie crust recipe. You can always go with frozen pie crust (there are vegan options) but really..its soo cheap and easy to make it at home that really..its a no brainer :) 

First the Pie filling recipe 

I started off by cutting the fruit up and placing it in a large bowl, then I added the fresh lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and sugar to the bowl and mixed it all in. 

I transferred it all into a pot and let it cook for 20min stirring it occasionally 

at around 15min add the soy milk and flour (soy milk because there is lemon in the recipe and also i chose it because i cant eat dairy at all :(. The flour thickens it without being starchy so i prefer it). Stir it until its all well incorporated into the mix.

Meanwhile 

(If i would have make the crust, btw I took the images from a website which reminds me..i need a good camera or a new phone lol) 

I substituted real butter for Smart Balance, you can use any vegan butter really.

  1. You start off by adding the flour, salt and sugar in to a food processor and pulsing then mixing it for a few seconds. Then add the Earth balance (if you want it vegan) and pulse it until the mixture is well mixed (the butter looks like little pea size pieces) and looks like coarse meal. Add the ice water, about 1 Tbsp at a time and pulse until mixture begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together that means it ready to be rolled, if not then add a bit more water and pulse, testing along the way. Don't add too much water because it could make the dough tough or too soft. 

   

     

Then you remove the dough from the machine and place it on a clean (if possible, cold) surface.

                             

   

Gently work the dough into tow round balls (of equal size). 

  2.  Flatten the balls into 2 round disks, Not too much because you don't want the butter getting all mushed and mixing in too well, the butter clumps are what will allow the crust to become flakey. Sprinkle a little flour on the disks, wrap in plastic wrap and place in your refrigerator. Refrigerate for about an hour or up to 2 days. I made mini pies so i formed about 5 balls the size of lemons, wrapped them and refrigerated for an hour.  

3. After an hour or so take the discs out and let them set in room temperature for about 10 min

Sprinkle a bit of flour down on the surface you are using to roll the dough out and then using a rolling pin (If you don't have a rolling pin you can use a large glass jar that has no ridges or anything that might leave a pattern unless that's what you want) to flatten the discs to a 12 inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. 

            

Then Place the rolled out dough into your pie plate, gently pressing in down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the plate. Using kitchen scissors, trip the dough to fit your pie plate with bit too much overhang. Because I made mini pies i used a large cupcake pan, rolled out the balls to fit the cupcake pans and cut the dough to the very edge of each cupcake hole. 

   

then fill the pie (or cupcake) pan(s).

     Take the second flattened disc (or discs) and lets your mind go crazy..either place it on top and make a few holes to let the filling cook and not rip through the dough as it cooks 

or cut the dough using a cookie cutter of any shape (i have seen heart shape cut outs and circle shapes..you name it) and place them overlapping each other until the top is covered with few gaps (its good to leave some gaps though). 

here are some ideas for crust decorating :) 

 

 

If you want a sweet crust, when the pie is ABOUT HALF WAY DONE and is turning gold on top,

you can melt 1/4 of butter/Smart Balance, let it sit for a minute until it cools off  and then add raw sugar. Mix it well and using a basting brush, brush the butter sugar mix on top of the pie. Make sure the pie is starting to golden when you do this so it doesn't stay cooking for much longer (the sugar can BURN if you do it towards the beginning of the cooking process so you don't want to do that)