Turkey time is saving time

Semi-homemade approach cuts labor, cost at Thanksgiving

By Marty Meitus, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 11, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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From top, Pink Peppercorn Gravy, Lemon Chive Gravy and Turkey Drumstick Gravy

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Sandra Lee

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In these cost-cutting times, you might think a big meal like Thanksgiving comes with an equally big price tag at the grocery store. Not on Sandra Lee's watch.

"The beautiful thing about Thanksgiving is that turkey costs less per pound than any other meat," the food celebrity said over dinner in Denver. "So you can save money and still have an amazing meal."

Lee - who is tall, thin and as pretty as she appears on her popular Semi-Homemade shows on Food Network - was here for a charity promotion. She also introduced three new cookbooks: Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Money Saving Meals, Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Fast-Fix Family Favorites and Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Desserts 2 (Meredith Books, $19.95 each).

Lee has built an empire on her semi-homemade formula for cooking - 70 percent ready-made products combined with 30 percent fresh touches.

Take her cornbread stuffing: "I used to make Marie Callender's cornbread (from a can). Now, I just buy the premade cornbread at the grocery and add a few ingredients." It's less expensive, she says, "and the work is already done."

The semi-homemade approach may seem simple, but development can be tricky.

"It's harder than you would think to create a semi-homemade recipe," she said. "It's knowing brands and knowing how to put them together. Cooking from scratch would be easy." And, in many ways, more expensive.

"When you're going to make an herb rub for your turkey, if you use seasoning mixes, like McCormick's or even Good Seasons, you're saving money because you're talking about $70 for individual spices."

Her book on Money-Saving Meals includes ideas for cost-cutting menus, such as buying one large cut of meat and serving it in three very different ways: for instance, Caribbean one night, followed by Mexican and Italian the next two nights, giving leftovers more cachet.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday to get bang for the buck - and save yourself time in the process - the other important element in semi-homemade cooking.

Here are some of Lee's other cost-saving - and time-saving - suggestions:

* Take advantage of the price of turkeys at Thanksgiving. Either buy and freeze a second turkey, or, if you have room in the oven, make two at the same time so that you have leftovers to use or freeze for another meal.

* Think about using the same ingredients in two different dishes. For instance, if you buy a package of four large sausages to make stuffing and need only two, consider using the remaining two at the same meal for an appetizer platter - such as kebabs or in stuffed mushrooms.

"In my holiday special, I take a potato leek soup and serve it as an appetizer, then I turn around and add cheese and wine and nutmeg and I have fondue."

* Buy cheese and shred it yourself. Pre-shredded cheese costs several dollars more per pound.

* Stretch your dollar with fruits like cranberries and grapes. When using fresh cranberries, pull a few out of the bag to decorate your drinks - spear them on a skewer to brighten up whatever beverages you're serving. Or better yet, adds Lee, "Put them in the freezer and they act as chillers. You can also use grapes, red or green grapes. They're a great decorative addition. Or cut up in salad, or frozen and used as fruit ice cubes."

* Watch for sales on frozen apple pies. You can make them seem homemade by brushing the top with melted butter and sprinkling on cinnamon and sugar during the last 10 minutes of baking. Get double duty out of the cinnamon by sprinkling some on each dessert plate and placing the pie slices on top. Top with premade whipped topping, and get double duty out of nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice by sprinkling on the whipped pie topping. If you have a jar of caramel sauce or butterscotch sauce, heat it up with sweetened condensed milk, add that pumpkin pie spice or nutmeg and use the sauce to glaze your pumpkin pie.

* Check prices when buying produce. Frozen can be just as nutritious - and often is less expensive than fresh. Frozen veggies also can be a time-saver. "Buy Brussels sprouts frozen and cut in half," Lee says. Although canned vegetables can be cheaper, she's only a fan of canned corn, hearts of palm and artichokes. Most canned vegetables, she says, are too cooked to use as an ingredient in a dish where they must be cooked further.

If you wonder how Lee has come up with ideas for 16 cookbooks and her Web site, semihomemade.com, just ask her what she'll be serving at her own Thanksgiving. She bubbles over with enthusiasm, offering instructions for a sweet potato souffle as if she's teaching a friend in the kitchen:

"Drain the juice from the can (of sweet potatoes), add brown sugar, melted butter, pumpkin pie spice, chopped pecans and mash, mash, mash, then bake, then top with a thin layer of Marshmallow Fluff and broil."

Marshmallow Fluff might not be the kind of ingredient that's on everyone's short list. But, Lee says, "it's my job to help American families use what's in their pantries. Everyone has beloved products. My job is to give you 10 more ways to use them."

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