Inside the November 2014 Issue of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine

Take a look at the November 2014 Issue of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, on newsstands Oct. 21. 

Your Thanksgiving Weekend Survival Guide, Party Ideas for Autumn Afternoons, Edible Gifts for the Season, Easy and Delicious Pumpkin Recipes, plus…The Totally Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Dinner Plan

A Totally Make-Ahead, Thoroughly Modern Thanksgiving (Page 106): Let this Thanksgiving be your most delicious yet - with an extra side of stress-free. Recipes like maple sage turkey, cream cheese mashers with kale pesto, garlic rosemary dressing or sweet potato cauliflower fritters might sound complicated – but we’ll let you in on a little secret. These delicious dishes and more can be made anywhere from a day, to a week, to a whole month in advance. Faith Durand, make-ahead master and editor of thekitchn.com, refreshes the menu and shares the tips and tricks that make it possible.

Serve Up Thanksgiving Weekend (Page 55): Thanksgiving isn’t just about dinner - there’s a long weekend of togetherness to be had. Start by creating the perfect guest room with the coziness of home and the conveniences of a five-star hotel. Turn to-do lists into assignments for kids to make set-up simple and keep everyone busy. Serve up a buffet of activity options on game day – like puzzles, trivia, and board games - for even non-sports fans to enjoy. Make the most of your leftovers with our twists on turkey sandwiches, frittata recipes, and back seat eats to send with guests on the road. Our family activities and hosting strategies will make your holiday weekend manageable, memorable, and most of all, fun!

Easy Holiday Baking (Page 154): Pumpkin season has arrived, and we can’t get enough. Blogger Joy the Baker spotlights the canned good that keeps on giving with a delectable collection of treats all made from your pantry shelves. Whip up mouth-watering recipes like pumpkin pie with pecan praline topping, salted pumpkin caramel thumbprints, dark chocolate and pumpkin swirl loaf, and pumpkin bars with marcona almonds.

Make and Share (Page 86): Share homemade deliciousness all season long with a few simple gifts you can make in a pinch. Toasted sea salt in a mason jar looks gourmet – but takes minutes to make and requires just a few pantry staples. Accompaniments like herbed nuts in honey or spiced bourbon cherries pair well with appetizers – and easy-to-make syrups like candied ginger, pomegranate-herb, or vanilla-jalapeno varieties can be bottled for cocktail mixers. Add glass jar containers, handwritten tags, a ribbon or kitchen string – and these homemade gifts will look almost too pretty to eat.

Harvest Cheese & Cider Tasting (Page 17): What’s the best recipe for a delicious autumn afternoon? Good friends, a table full of cheese, and a few crisp ciders to pair. Create a casual affair where guests feel comfortable trying a little bit of everything. Place clip-on blackboard signs on a cheese board to let friends know what they’re tasting. Accompany cheese with toppers like chutney, jam or honey that guests can pair with crackers. Pick your ciders wisely, and mix up house specialties like popcorn tossed with dried blueberries, cranberries, roasted hazelnuts, and powdered blue cheese. Artisanal cheese maker and co-owner of Rogue Creamery, David Grimmels, shows us how to set the scene.

Tips on Surviving Holiday Travel on SingleMindedWomen.com

This month on SingleMindedWomen.com, the largest online news destination for singleistas, readers will learn the top tips for successful holiday travel from Escapes Editor Melanie Nayer. Whether it’s how to best navigate crowded airports, vacation bargain hunting and surviving long road trips with the kids, readers will learn how to brave the holiday travel season successfully.  

 

For those flying over the Thanksgiving holiday, Nayer suggest being flexible with travel dates. Some of the larger airlines (US Air, United, Delta and Continental) are charging an extra $10 for holiday fares, but if travelers can leave a few days before Thanksgiving (Sun-Tuesday), you can avoid some extra charges, and a lot of extra chaos at the airport.

 

Some quick tips for holiday travel:

 

For Singles: Pack light, Ladies. The easiest way to get through security this holiday season is to bring next to nothing. Mix-and-match outfits are your best accessory. Hint: Banana Republic has some great non-wrinkle black dresses for under $100 that travel well, and can be worn during the day or for a nice night out.

 

For Parents: There's nothing wrong with a little bribe. What's more stressful than making your way through airport security with the kids in tow mid-meltdown? Keeping the kids from kicking the back of the airplane seat during the coast-to-coast flight. Have a new toy, new book, or 'surprise' in one of your carry-ons to keep kids occupied and excited for the flight. 

 

Involve the kids on holiday travel planning: If you're prepping for a road trip to Grandma's house this holiday season, let the kids help plan the trip. Assigning 'projects' keeps them involved and excited for the long car ride. In addition, let them each choose one car game that they want, and can only be opened once you're on your way. It will get the kids pumped for the ride, and keep them busy.

 

Also featured in November on SingleMindedWomen.com, just in time for Black Friday, readers can get tips on setting a budget for holiday shopping. Think heart not head, when it comes to gift giving, says SingleMindedWomen.com’s money maven, Martin Brown. Give from a place of love, Brown says. The amount of money put toward a gift is not as powerful a factor as the simple expression of caring.

 

Careers

·         Find out how to increase cash flow with tips from a mom entrepreneur.

·         Read about Celebrity Wellness Coach A.J. Johnson in the monthly Single Entrepreneur feature

·         Careers Channel Editor Paula Santonocito dishes on navigating office politics

 

Relationships

·         Relationships Editor Josie Brown writes about the 12 reasons women are not having sex and what they can do about it

·         Women can found out how to keep a lusty libido during menopause

·         Find out if you’re “sexting” proficient 

 

Single Moms

·         The Single Moms Channel will debut the new feature “Single Through Sorrow,” an intimate look at women who’ve lost their spouses

·         Thanksgiving Recipe Contest: Cooking with Mom. Ladies can enter their favorite family recipe and enter to win a $50 gift card

SingleMindedWomen.com provides a place to support and honor a woman's lifestyle choice within a trusted community where women share their views, find inspirational ideas and discover ways to enhance “single life” with topics ranging from travel, health, careers, dating, finances and parenting. 

 

 

Founded by 20-year publishing veteran, Allison O’Connor, who had the same experiences many single women face today—cracking the “old boys” network at work, buying a house on her own, traveling solo both for fun and business, investing for her own retirement, and even having a baby as a single woman, the site seeks to inform as well as entertain, single women like her, and younger ones learning as they go.

  

Founded in 2008, SingleMindedWomen.com is the largest online news source for single women in the U.S. The site features seven channels: Careers, Escapes, Health, Money, Relationships, Single Parenting, and Style.  To learn more, please visit www.singlemindedwomen.com