A Plentiful Pantry

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend, and so I’ve come up to Canada to celebrate the holiday with friends at a cottage on a lake in Ontario. Thanksgiving is truly one of the nicest holidays of the year. I have so much to be thankful for and acknowledging this feel good and right. I love that Canadian Thanksgiving happens in October. It makes sense. October is a more appropriate time of year in Canada for the harvest; by the time November rolls around, Canada is often snow-covered and we’re not thinking so much about the year’s bounty. October is also so beautiful, with the leaves changing into every shade of red, yellow and orange. Finally, October is several weeks away from the end of the year holidays, and as such feels restful and relaxing.

And so, here I am, up in Canada, thankful for all that I have been blessed with. When I sit to think about it, what I am most grateful for are the beings in my life – for my loved ones, my friends and family, for the people I will share this weekend with, and for my beloved dogs who will have the time of their life at the cottage over the next few days.

Thanksgiving is also all about food and cooking, sharing a meal with those you love. That’s right up my alley, as a lover of all things edible and their preparation. And so, it is a toss up. Heading up to the cottage, do I want to spend time in the kitchen making big dinners, fabulous lunches, and delicious desserts? Or do I want to spend time with my beautiful dogs running around the woods, catching up with friends on the dock? The answer is… a little of both. So, my friends and I have planned out all the meals and will cook together making great dinners and tasty lunches.  Even breakfasts are going to be spectacular. This morning however, my friend Suzanne wrote to me to say that she had no plans for Saturday night dessert. Neither of us wanted to add another kitchen task to the weekend, but I had an answer.

Last January at the gift show in Atlanta, Georgia, I came across a set of eye-catching desserts by a company called Plentiful Pantry. There were a number of things that immediately drew me into checking out these desserts. The first was their packaging. The boxes that these dessert mixes came in was so pretty, so gift-able, even collectable and reusable for other things. Each box that the different desserts came in resembled the flavor of the dessert – the pumpkin cobbler box looked a little like a pumpkin, the apple crisp box looked like an apple, etc… The next thing that struck a cord with me was that these desserts were not just plain box mixes. They needed just a few extra basic ingredients in order to be made – things you would have in your pantry.  They were a helping hand in the kitchen and were perfect for people who want to cook from scratch, but don’t have the time or possibly the inclination to do so. Then, the clincher… I tasted them. Outstanding! Anyone who knows me, knows that I like everything edible except for two things – I’m not fond of pumpkin and I really don’t like marshmallows. The sample I was given to taste was Pumpkin Cobbler.  Uh-oh. I have to tell you, however … I really really liked it!  That’s the first time I’ve loved anything to do with pumpkin. It looked homemade and tasted homemade. I moved on to the Apple Crisp and the Key Lime Cheesecake Bars. Plentiful Pantry had a set of winners…

And so, ten months later, I’m lucky enough to share these desserts with you on QVC (Tuesday, October 9th 3pm ET). On Tuesday, Canadian Thanksgiving will be over, but American Thanksgiving is just around the corner and these desserts are perfect for that holiday – they are autumnal, beautiful, and tasty. They can be given as housewarming gifts in their boxes, or they can be brought to a dinner as a quick and easy but delicious dessert – a dessert with a homemade look, a homemade taste, but none of the time it usually takes to create that. They are the perfect solution to my Saturday night this Thanksgiving weekend.