Holiday food is always fun, unless of course it's your last meal and you're on death row eating it right before Christmas. That can't be fun. Now with that said, to change the subject, what does a log cabin, a snowman, a sleigh, penguins and an igloo have in common? You probably said, "Snow or cold weather." Okay, you're right, but when you're through reading this blog you'll be able to say, "Holiday Food."

Let's start with the log cabin. It's a pepperoni log cabin. It was inspired by the witch's words in Hansel and Gretel, "Nibble, nibble on my house, who is nibbling like a mouse?"

To make the cabin, you'll need a loaf of white bread, eight sticks of pepperoni about 12" long, a package of sliced pepperoni, a package of cream cheese and a cup of Fage (Greek yogurt). To make the mortar, mix a cup of cream cheese with a cup of yogurt and season to your taste by adding garlic powder, onion powder and salt (stay away from any colored spices as you'll want the mortar to be white).

Cut the pepperoni sticks in half for the six" logs, cut off the rounded part of two slices of bread (so you have squares) for the roof and put them in the oven at 200 degrees to dry them out. Cut the crusts off four slices of the bread and cut them into squares theyt will fit into the middle of the cabin for support. (You'll need more support for the roof and you can use more slices of bread cut smaller and smaller, or a roll works nicely.) Build your log cabin using the mortar mixture (don't even try to put slots into the logs so they fit together, you're going to eat the thing, not live in it). 

To make the roof, put the dried bread slices in place using the mortar mixture for "glue" and dab a little mortar on the pepperoni slices (shingles) and starting at the bottom of each slice, lay the shingles on in rows right up to the peak. (Be liberal with the mortar.) Use cherry tomatoes to adorn the peak of the roof. Use cauliflower around the cabin (it sorta looks like bushes covered in snow.)

SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) have to be very cautious when any big holiday comes around and Thanksgiving is no exception. The excitement accompanied by our amazing creative abilities can send us to places that make great material for sitcoms, full-length movies and can't-put-down novels. If you don’t want to slip over the holiday edge this year, the following DON’Ts will help you think twice before you make any festive moves.

By the way, that's a fake turkey that matches my fake smile. I use that turkey as one of my festive holiday decorations. It's been know to make a visitor's mouth water. Fake apples, oranges and lettuce. Real hair.