Your Month-to-Month Guide to Great Sales Any Time of Year

Our son lives for Black Friday and Cyber Monday every year. And understandably so, the bargains—they are a plenty! Thanksgiving Day at our house is spent eating, visiting with family and friends, and pouring over the tantalizing ads promising great deals on everything you could possibly want to buy.

Then comes January and the opportune shopping season is seemingly over—no more big markdowns, no more incredible savings—at least until the same time next year.

However, shoppers don't realize there are well-established sales throughout the year. There are ideal times to buy particular items. With the Super Bowl around the corner, you'll see a slew of ads swearing that prices on big-screen TVs have never been better, which may be the case, at least until the next Black Friday rolls around.

But it's far from only televisions you can save on throughout the year. The holidays are about wants. The rest of the year is about needs. Here's what you need to know about what to buy each month:

The Best Gifts For Globetrotters

You may not be able to give the gift of exotic trips to all of the special people in your lives this holiday season. But helping them savor travel memories and plan for a future trip is definitely in the budget. I've put together a list of globe-trotting goods for this holiday season, none priced at more than $110. It includes innovations everything from hi-tech waterproof Bluetooth speakers to ultralight bags that convert from backpacks to duffels.

4-in-1 Adapter

This handy Lego-like tool snaps together four plugs and one adapter to power up gadgets in 150 countries. The red, blue, yellow, and green components correspond to a color-coded map to help you quickly determine the parts needed based on your destination. This is a real find! Flight 001; $25.00.

The Perfect Pound Cake

10 Steps to The Perfect Pound Cake

Having tried and failed for YEARS to place with my Pound Cake at the State Fair of Texas, I figured, what's the point....how much rejection can one woman take? It is incredibly hard to place with a Pound Cake, ask any of the women who have spent years banging their heads against the proverbial 'oven door'! 

You may think I'm nuts, but this is what I LOVE about the food competitions at our state fair. Spending twenty plus years gleaning knowledge from some of the best cooks in Texas. The spirited competition is only surface deep, none of the competitor's are out for blood, just a lot of gentle kidding. To be sure we want to win that blue ribbon but we take joy when our friends win for their efforts as well. 

I've said it before, but here it is again if you missed it......these food competitions taught me how to cook, or at least to be a more skilled cook. Visiting with the older members of our close knit group, asking questions, taking to heart that they also had to pay their dues back in the day. Which brings us back to the Pound Cake and that elusive blue ribbon. After twelve years of listening to these wise women and applying their knowledge, I FINALLY WON THAT BLUE RIBBON for Pound Cake! Over the years I slowly picked up the following tips on how to bake the Perfect Pound Cake, I gladly pass them onto you, enjoy!

1. Prepare the recipe as directed using name-brand ingredients. Store brands of sugar are often more finely ground than name brands, yielding more sugar per cup, which can cause the cake to fall. Store brands of butter may contain more liquid fat and flours more hard wheat, making the cake heavy.

2. Measure accurately. Be sure to use dry measuring cups for flour and sugar. Spoon flour into the cups and lightly level with the straight edge of a small offset spatula or knife. Extra sugar or leavening causes a cake to fall; extra flour makes it dry.

3. Have ingredients at room temperature.

4. Beat softened butter, and cream cheese or vegetable shortening, at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until light and fluffy. These steps are important because they whip air into the cake batter so it will rise during baking. Should take you at least 5 minutes.

5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until the yolk disappears. Over beating the eggs may cause the batter to overflow the sides of the pan when baked or create a fragile crust that crumbles and separates from the cake as it cools.

6. To prevent the batter from curdling, always add the dry ingredients alternately with the liquid, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until blended after each addition. Over mixing the batter once the flour has been added creates a tough, rubbery cake.

7. Be sure to use the correct type of cake pan. Pound cake recipes calling for a tube pan won’t always fit in a Bundt pan. I learned this the HARD WAY! Although both may measure 10 inches in diameter, each holds a different amount of batter. The same pound cake recipe rises and bakes differently in each pan. When unsure of size, use a cup measure to fill the cake pan with water.

8. Grease cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, such as Crisco, and always dust with flour—a slippery surface keeps the batter from rising to its full volume.

9. Place the cake pan in the center of the oven, and keep the oven door closed until the minimum baking time has passed. If the cake requires more baking, gently close the oven door as soon as possible after testing to prevent jarring and loss of heat—both can cause a cake to fall.

10. After removing from the oven, place the pound cake, still in the pan, on a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. This allows the cake to become firm enough to remove from the pan without breaking apart. I also learned this the hard way! Remove pound cake from pan to wire rack, and brush with a sugar glaze.....CRUCIAL!  This ensures a moist pound cake. I brush ALL of my cakes with some sort of glaze....ALWAYS. Let your cake cool completely.

Using these good and sensible tips try your hand at.........

My Blue Ribbon Pound Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, I use Crisco sticks
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 eggs, room temp
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup milk, room temp
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

GLAZE INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

WHAT TO DO

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together.
• Add sugar, a little at a time.
• Add eggs, 1 at a time, just barely mixing until you can no longer see the yolk.
• Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk; starting and ending with the flour. 
• Pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan. 
• Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes while you make the glaze. For the glaze, bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Brush warm cake with glaze until it's all gone. Let the cake cool completely before slicing and serving.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together.

Add sugar, a little at a time.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, just barely mixing until you can no longer see the yolk.

Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk,

starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes while you make the glaze. For the glaze, bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Brush warm cake with glaze until it's all gone. Let the cake cool completely before slicing and serving.

Try your hand at this traditional pound cake....

.......you'll be glad ya did!

ENJOY!

~THE DOMESTIC CURATOR~

RONDA