Small steps can help reduce your family’s carbon footprint during the holidays
DeSoto, Kan. (September 25, 2008) – The average American generates 20 tons of carbon dioxide – a heat-trapping greenhouse gas – every year, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). To offset your carbon footprint this holiday season, it’s important to make planet-friendly choices, including at the grocery store. For instance, Chinet Classic White and Chinet Casuals Plates are disposable tableware made from 100 percent pre-consumer recycled material, material that would otherwise go into a landfill.
Perfect for entertaining, Chinet Classic White and Chinet Casuals are certified chlorine-free and are biodegradable in home composting. The process takes about 60 days and the end result is a great base for your flower or vegetable garden. Both lines are microwave safe and available in a variety of sizes.
Setting the table with Chinet this holiday season
This holiday season, visit www.mychinet.com for great entertaining tips and recipes including:
Holiday Hot Toddy
2 whole tangerines
½ cup whole cloves
3 quarts pure, unsweetened cranberry juice
2 cups sugar
3 cups amber rum, if desired
Cut tangerines crosswise into ¼-inch-thick rounds and remove seeds. Stud rind of each tangerine round with 4 or 5 cloves. In a large saucepan simmer cranberry juice, tangerine rounds, and sugar, covered, 5 minutes and stir in rum. Serve toddies with clove-studded tangerine rounds in Chinet Comfort Cups.
Holiday Ham Steak with Peach Glaze
1 cup peach marmalade
¼ cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 ham steaks, each 1-inch thick
Stir together the preserves, maple syrup, ancho powder and orange juice in a medium bowl. Heat grill to high. Grill the steaks for 4 to 5 minutes on both sides, keeping the grill covered to heat through. Baste with the glaze every few minutes. Slice and serve on Chinet Classic White Plates.
Perfect Roast Turkey
1 whole 14 to 16 pound frozen young turkey
1 cup kosher salt
½ cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
½ tablespoon allspice berries
½ tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water
1 whole red apple, sliced
½ whole onion, sliced
1 whole cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil
To make Brine, combine kosher salt, light brown sugar, vegetable stock, black peppercorns, allspice berries and candied ginger in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Early on the day of cooking (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in a cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining. A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and a cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine. Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add the apple mixture to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil. Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 ½ hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
Grand Cranberry Relish
2 lbs fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
¼ cup Grand Marnier liqueur
1 whole orange, zested and juiced
Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor, pulse several times to break down the cranberries and incorporate the ingredients; it should still be a bit chunky. Allow the cranberry relish to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, so the flavors can marry.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie
8 ounces packaged cream cheese, softened
2 cup canned pumpkin, mashed
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg combined with
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup half-and-half
¼ cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger, optional
1 piece pre-made pie dough
Whipped cream, for topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a 9-inch pie pan and press down along the bottom and sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is beginning to color. For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, and beat until incorporated. Pour the filling into the warm prepared piecrust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.
For more information about sustainability efforts, visit www.mychinet.com/environment. For more holiday recipe ideas, visit www.mychinet.com/recipes.
About the Chinet Brand
Made in America since the 1930s, Chinet disposable tableware has a long history of making strong plates and even stronger memories as friends and family gather. Chinet products give you the strength and style you depend on with the added piece of mind knowing you’re using environmentally friendly products. For more information about Chinet and its family of products, visit www.mychinet.com.
About Huhtamaki
Established in 1920 as a specialty packaging organization, Huhtamaki provides many of the world’s most recognizable consumer goods packaging and foodservice containers, including the retail line of Chinet premium disposable tableware. For more information about Huhtamaki, visit www.us.huhtamaki.com.
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Editors Note: Photos available by contacting jenna@snackboxlabs.com.
For more information, contact:
Jenna Gruhala | Snackbox | 773.715.0879
jenna@snackboxlabs.com | AIM: N20Jenna
