Lets talk turkey….

Well, not turkey, exactly.  It’s all about the dessert for Thanksgiving at our house.  I’ve got a new twist on an old favorite, pecan pie.  Last summer I was watching FoodTV, and different chefs were talking about their favorite desserts.  One of the recipes was for pecan pie from Brigsten’s Restaurant in New Orleans. The difference is roasted ground pecans in the filling and a warm caramel sauce.   I found the recipe online, along with a video and posted it on Jan Can Cook back in July.  I was browsing my site the other day and it popped up, here’s the click if you think you might like to try it this year.

And instead of pumpkin pie, I’m thinking about Susan Branch’s Pumpkin Cheesecake.  She gave me permission to post the recipe in my Christmas Recipes Album last year, and it looks wonderful.  She refers to it often, it’s one of her personal favorites.  Here’s the link to it.

Paula Deen also has a pumpkin cheesecake that’s really popular, so it’s a possibility also.  Here’s that  link.

And finally, here are  some videos from my personal fave, Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa.  They run consecutively, so sit back and let her do her thing.  It’s a good time…

I think this woman is just awesome.  She has it all going on, IMO.  She always seems to me to really enjoy her food, and since I never trust a skinny cook, Ina is my girl…  Here’s the click….

This month has gone so quickly, I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is next week already!  If anybody has anything to add to this thread, please do…

~ jan

Your daily dose of cuteness, Maggie Moo…

Hungry Girl’s Egg in a Mug

 

Heads up, girlfriends this is an awesome recipe.  If you like scrambled eggs, you’re going to love this, and it’s under 100 calories!

I posted it on my Eating Right blog, here’s the click.  ~jan

I’ve been out of touch…

Law-dee, girlfriends, I’ve had quite a week.  I couldn’t wait for the new Droid Verizon phone, ordered it at midnight the day it became available, received it Monday, and have been busy misdialing everybody in my contacts list ever since.  Oh my, what a learning curve this has been.

Had it not been for Hooterville, I woulda thrown it under the bus.  But I’m slowly figuring it out, S-L-O-W-L-Y, and  it walks, it talks, it does everything imaginable.  If it wasn’t for that damned “operator error” I’ve got going on, it would be awesome.

Went to our condo association meeting last night, it started belching and spewing noises during the meeting.  Drats, I thought I had put it on silent, but oh no, I had to leave the room to get it to shut up!!!!

And I knew I had to have a rubber cover for it or I would drop it and break it to smithereens, and the only color available was Pepto Bismol pink, so now I’m walking around with this neon colored gizmo that makes strange sounds and every once in a while this deep, rumbling, booming voice goes, DROOOOID…. It scares the beejuses out of me every time it does it, and it’s always happens somewhere in a room of people.  Egads, why is it saying that anyway???

Oh dear, I must look really silly, oh well, won’t be the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last ……    But I think I like it, I really, really like it!!!

The last rose of summer… errrr, November???

We winterized the patio this morning, raked leaves, put pots away, this rose is still blooming, my herbs are in great shape, too.  Pretty amazing for November, isn’t it?

Hey gang, my buddy Roni, is a Celeb-bri-tee!!!!!!

Normally I would post this type of entry on my Eating Right Blog, but some of you don’t follow that blog and I just wanted you all to see Roni.

If you’re not familiar with her, she’s a blogger, a successful at keeping it off Weight Watcher, and a great person.  I visit her GreenLite Bites several times a week and make many of her recipes.  Everything I’ve made has been so good, especially the muffins.  OMG, they are all awesome!

I just finished having her pumpkin pancakes for Sunday brunch, another hit.

A big congrats to Roni, and for those of you who aren’t familiar with her, give her a look.  She is such an inspiration, maybe she will inspire some of you as well.  And yours truly, yep, still slowly losing, down 25 lbs. this morning, since the first of April, and maintaining.  For me that’s key, it’s not the losing, it’s the maintenance. 

And what was the “click for me that made me change my eating habits?” Several of you have asked me.  I would like to say it was a desire to eat healthier, like everybody seems to do these days, but to be honest, I had one of those “oh no” moments after I went to Nisha’s son, Rob’s, wedding.  I thought I looked “okay” but when I saw the pictures I was horrified!  It wasn’t pretty, girlfriends, I was blown up like ‘’effin Poppin Fresh!  One of these days, I’ll man-up and post my own before and after pictures.  I’m old now, I’ll always be thick thru the middle and look my age, so it’s not that great, but it’s sure a heck of a lot better than it was!

Hope you are all enjoying this gawjus fall weather; give my sweet girl, Roni, a click, you won’t be disappointed.  Nope, pinky swear…

~ jan

I’ve got a great site for you this morning….

Hooterville has done it again, she found this site called MaggWire.  It has articles from 650 different magazines.  There is a dropdown menu at the top of the page that lets you choose what interests you.  Try it, it’s an amazing thing.

Here’s the click…

~ jan

It’s Hooterville’s birthday!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Jeanne Lynne!!!!!

Wasn’t she a cutey? 

Love the flip…

Abby, Month 1

 

I’m not sure what format I will be using for Abby’s monthly albums, but for now you can access the first one by just clicking on her picture.  I’ll get it all sorted out soon, I just wanted to get this posted so you all could see how she’s growing. 

I’m not finished with this, it’s a little rough yet, but the natives are getting restless for new pictures, and of course Grammie can’t wait to show her off.  I’ll tweak it tomorrow…

~ jan

Turkey Day Faves are back…

A few years ago I first published Jan & Friends Thanksgiving  Recipes; they’ve been a huge success, so many of you have emailed me to tell you how much you enjoy them.  It was a labor of love, lots of tried ‘n true recipes from my friends, some of which have been handed down for generations. 

A few that get a lot of requests are Jan & Kaysi’s Cranberry Jello Salad, Barb’s Melt in Your Mouth Pumpkin Bread, and Nisha’s Famous Chicken Velvet Soup. If you’re new to the site, and aren’t familiar with the recipes, you might want to give it a click.  You can access them from the right sidebar, and I’ll keep them up all month.  Every single recipe is great, you won’t be disappointed.  Pinkie swear…

~ jan

This is about as good as it gets…

I’ve just figured out what’s been missing in my life.  Abby! 

Oh, this Grammie stuff is so much fun, and she is such a sweet little soul.  I’m having so much fun rocking and cuddling, wish you were all here so you could oooh and aaah with me.

~ jan

Life is good…

I’m going to see Abby today!  Amazing how a three week old granddaughter changes my  mood from gloom to glee!!!

My brain cells are dead, dead, dead…

Okay, so I’m rushing Thaksgiving a bit with the Norman Rockwell picture, but I couldn’t come up with anything else.  Seriously!!

I think any creative juices that I might have had in the past have evaporated.  Looks like it’s ginkgo balboa time for me.    Why do old brains have to shrivel up like old bodies???

Well, aren’t I in a p*ssy mood today…. Geezy Pete, do I ever need an attitude adjustment!

Hugh and his Playboy Bunny…..

 

 

John and Deanna are off to the Bone Bash tonight, an Arthritis Foundation sponsored Halloween party at the Cannery Ballroom in downtown Nashville.  They did such an awesome job with their costumes and had such fun creating the “look.”  I think they did a super job…

That’s sure is a cute little bunny you have there, Hugh…

Love the gray hair, too!

Oh, to be young again and going out for a night on the town! 

Sloppy Joes

I’m finally getting this posted for you the day before Halloween.

It’s my tried ‘n true family recipe for Sloppy Joes.  We always had them at our house when the boys were growing up, they still make them every year.  Sloppy Joes and potato chips, before the trick or treating…

I posted the recipe on Jan Can Cook, so we will always have it.

It’s tried and true ladies, easy, simple, basic, but oh, so GOOD!!!!

Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed, I pinkie swear.  Now if I just had some Reese Cups….

~ jan

Here’s the Click…

H1N1 tips while you are still healthy…

Swine Flu Info

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat.  In a global epidemic of this nature,  it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. 
Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.
While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent  proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very 
simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of  focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach.  Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt).  *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation.  In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one.  Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water.  *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*

5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits).  *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can.  *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction.  They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

Isn’t this a great halloween house?

This house is near downtown Franklin, Tennessee.  We were taking a drive last week when we visited John and Deanna and I snapped this picture.  I wonder where they found these black spiders???  They look awesome climbing up the sides of the house!

Dog falls for cat….

Carlene sent me the link to this video.  Oh, what great afriends these two are, animals are amazing creatures….

 

You know you’re getting old when…

You go thru an old address book from the 80’s and half of the people in it are dead.  Yikes, talk about a reality check!!!!!!

Shoulder pads are back!!!!!

That’s what I’m reading ladies, they’re back!!!!! And if it’s true. I’m  absolutely thrilled. 

Oh my, I bet my buddy V is rolling her eyes right now, she absolutely detested the things, but yours truly was the shoulder pad queen.  I loved, loved, loved them!  In fact I had a whole box full of them that I just pitched a couple of years ago.  Drats!  I should have hung on to them, I knew I should have when hubby talked me into pitching them.  Why do we listen to men anyway, what do they know!

Shoulder pads got a bad rap  largely because they made some of them so oversized that you looked like a linebacker.  But the soft, subtle ones give great structure, and make clothes hang really well.

Oh, I’m doin’ the happy dance here, can’t wait for them to show up in the stores!

Here’s a link if you want to read about them ~

~ jan