This is my card from Abby. She’s quite the little writer, and obviously had a lot to say to Grammie. I will treasure this always, it’s dated and tucked away to show to her someday when she’s older. I thought you would all enjoy a smile this Saturday…
It's this time of year again, they only have drink in the stores at holiday time. I've drank it for a couple of years now, ever since my buddy V told me about it. The diet version is sometimes hard to find, but worth looking for. This stuff is wonderful!
~ jan
We were tucked into this cabin up a winding mountain road, complete with a mountain stream in the back yard. We had wonderful weather, sunny, 60’s, it couldn’t have been better, but…
John, the firemaster, burnt almost a cord of wood. As I mentioned in my last post, the fire was blazing nonstop, and remember, our weather was in the 60’s! So we turned on the air conditioner, opened doors and windows, the dogs panted and drank a lot of water, and we made numerous trips to the back porch to sit in the swing and cool down. But I must admit, that boy does know how to build a roaring fire!
They took pictures of me and hubby, despite the fact that I’m a firm believer that nobody over the age of fifty should ever have their picture taken.
John and Deanna, however, looked adorable. This was taken our last evening in downtown Gatlinburg. Hubby and I sat and people watched, with Maggie on my lap. Since it was my birthday weekend, the family couldn’t argue with me when I took Maggie everywhere with me. She went in restaurants, shops, tucked into her little Sherpa bag. And why did I take her? Because I’m a worrier, and I was afraid somebody would break into the cabin and take her, or that John would burn the place down with his fires.
Izzie and Mollie stayed behind, and I know it sounds terrible, leaving them and taking Maggie, but you all know she is the chosen dog child. We did take the others doggie treats to compensate.
We played Gin Rummy, Scrabble, Mexican Dominoes, and Deanna and I took turns sitting by that roaring fire, reading trashy romance novels. We cooked on a temperamental stove, with burners that would either be blazing hot or icy cold, but we managed. We baked the most wonderful molasses cookies, a recipe I will share with you on Jan CAN Cook, and we had bags of caramel corn that I had sealed with my trusty FoodSaver, and it was totally fresh, despite the humidity, but I won’t get started on that again, I’ve bored you all to tears with my FoodSaver stories.
It was a special birthday, a great Thanksgiving, and a wonderful time. I missed Ryan and his family, but I was glad that Lindsay got to spend time with her family and we will all be together at Christmas.
I’ll get that recipe for those cookies posted for you soon, they were so good, even better than the one we’ve always used.
~ jan
Update: I just posted the molassses cookie recipe, you can access it here
I’ve been reading online about fried egg salads. I’ve been having computer “issues” and dinnertime came last night, I was drawing a blank, and since LC will eat anything I put in front of him I pulled out bacon and eggs from the fridge to make breakfast for dinner.
As I was scrambling the eggs, I remembered the fried egg salad recipe and decided to try the salad with scrambled eggs, resulting in one of the best salads I’ve ever made. I topped my greens with Catalina, topped it with crumbled bacon and the scrambled egg, and it was love at first bite.
Crisp, cold salad, warm egg, sweet dressing, salty bacon, rings of red onion, Law-dee ladies, is this a winner!
I’m on round two of vacuum sealing my salads, and I’m totally hooked. It’s so easy to grab one of these out of the fridge, pour the dressing right in the jar, shake and serve.
I’ve learned a few things I’ll share with you and then I’ll shut up about this, well maybe I will.
This time I used a head of iceberg lettuce and six small heads of artisan lettuce, which is really tender, we’ll see how that works out. I added celery, carrots and radishes, and had a total of seven quarts.
I’ve been adding nuts, Craisins, and fruit, long with protein, to this mix. Today I’m going to try toasting oatmeal and sprinkling it on my salad, I don’t know how that will work, but it’s healthy so I’m going to test it. I need to buy some flax seed, too, that would be a good addition. I’m reading that people are adding Fiber One Cereal to salads for crunch, can’t quite wrap my head around doing that, though…
Yes, I’m still obsessing, I know. Be patient with me, it will pass, it always does
I was talking to Nisha this morning, gushing about sealing food in jars, and she asked me if I had always been this way? Super excited, well more like obsessive, about new things I’m trying. V and I laugh about it, too, I get so caught up in the latest and greatest, and then the next thing comes along and my aging brain forgets all about the last latest and greatest and I’m off to something else.
BUT, trust me, this FoodSaver sealing in a jar thing is a keeper. Mother always taught me to store foods in the fridge and freeze in glass, it doesn’t pick up odors, it doesn’t stain, it just works best. And I have all of these glass containers that I use, however, they don’t seal, therefore the food doesn’t stay fresh as long.
So I’ve turned into a one woman sealing machine. See this picture, it’s bacon, yep, bacon. You know how you open a package of bacon and it turns brown and dries out, even though you have it in a Ziploc, well no more. I just stuck my bacon in a quart jar and sealed it up.
Today I found large mouth pint jars, no easy task, as canning season is over and the stores aren’t stocking them, but my local Rural King had them, so I’m good to go.
I popped a quart of salad for lunch, took out some cannelini beans, put the rest in this jar and sealed them. You’re probably thinking, why would she do this, she isn’t going to keep them long term? Well, it’s fast, it’s quick, it keeps them fresher, and it’s glass people. Love this – L-O-V-E this! Now I need some wide mouth half pint jars and I’m good to go. I don’t bother putting the rings on the jars, that’s just another step, and you don’t need them, these lids are totally sealed. I learned online to take a small screwdriver, put it at the top of the highest glass ring mark, jut under the lid, give it a half turn and the lid comes off without bending it, and you can reuse it again and again. Oh, the possibilities….
And my lunch today, well let me tell you, it was so good. I opened a quart of salad, squirted a heaping tablespoon of yellow mustard on top, then I added packet of Splenda, salt, and pepper, a splash of olive oil and a healthy glug of fat free half and half and squeezed half an orange over the top. I put on the lid, shook the jar until it was combined, poured it in my salad bowl, added the beans, and a can of drained tuna and tossed. Delicious, easy, fast, see I’m obsessing. But this is the best thing I’ve come across in like forever!!!! Now that I have my pint jars I’m going to attack my pantry and put all kinds of things in pints. Yes, I know, obsessing…
Oh, I totally forgot to tell you how the salad is working. It’s perfect, crispy, cold, not brown, the only thing I will do different next time is not add onion, because it’s such a strong flavor the lettuce takes on the taste. Hubby wanted salad for dinner last night, it was ready for him to eat in 30 seconds. It’s the damndest thing!!!
~ jan here, doin’ the happy dance
I’ve been over Oprah for years now, but my friends and I always enjoy her favorite things, and even though she no longer has a show, she still has a list.
Here’s the link if you’re interested, I found not one thing that I would buy, it’s sure not like the good old days, but then what is….
You can check it out here, see if you have better luck than me, the only thing that floated my boat was the chicken pot pie, and Marie Callender makes a great one for a better price, so forget that, too…
Okay, so the poor ole feller has a bit of trouble with one of his ears turning loose, but this is so cool!
I made my friend Barb’s Creole Burgers yesterday and they were awesome.
Read all about them and get the recipe on Jan CAN Cook.
Another great Sloppy Joe recipe, I’m a happy girl…
~ jan
Last week I told you about my FoodSaver not working and my eBay purchase of another one. It arrived yesterday, brand new with tape and cardboard still intact, so of course I fired it up immediately and it worked perfectly.
So this morning I got up, assembled my ingredients and I was off to the races.
I used two heads of iceberg lettuce that I washed, chopped and spun dry in the salad spinner. They don’t recommend you use baby bibb or spring greens, they’re too tender and don’t last as well, romaine and iceberg work best. Then I used the slicing blade of the salad shooter to quickly shred all of the other veggies.
Then I gave it all a quick toss to combine all the ingredients in the mixing bowl, which by the way is the greatest, cheapest thing ever. This huge stainless bowl came from a local restaurant supply house, cost less than $10 and I use it so much, it’s awesome!
I started using a funnel to fill the jars, quickly realized that it was a pain, it was easier to just position the jar over the salad bowl and scoop the greens with a measuring cup. Hubby doesn’t like green peppers, so I only added them to some of the jars and I didn’t add soft ingredients like cucumbers, tomatoes, or mushrooms as I’ve read that they don’t hold well. I also used a regular stainless knife to chop my lettuce, even though I have a plastic lettuce knife, there is “supposedly” no need to use it as the lettuce doesn’t turn brown and I’m not a fan of tearing it because I like a finer texture and it’s hard to achieve when tearing it.
Then I wiped off the tops of the jars to make sure they were dry so that the seal would hold and I was ready to vacuum seal them. It was really fast, really easy, it only took twenty seconds per jar to seal. And no, there is nothing running down the front of the FoodSaver, it’s just shadows from the jars ;o)
And how long did this take? From the time I started assembling my ingredients until I put them in the fridge, thirty-five minutes start to finish and I have enough salad to last me for seven days. And this was the first try, I’m thinking next time it won’t take as long as today because I’ll know what I’m doing. One mess per week and enough salad to last for days, works for me…
I just bought this silicone whisk at either Marshall’s or T. J. Maxx a few weeks ago, both of our stores had a big display of them.
Oh my, what a difference a flexible whisk makes, it gets into all the nooks and crannies of your bowl, it’s just amazing.
You can find them online, too – HERE IS ONE SITE if you don’t want to trudge through the stores looking for them. They’re a little more spendy online, I only paid like $5.99 for mine. But check around, they are all over the place. Super little gadget!!!
In my twenties I was a Merle Norman girl. I bought all of their products, and they looked amazing on my young skin. Then came Clinique and I jumped on that bandwagon. For years I used their moisturizer, toner, makeup base, shadow, blush, even their cologne. All the way through my thirties and forties I was a Clinique girl. Then came my fifties, and I’m realizing that moisture is moisture, so I started using drugstore moisturizer instead of the pricey department store stuff. Now I still have brand loyalty to certain products, I’m a huge MAC fan, but that’s a whole other blog.
Anyway, the drugstore stuff worked great for me, I can’t even remember which brands I bought, but they were inexpensive. Then I turned sixty and discovered the little pots of Aldi’s moisturizer, which was awesome and only cost a few dollars and ranked right up there with department store brands in consumer tests.
So now I’m using baby lotion as a moisturizer. Do you think I’ve come full circle? Hey, it works, it’s cheap, and at my age, regardless of what I slather on, it’s not going to turn back time. Just push down on the pump and you’re good to go. Nothing to unscrew or squeeze, it’s fast, no mess, and at this stage of my life I appreciate anything that’s easy to use.
I wonder what I’ll be using in my seventies? I have no idea, I may be using Udder Cream or Bag Balm, but if I have enough brain cells left to still blog, I’m sure I’ll be telling you about it.
Hope you’re all having a great Monday!
~ jan
Note: After I posted this I started thinking, and I imagine a lot of you are saying, well this won’t work for me because I use moisturizers that have built in wrinkle-reducing ingredients. I’ve had prescriptions for .025 strength Retin A since I was in my 30’s, and been diligent about using it all these years, so I don’t need additional ingredients in a moisturizer.
I was going through my blog archives, and it’s really shocking how many years I’ve been doing this, and all the really stupid things I’ve said. My poor family…
This week I heard from a nice lady named Holly who has been reading me for quite some time now, it was so nice to get her email, because blogging is such a solitary thing, I just type out whats on my mind and hit send, having no idea of who is going to read what I say.
My friend, Diane, told me this past week that she enjoys the blogs about my childhood. She can relate to those posts, because her early years were similar to mine. Feedback is good, it’s nice when people let me know their thoughts, heaven knows I give all of you way to many of mine. ;o)
I suppose that my blogs will remain in cyberspace for years to come, and I wonder what Abby will think about her grammie when she’s grown and reads some of these entries. I seldom filter anything, I just start typing and whatever thought pops in my head ends up on here. Maybe I should be a bit more selective, but nah, by the time Abby is old enough to read all of this, she will have long figured out that I’m her wackadoo grandmother.
So I’ll just keep on keepin’ on, spinning my wheels, going nowhere. But perhaps occasionally I will give you a smile, or some good information. That’s my purpose, that’s what keeps me doing this…
No, no, not Trigger, it’s Jean and Roy Rogers. Roy was a hundred today, Jean was a few years behind him. Okay, quite a few, but she is older than me. Happy Birthday, old friend, I hope you have many, many more…
These little plastic tulip sundae dishes are a great find. They are usually in stock at Walgreens, and at holiday time they have them in red and green.
You’re probably wondering why I’m showing you these, what’s so special about plastic bowls? Well, first of all they are like $.49 apiece, and they are the best thing ever when I’m in the kitchen baking. I guess I’ve watched too much FoodTV, but I always measure my different ingredients into little containers before stirring whatever I’m baking together.
Okay, I confess, it’s not entirely FoodTV, it’s mainly so that I don’t forget to add something. I have glass ramekins, and FiestaWare ramekins, but they’re bulky and heavy, these are lightweight, stack easily, grab one and you’re good to go. I have a ton of them, and I use them for all kinds of things. They’re the perfect size for little hands when you are fixing a snack for little people, I use them for coleslaw, potato salad and baked beans, and they’re perfect for a scoop of ice cream, or a serving of pudding or Jello. They’re unbreakable, dishwasher safe, you’ll find a boatload of uses for them. You won’t want to trot them out when Aunt Martha comes to visit, save the cut glass for when she comes, but for everyday use, you can’t beat these!
You might want to check the seasonal aisle next time you are in Walgreens, I think I’ve seem them at Wally World, too. I know, they’re plastic, but they’re goodies, pinky swear they are…
~ jan
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