Black Bean Salsa

I'm sorry that I have been so behind on posting some of the recipes from the Hello Muddah Crop that I've been promising y'all. This is one that I've gotten a bunch of requests for, so here is the first recipe.

Black Bean Salsa (from my friends Karen & Tom R.)

Ingredients
1 can black beans drained
1 can black eyed peas drained
1 can white corn drained
Small jar of pimentos (I didn't use)
1 green pepper chopped or any color
1 red onion chopped (I used half of a large red onion)

In a pan, combine 1 cup olive oil or any other oil, I cup sugar and 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar.
Heat until the sugar melts.
Pour over the other ingredients and soak overnight. Drain before serving with chips.

Jen's notes: You can EASILY half the oil, sugar and vinegar. This will make less marinade, so you'll have to stir it more so that the flavor soaks in really well.

Enjoy!!

Art A La Carte Crafting Event

Announcing my first "monthly" crops up here in Pennsylvania!

All of the information is below in a flier. Please feel free to read, print, share, forward to anyone and everyone you might think is interested!

The event will be held at the Mainesburg Community Center and you MUST pre-register and pre-pay to attend.

I'll be serving a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack and dinner. Drinks will be provided all day long. I'll be doing a fun, unique make-n-take featuring some cool products and techniques. You will have the opportunity to order the products featured in the make-n-take. I'll also set up a swap table. To participate in the swap table, you bring in some of your own gently used products (stickers, papers, magazines, etc.) and place on the table. Then if you need something during the crop, you can go to the swap table and "shop" from it for something you need/want equal to what you put down. If there is anything left at the end of the crop on the swap table (unclaimed items) I'll donate them to the local Hospice.

Below the flier is the REGISTRATION FORM. You need to click on the image and print it out. Just fill it out and send it to me with your check. Or, if you live close by, drop it by either home or at my work!

Cannot wait for all the FUN!!

Hello Muddah 2012 Menu

Hi all!

I've listened to your requests for menu suggestions and here is the list of the yummy things we'll be eating in just a few short weeks!

Thursday
Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwich, Veggie Chips, Orange Slices, Cookie
Mocktail Hour: Planter's Punch “Mocktail’, Spinach & Cheese Spirals and Saucy Meatballs (regular and veggie) (You'll need to bring dark rum if you want to spike your own punch!)
Dinner: Veggie Chili, Cornbread & Chocolate Cola Cake with Fluffy Frosting

Friday
Breakfast: Canoli French Toast with syrup & Sausage (regular & veggie)
Lunch: Shredded Pork Tacos with toppings, Black Bean Salsa, Chips & Tres Leches Macaroons
Snack: Strawberry Chocolate Bruchetta
Dinner: Chicken Parmesan over Linguini, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread & Chocolate Mousse with Whipped Cream

Saturday
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs & Cheese, Grits, Hash Browns & Biscuits with Jen’s homemade jams & jellies
Lunch: Grilled Hot Dogs with Chili, Sauerkraut & toppings, Loaded Baked Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob & Apple Cheddar Turnovers
Snack: Pita Wedges with Homemade French Onion Dip
Dinner: Bourbon BBQ Chicken, Corn Spoon Bread, Assorted Roasted Veggies, Dinner Roll & Malted Milk Ball Blondie Brownies
Late Night Snack: Popcorn and Rootbeer Floats

Sunday
Breakfast: Yogurt, Granola & Fruit Parfaits
Lunch: Golden Gate Grilled Turkey & Cheese Sandwich, Sherried Tomato Soup, Chips & Southern Pecan Crisps

Again, I post this menu to let you know what we'll be serving so that if something isn't to your liking you'll know in advance. If you need a little 'fridge space or to heat someting up, just let us know at check-in. The town is located about 20 minutes away so fast food isn't all that fast. As a lacto-ovo vegetarian, I always have a veggie version of the same meal available, please let me know ASAP if you are also a vegetarian and I can make sure to have ample.

Thanks and see you all soon!

Contest Winners!

The question was: Which is my favorite Christmas song/artist from my PlayList and there were 3 entries. Just 3! And sadly not one of y'all guessed correctly. They were great guesses, but my favorite is: Elf's Lament by the Barenaked Ladies. I LOVE that song! I play it over and over! Charles on the other hand is very sick of that song!

BUT, since I LOVE to give out prizes and there were only 3 of y'all who guessed....EVERYBODY GETS A PRIZE. Ella gets a prize (she posted on FB), Janie gets a prize and Laura gets a prize! Please just email me in private with your address and I'll get something fun out to you soon. I do believe y'all will be getting a prize winning jar of jam or jelly in your prize box!

Thanks for playing!

First EVER...blog give-away!

I love Christmas music! Love it VERY much. It is a huge task for me not to start playing holiday music before Thanksgiving. So, I cheated this year and started playing Christmas songs a few days early and have updated my blog with my Christmas Playlist (on the side, in green). I have LOTS of favorite songs, but only one REAL stand out that I listen to over, and over, and over and over...until Charles puts the 'ole kibosh on it! My favorite song is listed in my Playlist, sooo....

...here is the BLOG GAME/GIVE AWAY:

You'll have to do two things, first pick which song and artist you think is my favorite and second you have to read the "How to Build a Community" poster on the sidebar. Post a comment on this post stating
YOUR FIRST NAME,
THE SONG THAT YOU THINK IS MY FAVORITE and
YOUR FAVORITE DIRECTIVE FROM THE "COMMUNITY" POSTER.

The first person to guess it correctly AND have all three things in their post will be sent a HOMEMADE goody (or two) from me! Your goody will be a surprise. It might be something holiday-ish, something practical or something to eat! Never know, but it'll be GOOD!

Have fun, enjoy the music and GOOD LUCK!

I Hate My Coat!

We have had a nice, warm fall. Not a lot of cool days, hardly any snow. But last night that changed. It snowed and the temperatures dropped overnight. I do not have many winters under my belt, but I have started to dread the arrival of snow and lower temperatures. Not because I am not liking winter itself, but because I HATE MY WINTER COAT!!

Back in 2004 we were planning our Christmas trip to London and Paris and being a true Floridian, I didn't own a proper winter coat. In hindsight I realize that I made two critical errors in my coat purchasing decision:

1) There are no stores in Florida that would stock the kind of coat that I needed, so I was forced to order on-line-which means that I couldn't try it on.
2) My husband's advice was the only advice that I sought out for the specific things that I needed to look for in a proper winter coat. He gave me a list of things that I "needed" in a winter coat. Things that I've never considered like "thermal lined", "sealed seams", "temperature rating" & "storm flap".

Because I always try to look for the positives, I CAN say some nice things about my coat:

1) It is nice and warm.
2) It's black, so it matches everything.

That's it. That is all I have in me to say nice about my blasted coat!!

Let me tell you about this coat and just why I hate it so...

First of all, it is water-proof. Have you ever worn water-proof clothes? They are stiff and make noise. My jacket's material sticks out in all directions, it crumples in odd spots and when I move it rubs on itself, so it makes a scrunchy sound. Yuck.

Second, it's zipper goes up VERY high. I suppose that the collar is high on purpose so that it keeps one's neck warm, but I have a short person's neck and that bloody zipper, that if it went all the way up, it would fall just about a 1/2" shy of my forehead. So, I fold the collar down and zip up to just my neck. This makes the excess collar stick straight up and pokes my cheeks. Honestly! It pokes my cheeks! Nice...

Third, it has elastic sleeves, an elastic waist and lots of "thermal" protection (padding). These three things combined, on this plus-sized gal, makes me look like the Michelin Man out and about, wearing a water-proof, black coat. I've destroyed every photo of me in that coat.

Fourth, it is a jacket and not really a coat, so it can NEVER go from throwing snowballs in the yard to a casual dinner out. In other words-It's UGLY!!!

Fifth, it was expensive. This is why I have not parted with it yet. Yet...

I am happy to say that this weekend I am going coat shopping! I am headed to Burlington Coat Factory in Horseheads and am gonna come home with a proper winter coat that I don't give the squink eye to whenever I take it from the closet. And if it happens to not be water-proof (AKA-snow proof) then I'm gonna put a rain poncho in my car and if I ever need to be 100% waterproof, then I'll slip it on over my beautiful new coat and jump into a impromptu snowball fight!

AND...some unsuspecting, plus-sized gal is going to be shopping the racks of the Goodwill in the near future and see a black, water-proof, Land's End coat on the rack and say, "Oooh! This is a nice coat! Wonder why someone got rid of it?" To her I say, "Good Luck and I hope that the zipper-in-the-cheek thing doesn't drive you too crazy!"

Remembering...

Today is a day we remember what happened 10 years ago. Everyone has different thoughts, feelings, remembrances of this shared experience. But last night I got to look at this event from a very different perspective. Thanks to a dish that wasn't communicating too well with it's satellite, I had limited choices on TV to watch and I picked the History channel. They were running a 9/11 special which was called "Voices from Inside the Towers". It featured recordings from people stuck in/evacuating from/headed into the towers and recollections from their loved ones. It was sad and hard to watch. But it did have a simple and ultimately uplifting message. One that reminded me of a quote from one of my all-time favorite movies, Love Actually. (It is at the beginning of the movie, in a voice-over done by the fictional British Prime Minister.)

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around.

So my simple joy today on this very sad and emotional day is LOVE. Pure, complicated, unconditional, fleeting, unrequited, passionate, sweet, trusting, blazing-hot, tender, inspiring, messy...LOVE. Keep it, share it, give it away, shout it from the mountains, hold it close...treasure it until your last moment on this earth.