http://www.whitehouse.gov/firstlady/

Roll out crust, slice apples and mix with spices, add filling.

.	Heat oven to 425°F. If making crust, roll out half of pie crust and place in 9-inch pie plate. Trim overhanging edge of bottom pastry 1 inch from rim of plate.
.	Stir together 1/2 cup sugar, the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in large bowl. Add apples; toss very well. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with butter.
	Roll remaining pastry and place on pie.  Crimp edges of crust.  Make slits in top.  Brush lightly with milk; sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.  Cover edges of pie with aluminum foil until last 15 minutes of baking time, then remove.
	Bake about 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juice is bubbly.

And here are my Pumpkin Pies ~

Do you buy a fresh turkey or a frozen?  I’ve gone both routes over the years.  Do you stuff it or make the dressing on the side?  I just have to stuff mine…It’s just not the same if it isn’t stuffed.  Are you having your traditional home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner at home?  Or going to a visit a relative?  Maybe going out to a restaurant?  Hopefully you have a place to share the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Thanksgiving is a holiday of family traditions for many people.  It’s hard to break from some of the same foods you are used to eating…the same old ones just taste so good. 

I’ve been looking around some of the blogs and seeing some of the Turkey Day ideas out there.  I thought I’d share how I “brine” my turkey.  Many people use this method now.  Have you tried it? 

If you don’t try it this year, cook up a small turkey some time in a few months using this method.  You’ll be surprised at how good your turkey tastes.

On Righty Blog….


The Righty Way to Prepare That Turkey

The answer is yes, if you are cooking turkey.

Your homecooked feast will cost more than last year.

Turkey and cranberries have gone up in price.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, about 6% for a dinner for ten, for about $45.00.

(Somebody sure needs a lesson on how to carve a turkey)

It wasn’t always that way in Europe.

Fruits and vegetables had to practically perfect in every way…sort of like Mary Poppins.  Talk about being a Nanny State.

Like it really matters if your eggplant has a dimple or your carrot is curved.

Oh, no...they had to actually be thrown away.  Sheesh.

There are hungry people in the world.

Well, now because of the econonmy, suddenly imperfections in legumes are acceptable.

Now, while we may not find bent veggies in a Sendiks...we don't ban them.  A store has always been able to sell them if they choose.  It' s personal choice.  You just don't throw them away.  They'd be great for use in a vegetable soup!

Misshapen fruit and vegetables won a reprieve on Wednesday from the European Union as it scrapped rules banning overly curved, extra knobbly or oddly shaped produce from supermarket shelves.

Ending regulations on the size and shape of 26 types of fruit and vegetables, the European authorities killed off restrictions that had become synonymous with bureaucratic meddling.

The rising cost of commodities also persuaded the European Commission that there was no point in throwing away food just because it looked strange. 

Read all about it HERE

Honey Crisp                                                           Courtesy of WA Apple Comm

I confess..I liked being a country girl growing up.   I wasn’t a “farm girl,” but I lived out in the country on several acres of land in the boonies, surrounded by farm land, fields, woods and cows.  Life was a dream, for a kid back in the 60s anyway.

From the “Bye!” in the morning until I decided to stroll back home sometime later in the day, I guess around dinner time, the day was pretty much an adventure, with the fields, woods and streams being  my playground for me, my sister and my friends…oh, and our dogs, Smokey and Beauty.

Thirsty?  Drink straight out of the brook (I’m still alive).  Hungry?  There was always some sort of wild fruit growing out there…and it didn’t seem to matter if it was ripe or not…we ate it anyway.   We always knew where to find the wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, black walnuts, pears, grapes, rhubarb, and apples.   And if that apple was especially green and sour, well, a little salt would help that out…right off the salt block for the cows.  (I’m still alive).  Nothing better than a sour green apple with salt on it.  My brothers must have taught me those things.  Oh, the fun kids miss nowadays.



Pink Lady                                                                Courtesy of WA Apple Comm




Apples… you sure won’t find me eating a plain apple much lately.  They just aren’t one of my favorite fruits.  I love them dehydrated and I have my own dehydrator.  The trouble is, when I eat them that way, it’s hard to remember that eight little chips are like eating a whole apple.  You can easily eat four apples in a matter of minutes and not even know it.  But I love homemade applesauce, a baked apple, apple pie… and fresh apple cider. But apples are so good for us…

Sprinkle with peanuts and drizzle with caramel topping.  Cut and serve.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Apple and Celery Salad with Peanuts 

Pomegranate fruit, opened


I have been enjoying pomegranates for over thirty-eight years.  I bet for most of you reading this, the pomegranate seems to be a newer fruit...as new as the pomegranate martini.  But this healthy fruit has been around for what seems like forever. 

Maybe it was just another regular fruit of the day for me because I lived in the south…but this red fruit from Iran, India, and the Mediterranean, was always in our home, eaten just as shown in the picture above..nothing special done with it while I was growing up.  Of course...martinis weren't flavored back then.

The more we see problems creep up with our food, such as salmonella and ecoli nationally, or with the tainted milk in China, the tighter we will see our laws regarding labeling and packaging become.



The newest law is called Country-Of-Origin- Labeling (COOL) and goes into effect October 1st.  There will be some problems with the law/ multi-origin products will not be required to be labeled (example chocolate covered nuts) and neither will processed meats (Spam or chicken nuggets).  We should look for some problems to be reported in the near future while things are ironed out.

"No more wondering where your hamburger came from, or where your lettuce and tomatoes were grown: Starting this week, shoppers will see lots more foods labeled with the country of origin.

Here are some common questions as shoppers navigate the change:

Q: What does the new law require?

A: That retailers notify customers of the country of origin — including the U.S. — of raw beef, veal, lamb, pork, chicken, goat, wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish, fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and whole ginseng. (The aim was big agricultural commodities; ginseng was added for fear of imports masquerading as U.S.-grown.)

Q: Where will I see the country of origin?

A: Anywhere it fits. The rubber band around asparagus; the plastic wrap on ground beef; the little sticker that says "Gala" on an apple. If a food isn't normally sold in any packaging — such as a bin of fresh green beans or mushrooms — then the store must post a sign.

Q: Aren't many foods already labeled?

A: Some fresh produce already uses origin labeling as advertising. "Fresh from Florida" or "Jersey Grown" or "Vidalia Onion" tags don't have to be changed under the new rules; the shopper should realize they're all U.S. products.The COOL law mandating such labels first passed in 2002, but lobbying by grocery stores and large meatpackers led Congress to delay the U.S. Department of Agriculture from implementing it. Seafood labeling was phased in first, in 2005 — a key change given recurring safety problems with fish and shellfish from certain countries, including China.

Q: What's the biggest exception?

A: The labels aren't for processed foods, meaning no label if the food is cooked, or an ingredient in a bigger dish or otherwise substantially changed. So plain raw chicken must be labeled but not breaded chicken tenders. Raw pork chops are labeled, but not ham or bacon. Fresh or frozen peas get labeled, but not canned peas. Raw shelled pecans, but not a trail mix.

Q: What if the foods are merely mixed together?

A: They're exempt, too. So cantaloupe slices from Guatemala get labeled. Mix in some Florida watermelon chunks, and no label. Frozen peas, labeled. Frozen peas and carrots, no label. As for bagged salads, USDA considers iceberg and Romaine to be just lettuce, so that bag gets a label. Add some radicchio? No label.

Q: Must all stores comply?

A: No. Meat and seafood sold in butcher shops and fish markets are exempt.

Q: What if companies buy food from various places — beef from both U.S. and Mexican ranchers, for instance?

A: That's a bone of contention between large U.S. meat producers and smaller ranchers that produce exclusively U.S. animals. Tyson Fresh Meats, for instance, says it's too expensive to separate which of its cattle came from which country. So in a July letter to customers, Tyson said it would label all beef "Product of the U.S., Canada or Mexico." The National Farmers Union is protesting; USDA is considering the complaints.

Q: Aren't country labels on some processed foods?

A: Yes, tariff regulations have long required that a food put into consumer-ready packaging abroad be labeled as an import; that doesn't apply to bulk ingredients.

Q: When does the change take effect?

A: The law goes into effect Tuesday, although USDA won't begin fining laggards until spring. Violations can bring a $1,000 penalty. "

Read the entire article  HERE

One place, Florida Skin and Bones, is going to leave with a Brinks truck following them home.  If you ever wanted to test the theory of whether people will go somewhere just because there’s a line in front of a place …it’s true.  It didn’t matter if the food was good or not.  Because the place had a line…people got in it.  The place has 20 trophies out in front of it and maybe that is what attracted people there in the first place…but seriously, a line makes people believe that the food is better than the rest.  It was no better that some of the other establishments.

The bad?  Just two minor things.

Pricey…and you have to buy “tokens, ”  not tickets.  Whoever came up with that concept…making the customer carry around tokens rather than tickets…..well, duh.

And the only brand of soda is Sprecher.  No Coke or Pepsi products.  If you don’t want a beer…and aren’t in the mood for a root beer, somehow a Sprecher product doesn’t do it for you.

The details… CLICK on the banner

In California....

That nasty cancer-causing chemical acrylamide will be no more in potato chips.  No longer in fries and tater tots, either.  And companies will pay, including Heinz and Frito-Lay. 

The settlement requires the potato chip producers to reduce acrylamide to 275 parts per billion in three years, a low enough level to avoid a Prop. 65 warning label. That amounts to a 20 percent reduction for Frito-Lay and an 87 percent reduction for Kettle Chips, Brown's office said. Little or no reduction will be needed for most Cape Cod chips, but one product, Cape Cod Robust Russets, will require a warning label, the attorney general said."

So why aren't there nationwide restrictions?

Read complete article HERE