More Autumn Pasta To Enjoy
Autumn Has Arrived I would say that ‘Sweater Weather’ is here but we live in Florida so that doesn’t happen until around January, if at all. But what we do experience in Florida is a cooling off. Temps in the high …
Autumn Has Arrived I would say that ‘Sweater Weather’ is here but we live in Florida so that doesn’t happen until around January, if at all. But what we do experience in Florida is a cooling off. Temps in the high …
Bowl a Comfort Dirty Rice/Spanish Rice With Fried Kielbasa Sausage A Meal In Itself —————————————————————————- Dirty Dawgs I keep my Granddaughter anywhere between 2 and 5 days a week. We tend to do a lot of coloring and drawing, and plenty …

Peacock Feathers For Luck

I was born in Georgia and lived throughout the south during my upbringing. The South is also known as The Bible Belt. The South has a very large religious community that comprises of many different Churches. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Church of God, Church of Christ, Pentecostal Holiness, and a few others…. We were Disciples of Christ, which is what Ronald Reagan was, btw.
Although my family and the people we knew were more liberal than the average Southerner. We learned about other religions at church but in an educational way, and not in a ‘they will all burn in hell because they aren’t like us’ way. I was certainly exposed to the Evangelical’s and their beliefs. One thing that they would warn you about were the “Jezebels” of the world. It was just in the culture.
When I went off to college I was warned to ‘Stay away from the bitches and the whores.’ Although no one in my family ever said that to me… well, my Grandmother would always tell me to stay away from the Floozies and the Flossie Mae’s, it was just the culture of the South. (I’m not excusing it, just explaining it.) Although if anyone I knew was a Flossie Mae it was my Grandmother. That woman could sashay!
But, when I did go off to college and I did interact with the other girls there, I found that the people that I liked the most were the bitches and the whore’s. The bitches weren’t bitchy, they just stood up for themselves. They were intelligent and spoke out when it was important to do so. And the whores, well, they never judged you. They would even look out for you when you would go out with them while the Evangelical girls would just as soon dump you on the side of the road than deal with you. Also, the gay guys that I went to college with, it was a private fashion college in Charlotte, North Carolina, they were the best friends you could ever have. You could go out with them at night and they would look out for you. And the best giggles you will ever have in your life were with the gay guys!
The hypocrisy of the South is that they created a “Jezebel Sauce” that they serve at various religious functions. Whether it is a Church Suppah, a Church Picnic, a Church Wedding….. Oh, and it is the number #1 condiment in the state of conservative Mississippi.

Which brings me to all of my Jezebel’s…..

I adore each and every one of you!
Which Is Why I Created You!

The Jezebel’s Of This World Have The Biggest Hearts…

Which Is Why I Love You All!
Julie

p.s. Coming Christmas 2026,
A Naughty Christmas Jezebel For Underneath The Tree 🙂
—————————————————————————————-
Click Here For: Julie’s Jezebel Sauce

Our Jezebels On This Page:

The Forbidden Jezebel

With Apples

The Classic Jezebel (My Twist)
—————————————————————————-
The Latin Jezebel
(With Guava Shells and Jalapeno Peppers)

—————————————————————————–
And My:

Georgia Peach Jeze-Bells
—————————————————————————–
I Also Created An:

Based On Our Love Of Hawaii

——————————————————————
AND,

Again, Based On Our Love Of Hawaii And The Asian Cultures

—————————————————————————————-
AND,
An Old Florida Jezebel (Sauce)

Based On My Love Of Old Florida

————————————————————————-
I ALSO CREATED,
One HOT Jezebel for Breakfast (Sauce, That is.)

AND,
Click Here For: More of Julie’s Jezebel Recipes to Enjoy

I Needed An Additional Page To Place Some Extra Jezebel Recipes
————————————————————————-
I Even Created A Halloween Jezebel:
A Haunted Jezebel, Together With A Haunted Mansion Halloween Repast


———————————————————————
AND,

I LOVE Valentine’s Day!

————————————————————————————–
ALSO,

Based On My Home State Of Georgia
——————————————————————————
AND,
A Nancy Drew Mystery ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. Sauce
(Because I love Nancy Drew and Morse Code)

Click Here For: A Nancy Drew Mystery ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _..Sauce
I would like to add that Nancy Drew was no ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. .
I cannot even bring myself to say the word ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. beside her name, which is why I got the idea to put the name in Morse Code.
The reason I created a ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. sauce for Nancy Drew is because I wanted to create some sort of sauce in her honor. She was very worldly. She traveled the world with her father Caron Drew, and her friends Bess and George. Nancy knew people from all over the world and also knew and respected their cultures. She was mature beyond her young years. She had encountered many a villain, been knocked unconscious, and had to use her wits about her to escape.
—————————————————————————————

I Love Every Single One Of You!
Julie Jezebel
—————————————————————
Yet Another Sandwich Page! WELCOME We eat a lot of sandwiches. Although we have sandwiches all over our website, whether they be interspersed with other recipe pages, or having their own website pages, here is yet another one I created. WE LOVE …
A Nancy Drew Mystery ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. Sauce (Because I love Nancy Drew and Morse Code) I would like to say that Nancy Drew was no ._ _ _ /./_ _.././_… ././. _.. . I cannot even bring myself …

On February 13th., 2026 I Turned 65

Gordon and I ‘Out and About’ on My Birthday

65 Feels Pretty Good
——————————————————————————————
When I Turned 60 I Started this Website Page:
Sixty’s, (Sensational or Surviving?), We’ll See, Right?

(If you would like to read, just click on the link above.)
I didn’t know what 60 would be like? Which is why I started the above website page.
I assumed that I would be blogging about any changes in my body or lifestyle. Perhaps the ‘ups and downs’ of ageing? My intention was that we would explore it together.
I am a very open person. Sometimes to my detriment. But, that is who I am, and I am not going to fight against that.
Now that I am 65, I have been in my 60’s for 5 years now. I have been getting to know the ageing me and I am fine with it.
Yes, I have put on some weight in the middle. That is where my pounds accumulate anyway. They always have.
However, there is just something empowering that comes with ageing that I didn’t know in my 50’s, or 40’s, or 30’s, etc.
—————————————————————————————–

Turning 65

As I like to say, Uglier on the outside, Happier on the inside.
I would not go back if I were given the chance. I feel as if I have reached milestones that are important. As in evolving into the person I am destined to be. I have earned the right to be 65! Ageing is a privilege.
If I could give my younger self a heads up, I would not!
I needed to go through all that I did to get to here. I would not have made it if I did warn my younger self. I have learned that the damage that was done to me by certain people in my life never had anything to do with me. It was their damage they were inflicting on me. I used to regret being nice or kind to certain people. I have however learned that I should never be upset about doing the right thing. They are the ones that should be upset that they took advantage of my kindness, and loyalty.
I don’t know how much time I have left? Oh, as far as I know I am fine where my health is concerned. I am just referring to life in general.
None of us really know the answers to that? I always figured that I would die young. No idea why? I just always thought so. But, before I am gone, I still have many things left that I want to do. I’ll go when I’m ready. I’m stubborn that way. 🙂 But for now, my granddaughter needs me. My daughter and son-in-law need me, my husband needs me, and I need me too! 🙂
So, Here Is 65 and Beyond, Finger’s Crossed!
Julie
——————————————————————————————
BLOG ENTRIES START HERE
————————————————————————–
Shopping At The Asian Supermarket

Shopping And Creating Recipes Does Make Me Happy
——————————————————————————————-
September 7, 2026


—————————————————————————————–
July 12, 2026
Constantly Chasing Sleep

Favorite Pajamas
I can remember reading decades ago how Betty White only got about 3 hours of sleep a night. I couldn’t believe that she could function on that minimal amount of sleep. Then I read around the same time frame that Martha Stewart would be up at 3:00 a.m. with a flashlight out in her garden pulling up weeds. I was so shocked that these two successful women could even function on such a minimal amount of sleep? Well, now that I am 65, I am getting not as much sleep as I need, and not being able to function without a good night’s sleep. I cannot relate. I need my sleep!
My lifestyle is that I keep my Granddaughter anywhere from 2 to 4 days a week. Either Veronica or Brian will bring her over in the early morning hours at either 5:30 a.m. or 5:45 – 6:00 a.m. I am always up by the time they bring her over. I set my alarm clock for 4:00 a.m. in the morning. I shower and I’m dressed and ready by the time Isabelle arrives.
Even though she just turned 3, we still give her a bottle in the mornings. Even though that is a bit young for her, you have to understand that her sleep has been interrupted. She needs to get back to sleep. That warm milk helps her. Whether we deliver it in a baby bottle, or a water bottle.
That also benefits me! I need to get back to sleep in the mornings myself. It is difficult for me to function without a good night’s sleep. I love a good extra hour or two in those early morning hours. That way I get to sleep in to around 8:00 or 8:30, or 9:00 a.m. in the mornings. Being her care giver, I need the extra hours of sleep in order to function for the day. After all, her parents don’t pick her up until around 4:30 – 5:00 p.m. on some days, and as early as 9:30 – 11:00 a.m., on other days. Some of those days are long!
I wanted to say that I think that we justify the early morning bottle with the understanding that there are women out there that continue to breast feed into the child’s 5th. birthday.
That is not our intention. We are just delivering the warm milk to Isabelle in a vessel that will not leak into the crib/bed, and will help her to go back to sleep, so that I can also get some more much needed sleep myself. That’s where my heating pad comes in. I do so love that warmth and it makes me drowsy, helping me to go back to sleep.
NOTE! It is easier to go to sleep once you have taken a nice warm shower, day or night. Which is usually why I tend to go back to sleep more easily after I have had my 4:00 a.m. shower on those mornings I have Isabelle. Nice shower, and a heating pad work for me!
————————————————————————————————————–
I Also Think That I Suffer From Anxiety
On those days that I have to leave the house, I tend to have a hard time sleeping the night before. That is something new to me. It’s really just been since I’ve been in my 60’s that I’ve had that problem. There is just this anxiousness and dread that I have where I am up in the middle of the night and I can’t shut my brain off in order to relax and go to sleep.
I think some of the problem it is that America is a dangerous country to live in. I don’t feel safe when I leave the house. Too many guns, and too many hot-heads that own the guns. Also, just not enough respect towards our fellow human beings. I think a lot of people would just rather shoot you than deal with you. Same with driving. Even though I do the speed limit, I am never going fast enough for some people. I think they would rather run me off the road than have to drive behind me. Which is why I tend to make appointments or run errands on those hours where there isn’t a lot of traffic. I also only shop in business’s where I feel safe in their parking lots. Now that I am 65 and ageing, I am becoming more of a target to those that take advantage of that. Always be aware of your surroundings. Quit looking at your phones and pay attention. It just might save your life.
———————————————————————————-
Afternoon Naps And Back Pain
Sometimes I do take an afternoon nap. Or, I might just lay down on the couch among my comfy blankety covers and pillows, turn the T.V. volume down low, close my eyes, and just rest and relax. If sleep follows, wonderful! If not, then that’s o.k. too because I am resting my body and getting off my back. Walking on these cement floors here in Florida can ruin your lower back. When we were living in Hawaii I developed back pains from every surface in Hawaii being cement. The reasoning behind all the cement is hurricane’s. Then when we moved to Maryland, where everything was this nice wooden surface, my back pain went away. Then we move back to Florida where everything has a cement flooring, and here come the back pains again.
I do wear indoor shoes, mainly smooshy, mooshy Flip Flops. (Or Slippers as they say in Hawaii.) The mooshy kind have a nice comfy give that allows your foot to be more comfortable. The downside is that sometimes they are easy to trip in while wearing. Something I will need to be aware of as I age.
The point I was trying to make here is that by just resting and getting off my back I feel this rejuvenation that allows me to get through the rest of the day on those sleepy tired days I sometimes have. By laying down, place a pillow underneath your pelvis just to elevate it up a bit. For me the pain goes away immediately just by doing that. Try it! See for yourself.
Also, take an Advil if your back starts to hurt, OR even before it starts to hurt! When I am about to take on a big job I just go ahead and take one. It will prevent the swelling in my lower back which brings on pain. It’s that inflammation you have to worry about.
I also don’t take any of those energy drinks. Coffee is the strongest thing that I use to pep up.
————————————————————————————-
About 2 Years Ago I Moved Into The Gust Bathroom
(For Bathing And Skincare)

It’s been a few years but there was a time, a very long time, when my next door neighbor started stalking and harassing me.
I do document it here:

Click Here For: My Log Blog Documenting Stalking And Harassment From My Neighbor
—————————————————————————–
Gordon was working overseas and for some reason my hot-headed neighbor next door to us starting throwing things at our house at 4:00 a.m. to upset me. It was always when I was in the bathroom or in our bedroom. Regardless, I no longer felt safe on that side of our house, so I started bathing in the guest bathroom. At first I just dragged a few things into the guest bathroom, not bothering to really fix it up and make it nice. But, I have since made it nice and I’m glad that I made that switch. I feel a lot safer. I also feel like I have my very own bathroom just for me to enjoy. Yes, it’s smaller. Yes, it’s not as nice. But, I like it!
I still do my hair and make-up in our master bathroom, but I am never naked in there. I haven’t felt comfortable changing clothes or using that bathroom any more. That’s what abuse does to you.
———————————————————————-
Just Some Skincare


I Did Not Buy Anything New Here
(I organized with things that I already had. Seeing as how my Cindy Crawford Skincare is all purple, I found an old ‘free with purchase’ purple cosmetic bag to house some things in.)


I Bought Nothing New Here, This Is Plenty Of Room For Me
Sometimes I think it’s important for us to just carve out our own little niche somewhere. A place that is just ours. With me being the only one who uses this bathroom, I keep it quite nice and clean because I don’t share it with anyone. Well, except Isabelle. 🙂
————————————————————————————–
Somethings that I may write about, I have also written about on other website pages. Not everyone reads every page that I have on this website so sometimes I do repeat myself. This is one of those times. I am writing here similar things that I wrote on my Skincare Website Page.

Click Here For: My Nifty 50’s and 60’s Skincare
——————————————————————————
I Did Add Some Hawaiian Things That Were New

The Rattan Shelf Was My Grandmother’s
The Birdhouse/Beach House, Veronica painted years ago and gifted to me.
Diamond Head and the Surfboards spelling out Aloha, I purchased at a favorite Hawaii store, CocoNene.

The Blue Star Fish Veronica also gifted to me one Christmas.
And the Palm Leaf painting I also purchased from Coconene.

The Fish Photo Frame was a gift to Veronica from her friend Kara when they were 3 years old and we knew them in Hawaii.
Looks great there.

Now You Know What My Bathroom/Guest Bathroom Toilet Looks Like 🙂
———————————————————————————-
One More Thing ….

The Little Window In The Shower
(I papered it over with Rice Paper when we first moved in.)
All My Shampoo’s and Conditioner’s

Our Diana Hanson-Young Posters From The 80’s
Autographed By Her
We Were Too Poor To Buy Prints Or Paintings Then
I Framed Them And Still Treasure Them

Dry Your Hands!
——————————————————————————————————-
65 And Beyond
Finger’s Crossed!
Julie
I Created A New Website:
Click Here For: VintageJulieBarefootArchives
I gave my Web Designers in India instructions on what I wanted, and they did the most remarkable job of bringing my vision to life.
I could not be happier with it!

My current website: (This one.)
..Was no longer working accurately.
Therefore, I decided to instruct my Web Designers in India, to create a “New” Website in order for me to house some of my “Old” content.
Initially, I didn’t figure in that it would be my Florida Website Pages, but it did evolve into just that.

My First Blog Posting On The New/Old Website

I Debuted This New Site On Brodie’s Birthday, November 29, 2025
————————————————————————————
Welcome To VintageJulieBarefootArchives.com
(As Taken From Blog Posting from the new site.)

Brodie Keith Kanakaleo Whann
I decided to create this new website because our live site, www.BarefootInFloridaWithJulie.com, was getting a bit too big.
(Admittedly, I was hoping to get a place in The Guinness Book of World Records as the largest amateur website on the internet known to man. But alas, another dream squashed by reality, or human intervention.)
I thought that if I were to create a new website and move a lot of our old content over, that it would lighten the load to our current live site, and I could make this new website about our Florida Life. So, I specifically chose website pages that were of a Florida nature. We love Florida! My ties to Florida go back to when I was a baby in the 60’s, living in Rome, Georgia with my mother, grand-parents, and great-grandparents. Every summer was spent vacationing in Florida. Also, prior to me being born, it was where my mother and her friends, and their families vacationed as well. I have some really great old photos of my grand-parents, great-grandparents, and great-aunts and uncles wearing their old fashioned swimsuits with their old timey cars parked on the beach. Once upon a time you could do that. Drive onto the beach and park your car. Mostly on the East Coast of Florida, they had the longest stretches of beaches.

I’m the tall one with my cute petite friends. St. Pete left, Daytona right.
I can remember the Florida vacations very well. We would leave Rome in the evening, and drive all night down to Florida. I would be asleep in the backseat, wearing pajamas.. My grand-father would do the driving. If I had to use the bathroom on the way down my grandfather would pull over to the side of the highway, they would open both doors, the front door and the backdoor, and I would take my winky-tink between the two doors. Sometimes, cars would honk as they would drive by. I was always in a panic that someone could see me. My grandmother always assured me that no one can. (She was probably lying.)
St. Petersburg was usually our destination. My grand-father would look for Motels with a VACANCY sign flashing towards the street. He would just drive down what is now Gulf Blvd. looking for a Motel that he thought looked nice. He would then pull into those Motels and inquire within for something suitable for all of us. I can remember that we were always on the ocean side, most of the time there was a pool. I can even remember one place we stayed at where we walked out of our motel room door directly onto the beach. There was so much beach sand outside our door.
I have beautiful memories of many Florida vacations with my grand-parents. My grand-father was one to lay on his back in the ocean, floating, and falling asleep. He was a big man, very tall, with lots of cushion. He floated very easily. I can remember one time he fell asleep and was drifting out to sea, a lifeguard was blowing his whistle trying to wake him up to get him to swim back towards shore.
Most every night we would eat at a seafood restaurant. The restaurant was always located on an ocean front, or a canal front. I have so many great memories of finding little fishies trapped between the rocks by the ocean or canals. I would use a paper cup to capture them and take them back to the motel room with me. I loved having them with me in the motel room. I loved watching them. Sometimes I would set them loose the next day, if they even made it through the night. Upon reflection I wish I had known more about helping them. But I didn’t. I was just a child.
—————————————————————————————
Hello Rosy Cheeks
I remember this very well. It was at one restaurant that was busy that evening for dinner. There were many people waiting to get seated. My grand-parents and I were sitting at a table in the entryway when suddenly this cute boy sat down right beside my grandmother, he sat across from me, he then looked at me and said with all the confidence in the world, “Hello rosy cheeks.” I was in my early teens. My grandmother instantly adored him! I guess charmers must recognize each other because my grand-mother was a charmer. She then burst out laughing.
This cute, charming boy sat there flirting with me. I knew I could fall for him in a minute! But, I was just too shy to do anything about it. But, I have always remembered that cute boy that made this awkward girl feel special.
Oh, and the rosy cheeks were from my being sunburned that day from staying out too long in the sun, on the beach.
———————————————————————————
Florida is not just a great state to vacation in, it holds so many happy memories for me and my family growing up. It makes sense that Gordon and I would settle here and live out our days until we are gone. Hopefully that won’t be for a very long time. But, until then we have a grand-daughter to help raise and make many happy Florida memories for her to take with her in life.
An old timey Motel, a Shuffleboard Court, Sun, Sand, Shells, Beach, Oranges, Orange Juice, Drawbridges, Souvenir Shops, Boat Rides, Seafood Restaurants, Summer Friendships with other Tourists, Salt Water Taffy, Vintage Beach Buckets, Sand Shovels, Flamingoes… and being Barefoot!
This is what I carry with me every day.
Happy Vintage Julie Barefoot Memories,
Julie Barefoot
(Julie Lancaster-Whann)
—————————————————————————————————

————————————————————————————————————-

Florida is Beautiful and Unique,

Located in the South, yet not Really Southern.

Although Florida is the East Coast, and Canada’s Destination

My Florida Favorites

————————————————————————————————-

———————————————————————————————-

————————————————————————————-

Some of Veronica’s Artwork
I asked her if she had some of her art that I could display on the new website. She sent over these. This was all she had in her possession. People do hire her to draw and paint for them. I would love to had seen those paintings, but she did contribute some nice things.

Busch Gardens

I told my guys in India that I wanted an Alligator on the bottom left, and Flamingoes on the bottom right.
I do think the landscaping you see in the graphic above looks like Africa, but then again we do have Busch Gardens here in Florida that is theme based on Africa.
So, I guess it all goes together nicely.
Web Design is a lot of fun but it isn’t really something tangible. I mean, the moment I quit paying the monthly fees, it can all just disappear. Or an experienced hacker can just come along and delete the whole thing forever. As much as I love my website’s they aren’t anything that I can hold in my hand, or place onto a shelf for display, or even own forever. My experience with having websites is that they are very vulnerable to those that know how to penetrate them, and abuse them without any conscious or authority whatsoever.
I guess what I am trying to say is that they are very temporary, so enjoy them while you can.
See You At The Beach!
Julie Barefoot
My Brunswick Stew Chicken Skillet Dinner I love Brunswick Stew! I grew up eating it in the South, in the Summer months, throughout the year, but especially for the 4th. of July. There is a history of the stew which I …

Buongiorno a Tutti
(Good Morning Everyone)

My Italiana Breakfast Skillet
———————————————————————————————–

You Don’t Have To Be Italian To Enjoy This Delicious Breakfast Skillet

——————————————————————————————

A One Skillet Breakfast With Baguette and Caffe


—————————————————————————————————–

This Also Makes An Excellent Dinner, Or Even Luncheon

————————————————————————————————-

Excellent Eaten In Bed…

——————————————————————————————

The Boot
Italy is Shaped Like a Boot
————————————————————————————
I Hope To Add More Breakfasts As Time Goes By
Godere,
Julie and Gordon
——————————————————————————————————-
Recipes Start Here
—————————————————————–
First Up:
My Italiana Breakfast Skillet

——————————————————————————-

Ingredients:
Orange, Yellow, and Red Bell Peppers, Washed

Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley, or any you Desire, Washed
(I Give The Rest Of The Ingredients As I Write The Recipe)

You will need a Cutting Board, and a Sautee Pan or Two…

Time To Chop My Bell Peppers

Also, White Onion, Chopped
(This was a large White Onion, I used about 3/4 of it.)

Chopping My Bell Peppers

6 Garlic Cloves, Minced
————————————————————————————–

In a Large Sautee Pan Drizzle Some Olive Oil..

Place the Onions into the Pan to Soften on a Medium-High Heat
This should take about 5 Minutes.

Next, add the Bell Peppers to Soften, about another 5 Minutes..


Mincing the Garlic Cloves into the Pan with the Onions and Bell Peppers
(Just Sautee a few minutes more, stirring often, until all of the ingredients are softened.
Then remove from the heat and set aside.)
—————————————————————————————————-

In my Cast Iron Skillet I am adding some Olive Oil, along with a bag of Hash Brown Potatoes from the freezer.

My Spices: (To Add Soon)
Italian Herb Seasoning
Ground Oregano
Ground Basil Leaves
Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
Hawaiian Sea Salt, To Taste
——————————————————————————

I’m Browning my Thawed Hash Browns in my Cast Iron Skillet, on a Medium Heat – Medium-High Heat.
My Onions and Peppers and Garlic are Waiting..
————————————————————————————

I had some Italian Sausage frozen in the freezer. I thawed it out placed it into a small Skillet on the back burner to just warm through.
Sometimes I will cook sausage to keep frozen in the freezer to place on Pizza’s or dishes like this.
———————————————————————————

Time To Add The Spices To My Hash Brown Potatoes I’ve Been Sauteing
I probably added a 1/4 t. of each, maybe a little bit more.

Blending The Spices Into The Hash Browns

Now It’s Time to Add My Onion, Bell Peppers, and Garlic to My Hash Browns…

..And Placing Them Into A 350F Oven For About 10-15 Minutes.
——————————————————————————–

My Sausage Is Ready, And Set Aside

Time To Remove The Cast Iron Skillet From The Oven…
————————————————————————————–
Time To Add The Cheese

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
(I just added as much as I wanted to over top my Hash Brown Medley.)

Now Place Back Into The 350F Oven For About 5 Minutes To Melt The Cheese
(When done, remove and set aside.)
————————————————————————————————
Ready To Scramble Some Eggs

In A New Sautee Pan Add,
About 7 Eggs
Butter
Milk

Melt Some Pats Of Butter Into A Sautee Pan,
Crack Some Eggs Into The Pan On A Medium-High Heat
Scramble With A Wooden Spoon….

Add A Few Tablespoons Of Milk To The Eggs To Fluff
——————————————————————————————–

Eggs Are Ready, Time To Add Them To The Cast Iron Skillet

Italian Sausage Is Ready, Time To Add It To Top The Eggs

Now It’s Time To Place Some Julienne Cut SunDried Tomatoes On Top As Well
———————————————————————————-
The Herbs

Ready To Add To The Top Of The Skillet Breakfast
——————————————————————————————–

Preparing The Bread
(I love bread! I especially love it here with this Skillet Breakfast.)

I just sliced a Baguette into rounds, drizzled with some Olive Oil, placed onto a foil lined baking sheet, and placed into a 350F Oven for about 8 minutes.
After 8 minutes I turned it on Broil to brown the bread. It was perfect!
————————————————————————————-

With My Skillet Breakfast Ready It Is Time To EAT!

Don’t Forget The Caffe!
————————————————————————–
Buona Giornata,
Julie
“I don’t promise to forget the mystery, but I know I’ll have a marvelous time“ Nancy Drew —————————————————————————— #45 The Spider Sapphire Mystery Thrilling, dangerous adventure confront Nancy Drew while on a safari in East Africa with a group of American …
Dear Dairy… Olive Films (I just liked the logo.) Today I rearranged the cans in the pantry and dusted them off while wearing my new full skirt I sewed last week for the church picnic, and the pearls that my husband …
Hey Y’all!
Every now and then I need to go back home. Oh, not literally.
But with my Tongue Feelers. You know, Taste Buds?
Growing up throughout the south you get a hankering for something Deep Fried, Black-eyed, Field Picked, and Green.
And all the other fun stuff in between.
That is what I want to put here. I do hope to fill this page with some of my Old Southern Favorites that I miss so much. So, come on in and sit a spell while I whip us up some good ol’ home cooking.
Holler if ya need me!

Julie
————————————————————————————–

Southern Wild Rice with Pecans and Dried Cherries

Don’t Forget The Hot Sauce

Chicken Gizzard Po’ Girls, Corn on the Cob, Catfish, and a Leftover Bowl of Brunswick Stew

————————————————————————————-

The Star Food on this Table is the Southern Wild Rice
Sometimes It’s The Sides That Shine
(Recipe Down Below)
—————————————————————————————
Julie’s Corn Pepper Muffins

With a Side of Lightening Bugs 🙂
(My recreation anyway.)

(Recipe Down Below)
———————————————————————
My Pepper Butter

Before Left, and Buttered, Right!

With Tabasco

(Recipe Down Below)

——————————————————————————————–
If You Would Like To Check Out My Brunswick Stew:
Click Here For: Brunswick Stew and Barbeque

————————————————————————————————–
Southern Fried Recipes Start Right Here
———————————————————————————-

Southern Wild Rice with Pecans and Dried Cherries
——————————————————————

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Wild Rice
2 Cups Water
2 1/4 Cups Vegetable Broth
1 T. Margarine or Butter
3/4 – 1 Cup Toasted Pecans
4 Garlic Cloves, Crushed
1 1/4 Cup Dried Cherries
3 T. Spicy Chili Onion Crisp
Table Salt and Pepper to Taste (This is the South after all, nothing fancy here.)
And, as much Fresh Parsley as you want.
——————————————————————————–

Gathering All My Utensils and Ingredients

You First Want To Rinse The Wild Rice Thoroughly, Then Allow To Drain

Place The Rice Into A Wok, or Large Sauce Pan, Add the Water, Vegetable Broth, and Butter.
Bring to a Boil over a Medium-High Heat.

When It Comes To A Boil, Turn Heat Down To Simmer

Cover, and Allow To Simmer for about 20-25 Minutes.
When the rice has absorbed all the water, keep it on a very low heat.
———————————————————————————-

Time To Crush The Garlic Cloves

Now, Add Them To The Rice

—————————————————————————-

The Pecans

Place the Pecans into a Skillet, and Toast them on a Medium Heat until a bit Browned, but not Burned.

The Pecans and the Rice

Time To Add Some Table Salt and Pepper to the Rice

———————————————————————————–

I Toasted The Pecans in my Cast Iron Skillet, Now I am Adding the Rice Overtop
————————————————————————————–

Time To Add The Dried Cherries, As Many As You Like

Now For The Spicy Chili Onion Crisp

Add As Much As You Like Per Your Personal Tastes
——————————————————————————————-

Now It’s Time To Add The Fresh Parsley
And the Pepper Sauce (Hot Sauce)
——————————————————————————————-

Beautiful Corn

I didn’t want anything fancy here. Just some delicious Corn on the Cob as a nice addition to this meal.
Just boil some water and add the corn. Cook on a medium-high heat until the cob is a bit tender. You can follow package instructions.

When Done, Remove From the Water, Pat Dry, Add Corn Holders and some Butter!
——————————————————————————–

Chicken Gizzard Po’Girls
In the south we do so love the Chicken Gizzards. You will even find them around the Salad Bars at some local restaurants. I had been craving my old Chicken Gizzards, that’s when I decided to make this sandwich. I really didn’t want to do any pickin’ or fryin’, so I visited a local restaurant that did all of that for me. I knew it was a good place to eat given the amount of African-Americans in the restaurant. They know Southern food!
My additions, are what goes into the Po’Girls.
Here We Go!

Ingredients:
You Will Need Some Sort of Hoagie Buns
Slaw, Raw or with the Fixin’s (Meaning, you can add Coleslaw plain, or with the dressing.)
Honey Dijon Dressing (Or any that you like to add over the top of the Po’Girl.)
Sliced Jalapeno Peppers
Chopped Pepper Salad
Fresh Chives, Snipped
Fresh Parsley, Over top
——————————————————————————–

Creating The Po’Girls With the Catfish on the Side
(The Catfish I also purchased at a local Southern restaurant here.)

Use a Bread Knife to Cut Out the Top of the Hoagie Buns

Now, Fill the Hoagie Buns with the Pepper Salad, and Raw Coleslaw

Then Add Your Chicken Gizzards, Chives, Jalapeno’s, and Dressing.

Top With Fresh Parsley
Look How Beautiful! And Delicious!

Git Ta Eatin!

DIG IN!
Julie Barefoot
——————————————————————————–

My Corn Pepper Muffins
———————————————————————–

Ingredients:
Peppers!
I Used Jalapeno, Poblano, and Chilaca, use as Many as you Like

Making Corn Bread
Half of the ingredients that you see above are listed on the container of Corn Meal.
I am using that recipe to make my Cornbread, I’m just adding the additions that will make it my Corn Pepper Muffins.
———————————————————————

——————————————————————————–

My Additions:
(The Peppers, Cleaned, Seeds Removed, and Cut into Short Strips)
Shallots, Chopped
1 Can of Mexicorn, Drained
Spices:
Tabasco Spicy Salt Blend
Onion Powder
Cajun’s Choice Blackened Seasoning
Cayenne Pepper
Chili Powder
Jalapeno Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
(The amounts really are up to you. I used about a 1/2 t. of each.)
————————————————————————————————–

I Used Crisco To Grease My Large Muffin Tins
—————————————————————————

Chopped All My Shallots Whether I Used All of Them or Not
(I will need them in the next recipe.)

———————————————————————————-

The Peppers

Slice each pepper, remove the seeds, rinse them out…

Like so…

Then you want to slice them into short strips.

———————————————————————————

Making My Cornbread According to Package Directions.

————————————————————————————–

My Secret Ingredients:
Tabasco Spicy Salt, and Jalapeno Sea Salt
—————————————————————————

Combining My Cornbread Ingredients:

The Dry Ingredients

The Wet Ingredients

Beating My Eggs

Adding Vegetable Oil…

Adding My Spices to the Cornbread Batter

Adding a Handful of my Shallots
Mix Together
————————————————————————————-

All My Beautiful Peppers
—————————————————————————————-

Time For The Assembly
Turn Your Oven on 400F

I placed a few of my Peppers into the bottom of the large muffin tin.
I then added some of the Cornbread batter over them.

I then added more peppers over the top and pushed them down with my fingers to make sure they were covered with the batter. Although I wanted many of the peppers to be on the top.
————————————————————————-

Into The Oven They Go!
These Actually Took Around 20 Minutes To Bake
——————————————————————————————

Fresh Out of the Oven and Cooling on the Racks
(You can insert a toothpick to make sure they are done. If the toothpick comes out clean, they are ready.)

I Love How They Look! It Is Exactly How I Envisioned!
————————————————————————-

Out of the Tins and Cooling Further

————————————————————————————————–

Add a Few Squirts of Tabasco 🙂
————————————————————————————————–

Leftover Peppers for my Pepper Butter
———————————————————————————-

The Potatoes Here Are Some of What My Butter Will Go On
(I just need to bake them.)
————————————————————————
My Pepper Butter

Ingredients:
3, 8 oz. Unsalted Butter
My Leftover Peppers From the Recipe Above:
Jalapeno, Poblano, and Chilaca
5-6 Fresh Garlic Cloves
Chopped Shallots, About a Handful
Spices:
Tabasco Spicy Salt Blend, (About 30 Shakes)
Onion Powder
Cajun’s Choice Blackened Seasoning
Cayenne Pepper
Chili Powder
Jalapeno Sea Salt
(I used a teaspoon of all of the above spices.)
Fresh Cilantro, a Bunch
—————————————————————————————-

My Unsalted Butter Had Been Softening For About 2 Hours
I Then Cut It Into Cubes and Placed It Into My Blender Here
I Used a Medium Setting on the Blender To Mix The Butter

I Then Added All of My Spices, And Blended More

My Peppers, Shallots, Garlic Cloves, and Cilantro
I Used Most of the Peppers you see Above, but not All. I did use all of the above Shallots.

———————————————————————————–

Adding My Garlic Cloves and Shallots

Blending Away, While Wiping Down the Sides with a Spatula

Time To Add The Green Stuff
(My Peppers and Cilantro)
—————————————————————————–

Looking so Good!

Decant Into A Bowl
——————————————————————————————

I Even Added Some Butter Into Jars To Freeze For Another Time
—————————————————————
I have to say that this is some of the best butter I have ever eaten! I kept spreading it onto mini toasts and I had to stop myself from eating it because after all, it is butter! I didn’t want a heart attack. 🙂 However, eaten in nice portions it is safe.

Baked Sweet Potato, Baked Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, and my Pepper Muffins, Before the Butter
(With a small side of Green Beans)

The Pepper Butter
————————————————————————————-

With The Butter

The Butter is very Spicy and Addictive, Along with the Tabasco

See Y’all Later!
Julie
Autumn: The third season of the year, when crops and fruits are gathered and leaves fall in the northern hemisphere from September to November and in the southern hemisphere from March to May. The Countryside is Ablaze in Autumn —————————————————————— In Florida, the …
Feliz Accion De Gracias (Happy Thanksgiving) 2023 Thanksgiving Day, After the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, I have Miracle on 34th. Street on a Loop All Day Long This movie is the sounds of the day, blending with the smells of the …
(The men in the photo top left, are Gordon and our son-in-law Brian.)

Disney Springs, Orlando, Florida

(Gordon, Julie, Mackenzie, and Brodie)

Cheers to the Day!
————————————————————–

(Veronica and Brian)
They walked right by us without even noticing us sitting there! 🙂

Doing Some Shopping

“Look Gordon, just get in line and I will bring you things to pay for. Trust me! I’ll be right back!”
——————————————————————–

Brochures with Maps to Help Navigate You

Notice the retaining wall? That was done so that no one will sit on it. They would much rather you sit in their eating establishments where you will spend money on food or drink. But no, they don’t care how tired you are, or that you may need to rest.

Ah, any body of water invites those that love to throw away their money while making a wish.
Whoever invented a wishing well is a genius. 🙂

It is very beautiful here.
Disney Springs is located in Central Florida near all the Disney Parks.
It is a nice place to go and spend an afternoon, or an evening, enjoying the shopping and restaurants, strolling around and just taking in the beauty of it all. There is a movie theater as well.
This was actually our first outing as a family (October 2022) since the Pandemic began. This is also the first time that I hadn’t worn a mask in public since March, 2020. It was important for all of us to get together and celebrate a bit. And we did!
—————————————————————————————–

Vintage Candy and Toys

I had put together Halloween Goodie Bags for everyone.
Because our theme was Rear Window Scene 14, from the 1950’s, I purchased vintage candy. Here, I put together the gifts to give to our children. They seemed to enjoy it.

Cute Halloween Spatula’s Were Included

We Also Gave Them Some Halloween Cookbooks (Not Pictured)
———————————————————————————

Cookies From Gideon’s at Disney Springs
(Love the Gargoyle)
————————————————————–
Raglan Road

Veronica and Brian chose the restaurant.
And nothing could have been more perfect that Raglan Road, Irish Pub and Restaurant.

——————————————————————————–

Veronica, Mackenzie, Brodie, Brain and Gordon
Having a Cocktail While we Wait for our Table

Gordon and Julie

Our Gideon’s Cookies
(Compliments of Brodie and Mackenzie)

——————————————————————————–


My Pirate Queen Cocktail
————————————————————————————

It is a really nice place with a great atmosphere.

——————————————————————————-

——————————————————————————–
Inside Raglan Road

Love The Ceiling

Mona Lisa, Got Guinness?

Our Table

Studying The Menu

Eating Some Apps
(Soda Bread and Guinness Reduction) 🙂

So Good!

Sharing All of the Apps

————————————————————————

————————————————————

Fish and Chips, All MINE!

——————————————————————————-

The Entertainment Was Very Nice

We Were Right By The Stage
———————————————————————————

Shop For Ireland

Brian, Trying on Celtic Rings

WHAN, Irish?

Some of the WHAN History
———————————————————–
Funny Story…

Brian lost his wedding ring. So, Veronica wanted to buy him another one.
That is why Brian was trying on rings in the Irish Store. He chose a beautiful Celtic Knot and we told Veronica that she needed to put it on his finger all over again. And she did….

Brian hates all this attention. Especially when I whip out my camera and aim it his way. 🙂

Wedding Vows All Over Again
P.S. Brian lost this ring too!
He is a fireman, so perhaps it just slips off his finger. But, regardless, I wouldn’t buy him another. 🙂
——————————————————————————

———————————————————————————–

Watching the Balloon

We Are On Top Of The Parking Garage To Leave
———————————————————————–
We all had such a great day. Happy to be out and about and having some fun with the people that we love. Great food and family.
I will tell you this. Our Raglan Road dinner bill came to just over $350.00. We used our Disney card to pay the bill. We did that because we were in the Disney grounds and wanted the Disney Dollars that came with using the card.
But, when our Disney credit card statement bill arrived a few weeks later, we noticed that Raglan Road had charged us over $600.00!
Because I saved the receipt, we sent a copy of it to our Disney Credit Card and they erased all the extra money that was charged on our card without our permission. We were very generous to our waitress. We always are because we know how hard they work. However, we do not appreciate being taken advantaged of.
Will we ever go back? Sure!
We’ll just pay cash next time so that they can’t scam our credit card again.
Julie and Gordon
———————————————————————————
To View Our Other St. Patrick’s Day Website Pages:
Click Here For: St. Patrick’s Day

AND,
Click Here For: St. Patty’s Day Snacks

AND,
The Luck of the Irish (St. Patrick’s Day)

AND,
Click Here For: Raglan Road, October, Disney Springs, Florida

AND,
Click Here For: How to Make Guinness Beer Reduction (W/ Recipes)

——————————————————————–
Currently Baking in Grandmother Keith’s Oven Deliciously Cooling… ————————————————————————– I LOVE Cornbread! If you were raised in the south, before the internet brought us all together culturally, then you grew up eating Cornbread religiously. We loved it whether it was …
Welcome to Middle Eastern Our Way (A.K.A. MEOW) It’ll Catch On. 🙂 We are Gordon and Julie, and we love food of all kinds from all nations. Arabic Coffee Beans Gordon has traveled to many Middle Eastern countries during his time …
Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving!
(2022)
Just in Time to Watch The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Oh Look! It’s The Tarpon Springs High School Marching Band
From Tarpon Springs, Florida


They closed the parade!
Actually, they performed right before Mariah Carey sang ‘All I Want For Christmas’, and then Santa Clause made his appearance to close the parade.
So very proud of them, they did such a great job!
———————————————————————-
An Al Fresco Thanksgiving Lite

When it comes to Thanksgiving, I don’t think that we associate the word “Lite” with the holiday.
But, perhaps we should start to think that way.
Eating a large Thanksgiving meal won’t hurt you but, eating all those Thanksgiving leftovers just might. Eating one large meal is fine, but most American’s eat that large meal over, and over again, until the leftovers are gone.

Turkey Soup
A lot of us will then turn our leftovers into things like Turkey Soup, Turkey Casseroles, or Turkey Sandwiches/Panini’s, just to eat up the leftovers and yet have them taste differently at the same time.

Here are our Panini’s

(Kind of like a convenient Hand-Held Thanksgiving Lunch/Dinner)
——————————————————————————

This particular Thanksgiving consisted of Turkey Soup and Panini’s.
It was light (lite), delicious, and pretty easy. We actually spent less time in the kitchen, and more time enjoying the day.
Oh, our Thanksgiving’s won’t always be like this. It won’t always be just the two of us.
But, when it is, meals like this are perfect!
——————————————————————————

Souvenir’s From our Cross Country Trip out West in 1992
We saw many a Native Community and visited many Reservations. I even started a charm bracelet. I bought the chain and a few charms at one location. And then continued to buy them as we visited other Native locations. I should actually post it here. I am quite proud of it. It represents our 2 1/2 week cross country drive from Florida to California in 1992. Veronica was 5, and I was pregnant with Brodie.
(I do have to confess that Thanksgiving to me has become more thoughtful. I adore the Native American’s, and I know how horribly they have been mistreated by white people. I also know that Thanksgiving is based on a slaughter of Natives. Which is why I recognize that at every turn, but I also honor the idea of us all feasting and getting along together. I love Thanksgiving and I have no desire to ever give up the holiday. I will however, continue to honor the peace that I hope will eventually come from it.)

Fort Brodie
I save and cherish my children’s artwork from their youth. This is something that Brodie drew while we were living in Maryland. I found it and decided to post it here. We are very proud of our children and their creativity.
———————————————————————
A Roasted Spatchcock Turkey Breast

This particular Thanksgiving Gordon roasted a Spatchcock Turkey Breast and it was perfect for us!

Look at all the Drippings!
(Recipe Down Below)
—————————————————————————————-
An Excellent Use of Leftovers


Turkey Salad
I think that most people have their own Turkey/Chicken Salad recipe but I will give you mine.
Turkey Breast, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Hard Boiled Egg, Freshly Ground Black Pepper,Dashes of Tabasco Sauce, Chopped Onion, Pickle Relish, Chopped Celery.
You use the amounts that you prefer. Excellent spread onto bread with Lettuce to make a Sandwich, or I like to blob it on Crackers and eat it that way.
Either way, welcome to our Thanksgiving Lite and Leftovers.
Hope you find something you like here.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Julie and Gordon Whann
————————————————————————————-
Turkey Soup


The Crock Pot Makes Cooking This Soup Easier

———————————————————————–
This is a great way to use up those last bits of Turkey, and left over celery and onion that you used to make the dressing, and other recipes for Thanksgiving.

All of Our Ingredients

————————————————————————-

List of Ingredients:
3-4 quarts Chicken Broth
4 or 5 Multi-colored Carrots
2-3 Celery Stalks – chopped
1/2 to 3/4 Medium Yellow Onion – chopped
1 Turkey Neck
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tbsp. Rubbed Sage
1/2 t. Fresh Ground Pepper
1 t. Hawaiian Sea Salt
1 (4.7 oz..) Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil Pearled Couscous – Near East Brand
2-3 Cups Cooked Turkey – chopped
2 Cups Wide Egg Noodles – cooked
2 Cups Zucchette Pumpkin Shaped Noodles – Vegan (Sprouts Brand
——————————————————————

Start by peeling your carrots..

then cut them into 1 inch sections.

Place about 2 quarts of Chicken Stock into your slow cooker then add your sliced carrots and turn your Crock-Pot to High, and 4 hours cooking time.

Wash and chop your Celery as shown…

and add them to the cooker.

Now, chop your Onions and use as many as your like. This recipe doesn’t have to be followed to the letter as you want to fill up the cooker with the listed ingredients. We also like a thick and hearty soup.

Add your chopped Onion to the cooker.

Here is our Turkey Neck, which I will also add to the cooker and take out later when the meat falls off the bone.

I store our Bay Leaves in a canning jar to keep them well sealed.

Add two or three of them to the cooker.

Now, add the Rubbed Sage and freshly ground Black Pepper.

Now add your Sea Salt to the pot. We like using Hawaiian Sea Salt.

Now add your Pearled Couscous to the cooker along with the seasoning packet.

———————————————————————–

Add more Chicken Stock to fill the cooker.
—————————————————————————-

You Just Want to Cover and Continue to Cook

———————————————————————————

Here we saved a good amount of Turkey Breast from our Thanksgiving Turkey.

Chop your Turkey into bite-sized pieces.

Add your Turkey to the Crock-Pot.


Here we cooked the Egg Noodles separately as per directions and then added them to the cooker.

—————————————————————————

As you can see the Crock-Pot is getting quite full.

We can still add some Pumpkin Shaped pasta though so we cooked it as per the directions.

Our original intent was for this to be a colorful garnish, however, I Julie, went a bit heavy on the pasta.

After about 4 hours the soup should be good and hot.

Here we added the Pumpkin Pasta.

This soup is very hearty, full of nutrients and tastes great!
It also freezes well……
———————————————————————————

Also great for leftovers… simply place the frozen soup in a large pot and turn the heat to medium low.

Here you have once again the great Turkey Soup.

——————————————————————————

Turkey Squash Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This is a Squash Casserole that we had leftover from Thanksgiving. I Julie, got the idea to use it in Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. The Squash were softened from the Casserole, but still had a bite to them that suited this sandwich well.

Ingredients:
Leftover Squash From Casserole
1/4 Cup Jack O Pumpkin Seed Cheese – Shredded
1/4 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese – Shredded
2 Tbsp. Butter
3-4 slices of Cooked Bacon
1/4 Cup Parsley
Bread Slices and/or…
2 slices of Brown Bread – Cheesecake Factory Brand
——————————————————————-

We have used (Igourmet) to find many of our favorite cheeses. This Jack O Pumpkin Seed we thought would go well in this sandwich.

Slice off the outer rind.

Then shred as much as you will need. We also shredded some Sharp Cheddar Cheese to make a few of these sandwiches.

Spread some of the butter on one side of the bread.

—————————————————————————–

Heat your pan to medium high heat and place the buttered side down in the pan. Then add your Pumpkin Seed shredded Cheese and cooked Squash slices.

Now, top the Squash with some cooked Bacon and Fresh Parsley.

Add your Shredded Cheddar Cheese to the Parsley. It is fine if a little spills over as it is great when cooked. Top the sandwich with another buttered slice of bread as shown. Cook for sandwich for a few minutes or until you can move the sandwich and there a slight scraping noise. That means the bread is getting toasted. Flip the sandwich over using your spatula and cook on the other side for about another few minutes until browned.

————————————————————————

We hope you enjoy these unique and delicious grilled sandwiches!
————————————————————————

Spatchcock Turkey Breast

Nicely Carved

Gathering Our Ingredients

List of Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. Oregano
1 Tbsp.Thyme
1 Tbsp.Rubbed Sage
1 Tbsp.Marjoram
1 Tbsp.Onion Powder
2 t. Ground Allspice
2 t. Chili Powder
1 Tbsp. Ground Coriander
1 Tbsp. Ground Cumin
2 Tbsp. Raw Cane Sugar
2 Tbsp. Splenda Brown Sugar
1 Heaping Tbsp. Whole Grain Mustard
2 Tbsp. Chicken Stock
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Salt, and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste
NOTE: The Spices I am placing in the mixing bowl are specifically for the top of the Turkey Breast to give it a nice Crust.
—————————————————————————-

Here I am adding the spices into a medium sized bowl.

I am using my palm to measure the amounts.

Of course you can add as much or as little of these spices as you like.

I also like using a variety of sweeteners as it gives the flavor more depth.

This turned out to be a nice grainy mustard. We used it again later in the next recipe below.

Now add your Chicken Stock…

then the Olive Oil.

Mix all the ingredients together to make sure there is enough liquid in the mixture to make it spread easily over the meat.

Add your Sea Salt, and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste…

then mix all the ingredients well using a whisk.
Now, Set Aside
————————————————————————-

Here is the Turkey Breast I bought which is produced by Shady Brook Farms. I have found their turkey’s are very nice and well priced! With all poultry, rinse them well with running water to remove any old blood and particulates like stray bones and loose feathers. Also, look it over and remove any feathers that may still be attached.

I began thawing this two days earlier and it still had some ice in the main cavity. Rinsing it helped to remove this ice and thaw the meat.

Here I placed the Turkey Breast on a roasting rack on top of a roasting pan.

Pat the skin dry so the seasonings will adhere to them.
INITIALLY: I was just going to season and roast the Turkey Breast like this. However, it was as I was adding the spices that I realized the Turkey would cook much better, and the spices would adhere better, if I Spatchcocked it.
Not meaning to confuse you. But, I am telling the story as it has happened.
Sometimes a recipe can evolve as it is being created. Which happens with us sometimes.
———————————————————————————-
So, as it began….

Seeing how the meat was upright, I thought I would add some seasonings and olive oil to the cavity and outside of the breasts to help the spice mixture adhere to the meat.

I brushed the oil from the cavity onto the outside of the breasts.

Now, I am sprinkling a little of the spices I used before on the Turkey to help the spice mixture adhere to the dry surface.

————————————————————————–

Adding Some Spices….

…just winging it.

——————————————————————————–

Now, I am adding some Chicken Stock to the roasting pan so the fat drippings don’t burn on the bottom of the pan.
————————————————————————
It was at this point that I decided to Spatchcock the Turkey Breast.

I placed the breast on the cutting board. I thought if I were to Spatchcock the breasts, the spices would simply lay on top of the meat. Spatchcock means to split the breasts and remove the backbone to lay the meat flat. Doing this will also help the meat to cook evenly.
—————————————————————————–

Start by splitting the breasts with your knife. I stabbed the breast bone evenly…

then continued the cut with my knife. Now cut the breasts away from the backbone.

Here you can see the breasts and backbone almost separated. Continue to flatten the breasts by pressing your hand down on them to finish breaking the breastbone. I am using my right hand to do this. In the next picture you can see the breasts are now fully split. Using your left hand press down on the backbone then use your knife to cut the backbone away from the breasts. If you want, you could save the backbone for soup stock.
———————————————————————-

Here is the Spatchcocked Turkey on the roasting rack.

Now, simply spread your spice mixture (that you had set aside from the mixing bowl above) over the top of the Turkey as shown, as they will spread more evenly during the cooking process.

I sprinkled some extra spices used in the mixture on the rest of the breasts for good measure.

Roast the breasts in a 350’F oven for about 45 min. or until the internal temperature reaches 160’F.

I removed the pan from the oven to add some water, as it was almost dry.

———————————————————————————

Place the meat back in the oven to finish the cooking. Here you can see the light blue temperature indicator popped up to indicate the meat was done. I also used my digital thermometer just to be sure.
—————————————————————————————–

Here is a great shot of the drippings in the bottom of the pan which would make a great gravy.
————————————————————————————————

Let the meat rest for about 15 min. to allow the super-heated outside juices to return to the center of the meat, making the meat juicy and raising the internal temperature to 165’F. Cutting into the meat right out of the oven would disrupt the juice movement and the juices would spill out all over your cutting board.

Slice the meat down and away from the breastbone as shown.

Continue to do this on both sides of the breast. The clumps of spices are delicious!

Enjoy!
————————————————————————————
Leftover Spatchcock Turkey

Using the leftover meat, we made pressed sandwiches using Julie’s Florida Jezebel Sauce… absolutely delicious!

To start, use some good crusty bread.
These were perfect in size and thickness.

I love Swiss Cheese so we shredded a good amount of it.

I love to use our cast iron skillets as they hold the heat well and are great for frying. I placed about 1 Tbsp. of olive oil into the pan and spread it around using a paper towel and turned up the temperature to medium.


Slice the bread in half then spread some grainy mustard and Julie’s Florida Jezebel Sauce on each slice.

Add your sliced turkey breast and grated Swiss piled high as shown.

Then we added some fresh Spinach leaves to the top of the cheese and used the top section of the bread to close the sandwich.

Place the sandwich off center in the pan as shown.

I quickly made another sandwich…

and placed it next to the one in the pan.

I then placed another cast iron skillet on top of the sandwiches…

then placed another as shown to increase the weight.
I also pressed down on the sandwiches some to help them press evenly.

I am making another sandwich as I am sure they will be great!

After a few minutes, remove the pans and using a spatula turn the sandwiches over and cook for another few minutes until well browned and crusty.
———————————————————————————-

Time to dig in!
———————————————————————–
If you would like the recipe for:
An Old Florida Jezebel (Sauce)

Happy Thanksgiving!
Julie and Gordon
WILLKOMMEN! (Welcome) (Hardly fancy, but Cheese, Turkey Sausage, on Crackers with a good German Mustard is a nice little snack.) ———————————————————– Oktoberfest: German Festival Held over a two week period ending the first Sunday in October. The festival originated on October 12, …
Autumn
Once Labor Day is over with…..

There is just something special about the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn.
To most of us it’s having the kids go back to school. Always a special time for me and Gordon when our children were young. We would high-five each other that the kids were back in school and not at home anymore. 🙂 Although we were the only ones happy about it.
While they were dragging their feet I was always up early on the 1st. day of school, full make up, hair done as if I would be strutting down a runway that very morning. (Which was pretty much me walking my kids to school in Hawaii. It was a happy strut.) 🙂
School supplies, back to school clothing, new shoes, Columbus Day/Discoverers Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Brodie’s Birthday….

It just got you in the mood for cooler weather and all the deliciousness that came with it. Autumn is the time of year that we all tend to start to nest and that includes cooking/baking/eating all sorts of delicious TREATS.
It’s a time that we wear beautiful Autumn colors of Greens, Oranges, Reds, Golds, Browns and Tans.
It is also a time when we need to pay attention to what we eat so as not to put on tooooooo much weight over the holidays. 🙂

Hard to do, I know. But we can do it! Let’s just work on portions.
It’s all about maintaining the weight we have through the holidays and then we’ll work on getting it off after the New Year. (Fingers crossed.) 🙂
————————————————————–
I believe in TREATS!

Treats are good for your soul. They are special. They make our taste buds happy.
And, Treats are also just that, Treats!
Eating a pie with a face on it is just much more fun!
I would like to present to you a few of our Autumn Treats.

Hope to tempt you into submission to enjoy something very easy and simple, but tasty and delicious.
Happy Autumn,
Julie and Gordon
————————————————————

Halloween, Maryland, 2001
(I think)

Witches, Spiders, Monsters…

and Candles

Our Brodie Ready to go Trick-or-Treating

Brodie and Veronica Carving Their Pumpkins

I just wanted to share some old photos of our Halloween times from Maryland.
Wonderful Memories Being Made
That is also what Autumn is about.
Trick or Treat!
———————————————————–

Sliced Apples with Delicious Fondue Caramel

Trying to Decide Which Fondue Pot to Use

Granny Smith, Fuji Apple, Red Delicious, Gala Apples, Golden Delicious, Pink Lady Apple and Honeycrisp Apple

Dried Apples are Excellent Too!


Dipping Apples into Caramel
Make sure that when you slice your apples that you place them into a bowl or a baggie that has lemon or lime juice in it. Apples will turn brown quickly so they need the acidity to stay fresh.
When ready, place the apples onto a plate for dipping into a Caramel Fondue.
(Caramel Recipe Down Below)
—————————————————————-
Making Old Fashioned Caramel

Beautiful Brown Jars

Hot Moulton Lava Caramel

Pouring our Caramel Into Jars
(Recipe Down Below)

Ready to Give as Gifts or to Make Caramel Apples

Rolling the Apples in the Caramel and Dipping Them into Sweet Treats

This Caramel is Better as a Dip,
also a great topping for ice cream


Here We Used Our Caramel with Our Green Apples in Our Appletini’s
———————————————————

I Come Bearing Pies

We Made These For Our Kids and Their Partners
Apple and Pear with Apple Butter

Our Apple Tartlets
Caramel Base with Variety of Apples and Brushed with Middle Eastern Honey

Cooling on Racks
The Smell is Delicious
—————————————————————————

Julie’s Vintage Southern Caramel Cake

(Recipes are located at the bottom of this page.)
——————————————————————
Every Treat on this page has something in common.
CARAMEL!
To be specific, HOMEMADE CARAMEL!

The CARMEL that we made for this cake, is also the CARAMEL…

that we are eating in this Fondue Pot, and….

is in our Apple Pies and Tartlets.

So, grab a fork and let’s get to it!
———————————————————————
Making Old Fashioned Caramel

Beautiful Brown Jars

Ingredients and Equipment
(We are doubling this recipe.)
You will Need Two Large Pots
Jars, Rings and Lids
——————————————————
4 Sticks of Butter/Margarine (2 Cups)
5 Cups Sugar
1 1/2 Cups of Buttermilk
3 Tablespoons of Corn Syrup
1 teaspoon Salt
2 1/2 teaspoons of Baking Soda
30 Marshmallows
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
—————————————————————


————————————————————–

Here We Have Our Two Large Pots

Placing Butter in One, and Margarine in the Other

The Pot is on a Medium-Low Heat, As the Butter/Margarine Melts we Add our Buttermilk

———————————————————————-

Ready To Add The Karo Syrup

The Thing About Making This Caramel Is That You Have To Constantly Stir It

Adding The Karo Syrup

Now To Add The 5 Cups of Sugar
(Stir Constantly Until Sugar is Dissolved)

Now Add The Salt and Baking Soda

Continue To Stir

—————————————————————————

Now We Add About 30-35 Marshmallows To Melt

Again, Stirring Constantly

It Will Expand As It Cooks

In order to make an icing you want the caramel to reach 238F. However, as we were cooking this, and it took a very long time, it was spitting hot lava at us. Gordon even got a 3rd. degree burn on his finger. Therefore, we stopped at about 225F. That way, the caramel is delicious and creamy, but not deadly.
—————————————————————————

When it reaches the temperature that you desire, then add the Vanilla Extract.

———————————————————————-

Hot Moulton Lava Caramel

Here Gordon is Adding the Caramel to Jars

Isn’t it Beautiful?
We wanted to can the Caramel but because of the Buttermilk it isn’t safe to do so. However, we did give it as gifts to a few special people and they loved it! It lasts about 2 weeks in your refrigerator. Dollop it on everything!
———————————————————–
Our Halloween Pies of Apple/Pears/ and Apple Butter

Ingredients:
4 Ready made pie crusts – thawed
1/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp. flour
1 1/2 Tbsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Tbsp. Ground Cloves
1/2 tsp. Freshly Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
1 Cup Musselman’s Apple butter (or any you prefer)
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Pear – sliced thinly
7-8 Apples – (Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Pink Lady and Honeycrisp – sliced thinly
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
1 egg
1 Tbsp. Water
3 Tbsp. Sugar in the Raw
——————————————————————–

Here you see all the pie crusts which we used for both the pies and tarts.

Here are all the ingredients we used for also both the pies and tarts.

——————————————————————–

—————————————————————————–

In a large bowl add your Flour, Ground Cinnamon and Ground Cloves.

Now add your Nutmeg which should be freshly ground as it has a more intense flavor. Then add your Salt.

Lastly add your Butter

to the bowl.

Now, add your Apple Butter.

Mix the ingredients well with a rubber spatula.

———————————————————————–

Now add your Sugar to the mix, and again…

mix the ingredients well.

Slice your Pear just to the right of half to avoid the seeds.

Then slice it just to the left of the seeds. Now, turn the Pear and slice off the smaller wedges avoiding the seeds in the center.

Slice the wedges into 1/8 inch slices and add the sliced Pear to the bowl.

I previously sliced the Apples in the same way and placed them in a bag with some of the Lemon Juice to prevent the Apples from turning brown as they do when they are exposed to air. Mix the Apples with the other ingredients in the bowl and set aside.
———————————————————————-

Now for the Piecrusts. You don’t have to pre-bake if you don’t want to and they will turn out just fine. We wanted to just because we feel it ensures the crusts are crispy. Using a fork, prick your crust all over as shown. Pre-bake your pie crusts in a 350’F oven for about 5-8 min.

————————————————————-

Here are our baked crusts which are just slightly browned.

Pile in your Apple-Pear and Seasonings into each pie crust as shown.

Place them on a sheet pan just in case they spill during baking.

——————————————————————

Flour your counter or cutting board with flour. Use a throwing motion to get the flour evenly dispersed.

Roll out your thawed but still cold pie dough onto the floured surface and using a sharp knife, cut out your pumpkin face shapes as shown.
Be Creative!

Roll the dough into a tube as shown…

then unroll the dough over the top of the pie as shown.

Adjust and center the dough over the pie.

Crimp both edges together using a pinching motion.

Here you can see one of the pies ready for baking.

Cut the next pie dough in the same method.

Julie had the brilliant idea to take one of the pieces of apple making a tongue with it.

Crack one egg and one Tbsp. of water into a bowl and mix well. This is an egg wash which will put a nice glaze on the pie and help with browning.

Brush a thin coat of the egg wash over the pie.

Evenly spread 1 1/2 Tbsp. of the Sugar in the Raw over each pie.

Here the pies are almost ready to be baked.

Use this strips of aluminum foil around the edges of the pie to protect them from burning. Place the pies into a 350″F oven for ~30 min. or until browned.

Remove the foil and cook for another 5-10 min. The tongue looks great!

Out of the Oven and Cooling

Ready to be Delivered to Our Children and Their Partners
—————————————————————

Apple Tartlet’s With Homemade Caramel, Apples, and Middle Eastern Honey

Slice your Apples into thin wedges. This can be done in a variety of methods. One method would be to slice the Apple in half then slice the wedges around the core turning the apple slightly for each slice. I found if you sliced the Apple straight down just to the right of center avoiding the core twice, then slice off the two remaining thinner pieces using the same method, left me with four straight wedges. Now, simply slice straight down through the wedges making even thin slices.

Place the cut Apple slices into a Zip Lock Bag with enough Lemon Juice to coat the wedges evenly to avoid the Apple from browning.

Here are the pie shells we used.

Keeping our Pie and Tartlet Dough Cool
Here is our very full refrigerator, stocked and ready for almost anything.
——————————————————–

Here are our tart shells.

Spray the tart shells with a little cooking spray.
(We bought these at a thrift store a few years ago and this is our first time to use them.)

Place one of the thawed but still cool pie shells into a tart shell.

Evenly move the dough into all the edges of the shell.

Here is our caramel icing sauce which is absolutely delicious. This is leftover from our Caramel Cake that we made, recipe below.

Place a few Tbsp. of the caramel into the center of the pie and spread it all over the bottom of the tart dough.

Take your Apple slices and decoratively place them into the tart. We used a fan method.

———————————————————————

Here is the finished design.

Take about 2 Tbsp. of Honey and place it into a microwave safe dish. Microwave the Honey for about 15 seconds to make it more viscous. Brush the Honey over the Apple slices to create a nice glaze.
(This honey is from The Middle East and it is heavenly! It tastes like our honey but yet it also doesn’t. You really have to try it to understand but it is really good.)
—————————————————————–

Here are our next tarts.

Again, spray the tart shells with cooking spray.

Spread your pie dough over the bottom of the tart shell then spread the caramel over the dough.

Here we simply placed the apple slices into the shells tightly next to each other.

Again, brush some honey over the top of the apple slices as done before.

Now, drizzle some caramel over the apple slices in a decorative motion. I went back and forth diagonally for the longer tarts…

and used a round swirl motion over the round tart starting in the center and working my way out to the edge.

Into the Oven They go

Bake the tarts in your over at 350’F for about 35-40 min. or until browned.

Cooling and Drooling 🙂

—————————————————————-
Julie’s Old Fashioned Southern Caramel Cake
(Homemade Caramel Recipe Here)

I’m very proud of this cake. It just reminds me of the south.
——————————————————————–

Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups Cake Flour
3 Cups Sugar
2 Cups Butter
8 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
4 t. Baking Powder
1 T. Vanilla Extract
1/2 t. Almond Extract
1 t. Salt
————————————————

You will need an electric mixer for this.

You will also need some Parchment Paper and Cooking Oil Spray.
You want to use a pen or pencil and draw the shape of the cake pan onto it.
Then cut out the shape.

I first sprayed some of the cooking oil spray into the pan bottom and sides. I then placed the cut out parchment paper onto the bottom and then sprayed some more of the cooking oil spray.
—————————————————————
Time To Make The Cake

I cracked all the eggs into a small bowl.

I then added the Milk, Vanilla Extract, and Almond Extract to the Eggs.
I mixed everything together and let it sit.
——————————————————————

Cake Flour, Sugar, and Baking Powder

Add to the Mixing Bowl

Blend the Dry Ingredients Together on Low

Slice Your Butter Into Tablespoon Chunks

You want to place your mixer on a low speed and add your butter one tablespoon at at time until it’s blended.

You Can See It Coming Along Here

You Want to Keep Blending the Dry Mixture and the Butter Together

I Then Add about Half of the Egg Mixture to the Butter and Dry Ingredients
When Blended I Add The Remaining Egg Mixture and Increase the Speed to Medium Until Blended

With the Batter Ready, It’s Time to Pour into the Cake Pans

Like So….

———————————————————————-

Pre-Heat Oven to 350F

Bake for 20-25 Minutes
To determine when the cake is done, place a toothpick or wooden skewer into the cake and if it comes out clean then the cakes are done.

Place Onto a Cooling Rack and Cool Thoroughly
————————————————————–
Preparing My Cake For The Icing

You Need a Cake Pedestal, Some Parchment Paper, and Your Cake

I cut some of the parchment into strips and placed all around the cake pedestal.

I then placed one of my cakes face down onto the parchment and removed the bottom layer of parchment that we cooked the cake in.

Now It Is Time To Make The Caramel Icing

This is a Caramel Icing Recipe. You are about to make Caramel. 🙂

Ingredients:
2 Cups Butter
5 Cups Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk
3 T. Corn Syrup
2 T. Vanilla Extract
2 1/2 t. Baking Soda
1 t. Salt
30 Marshmallows
You will need a Candy Thermometer
———————————————————————-

————————————————————————–

In a heavy saucepan….. over low heat.

Add Your Butter, and Buttermilk

Sugar….

Corn Syrup, Salt, and Baking Soda….

Stirring Constantly Until the Butter and Sugar is Dissolved

You Then Add Your Marshmallows

Werther’s Original Caramels and Hard Candy Caramels
(Thinking about these as accents.)

Marshmallows Melting

The Mixture Kept Expanding So We Transferred Into a Larger Pot
You need to constantly stir so the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

In order to make the caramel icing you need for the candy thermometer to reach 238F. We never reached it. We even placed the burner on a medium-high. The caramel was spitting hot lava at us and we were getting burned so we called it quits at 220F.


Gordon Had to Oven Mit Up in Order to Deal with the Hot Caramel

We then removed from the heat and added our Vanilla.


Place Your Caramel Into A Mixing Bowl

Now, Use a Mixer to Mix It!

You want the mixture to get cloudy.
Just do the best you can. We did!

Beat about 5 Minutes

Now It’s Time To Start Spreading The Icing

I would like to stress that we never allowed this caramel to reach the 238F temp that would have made it more firm. However, it was still quite delicious as it is.

We also had other intentions where this caramel was concerned.
We wanted it runny enough to use as a fondue dip.
————————————————————————

So, now we have our gorgeously delicious caramel icing/dip.

I do wish that I had placed my cake onto a cookie rack so that the icing could fall down into it, as a glaze. But, instead I had to remove it from the parchment paper and place it back into my mixing bowl for later use.
It may have been a mess to make but it was one of the best cakes that Gordon and I had ever eaten.
This Was The Best Cake

I Added A Few Hard Candy Caramels To Accent
————————————————————————–

So Delicious
——————————————————————–
Premiering at a Theater Near You! Starring Julie’s Jezebel Sauce, and a Cast of Supporting Foods For those of you outside The Bible Belt of America, you probably have never heard of Jezebel Sauce. It’s exact Southern origins are a bit …
Spicy Hot Mexican Cranberries Regalos Comestibles (Edible Gifts) We made a similar Cranberry Sauce last year for our Feliz Navidad. Click Here For: Feliz Navidad a Casa Whann You can find the recipe for our 2019 Cranberries on that …
THANKSGRILLIN’
2020
Welcome to our Home Renovations Thanksgiving

A.K.A. Our Thanksgiving During our Home Renovations

With our kitchen under construction, it fell to the outside grill to deliver us our turkey from evil. (Or something to that affect.)

Check Out That Turkey!

Check Out Our Matching Thanksgiving Pajamas


And Check Out The Vase I Used, A Bucket
—————————————————

(Keep Reading for our Recipes)
—————————————————————–
We managed to fit in a lovely Thanksgiving in spite of our Home Renovations.
If you would like to take a look:
Click Here For: Our Home Renovations

———————————————————————————-

Our The Money Pit/Home Renovations Thanksgiving

We based this excellent Thanksgiving on the movie, The Money Pit.
(I realize this is probably the strangest Thanksgiving we’ve ever had, and you’ve ever seen, but here we go!)

Mae Played a Very Important Role

She Added a Bit of Glamour and Held our Cupcakes

Hi! Just Testing the Camera

I Loved our “Formal” Thanksgiving Table

Ready to Dig into That Turkey

Turkey in a Bucket

Just When You Think The Timer on the Camera Is Done
—————————————————————-

Our Den Bookcase Shelf Used For Storing our Thanksgiving Spices During our Reno
(At least we thought ahead on this one.) 🙂
——————————————————————
We may have cooked the turkey on Thanksgiving Day, but it wasn’t until that Saturday that we were able to have our Thanksgiving Dinner.

We wanted our Thanksgiving to be simple and easy.
We knew that we just wanted turkey sandwiches with the works!
So, Here We Go!

Our Thanksgiving Dinner consists of Turkey Sandwiches made on either Sour Dough Bread slices, or our Cornbread Dressing that we made into bread slices by spreading it out on a baking sheet and then baking it until done, then slicing it into sandwich sized bread, and then placed back into the oven to brown a little bit.
Like so:

This is my Grandmother’s (Julie) Southern Cornbread Dressing
We simply spread it out onto a baking sheet that was sprayed with vegetable oil, and then baked it until it was done in a 350F oven for probably 25 -30 minutes.

When done we then used a pizza cutter to cut the Dressing into bread sized slices. Then placed them onto a large baking sheet so that they could then toast up well enough to act as slices of bread in order to hold everything we were going to cram between those slices.
————————————————————

Here Gordon is fixing his sandwich using our Cornbread Dressing as the bread slices.

To build the sandwich Gordon first started with our homemade mustard.
Click Here For: Pork, Sausage, and Mustard

If you would like to see how to make our mustard’s.
——————————————————————-

Gordon then Added some Turkey, Cheese Slices, and Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Then He Added Some Coleslaw, Bacon, and our Cranberry Sauce

Viola!

Thanksgiving Turkey, Bacon, our homemade Tarragon Mustard, White Cheddar Cheese slices, Grilled Yams, Grilled Onions, store bought Cole Slaw, and our last jar of homemade Florida Christmas Cranberry Sauce.

Gordon dolloping the last of our:

An Excellent Recipe if you care to take a Look
————————————————————–
Our Sides are the Hasselback Potatoes cut into medallions to resemble Potato Chips.

With a nice drizzle of Sour Cream and Chives.
Also, our homemade Dill Pickle slices and some store bought Salt Cured Olives.

Gordon’s Dinner Plate

(Recipes Down Below)
———————————————————
There is Always Room for Leftovers

The Last Taste of Thanksgiving

Try dipping your sandwich into a side of gravy.
————————————————————————
Now Time For The Recipes
—————————————————————-
Making The Cornbread

(See Gordon Peeking Around The Corner?) 🙂
The point of this isn’t to give you some unique recipe. It is to demonstrate to you how we had to make our cornbread during renovations. We probably did this on the day before Thanksgiving. Normally, I Julie, would have made it two days prior. But, we just had too much activity going on in this area that I couldn’t.

Here Gordon is Making our Cornbread

Honestly, the recipe is from a Martha White bag. It is delicious though. But, this is a great base for our Southern Cornbread Dressing.

Here Gordon is placing the batter into our Cast Iron Skillet.

Now, Into The Oven To Bake

Just Following The Package Instructions

Out of the Oven and Cooling

I Julie, placed the cornbread into a bowl and am venting it with some Aluminum Foil. You want the Cornbread to dry out in order to make a great Cornbread Dressing. I have it vented on my desk that we moved into our bedroom for renovations. This is on a Wednesday evening.

Cornbread and the Dehumidifier
This is Thursday, Thanksgiving Day
That red thing is a dehumidifier. It’s purpose is to suck the moisture out of the air to dry out our house because of all the moisture that we had due to our dishwasher leaking and ruining the kitchen walls and our living room carpet.
We could not have asked for a better way to dry out our cornbread. That is why we placed it beside the dehumidifier.
Genius, huh? 🙂
——————————————————————
Time to Cook the Turkey

Even major renovations to our house due to a leaking dishwasher which leaked over a long period of time, won’t stop us from having our Thanksgiving. I even got dressed for the occasion with my Thanksgiving overall pajamas. 🙂
Be sure to thaw your Turkey in the refrigerator days ahead of time.

We Have No Kitchen Sink So We Are Using Our Laundry Room Sink
Wash the blood and any residual feathers off the turkey. Here you can see I am using our laundry room sink as we don’t have a kitchen sink.

This is Something of an Adventure

Drain the turkey well and be sure to remove the neck and giblets from the cavity. These can be used to make a giblet gravy or nice soup.

We Will Be Grilling The Turkey
Here is our setting outside on our screened lanai.

Pat the turkey with paper towels to ensure the skin will accept the oil and get nice and crispy.

Pictured is the setup of my grill along with the smoking chips on the left and the spices to be used on the right.
———————————————————–
Ingredients:
~ 10 Lb. Butterball Turkey
~ 1/2 Cup Peanut Oil
~ 2 Tbsp. Thyme
~ 2 Tbsp. Ground Sage
~ 1 Tbsp. Hawaiian Alaea Sea Salt
~ 1 1/2 Tbsp. Sazon Complete Seasoning
~ 1 Tbsp. Black Garlic Powder
~ 1 Tbsp. Tarragon
~ 1 Tbsp. Onion Powder
Ground Pepper to taste
—————————————————————

Place your turkey in a roasting pan and pour your Peanut oil over it as shown. Rub the oil all over the turkey’s skin to help it brown and become crispy.

———————————————————————-

The Turkey….

The Flowers in a Bucket….

Here I am dousing the Thyme and Sage spices over the turkey and placing some in the cavity as well.

This is a great salt that has a light flavor. You don’t need much as the Sazon is also salty.

Sazon is a Spanish seasoning that has an herbaceous slightly salty unique flavor, which goes nicely with Turkey.

———————————————————————–

Gordon Ready To Get Started

Here I am getting my Hickory wood chips ready using the side burner to heat the chips. I place the smoking box directly on the burner turning it to medium temperature. Once the chips start to smoke, I turn the temperature under the chips to low.

All Spiced and Ready for the Grill

Now, place the rack in your roasting pan and place the turkey on top of the rack. Bend both wing tips behind the leg so they don’t burn. My particular grill has four burners. I turn the outside burners on medium and leave the middle burners off. Place a bit of water in the roasting pan, so the turkey drippings don’t burn.

———————————————————————

Here you can see a wisp of smoke on the left as the turkey starts to brown.

After about 2 hours, at this point I like to cover the turkey with aluminum foil, so it doesn’t brown too much.

—————————————————————-


After about 3 hours of cooking you can see the turkey is getting there and looking good.


Cooking the turkey is NOT a timed event as many factors come into play. Your turkey is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165’F in the thickest part of the thigh. This turkey cooked for around 4 hours and at the 3 1/2 hour point, I inserted my digital thermometer into the thigh being sure not to touch a bone. You can see the internal temperature is at 161’F… Perfect. I will now let the turkey rest for about 20 min. Doing this will allow the turkeys super heated external juices (The juices near the skin heated to about 300’F) to sink back into and distribute evenly into the internal meat, which will bring the internal temperature up at least 5-10’F to 165’F.

Here, Julie and I are enjoying a beautiful day outside on our lanai as the turkey is cooking. I love the smoke smell in the air.

———————————————————————-
Cute Doggie Break

I’m pretty sure they are dog tired. 🙂
————————————————————-

This is Saturday, after Thanksgiving Thursday.
Our renovation crew came on Friday, after Thanksgiving, and took down all the plastic dividers. Finally, we had more access to what kitchen that we had. Still no sink, or dishwasher, but just more room. They also removed all the dehumidifier’s.

This finally gave us more room to maneuver around our kitchen.

But, due to our home renovations, we may have cooked our turkey on Thanksgiving Day, but we didn’t actually eat our Thanksgiving Dinner until Saturday when we were able to better utilize our kitchen.

Here We Are Working on Our Thanksgiving Sides

——————————————————————–

Making My Grandmother’s Southern Cornbread Dressing
We have given this recipe on so many Thanksgiving and Christmas pages of ours that I am not going to re-write it here. But, you can now better see our kitchen.

Check Out Our New Island, Huh? 🙂

Gordon Cooking

Making the Cornbread Dressing

It’s Coming Together Nicely

——————————————————————


Here Gordon is Spreading our Cornbread Dressing Onto a Greased Sheet Pan

Now, we are going to cook it in a 350F oven for about 25 minutes, or so until done.

——————————————————————–

Into The Oven It Goes

———————————————————————

When done, remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Getting Ready for Another Recipe

When Cooled, use a pizza cutter to make slices the size of bread slices.

Then place the slices onto a larger baking sheet and then place back into the oven on 350F…..

for about 10-15 minutes.

Like So…..

Now We Have Our Bread Slices
————————————————————

————————————————————-

For our Sweet potatoes… we boiled three sweet potatoes for about 20 min. or until just softened.

I removed them then sliced them into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Grill the slices over medium temperature until cooked and softened.

Hasselback Potatoes. Use two chopsticks placed on the sides of the potato, so your knife won’t slice all the way through the potato. Make your slices all the way down the potato and about 1/4 inch thick.

Here Gordon is Grilling Our Sides

——————————————————————

Add some salt and pepper to taste and using the upper rack of your grill, bake the potatoes until done. This will take about 45 min. depending upon the temperature of your grill.

The Beautiful Sweet Potatoes Grilling

Here you can see the potatoes are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Here is the before and after shot… nice Julie!

—————————————————————————–

Now It’s Just Time To Make The Sandwiches

————————————————————————-

———————————————————
Decorations were simple. A pumpkin with some flowers in a bucket. 🙂

Putting all the food away was actually quite easy because dinner was easy.
We hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving isn’t about some big and fancy dinner, it’s about you, and yours and whatever you have in store for it.
Julie and Gordon
Welcome to the Recipe for Julie’s Chicken Knot Pies Ready to go into the Oven I have always loved Turkey Pot pies and actually grew up eating quite a few of them. My mother wasn’t much of a cook, …

Julie’s Blackberry Pies

——————————————————————–

Served with Kool-Whip mixed with Blackberry Jam and Topped with Blackberries


Perhaps Eaten with The Cranky Bastard Blackberry Wine
————————————————————
When I think of a pie, Mother Goose always comes to mind:
—————————————————————-
Julie’s 4 and 20 Blackbirds Baked in a Pie

The Pie Ingredients
Ready Made Pie Crusts

I like to make things easy, and thawing out ready made pie crusts is one way that I do it. I find that they are a tasty shortcut. I just thaw them out until I am able to ply them easily from their aluminum pie pans without hopefully tearing the dough. And if I do happen to rip the dough I can always smoosh it back together with my fingers.

I first sprayed a little cooking oil spray into the bottom of my pie plates. I then placed my pie crusts down into my pie plates and used my fingers to mold the dough to the plates.

I then used a fork to punch holes into the dough so that it won’t bubble up.
Now set them aside for now.
————————————————————————-
Fresh Blackberries

Blackberries are in my blood.
I cannot tell you how many blackberries that I have picked off bushes throughout my life, especially my youth. But there were quite a few. Growing up in Georgia I went with my family on many a vacation, trip, visit, outing, weekend getaway, Sunday drive, etc. And on quite a few of those trips we would always come across wild blackberries growing on the sides of roads, hiking trails, camp sites, and even in our own backyards in some of the places that we lived. We always used whatever we had with us in order to collect them. Cups, bowls, napkins, hats, t-shirts…. and anything else we could find that would hold them.
We would then bring them home with us and my mother and step-father, usually the next day, would set to work baking a cobbler. They didn’t make many pies, and neither do I, they were more cobbler people. Same with me, except I don’t bake much of either anymore. But, when I saw these delicious and huge blackberries I knew that I wanted to bake a pie, or two. So, here is my recipe and I hope you enjoy it.
Julie
—————————————————————-
THE RECIPE
I would like to state and I am making 2 pies here but I will only list the ingredients for 1 pie.

Ingredients:
(To Make One Pie)
Ready Made Pie Crust
(Found in the freezer section of your grocery store.)
A Few Cups of Fresh Blackberries (Or as many as you like.)
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 t. Ground Cinnamon
Sugar Free Blackberry Jam (A few spoonfulls.)
Fresh Lime and Lemon Juice (A few Tablespoons.)
Zest of at least one Lemon or Lime
—————————————————-
Pie Topping:
Pre-made Pie Dough
(Found in the frozen food section of your grocery store.)
Some butter bits for the top of your pie.
———————————————————————–
This was fun, easy, and delicious.

You will need a mixing bowl.

Place the dry ingredients into the bowl…..

the Sugar, All Purpose Flour, and Ground Cinnamon

Whisk the Dry Ingredients Together

Now add as much Blackberry Jam as you like to the dry ingredients.

————————————————————————-

Now squeeze the juice of half a lemon or lime into the bowl…

Stir Together

Now add in as many Blackberries as you like to the mixture.

Stirring Together
—————————————————————–
350F Oven

In a 350F oven I am placing my pie crusts in to cook for about 5 minutes. I do this because I think the pie crusts won’t be as ‘doughy’ as I sometimes taste when I eat a pie. You can omit this stage if you like. This is just something that I prefer to do.

After 5 minutes I remove them from the oven.
—————————————————————————-

The Pie Filling Is Almost Ready to Place Into my Pie Plates

——————————————————————-

It’s at this point that I am adding the zest of a lemon.
You can also add more lime or lemon juice if you think it might need it.

Now Comes The Fun Creative Part

This is a ready made pie dough that you can buy in the frozen foods section of your grocery store. It comes in a long rectangle box that has about 2 of these inside of it. They come rolled up. I thawed one out and I am using a tool that I found in a drawer to cut out whatever shapes or patterns that I want. This will go on top of the pie. You can use whatever tools that you like. Cookie cutters, a knife, etc….

Scroll Down To See My Pie Patterns
(The rolling pin that you see in the photos above I didn’t need to use.
I just got it out in case that I would have to rework the dough.)
——————————————————————

Now It’s Time To Place the Mixture Into the Pie Plate

Make Sure You Get Every Delicious Drop!
————————————————————————

Spreading Everything Around in the Pie Plate

Here is where I had some fun in placing the designs that I made in pie dough.
Oh, and be sure to add a few pieces of butter to the top of your pie. Like I do above in photo right.

Microwave Selfie 🙂
————————————————————-
400F OVEN

I upped the oven to 400F and placed my pies inside to cook.

Place them onto a baking sheet.
————————————————————-

I cooked the pies for about 15 minutes to start.

I then removed them from the oven and covered each with foil and then placed them back into the oven to finish cooking for an additional 15-20 minutes.

Then I removed them from the oven to allow them to cool.
The total cooking time depends on your oven and perhaps how brown that you want your pie topping to be?
—————————————————————

When I was using that tool that I found in a drawer I loved the jagged edges of it and as I cut into the dough some of the extra pieces just looked like puzzle pieces to me. I think a future pie that I may do, I would want to place all over the top what looked like puzzle pieces.
Next time. 🙂

The pie came out so nice and clean. Not runny at all.
I credit that to the Blackberry Jam that I added.
———————————————————————–

As always, I like some sort of topping whether it be Sugar Free Cool-Whip or Ice Cream.

Here I placed some lemon juice into the jar of Blackberry Jam to loosen it up. I then placed a blob of the Jam in with some Cool-Whip and swirled it together.

Beautiful and Delicious!

Now Dollop Atop a Slice of Pie…

and add a Blackberry.
———————————————————

Julie Lancaster-Whann
Happy Thanksgiving or Feliz dia de Accion de Gracias My Corn Husk Dolls Our Mexican Inspired Roasted Chicken and Vegetables Because it was just going to be the two of us, Gordon and Myself for Thanksgiving this …
Welcome to Pork, Sausage and Mustard From the Kitchen of……. Gordon and Julie Today, we will be making MUSTARD, and lots of it! At this writing we are in the middle of a pandemic, the Coronavirus/Covid 19. Gordon and I decided …
Good Morning Welcome to Breakfast with Brodie and Mackenzie We have a few menu items you might enjoy. ———————————————————- Bagel and Lox Ingredients: One Bagel (I use the Everything or Egg style bagels.) Smoked Salmon (I use Fresh Market’s Nova …

Onion Soup Topped with Toasted Bread and Melted Crusty Cheese
(Pork Tenderloins and Grilled Asparagus compliments of Gordon.
Recipe write up at the bottom of this post.)

We would like to introduce to you our son Brodie and his girlfriend Mackenzie.
They are the new cooking dynamic duo in our family that have discovered the joys of cooking and trying new foods while discovering the talents and creativity that they never knew existed inside of them. They have certainly been a ‘shot in the arm’ for Gordon and myself as their foods differ from ours and they are becoming something of an inspiration to us as they like to try and recreate some of their favorite foods they eat in restaurants, as well as to create new dishes on their own.
Of course Brodie having grown up with a culinary father has been something of an inspiration to him. And as his mother I do have to brag that Brodie’s Teriyaki Chicken has surpassed Gordon’s in taste and texture. But isn’t that the mark of a great teacher when the student goes on to surpass you? But shh… let’s not tell Gordon quite yet. 🙂
And Mackenzie is quite creative on her own. She has just discovered by taste, the ingredients needed in a recent recipe she and Brodie were working on from a restaurant they would frequent.
This post represents their debut as a cooking couple.
We are very happy to have them join our website and we hope that you will give their recipes a try.
See you in the Kitchen,
Julie and Gordon
—————————————————————–
Here they recreated an Onion Soup.
They have also started a new blog post on breakfasts, something they are quite good at. If you would like to take a look….
Click Here For: Breakfast with Brodie and Mackenzie

——————————————————-
ONION SOUP

The Smell is Magnificent!

These Ramekin’s are Perfect for the Soup
(Gordon and Brodie had actually gone out shopping at a thrift store that morning and found them for this food project.)

The Broiled Sourdough

Right Out of the Oven
————————————————————–
Ingredients:
1 Red Onion, sliced
1 Vidalia Onion, sliced
1 White Onion, sliced
6 Shallots, sliced
Purple Pearl Onions, about 12 in a package, sliced
Cipollini Onions, package count was 9, sliced
Butter/Margarine, 1 stick
Beef Stock, 8 Cups
Olive Oil (about 4 T.)
Fresh Thyme, a few sprigs
Bay Leaves, 2-3
Salt
———————————————-
1 Cup Port Wine
1 Cup Madeira Wine
1 Cup Sherry Wine
BREAD, any of your choice.
————————————————————

Slicing the Onions and Adding them to a Large Bowl.

———————————————————-


Mackenzie and Brodie Chopping, and Cooking Down the Onions
After slicing the Red, Vidalia and White Onions, they added them to this cast iron pot. But first they placed about 4 T. of Butter and 2 glugs of Olive Oil on a Medium Heat.
—————————————————————

Shallots to be Chopped

Sliced Shallots Added to a Pot with some Butter (1-2 T.) and Olive Oil to Soften on Medium Heat in a separate pot.

Pour the original pot of cooked down onions into a colander in order to drain the liquid from the pot.

The extra liquid that is removed will be reserved for later use. Now the onions need to caramelize in the pot to create the brown color. You will be adding the onion juice later to the soup. Try a spoonful or two as the juice is quite tasty. Continue to cook down/caramelize the onions to the doneness your prefer, which will give them even more great flavor.

When browned to your liking, add One Cup Port, and One Cup Madeira and One Cup Sherry to the original pot of onions.

Reduce by half for around 2 hours and add the Cippolini and Pearls Onions about an hour into reducing.

Cipollini and Purple Pearl Onions

Test your knife skills by slicing all the onions evenly. The varied onion within this recipe, give the soup a well balanced and rounded flavor.

Adding your sliced Cipollini and Purple Pearl Onions to the main pot of onions and then add the Beef Broth, about 8 cups which is 2, 32 ounce containers.

—————————————————————-

Stir the soup well and continue to cook over high heat to slightly tenderize the Cipollini and Purple Pearl Onions. The varying textures of the onions will give the soup a little bite.

Add a little Thyme, Bay Leaves, and Salt, and bring it all to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10 min.
————————————————————

To make the crostini, coat the crostini slices lightly in butter and toast in a cast iron skillet over low to medium heat. Make them nice and crispy.

Ladle the soup into a bowl or a crock as shown, which is ideal for French Onion Soup.
—————————————————–

Place the Crostini slices directly on top of the Soup.

————————————————————–


Mackenzie, Hand grated Gruyere,
and some Manchego.

Pile It ON!

Melt the cheese using the broiler until the cheese browns and forms a crust.

Be careful it’s piping hot!

———————————————————-

On the left are three previously three inch thick marinated pork tenderloins which were grilled using the following simple steps. Light your grill and place three burners on high for ~five minutes. Remove the tenderloins from their packages, turn the grill down to medium and place on the grill, one on top of each burner. After five minutes of grilling, turn the tenderloin onto it’s opposite side and grill for another five minutes. Once that five minutes has passed, turn the tenderloin over to a third side previously not grilled. When completed, move all three tenderloins to a part of the grill which has no heat underneath it, place it down on a side not yet grilled. If needed, turn off one of the burners to provide room for all three tenderloins. Let them sit without flame underneath them for yes, another five min. Now, when done, remove the tenderloins and let them rest for at least 10-15 min. to allow the juices to return to the center of the meat, creating a juicy cut of meat.
On the right are our grilled asparagus. This is easily done by first placing a cooling rack on the grill so as not to allow the asparagus from falling through. It is difficult to see in the photo above but it is a black rack placed on the grill and then the asparagus is placed on top of it.
To prepare the asparagus for the grill, place them on a sheet pan, then douse with a good helping of olive oil and a good sprinkling of lemon pepper. Mix all the ingredients around well then place and your pre-heated medium high grill. Grill the asparagus for ~ eight minutes, then turn over and grill for another eight minutes.
NOTE: Due to the size and thickness of the asparagus some may need to be removed sooner, or cooked longer than others.
Remove and eat!

A Perfect Accompaniment to Brodie and Mackenzie’s Onion Soup
———————————————————

Spooky and Sparky
(Waiting for scraps to fall off the table and making our lives a little better.) 🙂
Black and White Pearls Our Very Elegant Pickled Pearl Onions and Balsamic Pearls How About An Elegant Edible Gift? Welcome to The Recipe, Gordon and Julie ——————————————————————- Be Sure To Also Check Out Our: Pickled Purple Pearls Also Check Out Our: …