MarineMom_texas

TOH at Sam's Club in Plano, Texas on Oct. 17, 2009

2009-10-22T21:51:24Z

I was scheduled to meet with Diane Werner, Food Director at TOH, on
Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009, at Sam's Club in Plano.

I actually arrived at Sam's Club (thanks to my trusty GPS) a little early
and was informed of a time change. The demo and signing would be an
hour later, starting at noon instead of 11 a.m. So I settled myself in
the break room to wait for Diane.
It wasn't long and here came Diane, also not aware of the time change.
So, we had ample time to catch up on the past year (since I had last seen
her in Wisconsin a year ago) and to enjoy a quick lunch from the
snack bar.
It was at this point that we were also informed that there would be no
food demo that day. Nothing had been set up so we were going to sign
cookbooks and chat with customers.
We were informed by the management that an author was seated at our table
until noon, signing his book. He was Rickey Pittman and he was signing
his book, "Stories of the Confederate Southwest". As it got closer to
noon, we chatted with him.
While we were chatting with Rickey, a couple came up with a basket full
of TOH cookbooks they were purchasing for their daughters for Christmas
and were waiting for us to get started with the autographing. As Rickey
was leaving, I got a shot of he and Diane along with the lovely customer
called Mimi by her grandchildren.

Since I had a recipe published in the cookbook, they wanted me to sign my
recipe and Diane signed the flypage.

It was such fun talking to customers about the cookbooks. Before we knew
it, it was time to go. Diane had to catch a plane and I had a football game
to attend. (No, not the Texas/OU game but the TCU game).
The time had flown by and it was so much fun to see and talk to Diane
again. I might add that she had been on Daybreak and Good Day Dallas
the previous two days, doing her food demo. The day before, I had been
sitting in the waiting room of a local hospital while my husband was
having cataract surgery and glanced up at the TV and there was Diane,
giving her food demo!!! I was so glad I hadn't missed it.
I thoroughly enjoyed not only seeing Diane but being able to talk about
Taste of Home and the Cooks Who Care edition of the TOH Cookbook and the
Baking Cookbook.

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE WITH THE SALADO LADIES AND GENTS

2009-06-30T01:27:20Z

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE WITH THE SALADO LADIES AND GENTS

Back in the Fall of 2003, a call went out over the Taste of Home Bulletin Boards for a get together of all Texans on the boards. Numerous places were suggested for this meeting and the final decision was the Stagecoach Inn in Salado, Texas.
Our own, GrannyM (Maxine) made the reservations and organized the first of many luncheons. Back in those early days of our Taste of Home luncheons, these are the bulletin board friends who attended or planned to attend: BrownEyedAngel, DivaSharon, GrannyBarbieJ, GrannyM, Gratefulpatty, JudyCarol, MarineMom_texas, TexasroseII, Vammie, and Zees.
Here are some photos from those early Stagecoach Inn luncheons in Salado.

We all bring recipes to the luncheon to share. See them on the table below.

A group photo from one of our first luncheons (below).

Over the years, we've added and subtracted friends to this list. We added TexasGal, Wldtxrose, AztoCOtoTX, Nannahintx,
Pegleg76501, Chinarose, Chowgirlmom, Ci, Mimibonds, MaryTexas, VAnurse, bbopTX, and GreedyGirl. We’ve had one participant pass away since our beginning.
Here are some more photos of our luncheons.

Here we are in Waco at the Elite Circle Grill:

You can tell just by looking at these pictures, that we have lots of fun at our luncheons. We are like family – but the cool thing is that we are always adding to our family. I've purposely left off names since some did not want to be recognized on line. But, believe me, they are a fun bunch of ladies (and gents).

Because Texas is so large, many of our BB friends live too far away to attend. What a great opportunity to organize a local get together.

We have continued to have our luncheons at least twice a year since that first luncheon in 2003.

I hope you enjoyed our little walk down memory lane and can join us at our next luncheon in the fall.

My Trip to the Taste of Home Offices in Wisconsin

2009-06-08T16:08:32Z

I've decided to write a blog of my trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to visit the Taste of Home offices at Greendale, WI, which is a suburb of Milwaukee.

I received a call (out of the blue) a couple of weeks ago from Bethany who is the PR person for TOH. As a field editor, I had received a survey by email about a month prior and she basically asked many of the same questions as the survey. I got a call back from her the following week with an invitation to come to TOH along with two other field editors and participate in some "field editor training".

Well, of course, I jumped at the chance. Wow, to get to see the TOH offices and meet the staff - how exciting.

So this past Wednesday (Sept. 3), I boarded the plane for Milwaukee. Bethany was at the airport to meet me holding a sign with my name on it. Pretty soon, we met the other two field editors as their planes landed. Diane from Ohio and Rachel from Virginia. We all hit it off immediately.

From the airport, we drove downtown to the Milwaukee Ale House where we met Jim and Shay who are the PR persons from Boston and New York who were going to train us. We still didn't really know what kind of "training" we were going to get but it sounded like fun.

After a great dinner and lots of laughing, Bethany took us to our Bed and Breakfast where we would stay. One of the owners, Marie, was on the kitchen staff at TOH so we had an idea that we were in for some wonderful breakfasts.

This beautiful 5,000 square foot Victorian home was completely remodeled by Marie and her husband, Andrew, who made all the beautiful stained glass windows. Here is a link to their website: http://bedandbreakfastmilwaukee.com/. They were very gracious and made us feel so welcome. Their home is absolutely gorgeous with many beautiful antiques.

Thursday, Sept.4

We met downstairs for breakfast at 7:00 a.m. Marie had outdone herself with a Pear Apple Puff Pancake - and yes, it was a TOH recipe. We also had roasted, diced white and sweet potatoes (yum!) and sausage.

It was a cool, rainy day in Milwaukee. Very unusual for this Texan as we have not had very much rain all summer. It was delightful!! We rode to the TOH offices with Marie. Our day was a whirlwind of activity. We started by entering a conference room where we were given TOH aprons, calendar, and the new revised cookbook, plus a folder full of information. It was at this point, the editors all started coming into the room. We got to meet them all including Catherine Cassidy (Editor in Chief), Diane Werner, Food Director, Ann Kaiser, Mary Spencer, and on and on. And, believe me they were all as nice as they look in their pictures. Later in the day, I got called to the door and there was Love2Cook, himself. What a pleasure to meet him in person. I also got to meet Renee Jordan, General Manager of TOH, who knew me as MarineMom_Texas.

Jim, one of the PR people flown in, conducted the training on Thursday. We found out that we had been chosen to help demonstrate recipes from the newly revised second edition of the Taste of Home cookbook, on our local TV and radio stations when needed so this was a day to learn the "ropes" about broadcasting and how to demonstrate recipes. It was a long day and at the end they videotaped our demonstrations which we reviewed and critiqued the next morning (with lots of laughing, I might add - we were a fun bunch).

During the day we also got to tour the test kitchens, the "pantry" where they keep all the dishes they use in the magazines, and even got to participate in a tasting for one of the contests although we did not do any of the judging.

We got to see where they photograph the food they use in the magazine and of course got to meet all the staff in these different venues. Everyone was so friendly and made us feel at home. We felt like royalty.

After we finished at the TOH offices, we were then taken to the TOH Visitor's Center and the Country Store outlet. Wow, talk about fun. We had unlimited time to browse and found out that this particular Thursday, all hardback TOH books were half price. When we finally saw everything and made our purchases, we were taken to a wonderful Milwaukee steak house. We had an absolutely delicious, leisurely dinner with all of us talking about our day at TOH. After dinner we returned to the B&B.

Friday, Sept. 5

We again met for breakfast at 7:00 a.m. Andrew had a pot of coffee waiting for us and Marie had another fabulous breakfast (yum!). We had a delicious breakfast quiche, sausage, blueberry bread, and fresh strawberries.

Today was pampering day. We had a make up artist/hair stylist give us a complete makeover. How fun was that!!! I felt like a movie star. We all met at the test kitchen and had a photo shoot. We had our pictures taken individually and as a group. It seemed like he took hundreds but it was all fun.

After lunch, we were videotaped. Yes, of course I was nervous. I think we all were but by the time we videotaped the same message for the 3^rd for 4^th time, we really got the hang of it. We told why we like TOH magazine and why we like being a field editor, both easy to answer. We were told that our videotape would eventually be on a new portion of the website that would be up and running soon about field editors.

After the videotaping, it was time to go to the airport. The rain had stopped during the night and it was a beautiful cool day with the sun shining brightly.

It was so hard to say good-bye to all our new friends at TOH - and to each other. We three field editors had become very close in these two days and felt like we had known each other for years. As we hugged at the airport and said good-bye, we hoped that someday we would be able to get together again. In the meantime, we have already emailed each other since returning home.

So ends my blog for now. I just wanted to share this wonderful experience and hope that more field editors will be able to do the same thing we did. We kind of think of ourselves as guinea pigs since this was a new experience for all of us - field editors and TOH staff. And, I mean it when I say that these people that work in Greendale, Wisconsin, at the TOH offices, are just the nicest, most friendly folks you will ever meet. They made me feel like I was truly one of the Taste of Home family.

Taste of Home Luncheon, May 30, 2009

2009-06-03T21:16:25Z

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TASTE OF HOME DESCENDS UPON WACO, TEXAS

This past Saturday, twelve ladies descended upon Waco for another "Salado Ladies" luncheon and get-together. Wait, you say. Why are you called Salado Ladies if you are in Waco? Good question. In the early beginnings of our luncheons back about 5-6 years ago, we met about 2-3 times a year at the Stagecoach Inn in Salado. After several years of this we decided we were ready to test new waters. So the Elite Circle Grill in Waco became one of our favorite restaurants. Then we tried another city, Temple. Then, back to Waco to Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant. Ninfa's has been a real favorite. The restaurant always sets us up at our own table and they don't care of we have door prizes or recipes to trade.

So, this past Saturday, we all met and had a great time. We planned to meet at 11:30; however, we got there early and as we (my friend Linda and I) got out of the car, here comes Vammie and her ladies right behind us. How fun to see Shirley (aka Groucho) from Connecticut who is visiting Verna. And, she had Charlotte and Charlene with her, too. Then we saw Judy Carol. Then, Sandy showed up. Before long, Maxine and Barb were coming in. And last, but by no means least, here came Bettie and Julia.

Although no mention was made of door prizes, we ended up having enough door prizes for all in attendance so everyone went home with a prize. (See the table behind Bettie and Julia).

We also had lots of recipes to share.

After all the hellos and hugs, we found a chair and started in on the chips and hot sauce (YUM!). We decided to hold the door prize drawings before our food arrived so our waiter graciously drew names for us. Lots of "ooooohs and aaaaaaahs" as everyone opened their door prize. Those lucky enough to get one of Maxine's door prizes, found themselves with home grown green beans and apricots. There were lots of cookbooks, too.

Finally, our food arrived and all of a sudden it was quiet. As everyone finished, they wandered over and picked up recipes from the stack of recipes that everyone brought to share.

Cheese Enchilada Dinner

Then came dessert. What! Dessert after all that Mexican food? Yep! Maxine and Barb shared some fried ice cream and Judy Carol ordered some, too and shared it with several around the table. Vammie and her crew tried the flan.

Pretty soon it was like fruit basket turn over as everyone tried to get around the table to talk to old and new friends.

We were excited to have a brand new field editor join us - Julia B. from Georgetown. She and Bettie came together.

Two Field Editors, Joan left and Julia right.

Finally, it was time to head home. We had a 1 ½ hour drive ahead of us. As we said our good-byes, we knew that come Fall, we would be back together again catching up on all the news.

(Watch for possibly more pictures).

Mexican Food

2009-03-09T18:24:51Z

I love Mexican food. I can eat it three times a day! And, I actually did just that on a trip years ago to South Texas. I was in Mexican food heaven.

I recently provided recipes for a Field Editor's Menu to be published in TOH and it will be in the April/May issue. Can you guess what my menu was? Right! Mexican food. Actually, I provided recipes that I have used many times for parties and friends.

Now, I am going to break it down even farther. Enchiladas. I love enchiladas. Texas is most famous for its Tex Mex enchiladas. In New Mexico, it's their green chile enchladas (Yum!). I absolutely love green chili sauce from New Mexico and put it on everything. No, it's not hot, although they do have some that is really hot. Even Arizona has its own type of Mexican food.

But I am going to talk about Tex Mex enchiladas that we find here in Texas. They are so easy to prepare. They only require a few ingredients. I have no written recipe for this. Once you eat a plateful, you'll know how easy they are to prepare. You only need one package - 12 corn tortillas, a large sweet onion (or just a plain onion), shredded cheese, and chili. Years ago, we used Longhorn style cheddar cheese, which is a type of Cheddar similar to a mild Colby cheese. I usually bought a block of it and shredded it, myself. I still do. As for chili, I only use the kind in the red can with a picture of a wolf on it. I do like the 65% lower fat version with real beef and no beans. I usually buy one huge and one regular size can or three regular size cans (about 1 lb. ea.).

Now, to make the enchiladas. First, you quickly fry each tortilla in a small, omelet-size pan with oil. You only run the tortillas through the hot oil for a few seconds on both sides. Any longer and they turn crisp which you don't want. I layer them between napkins to drain the oil off of them.

In a pan on the stove, I warm up the chili only to where it is easily pourable. Does not have to be boiling. I cover the bottom of a 9x13-inch Pyrex dish with chili.

Next, I have my little piles of chopped onion and shredded cheese ready. I sprinkle each tortilla with a handful of onion and cheese and roll up tightly and put in the prepared dish. Put as much in each tortilla as you want. When I get all the enchiladas in the dish, I pour the remaining chili over the whole thing. If there is any left over onions or cheese, I sprinkle them on top. Then cover the top with cheese.

Bake this whole thing at 350º for about 30-40 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling. Take them out and let them sit for a few minutes before serving.

Here in Texas restaurants, these enchiladas (usually seen on the menu as Enchilada Dinner) are served with Spanish rice and refried beans. Preceeded, of course, by chips and hot sauce (or picante sauce). You can add a salad if you like.

So, now you know how to make Tex Mex enchiladas even if you live in Alaska or New York.

Now, I've made myself hungry for an Enchilada Dinner. I may have to get DH to take me out for a Mexican food fix.

I hope you enjoy my recipes in the April/May issue. They are delicious and I'm always giving out the recipes. (I served this entire dinner one time to some friends who brought some relatives with them and afterwards they told me that their brother in law didn't like casseroles; however, were shocked when he cleaned his plate !)

And, if you ever get to Texas, be sure to stop in any little Mexican food cafe and order an Enchilada Dinner (real Tex Mex!). Or, make your own!

COOKS WHO CARE DINNER AT THE PACT HOSPITALITY HOUSE IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS

2008-11-18T15:15:46Z

Our long anticipated wait to serve dinner at the PACT (Parents and Children Together) Hospitality House finally arrived. A group of us ladies, all United Methodist Women (UMW) from our local church, arrived at the Hospitality House Friday, November 14, to serve dinner to the residents/visitors of the house. These people are usually family of those incarcerated in Fort Worth area prisons.

Left to right: Ann, Lynda, Julie, Joan, and Vicky

Several of our UMW members were already there getting dinner started.

Our menu consisted of chips and salsa to start things off, salad, roast, fresh cooked carrots, tater tots, and bread. For dessert, I prepared two cakes, both Taste of Home recipes, a Caramel Apple Cake and Chocolate Bundt Cake.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chocolate-Bundt-Cake

By the time our guests came down the stairs, dinner was ready. As they lined up buffet-style, we started an assembly line, filling plates with food. Pretty soon all the tables were filled and everyone was enjoying dinner.

Special guests were Kay Jay, the House Manager, and Rev. Suzanne Boeglin, Executive Director.

Here's a picture of Lynda Schraub, President of our UMW unit, Kay Jay, and Rev. Boeglin, left to right:

A picture of Lynda and myself

Everyone enjoying dinner:

After dinner, everyone enjoyed cake and coffee.

Clean up followed while the guests enjoyed their coffee and visited.

Soon it was time to leave. Our dinner was a success. Kay and Suzanne thanked us over and over for providing such a wonderful dinner and expressed thanks also to Taste of Home for initiating Cooks Who Care. We enjoyed it so much, we are thinking of doing this again sometime. Thank you, Taste of Home.

A little more information about PACT from a previous blog follows:

Our UMW unit has taken it upon ourselves to adopt a mission ministry of P.A.C.T., Inc. which means Parents and Children Together, in Fort Worth.

PACT is a nonprofit, multi-denominational ministry. Established in 1984, PACT's primary objective is to help preserve and strengthen families in crisis due to incarceration. Another PACT objective is to prevent the incarceration of future generations by encouraging stronger, healthier families. The PACT Hospitality House provides a safe and supportive environment for families who are visiting loved ones in prison. Several years ago, PACT had to close due to lack of funds, but after Hurricane Katrina, re-opened again. We are doing all we can to help them stay open and recently held a garage sale benefiting the Hospitality House.

For more information about PACT, please visit their website:

http://parentsandchildrentogether.net/default.aspx

or email: pact1924@sbcglobal.net

Wherever there are prisoners, there are unseen family members and children left on the outside of "the wall", who are the invisible victims of crime.

NATIONAL COOKS WHO CARE WEEK

2008-10-31T19:46:04Z

When I received an email from Bethany, the P.R. person for Taste of Home, asking me to help out with the National Cooks Who Care Week later in November, I panicked. What could "I" do? And, in a couple of weeks' time? Not only that but my Mom was moving to a new assisted living apartment and my entire kitchen was spread out over our living room and dining room floor (and other places in the house) while my kitchen was being painted. I didn't see how "I" could do anything. But, I sat on her email for a couple of days and suddenly had a brainstorm.

I am a member of the United Methodist Women (UMW) organization at our church and the president, Lynda, is one of my best friends. So, I sent her a copy of the email hoping she might have some ideas. Bingo! She did - and why didn't I think of it earlier???? Sometimes the most obvious is the most elusive.

Our UMW unit has taken it upon ourselves to adopt a mission ministry of P.A.C.T., Inc. which means Parents and Children Together, in Fort Worth. PACT is a nonprofit, multi-denominational ministry. Established in 1984, PACTs primary objective is to help preserve and strengthen families in crisis due to incarceration. PACT's primary objective is to prevent the incarceration of future generations by encouraging stronger, healthier families. The PACT Hospitality House provides a safe and supportive environment for families who are visiting loved ones in prison.

We have spent endless hours helping Rev. Suzanne Boeglin, Executive Director, clean the house and collect donated items they need, and only a week ago, held a garage sale benefiting PACT.

We have decided to serve dinner on November 14 to the residents of the Hospitality House in conjunction with Taste of Home's National Cooks Who Care Week. We are thrilled to have another chance to help PACT out and, who knows, this may evolve into a continuing tradition.

Wherever there are prisoners, there are unseen family members and children left on the outside of "the wall", who are the invisible victims of crime.

For more information on PACT, please visit their website: www.parentsandchildrentogether.net or email pact1924@sbcglobal.net

We are looking forward to helping the residents of the Hospitality House in conjunction with Taste of Home's National Cooks Who Care Week.

Here is a picture of the Hospitality House:

Taste of Home Waco, Texas, Meet and Greet

2008-10-27T14:04:45Z

We had our Waco Salado Ladies (and Gents) Meet and Greet, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008, at Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant in Waco, Texas. This is our 5th year to host a meet and greet for all of our Texas friends (and guests) on the Taste of Home Community Bulletin Boards.

Let me back up a little. When we first started having our luncheons, we picked the Stagecoach Inn in Salado as our restaurant of choice. (The name has stuck through the years). However, after several years, we not only ran out of menu options, but decided that we would change the location to make it more convenient for others in Texas. Several other restaurants were chosen over the next few years in the Waco/Temple area, but this year we opted to go to Waco and picked Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant as our meeting location, which proved to be a great choice.

I would like to say here that we missed some of our "regulars" due to unavoidable conflicts, especially Maxine (GrannyM), who has never missed a get together and organized all of them.

We picked a perfect Texas fall day to have the luncheon. Our meeting time was set for 11:30 a.m. When I arrived at 11:00 a.m. with my friend, Linda, there were already some bulletin board buddies waiting for us. We took a round of pictures before being seated.

Left to right: Me, Sandy, Mary, Carol, Judy, Kathy, and Linda

Once seated, lively conversations took place all over the table. When the last of our group arrived, and after seriously studying the menu and making our selections, we decided to go ahead with the door prize drawings before our food arrived. Everyone filled out a small piece of paper and we had some restaurant servers draw names for us. We had wonderful door prizes thanks to Taste of Home: three hard back cookbooks and a TOH apron. Our lucky winners were GratefulPatty, Vammie, her friend Charlene, and my friend, Sandy. There was lots of excitement around the table. A big "thank you" to Bethany at Taste of Home and Love2Cook who sent the great door prizes. We then passed around the recipes we all brought with us to share. This is another tradition. We always exchange recipes, many our favorites from TOH. All the recipes looked yummy!

When our food arrived there was a slight lull in the conversation but it picked right back up again. Some of our group opted for a dessert of sopapillas (Yum!). Soon, conversations were again taking place all over the table. Here are a few candid shots of our table:

Left to right: Sandy, Carol, Judy, and Vammie

Left to right: Charlene, Mary, Kathy, and Linda

We are already planning another get together for the spring - no date yet, but we are working on it. We would like to issue an invitation to all of you reading this blog to attend our next get together. We will advertise it on the Community Bulletin Boards well in advance of the date. And, remember, we welcome all guests. We have even had bulletin board friends just "passing through" join us. It is an event that we all look forward to, not only to visit with old friends, but a chance to meet new friends as well. Hope to see you next time.