Today is Prayer Request Tuesday

This is the day set aside for prayer for you.

If you have a prayer request, please list it in the comments below. You don't have to give any information you don't feel comfortable with (a simple "unspoken" comment is sufficient). If you would like to pray, please pray for the comment above yours.

Also, if you would like to share a "praise" for a blessing you have received, please feel free to list those also! I'd love to hear of it so I can rejoice with you.

Freezer Foods Friday - Not

Ok, I realize this is Freezer Foods Friday, but I can't help it...  this is not a "freezer" recipe, and it's not even a "bulk cooking" recipe.... sorry to disappoint you, but I am really in to different sandwiches right now.  Why? I don't know.... but I just had to share this recipe I found at eating well.  So what d'ya say, let's break tradition today and share your fave sandwich creations!  I'd love some new ideas.   What's your family's favorite?

Italian Vegetable Hoagies

1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion, separated into rings
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, rinsed and coarsely chopped
1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 16- to 20-inch-long baguette, preferably whole-grain
2 slices provolone cheese (about 2 ounces), halved
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1/4 cup sliced pepperoncini

Combine artichoke hearts, tomato, vinegar, oil and oregano in a medium bowl. Cut baguette into 4 equal lengths. Split each piece horizontally and pull out about half of the soft bread from each side.
To assemble sandwiches, divide provolone among the bottom pieces of baguette. Spread on the artichoke mixture and top with the onion, lettuce and pepperoncini. Cover with the baguette tops. Serve immediately.

I Remember...

Now, I don’t know how old you are, and being Southern, am too polite to ask, but do you remember days without air conditioning? I sure do!


I often say to my husband “I’m so glad I live in the air conditioned generation”. But it wasn’t all that long ago that I was a young girl, growing up in Sydney, Florida…and no air conditioning!

I hear people say, that the heat wasn’t as hot back then. I don’t know where they got that because as I remember it, it was just as brutal.

I remember having a box fan in the window, and I do remember this one fan thing my parents had. You put ice in a dish on top or cold water, and it blew out cold, ok…cooler, air. I’d sit in front of that box just trying to get cooled off. Some people say that you didn’t feel the heat as much back then. I did…and I remember!

I had lots of cousins all around me.  We’d play all day outside and by the time evening came and it was time to come in, we were filthy and sweaty and our mother’s would have to scrub us down.

The one thing worse than being hot and sweating at home was at church! I remember Sister Eunice, a lady of rather large proportions. She wasn’t really my sister, and we weren’t catholic, but because I was raised by a good southern mama, anybody that was older than me either got called Mr/Mrs. or if it was church folk your talking about then their name began with sister or brother. That’s just the way we were raised. “Sister” Eunice would always wear these jersey knit dresses and I remember the smell from the sweat caught in that material. She would always want to hug my neck too. So I had to keep my mouth shut and just hug.

It wasn’t until I was older that the church got “window unit” air conditioning. Before that we’d all sit in the pews and use those paper fans on a stick. You know the kind you always get at funeral homes. We had to sit beside our mother, (so she could reach around and pinch us if we got too loud). She never could be discrete about that, because invariably I’d let out a yell “ouch!” Her face would turn red and the other ladies in the congregation would just give that all-knowing “nod”, and then I’d be sitting there praying she forgot about it by the time the alter call was given.

Vacation Bible School at the Sydney First Church of God was always a treat. Still no air conditioning, but we got Kool-Aid and cookies! We would play outside and play a game a lot like Marco Polo, only we called out Jacob! Esau! Funny, I still remember that!

We’d leave the windows open at night so the box fans could draw in some night air. Mama would have to scold us to get back in bed and go to sleep, because we liked to sing into the fans to hear our voices vibrate. When we finally gave up and were lying in bed, I could hear the cars crossing the wooden bridge down at Turkey Creek, probably 2 miles away and then count the number of seconds it took to pass by our house.

I cherish my childhood. I had a wonderful and rich childhood and so thankful that I was fortunate enough to be raised in the south, with all my cousins around me. I still remember the miserable heat, but I think now I know what they mean when they say the heat wasn’t the same back then. The precious memories have softened the harshness of the heat. I’ll take the memories any day... but don't take away my AC!

APRON give-away

* Winner to be announced LABOR DAY, Sept. 6th *

Would you like an "up-cycled" apron?

Apron made from vintage pillowcase and embroidered edge scarf.

All from re-cycled materials.

It's been a while since I've "re-purposed" anything so I made this.  I brought it over to my sister's house in hopes that my neice would be dropping by to "model" it for me.  My nephew's wife showed up with a pan of brownies and was happy to humor me.   Rather appropriate, don't you think?  Jodi showing up with baked goods and me throwing an apron on her?  LOL

(sorry, I took this with my cell phone camera)

So, if you'd like to win this apron, just leave me a comment!

If you link to this give-away and/or tweet about it, you get 2 (each) more entries.  You don't have to, but it's an added bonus!  Just leave a separate comment per entry.

PRAYER REQUEST TUESDAY

Today is Prayer Request Tuesday

This is the day set aside for prayer for you.


If you have a prayer request, please list it in the comments below. You don't have to give any information you don't feel comfortable with (a simple "unspoken" comment is sufficient). If you would like to pray, please pray for the comment above yours.

Also, if you would like to share a "praise" for a blessing you have received, please feel free to list those also! I'd love to hear of it so I can rejoice with you.

FREEZER FOODS FRIDAY - GUEST POST

It's Freezer Foods Friday and today starts a series of "Guest Posts" on my site. I'd like to introduce you to my friend Trisha.  We first met in the Tip Junkie's Blogfrog community.   She has an adorable blog, and you should really go over and pay her a visit!  Today she is sharing a recipe with us.  I'll get right to it and let her introduce herself to you...

Hi everyone, I'm so excited to be here on Sweet Jeanette today!  I am Trisha, and I am the author of 3 Four and Under.  I have a 4 year old daughter and 18 month old twin boys.  On my blog I share crafts, sewing, recipes, and more.  I have been a follower of Jeanette for a while now, and am so glad that I have the oppotunity to guest blog for her today!

This is an easy recipe that you can make ahead and leave in your refrigerator, and cook it when you need it. It is also a great recipe to cook and freeze.

Tijuana Torte  (I'm not sure why it's called Tijuana Torte, this recipe is from a really old cook book that my mom had)

1 lb ground beef

1 dozen corn tortillas

1 medium chopped onion

1 package taco seasoning

1 can diced tomatoes

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1 8oz can water

1/2 lb mild cheddar cheese

In a skillet on medium heat, Brown ground beef; add onions, taco seasoning, tomato sauce, water, and tomatoes.
 
Simmer until bubbly (about 15 minutes)
 

Take a 9.5 x 11 pan and put a little sauce on the bottom.

Put 2 tortillas on top of sauce.  Now add more sauce, then cheese

Continue alternating the tortillas, cheese and sauce until all is used

End with sauce and cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.  Serves 8

I served the torte with pineapple and cottage cheese, and cesar salad.  The thing I like about this recipe is you can make as much as you want.  You can half the recipe and make 1 stack or you could double the recipe and make 4 stacks.  It can feed 2 people or a large crowd.  My family loves this recipe and I hope that you like it too. 

Give-Away for Relevant10!

***** Give-Away is now closed *****

Are you going to Relevant10? I'm not and kinda bummed about it all. But I thought of a way I could go...sort of... and you can help! This coincides with the Relative 10 GiveAway! Here is what you will win if selected:

included is a matching tissue holder...complete with *un-used* tissue !

here's a pic of the inside...

those polka dots don't "translate" well in this pic... they're a hot pink!

Now, here's how you can be in the entries...

All I need is for you to take around "Flat (Sweet) Jeanette" with you at Relevant10 and take pics of me enjoying it all with you!

Yes, that's right. I'm sending you a flat (Sweet) Jeanette with a self-addressed, stamped envelope for you to mail her back to me, and then after Relevant10, just attach the pics in an email, or if you blog about it and use my pics, send me a link. That's all I ask. At least this way I can enjoy the conference with you! I'd love to see how creative you will get too!!!

So, if you're going to Relevant10, and would like to enter, please leave a comment.
* The winner will be announced the Friday, September 24th *

Next year perhaps I'll be there in real life, but for now, I'm counting on YOU!

Olive Sandwich Spread - Easy!

Do you like olives?  I don't.  Which is why this is so weird.  I love this olive spread!  First I thought, ok, maybe it's green olives I don't like so I tried black olives in some sort of pasta salad.  Nope.  Don't like those either.  It's just olives in this form that I like!   There used to be a sandwich shop in town called The Cheeseboard and they made muffaletta's.  It was my first experience with those so-called Muffalettas.  But it wasn't until I actually went to New Orleans and tried an authentic one that I realized that "our version" of a muffaletta wasn't the same (and I actually liked our home-town version better - but don't tell anyone in Louisanna I said that, ok?  LOL).

Ok, back to my lunch...  So there I was in the grocery store picking up ingredients to make hubby some chicken soup (he's been under the weather of late) and I saw the cans of black olives and thought about those so-called muffalettas, which then made me think of just a sandwich spread for ham sandwiches (which is how I do it). I grabbed a couple of cans (they're small).  And then I saw this flat-out bread...

of course I bought it too.  I love wraps.  Hubby?  Not so much.    I know, I know.  I promised I was getting to lunch, right?  I'm just a side-tracked individual (giggle).  

Now for the "spread"....  you're gonna just love this...   After you plop the chopped olives in a bowl (yes, buy the already chopped kind) you just add mayonnaise and stir it up!

you can season it if you want, but don't add salt - the olives are salty enough!

And now a public service announcement about mayo:  Get the good kind.  I remember watching a cooking show (a long time ago) and the chef said about mayonnaise "...and use the good kind".  I looked and he was using Hellman's.  So I've been using that ever since.  Of course, in the south, all good girls use Duke's, and that's just as good as Hellman's...really!    Growing up I hated mayonnaise and always ate my sandwiches with mustard only...until I had a sandwich made with Hellmans.  It was then I realized I just didn't like Kraft!  LOL  (but don't tell anybody who works for Kraft, ok?  I don't want to upset them).

ok, so spread it out on your bun, bread, flat-out, whatever....  then add your meat of choice.  I picked turkey today, but after eating it with turkey, I am convinced that ham is the meat of choice here.   Turkey just doesn't have that "flavor" ham does and the olive spread overpowered it.  Just my opinion. (Don't tell any turkeys I said that, I don't want them to feel un-loved).

and that's it.  Your super-easy black olive sandwich spread for a not-muffaletta sandwich!

Do you have a sandwich spread you and your family like?  I'd love to hear about it!

PRAYER REQUEST TUESDAY

Today is Prayer Request Tuesday

This is the day set aside for prayer for you.

If you have a prayer request, please list it in the comments below. You don't have to give any information you don't feel comfortable with (a simple "unspoken" comment is sufficient). If you would like to pray, please pray for the comment above yours.

Also, if you would like to share a "praise" for a blessing you have received, please feel free to list those also! I'd love to hear of it so I can rejoice with you.

Two things I found...

Right off the bat, I want to say I'm not being compensated for saying this, and this isn't a commercial... I just tried these and, like friends do, share my finds with you.

This is sooooo incredibly good!

I saw this, Strawberry Cheesecake one and a carmel one... I liked the strawberry cheesecake better.

This stuff is really good! 

I tried a lemon-something too, but the sundried tomato and basil is the best in my opinion!  (It doesn't smell like cat food either!  LOL)

So here was my lunch:

Have you tried any of these?  Like 'em?   I'm sold on these!!!

PRAYER REQUEST TUESDAY

Today is Prayer Request Tuesday

This is the day set aside for prayer for you.

If you have a prayer request, please list it in the comments below. You don't have to give any information you don't feel comfortable with (a simple "unspoken" comment is sufficient). If you would like to pray, please pray for the comment above yours.

Also, if you would like to share a "praise" for a blessing you have received, please feel free to list those also! I'd love to hear of it so I can rejoice with you.

Thank you and praying the Lord's blessings over your day.

BlogHer10 vs Non-BlogHer parties - oh no!

On day 19 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, the assignment was to give your opinion. No. I don’t want to. It was always my intent to have my blog as a haven. A place of escape where you don’t hear my views on politics. Where I won’t berate one group over the other or spew junk that would just bring “bad vibes”. No haters allowed I always said.


So I just turned the pages to the next assignment (yes, I actually printed that thing out! A gazillion pages I might add.)

Then this weekend happened. It was BlogHer10 in New York.

Now, BlogHer is a really cool event and I have no problem with it.  I’m not sure I’d go if my husband didn’t go with me (I’m sure he could pay a call on his clients in Jersey while I’m there) and that would be because, (bless my heart) I have absolutely no sense of direction! Really! Just ask anybody that has ever been off with me! Hey! Just go with me to the mall!

There was plenty happening in “twitter land” for those who were not attending. There was #notgoingtoblogher and #blogherpityparty, #HomeHer (I especially thought that was a cool name) #nogoblogher and others that I can’t remember right now. I attended a lot of those parties, and I even donated giveaways to a couple. It was really funny reading the ladies tweets as if we were actually at a blogging event… asking what their hotel rooms looked like, who wanted to meet in the lobby, go for breakfast, the parties we’d be attending…. All in fun and totally innocent. No harm, no foul.

And then I saw it. Some Blogher10 folks were seeing the tweets obviously because I started seeing tweets about how they thought it was sad that “we” were making fun of them (jealous of them) because they were there and we weren’t. (Ok, I must insert this because there were not a lot of those type of tweets, but the few that were I was unfortunate enough to read).

I felt awful that some of the people mistook our “fun” as an affront to them. Honestly, I even tweeted something like “Dear Blogher10 don’t be jealous of us in our nonblogher parties”. Immediately I thought Oh no! Do they mean me? Am I one of those “sad” ones they were talking about?

I want you to understand that generally I’m the type of person, if I see you stopped following my blog, or tweets, I immediately think “now why doesn’t she like me anymore”. Really, it’s sick I know, but I am the first-born-compliant-one! LOL.

I’m getting to the opinion part, honest!
I am going to reference a much overused and abused quote now so get ready… It’s from Rodney King… People! “Can we just all get along”??? I mean, really. Come on. Lighten up. In the (multiple) parties I was privy to I didn’t get the feeling they were spewing hate towards the BlogHer crowd. Not one bit. I just wish we could all not take ourselves so seriously…chill. And remember that you’re only reading words, you can’t actually hear the laughter or smile in the person’s voice. Try to extend some grace…and laugh with them.  Please!  Because I'm definitely a tongue-in-cheek kinda gal, and have stuck her big foot in her mouth more than once (or 100's of times).

Ok, that’s it. My opinion, my soapbox and I’m climbing down now.

Just love each other more, tolerate the other style of humor, be kind…and be Sweet, ok?
Muuuwah! Love you all!

COUNTRY BOB'S SAUCE WINNER

Oh dear! I almost forgot to post the winners! I'll be you all were looking for it, huh? I used my last bottle and need to order me some more (putting that in the future budget!). Two of you lucky ladies will receive your own pkg of two bottles of Country Bob's Sauce, directly from Country Bob themselves! They are... ~~~~~~ drum roll ~~~~~

Liz from Bellebeanchicagodog.com
and Jodi (who doesn't have a blog but still a winner)

Now, ladies, if you'll just send me your mailing addresses, so I can forward them to Country Bob's, they will be mailing you your sauces!   Enjoy!

FREEZER FOODS FRIDAY Breakfast Wraps

I'm thinkin' Breakfast Wraps for this weeks' Freezer Foods Friday. What d'ya say? These are oh, so perfect for grabbing "on the run". I haven't made these in a while but these were the perfect thing to take to the fellowship time right before Sunday School and I'm thinking I need to put some more in the freezer for grabbing when it's "our turn" to bring snacks! LOL Just a minute in the micowave and you're good to go.

Breakfast Wraps

  6 eggs

2 TBSP milk

1/4 tsp pepper

1 TBSP canola oil

1 cup (4 oz shredded cheddar cheese

3/4 cup diced fully cooked ham

4 flour tortillas (8 inches), warmed

Whisk the eggs, milk and pepper.

In a skillet, heat the oil.  Add egg mixture and cook over medium heat until the eggs are completely set.  Stir in cheese and ham.

Spoon egg mixture down the center of each tortilla; roll up.

Let cool.

Wrap individually in plastic wrap and place in a zippered type freezer bag.

To serve:  Thaw in frige overnight.  Remove plastic wrap, wrap tortillas in moist paper towel.,

Microwave on high for 30-60 seconds or until heated through.

Note:  Even though I said "thaw in frige overnight".  you don't have to.  In a pinch, you can nuke 'em frozen, but you'll have to watch them... it'll take a bit longer, and then there's that "magical moment", when you've gone too far...  LOL   Just watch 'em.  I think what I'm trying to say is... I've done 'em frozen before and the world didn't come to a halt.  LOL

So now is the time I turn to you and say "it's your turn".  Got a recipe, tip or hint you'd like to share?  I'd love it if you'd link up below.  Just link back to Freezer Foods Friday here on  your blog so everybody can come and enjoy all the ideas.

BlogHer10 - ain't happenin'

Ok, so I've never been to a blogger's convention let alone the end-all be-all bloggy convention of 'em al...BlogHer.  (one day.... one day) But that's all I've heard about for two weeks solid on twitter...
bringing extra luggage for all the swag I'll receive...Just got the perfect shoes for the party... attending the Martha Stewart party....  and the tweets go on and on.  Not to mention all the "cool girls" will be there, or, the celebrities of blogdom!  Big names!  LOL   (Why do I feel like the wallflower at home on the night of the prom with a face full of zits?)

Yes, I'm staying home during the BlogHer 2010 conference.But there's no reason to be down about it. I've found three parties on twitter for the ones who couldn't go!  Maya from Musings of a Marfan Mom and Stefany from ToBeThode are hosting the No-Go BlogHer party. This is guaranteed to be a great time and you can participate right from your sofa (or kitchen, office, heck even your bathroom if you want). Go to their blogs and join in the party (blog-hop) starting TODAY (thursday) See the button in the sidebar.

There's also a blogher pity party  bloghop at life without pink  you can join in and if on twitter: #blogherpityparty.  And a not going to blogher party (#notgoingtoBlogHer)  If you're a twitter, you can join in the fun too.  In all three parties, there are give-aways.  (in fact, I'm donating to two, possibly three of them!  I've made some shopping totes called "it's all that tote".

I was asked these questions from the No-Go BlogHer party:

1.When did you start blogging?  Well, I opened my blog, not knowing what on earth I was doing, the end of April, 2009.  And there it sat because..well, because like I said I didn't know what I was doing!

2.Why did you start blogging?   Ya know, I've wondered that many times myself and the truth is, I don't have a good answer.  I think I started it because "all the cool kids were doing it", but then it soon became a passion and I liked putting my thoughts "out there".

3.What is one thing you are going to do this week that is WAY cooler than going to BlogHer?
Well, that would definitely be (besides being with my wonderful husband) attending more than one (non)BlogHer party!!!

4.Share a post that you think says a lot about you or is your favorite.
What?  You mean I can't share the whole shootin' match???  Ok, then, how about the day I knew my husband loved me.

 Now, if you wanted to, but can't, go to BlogHer, come play with us...the new Cool Girls! See y'all there!

Slow Day - how about some funny Door Mats?

You might think I'm a slacker... it's a slow day in blogland, but I've been saving these pics somebody emailed to me for a couple of weeks wanting to share.  Now is the perfect time.    Which is your fave?