I knew there were a few good reasons that I have always loved Jon Bon Jovi.
Great musician? Check. He and Jennifer Nettles sing one of my favorite songs together (originally his alone)
For another thing, he's downright adorable. C'mon, girls, have you looked at him?
He even seems to be a fairly normal guy ... especially for a rock star. Sorry to disappoint you all, ladies, but he's taken. Jon Bon Jovi's been married since 1989 to his high school sweetheart and they have four children.
The fact that he's opening a pay-what-you-can restaurant mostly staffed by volunteers in Red Bank, New Jersey this spring called Jon Bon Jovi's Soul Kitchen makes it clear the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation is doing the right thing for those Livin' On a Prayer. It's an obvious living out of the ideal mentioned in Luke Chapter 12, verse 48, as quoted by John F. Kennedy, “For of those to whom much is given, much is required.”
Those who can afford it should pay a minimum suggested $10 donation (but they'll take more if you can ante it up).
I think Jon Bon Jovi just got cuter and gave me Another Reason to Believe.
(In case you'd like to go to the original source, I read about this in an article on Take Part's website.)
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Restaurant Review: Niko's Place Restaurant
On vacation this week. I went to Niko's Place restaurant in New Port Richey, FL, which offers numerous healthy options, for my birthday dinner last night with my mom, aunt and uncle. I had prime rib with mashed potatoes mostly sans gravy, maybe one tablespoon (yes, not the best choice, but I trimmed off all fat and had the soup and salad bar with it, which is fantastic!)
In fact, most entrees at Niko's, which is a family tradition when we are in Florida, include the soup and salad bar; it can definitely be a stand-alone meal.
My mother enjoys Tilapia Athena often; she says it's a healthy fish dish that gives you a choice of vegetables, sweet potato or potato as well as the salad bar.
If you travel in the Port Richey/New Port Richey, FL area, give it a try!
Niko's Place Restaurant
(727) 841-8151
6818 US Highway 19
New Port Richey, FL 34652
In fact, most entrees at Niko's, which is a family tradition when we are in Florida, include the soup and salad bar; it can definitely be a stand-alone meal.
My mother enjoys Tilapia Athena often; she says it's a healthy fish dish that gives you a choice of vegetables, sweet potato or potato as well as the salad bar.
If you travel in the Port Richey/New Port Richey, FL area, give it a try!
Niko's Place Restaurant
(727) 841-8151
6818 US Highway 19
New Port Richey, FL 34652
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Win a 'Pantry Makeover'
Whole Story, the blog for Whole Foods Market, is hosting a contest through Jan. 31, so hurry.
Quote about contest from blog:
"So tell us, what healthy eating changes do you plan to make in 2011? Where do you find your motivation and inspiration? We want to hear it all!
Share a bit about your approach to healthy eating in the comments below by January 31st for a chance to win." You do this in the comments section of the blog contest entry.
Contest winners get a $99 Whole Foods Market card and will be put in touch with one of the store's Healthy Eating Specialist to get a "pantry makeover" that helps them learn how to shop for healthy food at a reasonable price.
Quote about contest from blog:
"So tell us, what healthy eating changes do you plan to make in 2011? Where do you find your motivation and inspiration? We want to hear it all!
Share a bit about your approach to healthy eating in the comments below by January 31st for a chance to win." You do this in the comments section of the blog contest entry.
Contest winners get a $99 Whole Foods Market card and will be put in touch with one of the store's Healthy Eating Specialist to get a "pantry makeover" that helps them learn how to shop for healthy food at a reasonable price.
Reasons Detroit Food Rocks
I slightly twisted a title from an article in Canada's version of the Reader's Digest called 9 Surprising Reasons Why Detroit Rocks for this blog post.
Number 5 in the article includes Detroit Eastern Market, a place where my dad always got steaks for Detroit Western International High School's staff picnic, which he organized for many years. He felt they were the best steaks ever. (We always got the leftover steak because he coordinated the picnic, and I agree with his assessment.) Another site the article recommended is vegan- and vegetarian-friendly Russell Street Deli, which I want to try.
One reason Detroit area food rocks is that many of the supermarkets here, supermarkets including Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, Kroger's and locally-owned Hiller's Markets, make it super easy to find healthy food. Hiller's also has a gluten-free foods section and a shelf tag system making it easy to choose Michigan products.
That's just the tip of the iceberg as far as Detroit area food is concerned. Check this blog for more great places in 2011.
Number 5 in the article includes Detroit Eastern Market, a place where my dad always got steaks for Detroit Western International High School's staff picnic, which he organized for many years. He felt they were the best steaks ever. (We always got the leftover steak because he coordinated the picnic, and I agree with his assessment.) Another site the article recommended is vegan- and vegetarian-friendly Russell Street Deli, which I want to try.
One reason Detroit area food rocks is that many of the supermarkets here, supermarkets including Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, Kroger's and locally-owned Hiller's Markets, make it super easy to find healthy food. Hiller's also has a gluten-free foods section and a shelf tag system making it easy to choose Michigan products.
That's just the tip of the iceberg as far as Detroit area food is concerned. Check this blog for more great places in 2011.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Cookbook Review: The I Hate to Cook Book: 50th Anniversary Edition
Peg Bracken was my hero from the moment I boughtThe I Hate to Housekeep Book for 10 cents at a used bookstore. I was in junior high and could totally relate to her sentiments, but that's an entirely different blog.
Shortly after that, I bought a paperback copy of The Appendix to The I Hate to Cook Book for perhaps 50 cents. In the back, I discovered a list of her other books, including The I Hate to Cook Book. I really don't hate to cook, but found the title hilarious nonetheless.
I scoured used bookstores and library book sales for years and bought the revised The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book when it came out (a combination of the two cookbooks) and vastly enjoyed her memoir, A Window Over the Sink.
Finally, a couple of years ago, I found a first edition copy of The I Hate to Cook Book at a used book sale. I wouldn't have dreamed of reviewing the book, though, because it was out of print.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, while visiting my friend, Tati (the only person I know who owns more cookbooks than I do), she dragged out a new treasure:The I Hate to Cook Book: 50th Anniversary Edition for me to check out. My first thought was "awesome!" My second thought was: "Now I can review this book!"
When I read the introduction by Bracken's daughter, Johanna, I almost busted a gut laughing. She's definitely inheirited her mom's sense of humor.
For those of you who haven't read anything by her, Peg Bracken is hilarious: I've read all of her books multiple times and they still make me chuckle. Her writing style is just about equally split between actual recipes and (sometimes snarky) editorial comments about cooking.
For example, right after her Stayabed Stew entry, she comments: "But as a rule, don't hesitate to cut the amount of seasoning way down, or leave it out, when you know it's one you don't like. ... I for one think rosemary is for remembrance, not cooking, and the amount of rosemary I have omitted from various recipes would make your head swim." Some recipes have asterisks next to certain ingredients stating the item can be omitted if desired.
That's probably why, even after slightly changing the ingredients, I've never made a bad recipe from this book.
My favorite recipe in the book, Skid Row Stroganoff, which I've abused with numerous substitutes, including using low-fat sour cream instead of regular, substituting dried garlic and onion flakes for fresh garlic and onion, low-fat cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of chicken soup and low-fat sour cream for full-fat sour cream.
Not one of these changes (or even making all of them at one time) impaired the recipe quality. I attribute the fact that these changes had no impact on Bracken's recipes to the extensive testing she did on her family, as mentioned by daughter Johanna.
I have read all of Bracken's books I've been able to find (most of which have been out of print for years) and love them. Her writing style was so conversational you almost feel as though you're reading a friend's letter. When she died in 2007 at the age of 89, I shed a few tears, in part because I knew there would never be another Peg Bracken book. Fortunately, I was wrong, even though it's an anniversary edition.
The best thing is that a whole new generation of people with different problems but who still have no desire to spend an incredible amount of time (or money) in the kitchen are introduced to this book's tried and true recipes featuring uncomplicated ingredients and great taste served with a side of humor.
Shortly after that, I bought a paperback copy of The Appendix to The I Hate to Cook Book for perhaps 50 cents. In the back, I discovered a list of her other books, including The I Hate to Cook Book. I really don't hate to cook, but found the title hilarious nonetheless.
I scoured used bookstores and library book sales for years and bought the revised The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book when it came out (a combination of the two cookbooks) and vastly enjoyed her memoir, A Window Over the Sink.
Finally, a couple of years ago, I found a first edition copy of The I Hate to Cook Book at a used book sale. I wouldn't have dreamed of reviewing the book, though, because it was out of print.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, while visiting my friend, Tati (the only person I know who owns more cookbooks than I do), she dragged out a new treasure:The I Hate to Cook Book: 50th Anniversary Edition for me to check out. My first thought was "awesome!" My second thought was: "Now I can review this book!"
When I read the introduction by Bracken's daughter, Johanna, I almost busted a gut laughing. She's definitely inheirited her mom's sense of humor.
For those of you who haven't read anything by her, Peg Bracken is hilarious: I've read all of her books multiple times and they still make me chuckle. Her writing style is just about equally split between actual recipes and (sometimes snarky) editorial comments about cooking.
For example, right after her Stayabed Stew entry, she comments: "But as a rule, don't hesitate to cut the amount of seasoning way down, or leave it out, when you know it's one you don't like. ... I for one think rosemary is for remembrance, not cooking, and the amount of rosemary I have omitted from various recipes would make your head swim." Some recipes have asterisks next to certain ingredients stating the item can be omitted if desired.
That's probably why, even after slightly changing the ingredients, I've never made a bad recipe from this book.
My favorite recipe in the book, Skid Row Stroganoff, which I've abused with numerous substitutes, including using low-fat sour cream instead of regular, substituting dried garlic and onion flakes for fresh garlic and onion, low-fat cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of chicken soup and low-fat sour cream for full-fat sour cream.
Not one of these changes (or even making all of them at one time) impaired the recipe quality. I attribute the fact that these changes had no impact on Bracken's recipes to the extensive testing she did on her family, as mentioned by daughter Johanna.
I have read all of Bracken's books I've been able to find (most of which have been out of print for years) and love them. Her writing style was so conversational you almost feel as though you're reading a friend's letter. When she died in 2007 at the age of 89, I shed a few tears, in part because I knew there would never be another Peg Bracken book. Fortunately, I was wrong, even though it's an anniversary edition.
The best thing is that a whole new generation of people with different problems but who still have no desire to spend an incredible amount of time (or money) in the kitchen are introduced to this book's tried and true recipes featuring uncomplicated ingredients and great taste served with a side of humor.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
In Pursuit of the Perfect Turkey Burger
One of the complaints I've previously had about turkey burgers was that they were bland. It was as though it were a given characteristic in my head: turkey burger = bland. I've used turkey in everything else (chili, cutlets, breast, sloppy joes, spaghetti, Spanish rice and lasagna), but not in burgers. Well, not until today, that is.
My low opinion of turkey as a burger base probably stems from my first-ever exposure to turkey burgers. Kathy, one of my roommates my senior year of college, was helping her boyfriend, Craig, adapt to a bland diet. I was present for the debut of her turkey burger, which featured dill almost exclusively as a seasoning. (If I'm recalling correctly, he had to avoid anything spicy, even pepper, and couldn't eat beef. It wasn't awful, but I did have to resort to decorating the burger with huge amounts of ketchup, which is what I do to regular hamburgers.
Since that time, I've tried turkey burgers in restaurants and have found extensive ketchup to be a necessary evil, although it's garnered me some weird looks. (Apparently, turkey burgers are usually served in restaurants with a honey mustard or other mustard-based sauce, not ketchup.)
Then I started to watch Rachael Ray and had hopes that perhaps turkey burgers didn't have to be bland. Oddly enough, my first foray into an all white meat turkey burger was not one of her recipes. It was one clipped from the newspaper, which readers liked enough to ask the columnist to reconfigure it so it could be served as a meatloaf. So it sounded promising.
Again, it was a little bland, despite my having thrown in more pepper and oregano than the recipe called for and using egg as a binder rather than applesauce (it would not have held together otherwise).
The result? It didn't require ketchup, so it was better than average; however, I felt driven to invent a mustard/horseradish/yogurt "cream" sauce for it. And I'm not sure I can replicate as I didn't follow my usual rule of writing down — or even measuring — its ingredients. Oops.
But it did give me some lovely ideas for experimentation. (Mom and I discussed the possibilities of cilantro in addition to the spinach in it and yogurt sauce with dill, onions and cucumber, somewhat similar to the sauce used in Olga's Kitchen.)
As I can be rather stubborn once an idea takes hold of me, you probably haven't heard the last of my search for the perfect turkey burger.
My low opinion of turkey as a burger base probably stems from my first-ever exposure to turkey burgers. Kathy, one of my roommates my senior year of college, was helping her boyfriend, Craig, adapt to a bland diet. I was present for the debut of her turkey burger, which featured dill almost exclusively as a seasoning. (If I'm recalling correctly, he had to avoid anything spicy, even pepper, and couldn't eat beef. It wasn't awful, but I did have to resort to decorating the burger with huge amounts of ketchup, which is what I do to regular hamburgers.
Since that time, I've tried turkey burgers in restaurants and have found extensive ketchup to be a necessary evil, although it's garnered me some weird looks. (Apparently, turkey burgers are usually served in restaurants with a honey mustard or other mustard-based sauce, not ketchup.)
Then I started to watch Rachael Ray and had hopes that perhaps turkey burgers didn't have to be bland. Oddly enough, my first foray into an all white meat turkey burger was not one of her recipes. It was one clipped from the newspaper, which readers liked enough to ask the columnist to reconfigure it so it could be served as a meatloaf. So it sounded promising.
Again, it was a little bland, despite my having thrown in more pepper and oregano than the recipe called for and using egg as a binder rather than applesauce (it would not have held together otherwise).
The result? It didn't require ketchup, so it was better than average; however, I felt driven to invent a mustard/horseradish/yogurt "cream" sauce for it. And I'm not sure I can replicate as I didn't follow my usual rule of writing down — or even measuring — its ingredients. Oops.
But it did give me some lovely ideas for experimentation. (Mom and I discussed the possibilities of cilantro in addition to the spinach in it and yogurt sauce with dill, onions and cucumber, somewhat similar to the sauce used in Olga's Kitchen.)
As I can be rather stubborn once an idea takes hold of me, you probably haven't heard the last of my search for the perfect turkey burger.
New Healthy Cookbook Hits the Market for the Holidays
I had my first-ever media contact today related to the blog. It was relating to something near and dear to my heart: cancer research.
You see, like many of you, I've lost a number of friends and family members over the years to cancer, the closest being my first cousin Elizabeth last summer. So I was excited to learn that To Your Health, a new cookbook published by The National Foundation for Cancer Research, started sales in time for 2010's holiday party season.
I haven't had time to check the book out yet, other than a few sample recipes, because I just became aware of it. But I will. The link for information needed to purchase the book is here.
According to the press release I received, the recipes in this book "are brimming with cancer-fighting ingredients, including antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and protein. The cookbook also features lifestyle tips, early detection methods, and other helpful information on how to further decrease your risk from cancer."
Sounds good to me.
You also might want to check out the Top 15 Healthy Holiday Tips from NFCR's spokesman, Executive Chef Charles Phillips of Nashville's 1808 Grille.
Have a safe and blessed holiday season.
You see, like many of you, I've lost a number of friends and family members over the years to cancer, the closest being my first cousin Elizabeth last summer. So I was excited to learn that To Your Health, a new cookbook published by The National Foundation for Cancer Research, started sales in time for 2010's holiday party season.
I haven't had time to check the book out yet, other than a few sample recipes, because I just became aware of it. But I will. The link for information needed to purchase the book is here.
According to the press release I received, the recipes in this book "are brimming with cancer-fighting ingredients, including antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and protein. The cookbook also features lifestyle tips, early detection methods, and other helpful information on how to further decrease your risk from cancer."
Sounds good to me.
You also might want to check out the Top 15 Healthy Holiday Tips from NFCR's spokesman, Executive Chef Charles Phillips of Nashville's 1808 Grille.
Have a safe and blessed holiday season.
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