TRAVEL WITH SERENA -- THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is next week, and travel editor Serena Brower knows that many of you will be heading out by car, train, or plane to spend the holiday with relatives. Once upon a time, our ancestors traveled by another mode of transportation. How many of you remember this song from your childhoods? -- AP

Over the river and through the woods,

To grandmother's house we go;

The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,

Through the white and drifted snow, O!

Over the river and through the woods,

Oh how the wind does blow!

It stings the toes, and bites the nose,

As over the ground we go.


Over the river and through the woods,

To have a first-rate play;

Oh hear the bells ring, "Ting-a-ling-ling!"

Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day, Hey!

Over the river and through the woods,

Trot fast my dapple gray!

Spring over the ground, like a hunting hound!

For this is Thanksgiving Day, Hey!


Over the river and through the woods,

And straight through the barnyard gate,

We seem to go extremely slow.

It is so hard to wait!

Over the river and through the woods,

Now grandmother's cap I spy!

Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?

Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

I'll bet that brought back some memories! Tell us about your Thanksgiving memories for a chance to win a book from our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - TURKEY SAFETY

Thanksgiving is next Thursday, and most of you will be cooking turkey. Health editor Janice Kerr is here today with safety tips to make sure your Thanksgiving is happy and healthy and free of salmonella. -- AP

Thanks, Anastasia! Too many people wind up sick because they don’t cook their poultry properly. The information below is from the USDA. Following these simple rules will ensure your bird is cooked properly.

A food thermometer should be used to ensure a safe minimum internal temperature of 165°F has been reached to destroy bacteria and prevent foodborne illness.

Many variables can affect the roasting time of a whole turkey:

• A partially frozen turkey requires longer cooking.

• A stuffed turkey takes longer to cook.

• The oven may heat food unevenly.

• Temperature of the oven may be inaccurate.

• Dark roasting pans cook faster than shiny metals.

• The depth and size of the pan can reduce heat circulation to all areas of the turkey.

• The use of a foil tent for the entire time can slow cooking.

• Use of the roasting pan’s lid speeds cooking.

• An oven cooking bag can accelerate cooking time.

• The rack position can have an affect on even cooking and heat circulation.

• A turkey or its pan may be too large for the oven, thus blocking heat circulation.

ROASTING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Set the oven temperature no lower than 325 °F. Preheating is not necessary.

2. Be sure the turkey is completely thawed. Times are based on fresh or thawed birds at a refrigerator temperature of 40 °F or below.

3. Place turkey breast-side up on a flat wire rack in a shallow roasting pan 2 to 2- 1/2 inches deep.

Optional steps:
Tuck wing tips back under shoulders of bird (called “akimbo”). Add one-half cup water to the bottom of the pan. In the beginning, a tent of aluminum foil may be placed loosely over the breast of the turkey for the first 1 to 1-1/2 hours, then removed for brown-

ing. Or a tent of foil may be placed over the turkey after the turkey has reached the desired golden brown color.

4. For optimum safety, cook stuffing in a casserole. If stuffing your turkey, mix ingredients just before stuffing it; stuff loosely. Additional time is required for the turkey and stuffing to reach a safe minimum internal temperature (see chart below.)

5. For safety and doneness, the internal temperature should be checked with a food thermometer.
The temperature of the turkey and the center of the stuffing must reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F. Check the temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast.

6. Let the bird stand 20 minutes before removing stuffing and carving.

APPROXIMATE COOKING TIMES (325 °F oven temperature)

UNSTUFFED

4 to 6 lb breast........ ..1-1/2 to 2-1/4 hrs.

6 to 8 lb breast....... ...2-1/4 to 3-1/4 hrs.

8 to 12 lbs........................2-3/4 to 3 hrs.

12 to 14 lbs......................3 to 3-3/4 hrs.

14 to 18 lbs................3-3/4 to 4-1/4 hrs.

18 to 20 lbs................4-1/4 to 4-1/2 hrs.

20 to 24 lbs......................4-1/2 to 5 hrs.

STUFFED  

8 to 12 lbs........................3 to 3-1/2 hrs.

12 to 14 lbs......................3-1/2 to 4 hrs.

14 to 18 lbs......................4 to 4-1/4 hrs.

18 to 20 lbs................4-1/4 to 4-3/4 hrs.

20 to 24 lbs................4-3/4 to 5-1/4 hrs.

Finally, when it comes to leftovers, always store turkey and stuffing in separate containers and make sure you refrigerate leftovers as soon as the meal is over.

Thanks, Janice! And a tip from me as well: make sure you buy a big enough turkey to have leftovers. That turkey sandwich the next day is always so delicious! 


What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Tell us for a chance to win a book from our Book Club Friday guest author.  -- AP

COOKING WITH CLORIS -- MERLOT CARROTS

Today Cloris serves up a side dish that’s the perfect accompaniment for your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey. -- AP

MERLOT CARROTS

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Merlot

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1 Tablespoon butter

1-1/2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup cranberry jam

2-1/2 lbs. carrots, sliced

Combine Merlot and cranberries in a small bowl. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight.

Drain the cranberries, reserving the Merlot. Melt butter in a Dutch oven.  Sauté carrots in butter for about 5 minutes. Add sugar. Cook over medium heat until sugar melts. Add the Merlot, lemon juice, and jam. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens. Stir in the cranberries. Cook for an additional ten minutes or until carrots are desired tenderness.


What do you always serve on Thanksgiving? Tell us for a chance to win a book from our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA-- CHRISTMAS CARD ORNAMENTS

Gold braid and a white snowflake charm were used to decorate this ornament.

Do you keep Christmas cards each year because they’re too pretty to toss? Many people do, but they never do anything with them. So over the years they wind up with huge stacks of old Christmas cards. Here’s an easy, fun way to make use of those cards by turning them into ornaments or package tags. Even little kids can take part in this craft, so consider making it a family project for a rainy afternoon.

Red rick-rack, a round red gemstone, and three buttons were used to decorate this ornament.

Materials:
Christmas cards
patterned scrapbook paper
index stock
ribbon
buttons
rick-rack and other assorted trims
pompoms
charms
flat-backed acrylic gemstones
buttons
scissors
glue stick, tacky glue, gem glue

There’s no one right way to make these ornaments. Use craft materials you have on hand for decorating. Be creative. Have fun.

Red pompoms were glued over the holly berries on this photo card ornament.

Trim the front from the back of the card, then trim the card to the desired size. Cut a piece of printed scrapbook paper slightly larger than the card. Glue the card to the scrapbook paper. Glue the scrapbook paper to the index stock. Trim the index stock to the scrapbook paper.

If desired, glue rick-rack or braid around the perimeter of the card. Glue the ribbon to the top corners of the card for a hanging loop. 

Green rick-rack and red gemstones were used to decorate this ornament.

Decorate the cards with various crafts materials. The models shown used flat-backed acrylic gemstones, charms, buttons, and pompoms.

Do you craft for the holidays? What have you made or plan to make this year? Tell us for a chance to win a book from our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR JEAN HENRY MEAD

Jean Henry Mead is the author of 15 books, half of them novels. She’s also an award-winning photojournalist who served as a news, magazine and small press editor. Her Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series consists of A Village Shattered, Diary of Murder, and Murder on the Interstate. Her juvenile series, the Hamilton Kids’ mysteries, are Mystery of Spider Mountain and Ghost of Crimson Dawn. She also writes historicals; her first in the series, Escape, a Wyoming Historical Novel, will be followed by No Escape: The Sweetwater Tragedy. Her books, regardless of genre, are laced with humor and light romance. To read more about Jean and her books, visit her website. -- AP 

Rebirth of a Mystery Series

How would you react if your publisher died and orphaned your mystery series? Panic? Tears? Or would you follow the trend and republish the books yourself? Few publishers will consider a mystery series after the third novel, so I decided to establish my own publishing company.

I’m electronically challenged, but my husband learned to upload the files for both ebooks and print editions. And, because the books were previously published, there was little editing to do. It wasn’t long before we had seven books online as well as local stores interested in stocking them.

We have an unusual publishing website at  www.medallionbooks.com and plan to publish other writers’ work as well. Fortunately, I’ve served as an editor, and my husband is good at designing book covers. We’re both bibliophiles with a large home library, so our love of books keeps us motivated.

The next problem is how to promote our books. With so much competition from more than a million ebooks, and thousands more published each day; we need to find ways to make our books stand out. But how to do that? Too many blurbs on Facebook and other social media sites only turn readers away. So how do you let readers know about your books on a limited budget?

Besides appearing on great sites like Lois’s, I decided to take part in virtual book tours. I was asked to join the “Mystery We Write” Holiday Tour, which will run from November 25 until December 9. Fifteen mystery writers, including award-winning Tim Hallinan and Michael Orenduff, are taking part in the tour and we’ll be collectively giving away more than 60 mystery novels from our individual sites.

My own tour schedule is up at: http://jeansblogtour.blogspot.com/ (as well as the other writers’ sites) and I’ll be giving away 14 ebooks, one each day of the tour to visitors who leave comments and screen names. I’ll also draw three additional names at the conclusion of the tour for print copies of my mystery novels.

The best part of blog tours is hearing from readers who stop to say hello and comment about our books. Having someone say, “My husband grabbed your book before I had a chance to read it,” really makes a writer’s day—an entire week even. So I hope you’ll have a look at my tour schedule and choose a number of the tour sites to visit. There’s a good chance you’ll win a great mystery novel (or two) and enjoy what we all have to say.

Before I close, I’d like to ask you, the readers, how publishers attract your attention and what makes you decide to buy their books? I appreciate any comments you’d like to make.

Wishing you all the best holiday season ever!

Thanks for visiting with us today, Jean, and best of luck on your new publishing venture and blog tour. -- AP

BEAUTY WITH NICOLE-- DIY AVOCADO/YOGURT BODY SCRUB

Beauty editor Nicole Emmerling whips up avocadoes and yogurt, but instead of eating it, she coats her body with it. Today she shares a recipe for a wonderful, natural body scrub that will leave your skin smooth and glowing. -- AP

DIY AVOCADO/YOGURT BODY SCRUB

Ingredients:

2 oz. Epsom salts

2 oz. wet coffee grounds

1 ripe, mashed avocado

2 oz. plain Greek yogurt

sunflower seed oil

Mix the avocado and yogurt in a bowl. Mix in the Epsom salts and coffee grounds. Stir in the oil a little at a time until the mixture is the consistency of paste. Step into the shower and get wet. Turn off the water. Vigorously rub the avocado/yogurt mixture all over your body from your neck down to your feet for several minutes. Rinse.

Anyone going to try this? Let's hear from you. -- AP

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - GUEST BLOGGER, KATIE BRIND'AMOUR

Katie Brind’Amour is a freelance writer and food aficionado eating her way through Columbus, Ohio one delicious dish at a time. When she’s not busy trying to identify the perfect combination of chocolate and wine, she writes on health, nutrition, pregnancy, and friendship for Elance clients and on her personal blog . -- AP

Eat to Beat the Winter Blues

There’s something about beef stew, chicken noodle soup, buttery golden biscuits, potatoes, cocoa, and pie (not all at once, though!) that scream “winter comfort food” to me.  I basically gravitate toward warm, delicious, fatty, starchy foods to make me feel cozy and satisfied during the long winter months, and I have a feeling this is the case for many people out there.  After all, Thanksgiving is about stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie – not carrot sticks, salad, and rye bread!

The appeal of filling and fattening foods during colder months is perhaps a biologically programmed weakness, but in modern times it would be tough to argue that this does us any sort of favor.  (At least, ever-widening hips and a bulging belly don’t exactly meet my definition of a gift from the universe…)

Luckily, Mother Nature has something in store for those of us with less desire to store fat and more interest in staying trim despite the holidays and never-ending onslaught of flavored coffees and flaky, buttery cookies.  She gave us foods to get us through winter in an entirely different way.

In fact, there are a whole slew of healthy foods that can actually improve your mood and get you through the cold months with more energy, better health, and a sharper mind (http://www.helpfordepression.com/slideshow/lifestyle-changes/10-foods-boost-your-mood).  Sign me up!

For those of you who are health junkies, the fact that salmon is one of these super foods should be no surprise.  Dietitians and health nuts have long been singing the praises of its healthy fats for brain development, but its nutrients can also improve your attitude and help beat mild depression by increasing levels of serotonin and certain hormones that help regulate mood and memory. 

Eggs are another delicious food that supply a number of important vitamins for your foggy winter brain, of which Vitamin D and B12 help improve your mood – just be sure to eat the yolk, as the egg whites don’t contain equally beneficial amounts of these brain-boosting nutrients!  Unless you already have high cholesterol, there is no need to avoid the yolk, which can provide a healthy source of fat and protein to give you a slow release of energy throughout the day.

Think green!  Spinach and other dark leafy green vegetables are powerhouses of magnesium, folic acid, and antioxidants, all of which can improve energy levels, reduce fatigue, and help you better manage the stress that comes from buying exactly ten thousand holiday presents.  This protective level of magnesium is also found in bananas, which also contain high levels of potassium and tryptophan as well as many vitamins and minerals.  So instead of sugared dates, try snacking on a banana to improve oxygen flow to your brain, reduce stress, and even help you sleep.

And speaking of tryptophan and improved sleep, remember that your Thanksgiving turkey has plenty of health perks as well.  The tryptophan that helps your mind relax is paired with melatonin in turkey, which encourages your body to relax.  Even better, the tyrosine contained in turkey can help you achieve better energy levels and triggers the release of dopamine and norepinephrine in your body, which improve your reaction time and may help boost your motivation.

For those of you who love nuts, breads, and even fruitcakes, remember that whole grains and walnuts can also be lifesavers during the winter.  Whole grains – like oatmeal and whole wheat bread as well as other high-fiber foods like legumes and some vegetables – can help deliver a slow and steady dose of glucose to your brain, keeping your energy stable and giving your thyroid gland the selenium it needs to keep your mood controlled as well.  Walnuts may go one step further and help prevent mood swings by zapping away mild depression, anxiety, insomnia, and irritability (can you say, “miracle food?”) 

If anxiety and frustration are your problems, try drinking a glass of milk with those walnuts or bananas.  Milk can increase your body’s ability to absorb important vitamins and minerals from the food you eat while pumping you full of mood-boosting whey, magnesium, protein, and healthy carbohydrates. 

Last, but certainly not least, comes dark chocolate.  Hooray!  This is perhaps the best news of all for those of us searching for a healthy replacement for snicker doodles.  Besides the benefit your blood vessels get from the antioxidants found in dark chocolate, the phenylalanine delivered in bars with 70% cocoa or more are believed to boost levels of dopamine in the brain, flooding you with happy feelings and the very happy realization that winter doesn’t last forever.  

If all else fails, think positive (www.healthline.com/health/depression-alternative-treatments)!  As a chronic daydreamer, it’s comforting to know that imagining myself at the beach while eating a salmon and spinach salad is officially a healthy activity with the added perk of beating the winter blues. 

So go ahead, indulge this winter – just be sure to indulge in the feel-good foods that satisfy your natural urge to glut yourself and provide a natural and healthy dose of happiness and energy!

Thanks for the great tips, Katie! I’m off to dip a banana in melted dark chocolate and roll it in walnuts. Yum! And it’s good for me! -- AP