My Mom's Cornbread Recipe!


My mom makes the best... BEST... cornbread!
We always had cornbread with our chili which is normal.. but my mom made cornbread for more than just chili. We had cornbread with most of our meals. We would even take a large square of cornbread and heat it... put butter on it... and then put it in a glass and pour milk over it!


Here is my mom's cornbread recipe... it is to DIE for!!



1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Corn Meal
2 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Soft Oil

1)All dry ingredients together
2)Add eggs-milk-oil
3)Beat unti smooth
4)Put in greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan
5)Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes...

Eating Light Salad Myth


Are you considering dieting as a New Year's Resolution? You may want to read this blog prior to making this resolution or before you set up a diet menu!


A McDonald's Quarter Pounder is quite a mouthful! After eating one you are pretty much full... you may want a small french fries... and of course a 20oz Coke...

Total calories... 950
If you drink a diet coke... 740
If you only eat the Quarter Pounder... 410...

Okay... let's compare those calories to some salads at popular restaurants...

TGIF's Santa Fe Salad... 500
TGIF's Pecan-Crusted Salad.... 700
Chili's Southwestern Cobb Salad.... 950
Chili's Grilled Caribbean Salad.... 440
Panera's Fuji Chicken Salad.... 520
Panera's Full Greek Salad..... 440
Macaroni Grill's Chicken Ceasar Salad....950


I think you are starting to get the picture....

If you want to go out to eat and cut down on your calories one way you can do this and still enjoy the meal is bring your own salad dressing.

I love salads. I probably eat a salad as 4 or 5 of my main meals each week! I love to pile all kinds of goodies on my salads. I really don't need meat but a few slices of chicken would be fine. I love to start with a bed of spinach leaves and then some garden greens. Remember that iceburg lettuce has no nutritional value. When adding lettuce it is better to add romaine, butterhead, loose leaf and radicchio. I love shaved carrots, raw corn, raw almonds, craisins, sliced pickled beets, raw tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, edamame, sliced jicama, red or vidalia onions, pine nuts, bell peppers, shredded romano parmisano... with a handful of croutons...

I pick my salad dressings carefully.. Here is a list of popular salad dressings and their calorie count:

Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing: 140c for 2 Tablespoons
Hidden Valley Lite Ranch Dressing: 80c for 2 Tablespoons
Hidden Valley Lite Cucumber Dressing: 45c for 2 Tablespoons

Kraft Catalina Dressing: 100c for 2 Tablespoons
Kraft Fat Free Catalina Dressing: 50c for 2 Tablespoons

Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette: 90c for 2 Tablespoons
Newman's Own LITE Balsamic Vinaigrette: 45c for 2 Tablespoons

Ken's Creamy Italian: 120c for 2 Tablespoons
Ken's LITE Northern Italian with Basil & Romano: 50c or 2 Tablespoons

As you probably know... most people put more than 2 Tablespoons of salad dressing on their salads... so the lower the calories in your salad dressing the better...


My favorite salad dressings are:

Newman's Own LITE Balsamic Vinaigrette
and
Ken's Lite Northern Italian with Basil & Romano...

I have a small rubbermaid container... looks similar to a salt shaker with a pop-top... that I fill with diet salad dressing when ever we go out to eat... I order a fancy salad with no salad dressing (if it's a southwestern style salad I order some salsa on the side)... and then use my own salad dressing to cut the calories considerably!

If you're hitting the salad bar... leave off the potato salad, macaroni salad and anything made with a dressing... those are extremely high in calories. Remember that restaurant salad dressings are a LOT higher in calories than what's in the grocery store. The restaurants want customers to have a great experience so they make or buy higher quality and better tasting salad dressings. Typically a restaurant salad dressing is around 300 calories per 2 tablespoons!

Hope this helps you with your "diet" resolutions...

Cooking Hints


My ancestors on my mom's side are German-Mennonite.. I was raised Mennonite Brethren. We did not wear the traditional Mennonite garb but our beliefs were very similar.

Every year we went to a large auction-event in Dinuba, California (or that area). Now the event is held at Fresno Pacific College. The funds made at this event went to the Mennonite Relief Fund that donates to disaster relief.

My grandmother was always very involved in the different events. One year she helped with a cookbook. Here are some excerpts from that book!

German Cookbook Hints


Three large stalks of cut-up celery added to about 2 cups of beans will make the beans more easily digested


A lump of sugar added to water when cooking greens helps vegetables retain their fresh color.


Use a little vinegar when cooking cabbage, broccoli, etc to cut down on the odors.


To make extra potatoes extra white when mashed, use a little vinegar or lemon juice.


Peel onions under water to prevent irritation to the eyes.


Fesh lemon juice will remove onion scent from hands.


When boiling eggs, add a few drops of vinegar to the water to prevent cracked or thn shelled eggs from boiling out.


Marinating in a plastic bag is a cinch. It's easy to turn the meat and cleanup is to toss the bag. Crumbing and flower dredging can be done in paper or plastic and tossed too!

San Antonio



My husband and I love to travel. We have been to Europe and on several cruises but now we are into seeing fun sites in the good ole' USA... A sight that was HIGH on my tick off list was San Antonio.

Last April I was able to take San Antonio off my list!!

Missouri to San Antonio is quite a hike! We actually drove to OKC and spent the night. We have some close friends who live near OKC and we had dinner with them. We left early the next morning and headed down to San Antonio.

There are a lot of outlet malls in Texas and we stopped at most of them! :-)

We finally arrived and checked into our hotel which was located right on the Riverwalk. The first night we went to dinner at Las Margaritas. We learned about borrachos beans. HEAVENLY!! Then we went to the festival and partied the night away...

The next day we went to the Alamo and went shopping. Then went to eat with a friend and her son. We had a wonderful time!

Our last day we went on a Riverwalk boat tour. Very fun tour!

I would definitely recommend visiting San Antonio.

Holiday Hot Spiced Tea


Every year around the holidays my mom makes her special spiced tea. Of course we all love it and look forward to the special time of the year when she will make another batch. Once the batch is made it's easy to keep making another cup and another cup...

Here is the recipe!


TANG TEA

1/2 teaspoon ground clove
2 1/2 cup Tang
3/4 cup instant tea
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash salt
(optional) 1 1/4 cup sugar.

Mix all dry ingredients together and store in a jar...

Mix to taste in cup.

Add pineapple juice to taste!

Winter in Missouri


We moved from the central coast of California to SW Missouri about 10 years ago. One thing that we have a love/hate relationship with is the winter. We do enjoy having distinct 4 seasons but sometimes the extreme cold winters wear us out! It is fun waking up to a few inches of fresh snow on the ground but when the snow and cold linger from mid-November until late March we begin to wish for the central coast of Cali!


We woke to snow flurries this morning. Here are some pictures!

Oklahoma City Thanksgiving Weekend


This last weekend we went to OKC. We met my family. We had a wonderful time in Bricktown... We went shopping at a wonderful mall... We visited the Memorial for the bombed Federal building. We went down to the Stockyards and looked through all the western wear! We ate at the Bricktown Brewery, the Cimarron Steak House and breakfast at Mimi's! We stayed at the Waterford Marriott. My only complaint about the hotel was the WIFI was not free! In this day and age... that is just crazy!!

OKC is quite an impressive city. We really enjoyed ourselves!

Tootsie


Well... I have had a couple of requests to see our Tootsie at 5 months old... the last slide she was only 8 weeks... These pictures were taken Thanksgiving Day 2008...

Grand-Dogs... OMG!

Well... both of our daughters are married and what do I have.... grand-dogs...

The top slide is of our younger daughter's dog... Tootsie. She is an Australian Terrier. She will be under 15lbs full grown. She is adorable. Our daughter works and goes to college full time and so during the day I dog sit. I began dog sitting when they first brought her home so I have been doing most of the puppy training. She is almost fully house-broken or potty trained and she is extremely intelligent.


The bottom slide is of our oldest daughter's motley crue... on the couch from left to right is Asa, Kai and Punk... fun dogs... and extreme house full but our daughter and son in law love them a lot!!

Maybe someday I will be fortunate enough to have grandkids but for now... my 4 grand-dogs are going to have to be the apple of grandma's eye...

HAHAHAHAH!!!

ZUMBA


For those of you wonder what Zumba is... here is a video.

I do 30 minutes of Zumba 4-5 nights a week.
I have a 4 DVD pack that I watch to do my Zumba...

When I am done with Zumba I jump on my elliptical trainer and work out another 20-30 minutes.

While I am on the elliptical trainer my dog walks on the treadmill!!
(thanks to Cesar Milan)....

Ballroom dancing
Almost 5 years ago my husband and I decided we would try taking ballroom dancing. I fell in love immediately but my husband was not so sure.... He is 6'5" and about 240lbs and is more of a football, rough and tough, type guy. He is like a bull in a china shop... We started off taking a 2 hour class every Sunday afternoon. After 6 months he began to pick up the steps faster and more complicated moves began to come easier.


Latin dances quickly became my favorite style but one Sunday our instructor decided to teach West Coast Swing. Instantly I was hooked. We decided to add a once a week class on Tuesday nights that taught exclusively West Coast Swing. The instructor taught a more modern WCS and both my husband and I really liked our instructor. Taking WCS also helped us become more coordinated and we began to excel at other dance styles.


August 2007 I was diagnosed with cancer. I was so sick that from July 2007 until Dec 2007 I was not able to dance. 1 time prior to treatments I almost died and 1 time during treatments I almost died (seriously). During my treatments one of our dance instructors became a close friend. Her mother had died from cancer and she was really effected by my diagnosis. She would come to the hospital or to my house and massage my feet with cremes. She would come over and just watch me so my husband could go to work. Around mid-December we began to talk about trying to dance again. She begged me to come to one of her evening classes just to hang out and try dancing again. We started back dancing and even though the cancer had left one of my lower legs with severe nerve damage.. I pushed myself to work and work at dancing again.


Here it is only 1 year after my treatments have been completed and I am still NEG and NED.. (cancer free still)... and my husband and I are dancing regularly...


Here is a video of my husband and myself dancing at a latin dance party that is held about 1x a month at a local Brazilian restaurant. We are not the couple that are being interviewed. We are the couple actually dancing and I have on a turquoise blue and black dress... my dress swirls quite a bit and my husband is wearing black pants and a black camp shirt with brightly colored inserts ...



Both my husband and I highly recommend ballroom dancing.. we have been married almost 30 years (July 7th it will be 30) and ballroom dancing has definitely brought a spark back to our marriage!

Fun Recipes for Thanksgiving...

I might be a fashionista... but we fashionistas still need to eat! LOL!!

With Thanksgiving only a few days away... here are 2 amazing recipes:



Cranberry Relish... (from my mom)

1-3oz pkg Lemon Jello
2 cups sugar
(Dissolve in boiling water)
1 pound cranberries
1-orange
1-tsp salt
3-TBS lemon juice
2-apples

In food processor:
start with 1/2 orange then add cranberries
(watch carefully. do not get too fine)
Pour out.

In food processor:
1/2 orange. 2 apples until it turns to relish.

Put all ingredients together including sweetner.
Stir together and let sit for 2 days.


Another great recipe is:

Broccoli Delight: in a 9x13 dish...

1/3 cup chopped onions
9 T butter. (coot 6 T with onions)
3 T flour
1 C water
12-16oz jare cheese whiz
3 pkgs (10 oz) chopped broccoli
5 eggs beaten well
3/4 cup bread crumbs

Cook onions (medium heat) in the 6 T butter. Stir in flour.
Add water and cook until thick. Add cheese whiz.
Then add cooked and drained broccoli.
Add beaten eggs and put in 9x13 buttered dish.
Cover with buttered bread crumbs.
Bake 325 degrees for 30 minutes...

2 recipes I highly recommend!!

eBay Live 2006 was a big turning point for One-Chic-Boutique. The turning point was not what I learned at eBay Live but the people I met. I became great friends with many sellers who were taking the next step in becoming internet selling giants. Their changes inspired me to begin changing my goals.

I was also on a panel
that dealt with being
a part of eBay's
community.

I also met several journalist. Here is an article that was a direct result of attending eBay Live 2006 in Las Vegas...

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m08/abu0172/s03

Be a Fashionista on a Beer Budget...




www.one-chic-boutique.com

Last year Entrepreneur Magazine did an EBAY Featured Edition. They did an article about Social Networking. They interviewed me for the article and I ended up being the CENTERFOLD...

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/gettingtraffic/article183878.html

The online archive did not include pictures. Here is the picture of me that made it into the magazine....

Frame Yourself with Chan Luu by OneChicBoutique


What a Frame...

Create your own frame... by framing yourself with style!

Chan Luu designer jewelry is the perfect frame with style!

Frame yourself.
Frame with Style.
Chan Luu is quite a stylish frame!

France by reales



Paris is always a good idea... and be totally in style wearing these Coach Sheela Signature loafers paired up with a GORGEOUS Coach Heritage Stripe Zip Satchel...

Awesome location..
Gorgeous Bag....

Comfy stylish shoes....

Always a good idea!

Leaves are Falling by OneChicBoutique



The leaves are falling. It's time to stay warm...
Stay warm in style with Coach Ellyce Ballet Flats paired up with a Kate Spade Belmont Logan Shoulder Bag...

What a day... what a season.... WHAT STYLE!

dangerous. by **faded**{(jonas luver)&(pink)}


Living Dangerously! Well... not so dangerous when caring a Coach Heritage Stripe Tote...

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Kate Spade for a Rainy Day...

Kate Spade's Rainy Rubber Boots paired with a Kate Spade Mercado Coal Tote Bag...
What a nice way to keep dry!
FM83194-61

Winter Wonderland by OneChicBoutique



Baby... it's getting COOOOOOLD outside...

Coach Heritage Stripe Tote, Coach Ergo Wallet and Coach Beale Patchwork SlipOn Sneakers... will warm you up fast!

Oilily Voyage V-Bags by OneChicBoutique


Living la vida Loca..... Oilily is amazing. Their V-Bags are totally hot and original...

Coach Sneakers... all the rage! by OneChicBoutique

Coach Sneakers for ANY occasion!

Coach Varsity Stripe Tote and Audrina Sneakers by OneChicBoutique


Can't you just see yourself walking down Rodeo Dr or sipping a cooler on the patio of a restaurant in Miami Beach in this set... Coach really did this one right. The Coach Legacy Varsity Stripe Tote and the Audrina matching sneakers... Totally Cute and Totally right!

Brighton Crazy by OneChicBoutique

Brighton Up your Day or ANYONE's DAY! With Brighton Jewelry!

Why Choose Oilily Bags and Accessories





For women, it is important that their bags fit with their personality and their view of life. No grey, mousy impression,no mediocrity.

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Oilily designs and creates collections for babies, children andwomen, collections with a style all their own, incorporation thecentral concepts of colour and combinations of colours, quality,creativity, comfort, good tast, contemporary feel and humour.

















Oilily Voyage bags are made from beautiful materials notnecessarily in fashion but consistently stylish!

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Taryn Rose Technology...

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT MAKING A FASHION STATEMENT.
It's about making a statement to yourself. About how you deserve to feel. Nurtured. Supported. Empowered. Understood. Granted, these are not words that are typically associated with luxury shoes. But then again, Taryn Rose is anything but your typical luxury shoe designer.
To begin with, she is an orthopedic surgeon. And definitely not a typical one. Who else would make her daily rounds in three-inch designer heels. In fact, it was Taryn's own aching feet and the tortured toes of her patients that inspired her first line of high-fashion, high-comfort shoes in 1998. Today, Taryn's men's and women's shoes are sold in more than 200 locations, including luxury shoe salons and four Taryn Rose boutiques in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, Las Vegas and San Jose, California. And she is extremely grateful to be making a substantial difference in the lives of thousands of happy feet.

WHAT MAKES TARYN ROSE SHOES SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT?











HOW THEY'RE DESIGNED
Thanks to her understanding of anatomy, Taryn altered the traditional footbed. Her shoes are built on an asymmetrical form. This structure gives the foot full arch support, and makes the shoes less bulky. The design also increases mobility, decreases fatigue and protects the ankles.

HOW THEY'RE CRAFTED
Artisans in Italy make Taryn Rose shoes the old-fashioned way. By hand. In fact as much as three hours of hand-stitching goes into a single pair. The soft buttery leathers are hand-chosen for fit and comfort.

HOW THEY CUSHION
Working with foot patients, Taryn discovered Poron®, a more expensive, high-density foam developed by NASA. She puts a full-length cushion of Poron® in every shoe. After five years, it only loses 5% of its memory, which keeps the spring in your step longer.








HOW THEY BREATHE
Unlike most shoes, Taryn's are lined with the same fine quality leather that she uses for the uppers. Natural materials breathe much better than synthetics. So your feet stay dry and cool.

HOW THEY'RE GLUED
Anyone can use a commercial cobbler's glue. But not Taryn Rose. Their water-soluble glue is less toxic for the environment and healthier for the life of the shoe as well.

HOW THEY FEEL
When you pick up a Taryn Rose shoe, it's hard to believe how light it is. And when you put yourself in her shoes, you'll be amazed at the substantial amount of support, flexibility, cushioning and balance that you can get from a shoe with so much style.

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