Shirley Jump's Blog: Eating My Words, page 3

Making Leftover Turkey Yummy Again

Here’s a great recipe from my great friend Donna Alward, with a fun suggestion for leftovers! I’m putting this on my list for the week’s dinners!

She also has a wonderful, heartwarming book out this month, just in time for Christmas! If you’re looking for a book that will give you a little extra dose of holiday spirit, pick up A Cadence Creek Christmas! And now, without further ado, Donna’s recipe for leftover turkey!

It’s always a conundrum in our house. How much turkey can you eat until you’re sick of it? This time of year in particular, there’s Thanksgiving Turkey soon to be followed by Christmas Turkey. (Incidentally, I love that Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, so we have a bigger gap between those holidays. I’m not too proud to shop at your Black Friday specials, though!)

We have the traditional turkey dinner, and then there are  Hot Turkey Sandwiches the next day. Then there might be Turkey Fried Rice and spring rolls, or Turkey Pot Pie. One of our favorite recipes, though is even easier and really tasty. And my husband, who normally SHUNS anything that is a casserole (except lasagna or scalloped potatoes), admits it’s one of his favorites too. The great thing is you can use whatever vegetables your family likes.

Ready?

MR. NOODLE CASSEROLE

That’s right. I said Mr. Noodle.

1 tbsp olive oil

2 pkgs Chicken flavor Mr. Noodle

3 cups chopped turkey

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 cans water

½ diced onion, ½ cup diced celery, 1 cup sliced mushrooms (all three optional)

2 cups frozen veg – peas, mixed veg, whatever your preference

OR

2 cups chopped broccoli

1 cup breadcrumbs with ½ cup parmesan cheese (you can sub bread crumbs for your preferred crunchy topping)

Directions: Saute onion, celery and mushrooms in olive oil until softened. Add turkey to heat through. Stir in cream of chicken soup, water, bouillon from the Mr. Noodle packets, and vegetables. Once it’s heated through, break up your noodles and add to the mixture, stirring to coat noodles with sauce.

Once the noodles are a bit softened, turn the mixture into a casserole sprayed with non-stick spray. Top with the bread crumbs and cheese and bake at 375 for 35-40 min.

The recipe goes together so fast you should still have time to pick up my latest book and see what’s happening in Cadence Creek – mainly a wedding, a week before Christmas. Here’s the blurb:

  It’s Christmas in Donna Alward’s Cadence Creek…

Taylor Shepard has come to Cadence Creek to organize her brother’s Christmas wedding. Organizing such a special event might be a little bit stressful – but she can’t deny she’s swept away by the town’s holiday charm…and by brooding rancher Rhys Bullock. 

Loner Rhys has been burned far too many times in the past. He’s sure he has city girl Taylor all figured out -she’ll be hightailing it straight back to the city in a few days! But as the snow starts to fall, Rhys and Taylor embark on a tentative winter romance. Could Taylor be the Christmas present Rhys never even knew he wanted?

Donna’s website

Twitter: @DonnaAlward

ReRun: The Thanksgiving Plan

I post this one each year, because it pretty much covers how I do Thanksgiving. Why mess with what works? I won’t be making quite this much food this year, since it’ll just be my family, but you can easily adapt this to fit what you want. Also, look for a great post on using those leftovers from author Donna Alward later this week!

>>This has been my Thanksgiving plan for four years in a row, so I thought I’d rerun the tips. I have changed this slightly–in that I bought the brining bags at the store instead of using a pail (Farberware makes them and they were in the aisle with the roasters and kitchen twine, etc.). I have had success every time I use this recipe. Buying a fresh bird makes life ten times easier, but I have in a pinch defrosted a frozen bird and then brined it.

(and as an aside, for those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, on Monday I posted a link to my blog and a friend who is a professional chef shared his tips for brining, so check that out!)

Thanksgiving was a HUGE success in my house. Brining the bird was DA BOMB and I highly recommend it. I mean, HIGHLY recommend it. I have never had a juicier, more delicious turkey–it was beyond simple to cook, and twelve people devoured nearly an entire 21-pound bird. Lots of going back for seconds and thirds that day!

Take notes if you want for next year, because here’s how I did it (and managed to have a LOT of relaxation time on the big day, too):

Wednesday Night: Brine the Bird (in the fridge by 8pm)

Equipment needed: 5-gallon pail from Lowe’s or Home Depot

My version of Alton Brown’s recipe for Brining from I’m Just Here for the Food

(which involves essentially cooking some water, brown sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves and kosher salt, then cooling and adding to the bucket).

Plus: 3 gallons ice water and 1 1/2 cups kosher salt

Thursday Timeline:

7:00 a.m.: Remove bird from Brining Liquid

Preheat oven

Dry bird, stuff with an onion, celery sticks. Brush whole bird with melted butter, then tent with foil, stick a meat thermometer in it, then put the bird in the oven.

8:00 a.m.: Cook sausage for stuffing, chop vegetables for stuffing (celery, carrots and onions), then cook when sausage is done. Add dried cranberries, leave to cool and set aside

8:15 a.m.: Peel 8 pounds of potatoes and start boiling them for mashed potatoes

8:45 a.m.: Start simple syrup for kids’ Floating Island Punch

Put Frozen raspberries, pink lemonade and sugar in bowl to thaw for Poinsettia Punch for grownups

9:30 a.m.: Mash potatoes and put in crock-pot–done till 11:15 a.m. (take a nap, read the ads for Black Friday shopping…I do all my house cleaning on Wednesday, so I’m chilling for these two hours)

11:30 a.m.: remove foil tent from turkey, baste with more butter and turn oven temp up to 425 degrees

Start green beans (I made a healthy version, which I can post later)

Start Citrus-Glazed Carrots

12:15 p.m.: Assemble stuffing

12:30 p.m.: Remove turkey from oven and let set

Put rolls in oven

Put stuffing in oven

Make gravy

1:00 p.m.: Serve and eat

My MIL made the pies, and I had baked cookies on Wednesday night, so all the rest was done ahead of time. I usually make the pies a day or two ahead of time, but this time someone else did them, so I was saved that chore. This turkey was SO SO good, though. I just can’t even tell you

How was your Thanksgiving? Was it a huge success? I do dishes as I go, and run the dishwasher about halfway through so that everyone can eat on real plates. Clean-up is still a lot of work, but it’s not AS bad as it could be.

And if you want to read about my Black Friday adventures, I posted on RTB today about them!

Shirley<<

PS: I’m running a 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. Why? So I can eat more pie, LOL.

Run and Done!

I ran the Women’s Running St. Petersburg half marathon today and had a fabulous time! I was so nervous about being able to run that far, and I have to say, my Train Like a Mother training plan worked really well. I felt really prepared, and was able to run the entire 13.1 without stopping

Here’s my Run Tampa team. Lots of us running with the same shirts, so we could encourage each other along the way.

Final time: 2:27 (two hours, twenty seven minutes). I remember getting to mile 7.5 and being so excited because I was past the halfway point, then realizing I had more than an hour of running left, LOL. But my husband was there at that exact corner to cheer me on and that made it all seem so much easier from that point on. And just when I thought is this course EVER going to end, I saw the finish line and powered through the last quarter mile, sprinting the whole rest of the way.

You gotta love a race that has champagne (and cookies!) at the end. I was pretty proud of myself, and ready to toast anyone who came by, LOL.

We celebrated with sushi for dinner, and I got the most awesome fortune cookie.

I told my kids I’ll have to hang that one on the fridge for the days when I make them clean their rooms, and tell them I’m just trying to bring them some happiness

Tell me, have you had a great fortune before from a fortune cookie?

Ever run a race? Ever thought about running?

Ready to Rock it!

Tomorrow is my first official half marathon and I’m super nervous and super excited. I had fun at the expo today, picking up my race bib. I grabbed the first person I saw and made her take my picture

Then I stopped by this fun photo booth where you got to make your own sign. I wrote “finish strong” instead of “finish without dying” lol. Thought that was a more positive message. Check out that T-shirt I got from the Run Like a Mother ladies. It’s my favorite. And my mantra for tomorrow.

Then I went back to my hotel room to get my “flat mama” ready for tomorrow. And double check, triple check, quadruple check, that I had everything I needed.

All that’s left to do now is run the race . Lol. It does help that there is a place called The Cookie Stop waiting at the end of the race!

Shirley

A Run Around San Antonio

I was lucky to visit San Antonio this past weekend. The weather was awesome, and the Riverwalk was AMAZING for running (forgive the blurriness of some pics; I haven’t mastered the steady hand while running thing):

I got in two runs on the Riverwalk and managed to get lost both times (I know, it’s a RIVER, how can I get lost? But I’m blonde and directionally challenged, and in my defense, they were doing construction on both sides of the Riverwalk so I had to keep switching which side I was running on). There were a lot of stairs on parts of the Riverwalk, which provided a nice extra challenge (meaning it made my legs hurt, LOL, but it was the good kind of hurt!).

And yes, I did run by the Alamo and take a picture early in the morning. Didn’t do the tour, but it was cool to see it!

The Riverwalk was just so pretty, both at night and during the day. The weather was nice–a little humid (like 95% humidity the first day I ran)  but in the low 60s when I ran). There was something neat to see around every bend and turn. Hats off to whoever designed it, because they did an awesome job!

The coolest part though was getting to meet Sarah Bowen Shea, author of Run Like a Mother (I have read both books, follow the blog, listen to the podcast, follow them on Facebook…).

I literally saw her running toward me on the Riverwalk, wearing one of her and Dimity’s famous Badass Mother Runner shirts, and I had a total fan girl moment.

I definitely stammered and gushed and apologized like five times for interrupting her run, but it was seriously the coolest moment ever. I then stalked, uh, tracked her down, at the Rock ‘n Roll San Antonio Marathon Expo and got a picture with her (and some cool T-shirts, too!).

If you’re a runner and you love running gear, go to a race expo (they’re usually free and you don’t have to be registered for the race to go). Lots of bargains and cool new things to see and try!).

 

The last pic is of me and my Aunt Judy this week. I love that skirt. It’s all flouncy and fun. I’m not sure I qualify for being a badass mother runner if I love flouncy and fun skirts, LOL, but I’m going with it!

This Sunday is a half marathon for me and I am SUPER nervous. Trying not to get panicky about THIRTEEN freaking miles of running!

Tell me, have you ever been to San Antonio?

Have you ever met an author of a book you’ve read and loved?

What’s your favorite outfit like?

And finally, have you ever run a half marathon? Any last minute words of wisdom?

Shirley

Weekend Pics and Cupcakes :-)

        I spent my weekend in Fort Wayne, IN, with my running buddies and writing buddies. It was super fun and I had way too many pictures to share

 

The Barbie doll is the substitute for me when I moved to Florida, and my friends brought her along to our dinner. It cracked me up!

I had a FABULOUS racing weekend. Placed third in my age group and 17th overall in Saturday night’s Fright Night 5k. WhooHoo! It was an awesome race after feeling discouraged by my slow runs in the Florida heat.

Then I ran the River City Rat Race 10k on Sunday afternoon and though I didn’t win any awards, I shaved more than 7 minutes off my time last year and came THIS close to running the 10k (6.2 miles) in under an hour. I did it 1:02, and was pretty darned stoked with that time (and the fact that I caught the rat .

Monday morning, I took a run at my favorite park in Fort Wayne, and took lots of pictures because I don’t plan on going back to the 32 degree weather anytime soon

 It was gorgeous. Look at those trees and leaves! And yes, it was cold, but I hardly noticed because the scenery was so exquisite.

Leaves, trails, ponds, lots of squirrels preparing for winter, and almost no people out (it was cold, after all!).

I mean, how can you NOT run in that setting? I just love how the trail curves and gives you that sense of anything’s possible. This trail is my favorite part of the park, and I save it for last because it just makes me happy

Though I did see a spectacular sunrise, too!

 

And a few more pics of the road because I love it that much I know, I know. Probably crazy to love running somewhere in the cold that much, but I do

Then I topped off my last day in the city with some fabulous writer friends–Julie Sellers, DJ Welker and Kyra Jacobs.

Great food, and great conversation!

When I got home to the balmy FL weather again, we went out for dinner (eating outside! Can’t beat that!) then went to the ice cream parlor next door for ice cream and cupcakes. The perfect ending to an absolutely awesome weekend!

Shirley

13.1 Miles Run and Done!

This weekend was my first ever half marathon (13.1 miles). I wasn’t supposed to run my first half until November 24, so I knew going into this run that I was still a little undertrained.

But it was for a great cause–raising money for Autism. And it was a race I could do with my running buddy Eileen, who has tons more experience than me and is just a great person to run with in general.

The run was tough, I’m not gonna lie. First 5 miles or so were good but as the temperature climbed, combined with high humidity (when we finished the run it was in the mid-80s), I was really wishing I had way more than a couple long runs under my belt. Eileen kept encouraging me and was uber-patient with my whining

Then just when it seemed like I

 

couldn’t go one more step, we rounded the last corner. We started running faster and wham, a second later, we were done and celebrating.

It wasn’t a pretty run and it took me about 15 minutes longer than I wanted, but we did it!! Now as I sit here, eating and chilling and icing a very cranky Achilles, I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything in the world.

And I’m already looking forward to my next one!

Shirley

 

New Books, Giveaways, Updates…Oh My!

Eeek, it has been a while since I’ve posted on the blog! I feel like I’m constantly trying to swim against a rushing tide with all the social media and “being visible” stuff.  And thus, my blog has gotten neglected.

A couple quick updates–two new books out (THE SWEETHEART BARGAIN is still in stores, and online! And you can preorder the sequel already, too!). I have TWO new books out this month–a super fun anthology for Entangled with Barbara Wallace, Susan Meier and Jackie Braun, called THE BILLIONAIRE’S MATCHMAKER that stars one adorable and determined matchmaking dog We have four heroines, a few dark and brooding heroes and lots of fun with Charlie the dog!

And in stores now, and online, is THE CHRISTMAS BABY SURPRISE, book one in the Gingerbread Girls series! It’s been sitting at #1 in the rankings on Amazon in Harlequin Romance, which has me totally excited (though now I probably just jinxed it!).

You can also join our Facebook event, for THE BILLIONAIRE’S MATCHMAKER–share a picture of your pet in costume, and be entered to win a $75 Amazon gift card!

Okay, enough about books

I’ve been running up a storm. Honestly, you can’t beat living in a place where every day is warm and beautiful. Though the first couple months after I moved to Florida, I thought I was going to DIE when I ran in the heat and humidity. Now it’s starting to cool down and get more manageable, for the most part. Sunday, I’m running my first half marathon, a benefit for Autism, then I’m running the Women’s Half Marathon in St. Petersburg in November. I can’t wait! I had to miss my first half marathon last year because of an injury, and I’m determined to finally earn that 13.1

Here’s some recent running pics, just to give you all a chuckle The one in the green shirt is from Tuesday, after a group sunset run. SO much fun!

I’m not cooking as much–we do a LOT of grilling here outdoors and there’s a fabulous butcher shop down the street that sells marinated steaks and chicken (delish!). So that takes a lot of the work off my shoulders I’ve been writing up  a storm (uh, yeah, can anyone say THREE books out at once? EEK!). I’m working on the third book in THE SWEETHEART BARGAIN series, then a couple of other new projects that I’ll tell everyone about later, when they’re more solidified. And yes, there will be more books in THE BRIDE WORE CHOCOLATE series soon!

I think that’s it! I’m not done traveling quite yet–I just got elected to the board of Romance Writers of America (PAN Liaison, which is a fancy word for the go-between with the published authors and the organization), so I’m heading to my first board meeting in TX in November. No time for book signings, but I will be there for the RWA conference next July, so please come by the San Antonio event for a signed book!

Happy reading, and thank you all for your patience on my blog-invisibility Hey, I’m way more chatty on Facebook and Twitter, so join me there! And a special hello to all the Goodreads readers who have posted lately!

Shirley

 

September 11th

 September 11th is a day that always makes me pause, think about that day, and share a little…or a lot, of gratitude.

Twelve years ago today I was watching Good Morning America when the first tower was hit. When the Pentagon was hit, I spent a very panicked half hour trying to find out where my Dad was. Every Tuesday, he had a meeting at the Pentagon, in the E ring, exactly where the plane hit. For whatever reason, his meeting that Tuesday had been canceled and God kept him safe in Massachusetts. It was the longest half hour of my life, and every September 11, I mourn those we lost, but thank God that my father was safe. As a wife of a former Navy man, and a daughter of a military father, I love my country fiercely and truly appreciate all those who put their lives on the line to protect those freedoms.

I have visited the WTC site three times since 9-11. Every time, it is a moving, powerful experience, a place where a sense of reverence still holds in the air. I am glad I’ve taken my kids to see it twice, and I hope they grow up remembering that bad things will happen but it will never destroy the basic goodness in all of us or make the heroes among us pause in their commitment to save lives.

Hug those you love, try not to hold grudges, and celebrate today because you never know if you’re going to have tomorrow. Love to all…

Shirley

Winners! And MORE prizes!

Hi all! I finally fixed the comments issue with my blog, so hopefully all comments go through no problem from here on out.

Winners…everyone wants to win, and I truly wish EVERYONE could win For the Clear my Shelf blog, where I was giving away backlist books, winners are: Brenda R., Texas Book Lover, Kathy Wilkinson, Book Lady and Holly Letson. The whole goal is to clear my actual shelves, so they’re real books Send me your addresses, ladies! Thank you!

For the beach pack, the winner is Cate. Send me your address! email: Shirley@shirleyjump.com

  For everyone else, there is still a GREAT prize to be had. Send me a picture of THE SWEETHEART BARGAIN “in the wild,” meaning in a store or on your iPad or Kindle, and I’ll send you some cool beach themed goodies!

These photos are from great readers who have spotted THE SWEETHEART BARGAIN in Target, Books a Million, Barnes and Noble…all over the place! Send me your pics and I’ll feature you, too!

Thank you to all my readers!