Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. You don't have to traipse all the way to Scarborough Fair with Simon and Garfunkel to get your own fresh herbs. They're super easy to grow yourself! In this video I show you how my purple cabbages, used to decorate my window boxes, ended up being in some very tasty salads. While you're watching this video about my herb gardens, I'm going to be bugging those computer nerds to hurry up and invent “e-smell" so someday you can sit back and take in the delicious aroma coming from my garden and kitchen. Until then...let's get planting!

I was lucky enough to visit Italy for a week. One thing I noticed was every little restaurant had an herb garden right outside. We stayed at a villa. They had a huge garden and when they needed something they just stepped outside and picked it. Oh, my goodness. "Magnifico" flavors just burst out. Take 25 seconds to watch this video my husband shot.

This blog was written five years ago and I'm happy to report we both have new bathrobes even though they're not what I wanted.

April 24, 2012

I decided it's time for Terry and me to get new bathrobes. Mine's 20 years old! I bought it at a garage sale. It’s heavy and comfy and if I write too much about it here, I’m apt to talk myself out of dumping it. (Maybe I should keep it as my winter robe. On some of those cold winter nights I have found such refuge in it. I also feel spiritual in it sometimes, because it has a hood and when I put it over my head, I feel like St. Francis.) Okay, okay it’s going in storage until November when my winter sweaters and coats come out of waiting.

Terry’s robe is another story. It's downright scary! It’s blue plaid velour and after the first washing it lost most of its “lour” and because the arms were too long he cut them off and insisted I didn’t need to hem his alteration project. So I didn’t, leaving the ends frayed in strings that grow longer with every washing.

The thing is, I never think to go bathrobe shopping and only when I’m pampered with a luxurious white terrycloth robe in a fancy hotel do I think it’s time to spring for a new “morning” look.

A Saint and a Blue Man

Terry and I have changed our routine this year and I don’t shower, dress and make the bed first thing in the morning anymore.

Do you like the taste of marinated meats? Since I’ve been living in the low-carb world, I’ve been marinating a lot. My low-carb physician is the one who suggested it. As the years have passed, I came up with the idea of using the pickle juice from my favorite pickles. If I like the pickle, why not put that flavor into chicken, pork or fish?

So I always save my pickle juices and use them on the meat of the day. Since I love Bubbies Dill Pickles, I love the brine and it’s especially delicious for chicken. This cooking video will show you exactly what I do.

In chapter twelve of "The Joy of Being Disorganized" it reminds its readers to “quiet your adult mind long enough to hear your inner child's voice.” Having a clean, cozy, peaceful home includes letting that fun-loving child in you remember what you love to eat! In this cooking video, you'll get a wonderful recipe for bone broth and a tasty chicken salad made from what was left on the bones after making the broth.

Every single tasty morsel of meat is simmered along with some yummy vegetables seasoned just right.

When the voice of your inner child starts on a whiny, crave, it just means you need protein. Having bone broth and chicken salad on hand will stop the craving within 20 seconds and your inner child's voice will stop its belligerent rant.

Have you ever noticed, if you take a plate of deviled eggs to a potluck, they disappear fast? They are such a famous treat and this recipe is really delicious! I don't use Penzey spices anymore and have switched to Savory Spice Shop. They have a better Italian Seasoning! I showed this cooking video in 2015 and I wasn't about to re-shoot it because I no longer use Penzey. 

Spring Cleaning? Start at the Entryway

Usually when we think of spring cleaning we think of getting out the buckets, brushes, rags and cleaners and cleaning the inside of the house. If you want to learn more about that, Google it. My blog this week is about sprucing up the place just before you go inside your home. You’ll have to go outside for this spring cleaning.

Your entryway is the gateway to your domestic life. It gives guests their first impression of your home life and quite frankly a little peek into who you are. After your guest rings the doorbell there’s “wait time,” and it’s a rather private period of scrutiny and judging for him or her. Here are my 8 tips for spring cleaning your entryway. 

Experts claim romantic love lasts from 18 months to three years. Mother Nature must know this, so once she makes a connection, she has to work fast if she wants more babies!

In 18 months she can put out one baby and one on the way (giving the mother a little recoup time) and in three years she can produce three. Done!

That’s what happened to me anyway and I blame it all on Mother Nature. 

This will date me, but I have three children thanks to Johnny Mathis. When he sang Misty and those luscious tones flowed from his lips, “Look at me, I’m as helpless as a kitten up a tree,” bang…I was pregnant with Michael and wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d come out bi-racial I was so in love with Johnny. Chances Are (one of Johnny’s biggest hits) rang in Peggy Ann and Wild is the Wind pulled Joanna from her non-physical place in the Universe to a place in our home. 

Happy Easter! May you truly enjoy the magic of this holy time.

This is a delicious, company breakfast dish that's so easy to make ahead so you won't have to get up extra early in the morning to fix your Easter guests' breakfast. So please enjoy this short cooking video. 

Would you buy this at Goodwill?

In a recent blog I wrote about declutteringg I said, “In deciding what to keep and what to get rid of, ask this question: ‘Would I buy this at Goodwill?’” Just that question opens your eyes to the item you’re looking at. If you were at Goodwill, would you buy this? Because when you’re buying something secondhand, you take your blinders off and put your examination lenses on.

I Was Blind and Now I See!  

At home, your blinders allow you to relax in private and not see what you don’t want to see, just like your sunglasses keep the sun from hurting your eyes. Your home isn’t subject to scrutiny until you’re going to have company at which time you get out your examination glasses and see with “company eyes.”

If you'll put your timer on for 15 minutes and spend that time looking for stuff you wouldn’t buy at Goodwill, you’ll probably be able to fill up a box to give away or pitch. As I wrote that sentence, it inspired me to do just that. So, I’ll be back in 15 minutes if I don’t get sidetracked and end up taking a bath or sweeping the deck.

It's time to make room for spring! Mother Nature spent all winter getting ready for this wonderful time of year and we can learn from her. When you let go of the past you create a place for what's waiting to come to you now.

Many have a hard time letting go and it really doesn’t have to be that way. Of course letting go of a person whom you love and he no longer loves you is a boo hoo, hard kind of letting go and it may take more than a season to get over, but you know the saying: If he doesn't love you, let him fly away, unless you want to play zoo keeper. But the decluttering kind of letting go can actually be fun, because of a test question you can ask every time you get stuck holding onto an item that needs to go.

You'll learn what that test question is in a minute. First, here's a little story. Because of a contest called Project CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) I’ve been in over 100 homes that were crammed with too much stuff. My sister and I would pick a winner in a city and armed with television cameras, newspaper journalists and photographers; we’d go into the home of the winning family and de-junk a room. The “befores” and “afters” were always media fodder.

I remember one specific winner vividly. She was a physician (even doctors can have too much stuff) and she wanted us to help her with her personal, walk-in closet. It was jam-packed with fashions that spanned two decades and four sizes. She dressed well. Her clothes were purchased at high-end dress shops and department stores and most were designer.

A few years ago, we took a vacation I’ll never forget.

          During that vacation, I took the six days off from the 21st century and never once looked at a computer. I didn’t answer anyone’s emails or write my weekly blogs for the last week of the month we were in. I just lived in what I’ll call a techless world. Yes, I was party to using the GPS while we “Yelped” our way around San Diego and yeah, once I talked on Terry’s cell phone. Oh and yes, I used the computer timer on the oven in our condo we lived in for a week, but the rest of the time I enjoyed the real world right in front of me

          One of the highlights of the respite was having lunch with one of Terry’s professors from WSU. Mr. Mott made a profound and lasting impression on my husband. (Thank you Mr. Mott.) Terry has so much respect for the man he can’t bring himself to call him Robert or, God forbid, Bob. Mr. Mott and his wife Edie are in their nineties and both sharp mentally, mobile and healthy.

Guests of Marla and Robert

We spent that vacation as guests of Flylady and her husband Robert. There were times when I felt a little like a beloved family dog. Marla, Robert and Terry spent a great deal of our living room time on their thingamajigs of choice, while I sat and talked to myself, read a little, wrote on a yellow pad and played "retro" Solitaire. (That’s a game you play with a standard deck of real playing cards, dealt onto a real table.)

This recipe for homemade, low-carb pizza starts with the most sumptuous, delicious sauce made from frozen tomatoes you freeze when they don't look good enough to put in a salad (even the really crummy looking ones you thought you had to chuck)! Then you'll see in this cooking video, how to get rid of the skins on tomatoes if you don't want them in your sauce. And the crust? Wait ‘till you see how we'll make one without rolling out any dough. It's so simple and fun you'll wonder why you thought the only way to serve pizza was to take or bake something in a cardboard box. Never again! Ummmm, the smell is heavenly when it's baking and the gobs of sausage, salami and olives are too yummy for your family to resist. It's time to say "ciao" to the best ristorante in town...your kitchen!

Low Carb Pizza

Fresh Tomato Sauce

About twenty frozen tomatoes

¼ cup water (optional)

Italian spices or taco seasoning and Lawry’s Season Salt and salt and pepper if you wish

Simmer for 3-4 hours or more. (More, if you use water.) Skins pull off tomatoes easily when done.

Blend sauce in a blender when it’s cooked down. You can keep tomato sauce in fridge for a couple weeks or freeze it for a long time. Fry a pound of Italian sausage and drain.

 Crust

Two cups Parmesan cheese

½ half cup almond flour

Mix together and fry the mixture on medium high five to six minutes on each side. Cool on a rack.

Build the Pizza

Put crust on a cookie sheet, smear sauce on crust. Put on Italian sausage and other items you choose. Salami, pepperoni, olives etc.

Top with cheese.

Bake in oven at 400 for five or six minutes.

You can also make bread sticks or croutons out of the pizza crust.

Did you know the Easter Bunny is going low-carb?

It may not look that way at Walmart, but it’s true. As an alternative to candy, he’s filling the hollow eggs with notes of appreciation, motivation and inspiration and you can do it too.

You know how we all love fortune cookies, well your kids will love hunting for eggs and getting note-after-note of encouragement, fun activities and surprises in the eggs they find.

Your dentist will be happy too! (Well, we hope so anyway.)

Here’s the list we got from the Big Bunny.

        This coupon is good for a foot rub.
        This coupon is good for a back rub.
        This note is good for one download at iTunes.
        This coupon is good for a book, next time we go shopping.
        Your laughter makes us happy.

 But what if did? Sounds kind of nice, doesn't it? Especially this time of year when you have a deadline looming to get your tax returns done. Just think, if you had a tree that grew $100 bills in your front yard, you'd have to have 24-hour surveillance and security! Oh and if the press every got wind of it, you’d be dodging them to your grave. No doubt you'd worry about how to keep the tree healthy, keep the bugs from eating those precious leaves and how to keep the money in your yard when the autumn winds threatened to blow your crop into the neighbor's yard (the neighbors whose dog leaves stuff in yours).

You'd probably end up a nervous wreck. You'd never be able to leave home, or be able to get all the bills that were at the very top, unless you were a very good tree climber. Maybe it'd be easier to have a hedge fund than a money tree, but you'd still have to guard that too.    

With the advent of credit cards, many of us were tempted into living beyond our means. Those pretty, little rectangles made purchasing stuff so easy, especially when you didn't have the money yet! Before I met Nelly (my inner child) in 2002, I was in big credit card trouble. Because I'm a writer and was able to make a good living writing books, when I wasn't writing and the income wasn't there, instead of changing my spending habits, I used credit cards to pretend I was still making money. I actually looked at credit cards as income. "Oh, goody, the bank just increased my credit limit $10,000!"

When everything came to a head, I was faced with figuring out how to get out of thousands of dollars in credit card debt. I knew I had to raise my financial consciousness and get out of debt, but I didn't have a clue as to how to do that. What happened was a miracle and I wrote about it in "The GOOD Book: Get Out Of Debt."