Smart Old Wives' (Remedies) - writercize #159

Tonight my energy levels are dipping and my throat is on its way to Scratchville. It seems despite life in sunny Southern California, winter's cold season is beckoning. Since I would rather encourage it to pass me by, I'm turning to you, my wonderful readers, to share your knowledge about fighting colds the non-medicine way, in your own words.

writercize: Please tell me what Old Wives' Tale works to stave off sickness! If you know the science behind it, please share.

I will read your answers in the comments section with my own Old Wives' trick, a piping hot cup of tea with honey and lemon, in hand. And thank you!

PS - I signed up yesterday for the A to Z Blogging Challenge, an annual blogging event the month of April. If you participated before, I'd love to see you there again! If you haven't, check it out - it is a great international blogging event and I highly recommend it. For more info or to sign up, click on the badge to the right, open the #AtoZChallenge page above, or visit this article on Technorati news about blogging challenges: Benefits of Blogging Challenges.

Festive Thanksgiving Oreo "Turkey" Desserts (recipe bonus post)

This is a quickie recipe I posted on Technorati for a really cute Thanksgiving dessert kids can help with.  I welcome and encourage you to try it next year!  We couldn't find candy corn this year, so ended up using Red Vines cut in eighths and split in half lengthwise as the feathers and Mike and Ike's for the nose, along with some extra frosting as "glue" to hold it all together.  Lots of fun!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast with friends and family.  Thank you sincerely for your readership and comments.

(Article first published as Festive Thanksgiving Oreo "Turkey" Desserts on Technorati.)

Looking for a fun and easy way to keep your children occupied and entertained while helping you prepare Thanksgiving dinner? 

Look no further than these adorable Oreo Turkeys, easy to assemble for kids from ages 3-103 and sure to inspire "oohs" and "aahs" from all your guests.

 Oreo Cookie Turkeys

Ingredients (for 12 turkeys):

• 24 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos work best)
• 12 Whoppers malted milk balls
• 1 bag chocolate-covered raisins
• 1 bag candy corn
• 1 small tube decorative frosting/icing
  

1. To make base for your turkey, twist the top off of 12 cookies. Keep the side with the cream filling. You can eat or dispose of the plain side.

2. Prepare the turkey feathers by inserting five or more candy corns in the cream filling of the 12 remaining cookies. The candy corn should make a semi-circle around half of the cookie. Use the skinny part of the candy corn triangle to put in the filling; the yellow and orange parts should show as feathers.

3. Place one turkey feather cookie on top of each base, centered and standing at a 90 degree angle. Push gently into the exposed cream filling of base.

4. Push one Whopper onto each base, centered in front of the feather cookie, for the turkey's head.

5. Push one chocolate covered raisin into each side of the head for the turkey's feet.

6. Break the thick end off of 12 candy corns. Stick point into base in front of whopper for turkey's nose.

7. Use frosting to put two small dots on each whopper, for the turkey's eyes.

8. Plate, serve and eat!

Be creative with your ingredients.  Here are a couple more substitutes and additions you can use:

• Add small bite-sized Reese's peanut butter cups where the whopper is to add a turkey body.  Connect the Whopper head to the peanut butter cup with a toothpick to give the bird a long neck, and connect the nose with frosting.
• If you can't find candy corn, feel free to use any long, thin candy in it's place for the nose and feathers.  Some possibilities may include Mike and Ike's, Good and Plenty or cut up licorice sticks.

Young children may like to add some freestyle culinary creations using left-over ingredients. We ended up with all sorts of interesting animals, from turtles to ducks, that were equally cute and tasty!

Photos courtesy of the author, November 2010. Finished product created by two three-year-olds, with a little help from their aunt.

It's a Pizza! - writercize (to win a prize) #100

In honor of my 100^th writercize, (streamers, confetti, hoorahs) I thought we could all use a little celebration, so I’m turning to everyone’s favorite party food – the pizza – for inspiration!

I don’t know about you, but when I’m eating out, I like to have fun with my food.  Sure I want it to taste good and be healthy, but give me an interior with a bit of whimsy, a plate with a little something fancy on it, or a menu that will keep me entertained.  I want something out of the ordinary from my real-life cooking experience at home from kitchen to dining room table. 

Since this blog is not about interior design and websites don’t come with taste buds (too bad!), let’s go with the menu and have a little fun writing.  There are four foods that I would identify as inspiring the best names on menus across the country: burgers, salads, wings and pizza.  In the spirit of party staples that can be delivered at home while blogging in front of a computer screen, we'll stick with the pizza.

I see a lot of pizza menus that play with local landmarks, current events, movie or book characters or double entendres to describe their pizzas.  They have fun names like Say Cheese!, No Kiss Tonight, or Popeye and Olive Oil.  Descriptive and creative, rolled into one.

For today’s writercize, since it's an anniversary of sorts, I’m throwing in a contest.  Not only will the winner(s) have eternal bragging rights for winning a writercize challenge, but s/he will be eligible to win a free pizza family meal donated by a very hip, very popular local pizza chain!   

(Eligibility nitty-gritty:  Must live in L.A. for the pizza prize - I'll pick one local winner and one out-of-towner.  Out-of-towners - you're competing for a $5.00 gift card from Starbucks.)  

Here comes the challenge.

writercize:  Imagine a delicious pizza pie sitting on the counter in front of you.  Smell the aroma.  See the colors.  Taste the first bite.  Now pick your toppings and name that pizza.  Be as creative as you like.  Any ingredient you can fit on top of stretched out dough goes. Any theme is yours for the picking.  

Leave your entry as a comment - remember to name the pizza and describe the toppings, and be sure to tell me where you live and how to contact you if you are a winner.

In one week, I will personally select two winners among the entries - one local and one out of town.  The winner will be selected on two merits: creativity in the title, and imaginary taste sensation from the combination of ingredients.   If it’s just too close to call, I’ll throw the best of the best in a hat and pull one out.  Multiple entries accepted. Deadline - midnight Pacific time, Tuesday, September 13.

The local Los Angeles area winner will receive a FREE family meal donated by Fresh Brothers.  The prize includes an extra-large thin crust two topping pizza, 20 buffalo wings and a farmer's market salad or Greek salad.  Wow, that's a lot of good food!

Fresh Brothers is a local pizza chain with six restaurants in the Los Angeles area run by husband and wife entrepreneurs and social do-gooders Adam and Debbie Goldberg.  They are completely plugged into what is current in LA, and offer customers healthy, homemade pizza choices for every diet.  Gluten sensitivity?  They have a crust for that.  Vegan?  They have a cheese for that.  Picky kids?  They have a sauce with hidden veggies for that.  The ads are cool, their social media is impressive, the food is good and their community involvement rocks. 

When taking a break from running a successful business, Debbie writes a blog called Manhattan Beach Momma and has a blast exploring all that LA has to offer with her twin children.

Do I have your attention?

Now get writing writercizers!  

No sample writercize today - it's all on you guys! 

Tantalizing the Taste Buds - writercize #97

First things first, a very happy one year BLOGAVERSARY to Tara over at Tara Tyler Talks, a writer with a great sense of humor and about the most loyal follower a blogger could ever ask for.  If you haven't read her stuff, head right over and say hello.  You'll laugh, you'll chuckle, you just might learn something new, and you'll be glad you checked it out.

In honor of her yearlong accomplishment blogging away, Tara has decided to host a blogfest party, full of delicious food and recipes for all to share and salivate over.  So, I decided to join in the fun.

writercize:  In honor of the food fest over at Tara's place, share your favorite appetizer or drink recipe.  Here's the kicker though, the writercize twist - it must be in your own words.

Click "read more" for a delicious adults-only frozen beverage dreamed up by the writercizer.  Kiddos and the under 21 crowd - I'll throw in a yummy spread so you can try something too.  ;)