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Boo, ya'll!
Downtown Franklin is spooky, spooky with their annual Pumpkin Fest this Halloween. Ghosts and Goblins of all kinds are wandering the streets and trick-or-treating.
A KISSable band will be playing on West Main from 6-9pm. Bring all your little goblins and meet me there!
Memories of Halloween to me bring back visions of costumes made from items we had at the house with maybe a store-bought mask or a hand-me-down from an older cousin, looking forward to watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, the Halloween parties at school, trick-or-treating with friends, and selecting the perfect pumpkin to carve.
At some point we started a new tradition of roasting the pumpkin seeds after carving the pumpkin. The recipe is simple. Clean out a pumpkin, and reserve the seeds. Toss in a little olive oil or melted butter, salt, and roast. I love them!
Variations are endless.
I found this recipe and wanted to share:
1 cup shelled, raw pumpkin seeds (Really? Shelled? I'd skip that step. They are great roasted in the shells.)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse seeds and pat dry. Toss together all ingredients in a bowl.
Spread in a single layer on aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes until roasted. Let cool for about 15 minutes before digging in!
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”
-Scott Hamilton, Olympic Gold Medalist Men’s Figure Skating, 1984
Middle Tennessee is home to one of the most popular athletes in America, Scott Hamilton. He is an Olympic gold medalist, winner of four consecutive US Championships and winner of four consecutive World Championships from 1981 to 1984. His Olympic gold was awarded in the Winter Olympics in 1984 and Scott turned professional in April of the same year. Besides multiple appearances on television, Scott spent much of his professional skating career with his own touring company “Stars on Ice.”
Scott and girlfriend Tracie Robinson, from Jackson, Tennessee, married late in 2002 and reside in Franklin, Tennessee with their two sons, Aiden Hamilton (born September 13, 2003) and Maxx Hamilton (born January 21, 2008).
Scott is also an author, penning the book The Great Eight, released in 2008 and in which he shares the secrets to his happiness and overcoming challenges.
Much publicized was Scott’s battle with testicular cancer and a later diagnosis of a benign brain tumor. Using his celebrity to benefit those fighting this disease, Scott founded the Scott Hamilton Cares Initiative to promote Cancer awareness and raise funds for research. For more information, visit www.scottcares.com.
Celebrating his 37th birthday today is half of another one of middle Tennessee’s power couples, Brad Paisley and his lovely wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Living with their darling sons, Huck and Jasper and their dog named Holler, in a log cabin down North Berry’s Chapel Road in Franklin, this very recognizable duo lives a very, well, ordinary life including farm chores and changing diapers.
Brad is a Grammy-winning country music artist and song-writer who has a special gift for capturing the heart of country living with charm, wit, and style. In his repertoire are some of my favorites “I want to check you for ticks” and “I’m still a guy.”
Kim is a beloved actress best known for her role in Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride II. She also starred on the television sitcom According to Jim for 7 years and continues in guest appearances. Kim has taken time off from acting to devote to raising her family. She co-authored with her father a children’s book published and released last year titled Henry and the Hidden Vegetable Garden, and the two are currently working on a novel.
Although the family doesn’t have a nanny, they do call on Brad’s parents who live close by to help out occasionally and allow the couple a date night. Both avid sci-fi fans, below are some snapshots, sans baby boys, of the two enjoying time with their friends playing around on the set of Battlestar Galactica.
For more information on Brad Paisley, visit his website at www.bradpaisley.musiccitynetworks.com. For more information on Kimberly Williams-Paisley, visit www.kimberlywilliams-paisley.com.
With the holidays approaching I was thinking of what dish to take to family gatherings and what recipes to make with the leftovers. We always make too much food, but isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about? Thanking God in heaven for our abundant blessings? Beside you never really know how many mouths you are going to feed. Many friends and neighbors either have no family or can’t afford to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and have to choose between the two, or have to work Black Friday and can’t travel home and back in one day.
In the past all the family and all the others who came to dinner congregated at my momma’s house. These days we gather at my sister-in-law’s momma’s house, but other than that and shooting the shotguns and roasting peanuts on an open fire, it's all about the same. And, of course, some of the faces have changed over the years.
The first dish that came to mind for leftover turkey was Turkey Tetrazzini. Momma made this dish, but called it Chicken Spaghetti, but it’s the same thing.
Tetrazzini is a classic pasta dish that includes a cream sauce, mushrooms, and either chicken, turkey, or seafood. It is thought to have been created in San Francisco in honor of the famous opera singer of the early 1900s who lived there for many years, Louisa Tetrazzini.
Turkey Tetrazzini
2 cups hot, cooked spaghetti
1 can cream of mushroom soup, diluted with ½ can of water
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 2oz jar diced pimento
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped cooked turkey
½ cup diced onion
½ cup sliced mushroom
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
Cook the pasta according to the package directions, al dente; drain well and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Sauté onions until tender.
Whisk together soup, water, cheese, mushrooms, pimento. Add cooked onion, cooked turkey, and cooked spaghetti and season with salt and pepper.
Transfer to a baking dish and top with additional cheese.
Bake the Tetrazzini in the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it is bubbling and the top is golden.
Some folks use a variety of cheeses, it’s hard to go wrong.
Some folks don’t add the top layer of cheese, but instead dot the top of the casserole with bread crumbs and butter.
Momma added slivered almonds.
