• Priscilla Nason Shartle

hearthealthyboomer

~ Living healthy after age seventy.

hearthealthyboomer

Tag Archives: LSU

Temptation

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by prisnasonshartle in Tempting Foods

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baking, chocolate pound cake, healthy eating, LSU, mother-in-law, ZTA

Today I baked a cake.  Not just any cake but my sister-in-law’s very own “Deluxe Chocolate Pound Cake.”  Delicious beyond measure, it is hard to pass up, but I will.  Not because I don’t like it, but because it will make me sick.  Not literally but emotionally.  I am addicted to foods I should not eat and there are probably over a thousand calories in one slice of this cake.  And because my diet is based on eating healthy foods, (without butter, eggs, and sugar), I’m pretty sure I could not stop at one piece.

I baked this cake for several reasons.  One is that I love to cook and baking is just as fun as making a big pot of bean soup filled with garlic, onions, flax seeds, and kale.  The other is that it brings back such great memories. When I was a young mother I got this recipe at a ZETA alumni party.  Our alumni chapter at LSU made cookbooks and sold them to each other at the “Kandy Kitchen” fundraiser.  My sister-in-law, Wesley Anne submitted the recipe and so I baked it as a treat one Sunday when her mother, my mother-in-law came over for dinner.

We sat at my kitchen table, drinking coffee, listening to my oldest son, Brian who was three play outside in our backyard.  We had a fenced in yard with a swing set and patio for him to play on.  He could hear us talking as we could see and hear him playing.  The smell of the chocolate cake was just like it was today, wonderful.  Finally, after the required one hour and twenty-minute bake time, I pulled the cake out of the oven.  It was a mess.chocolate pound cake

I looked at my mother-in-law and could not tell if my face was red from embarrassment or from the heat of the oven.  We just looked at it – a crumbled, uncooked glob of chocolate.  I carried it the table and together we tried to figure out what went wrong.  With the recipe card, she started calling out the ingredients to confirm I had indeed not left anything out.  But when she got to five eggs, I hesitated, checked my refrigerator and sure enough, the eggs were still in the carton and NOT in the cake.  However, it was not a loss.  For you see, how can you go wrong with rum, butter, coconut extract with chocolate, butter and sugar?  We sat and ate our cake with a spoon and enjoyed every minute of it.

Temptation – to desire or crave something; I have the power to say no to eating this cake, but that won’t stop me from baking it or sharing it with those who can handle its delicious treats.

 

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Going Home to Baton Rouge is Good for the Soul

10 Friday May 2013

Posted by prisnasonshartle in Good for the Soul

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Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge High School, class reunion, cousins, friends, Girl Scouts, Jimmy Taylor, LA, LSU, Mike Anderson's, Sammy's, Walnut Hills Elementary School, Westdale Junior High

People ask me why it is so important for me to go home to Baton Rouge at least once a year, and I tell them it is because I am nothing without these people. They are part of what makes me who I am and are at the core of my being. They are my cloud of witnesses that cradle me and keep me from falling.

This past weekend “home” began with a visit with Debby Burge Cartwright and her mother, who will be 90 this year. Debby came into my life in fourth grade at Walnut Hills Elementary School. I can still remember spending nights on weekends at her house and waking to the smell of fried bacon and sitting at the table with her sister and parents to share that breakfast. Even when I was a student at BRHS, I never felt intimidated by the presence of her father, Mr. Burge, the principal at BRHS.

On Friday a small group of classmates met at BRHS which had been fully renovated since our last reunion in 2008. Guided by the Executive Director of the BRHS Foundation, Lauren Ford, we had the grand tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. Preceding our tour was a tour for the Class of 1953 who were most excited that fellow classmate and a member of the football Hall of Fame who played with the Green Bay Packers and All-American from LSU, who graduated from BRHS, Jimmy Taylor was present at their tour. We didn’t see him but reveled in his success and saw his trophies in the new glass cases. (Personally I was reminded of a day when I was 15 and got picked up by my cousin, Jim O’Neal and a friend.  We were going to his house so I could baby-sit his four children.  His friend was at LSU and I soon figured out that I was riding in the car with THE Jimmy Taylor.) Following the tour, we joined other classmates for pizza at the Pastime Lounge, a college favorite then and now.

IMG_0321

Peggy and Barry Altazin

Saturday night the reunion was at Mike Anderson’s. It was a smaller group than the 40th reunion, but still we had fun and enjoyed catching up with everyone. It was especially nice sitting with my Girl Scout “budde” and old friend Carol Fenton Butler. We go back to grade school and four years as camp budde’s at Girl Scout Camp Marydale. Another old friend, from pre-school age was Barry Altazin who joined us at our table. Barry lived across the street from me on Eugene Street until I was 10 when I moved up the street to the “white house” near Raymond Blvd. He and my brother John (Jack) Nason were always good friends. Again, it was good to see that none of us had changed (on the inside.) I can say that being one of the few classmates, (including Rene Esnard and Buddy Porta) with white hair.

Lunch with the girls

Sunday after church at the UUCBR, I met old friends Ellen McGraw, Janet Noland and Debby for lunch at Bistro Byronz in Baton Rouge. Ever had fried catfish filets smothered in crawfish etouffee? Not bad, not bad at all. Ellen and I have been friends since second grade when I started Walnut Hills. She lived a few streets over on Zealand and so riding bikes to and from each other’s homes was easy. After 56 years, I am proud to say we are still dear friends.

I met Janet at Westdale Junior High and can honestly say I never met a sweeter funnier girl until then. We were kindred spirits and had in us the power to become the women we wanted to be. It was with Janet that I first came to realize that no one has the power to tell me what to do and when to do it and how to do it. That power comes from me and God inside me. And to think it all came from JFK and his physical fitness plan that forced the PE teachers at our school to make us physically fit. When you are 5’2” and weigh 90 lbs., you are lucky the wind doesn’t blow you around the track much less run for what seemed forever. We were two girls on a mission and our epiphany was exactly what we needed at that time in our lives. (So maybe being physically fit isn’t that bad after all.) I was sitting next to Janet when we learned about Kennedy’s assassination; she introduced me to her classmates at LaSalle Elementary, many of whom became fellow Girl Scouts in Mrs. Gray’s troop; and she stood by me in Boosters at BRHS until we graduated from high school.Linda and John

Sunday night, the Mundinger family joined us for dinner at my sister Lindy and her husband Dale’s new home in the Garden District. I’ve known John since the day he was born, although I was only three years old. His parents and my parents were best friends and we consider ourselves brother and sister and family. Joining us was his daughter Kathrin and her fiancé Mike and son J.T. and his fiancée Christina. (She is a brave soul being an Ole Miss alumni marrying into a LSU family.)

Patricia Schmieder, Me, Sharon and David Nason

Patricia Schmieder, Me, Sharon and David Nason

Monday, Lindy and I joined our cousin Patricia Schmieder for lunch at Albasha Greek restaurant in Town Center.  We closed the lunch crew down laughing and enjoying each other’s company.  Later Patsy came over to Lindy’s and we joined our other first cousin David Nason and his wife Sharon.  Again we laughed and cried tears of joy and sadness as David and Sharon told us of their recent fire and losing their home.  I was able to give them a memento from some things that belonged to my father but originally belonged to David’s father and Patsy had an antique tea cart with glass tray that belonged to our grandfather which she brought for them.

The day ended with a trip to Zachary and a bit of time with my nephew Neil Weiner and his wife Whitney and their three children Matt, Abby and Emily. What a sweet and darling family they are.Sammy's

On the way home, Lindy and I stopped at Sammy’s for a cup of crab bisque and fried eggplant. The mural on the wall said, “Sammy’s Grill and Seafood – under the overpass on Perkins Road.” It puzzled me because I grew up under the overpass on Perkins Road – sort of. My house was on Eugene Street and the overpass crossed the railroad tracks that went behind my house. The Colonel’s Club was housed in a Quonset hut directly under the overpass. Today it is Chelsea’s, but maybe in between then and now it was Sammy’s.

I can still remember sitting on my back porch steps listening to the live bands play, including the Grass Roots. I can still remember the smell of the ligustrum plants that lined my drive-way and I can still remember the sound of the trains coming down the tracks. All the friends, sounds, smells, foods, and memories keep me centered. This is why I love to come “home” and why doing so is good for my soul.

Great Recipes Online

02 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by prisnasonshartle in healthy website links

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Tags

Baton Rouge, Better Homes & Garden, Catoosa Life Magazine, Cooking Light, coupons, farmers market, handmade items, healthy groceries, heart healthy, Holly Clegg, hostess gifts, Kim Correll, LSU, recipes, save money, Tasty Traditions, vegetarian meals

Today I thought I would give you a few links to some websites that I enjoy using to stay healthy and strong.  I signed up to receive emails from these websites by going to the websites.  This way I can click on the email, file it in a folder if I don’t have the time or look at it immediately.  They are listed in no particular order.

The Better Homes and Garden website is a good source from a variety of perspectives.  Recipes are good, advice good, and graphics good.  Signing up was a pill, but once I got it all straight I look forward to getting the emails.  For example I found a slide show on “How to Save Money on Healthy Groceries.”  The best news: I was already doing all but two of the tips.  I figured out what I was spending and compare prices.  I keep recipes of my favorite meals in a notebook, recipe files, and marked in my favorite cookbooks.  I plan ahead by making a menu for the week, check what foods I have in my pantry and make a list of what I need at the farmers market, grocery store and in bulk at a big box store.  I clip coupons (or I should say my husband does), I try to buy foods in season, I don’t shop hungry, and I buy generic when possible.  Unfortunately, I rarely cook ahead and freeze to use later.  Instead I sometimes make enough for four and freeze half for later and I don’t make my own healthy snacks….not when 90 and 100 calorie snacks are practically falling off the shelves begging to be bought.

Another magazine that has an online version is Cooking Light.  I usually go to the Healthy Living section and when I find a recipe I like I save it to MyRecipes, a very handy helpful tool from the Cooking Light website.  I check my favorite recipes at least once a month when I’m making my weekly menus and seem to always pick at least one recipe that I’ve used in the past. Sometimes I watch the video that accompanies a recipe to pick up tips on making it as I always seem to learn something new when I take the time do to this.  Signing up for MyRecipes was an additional sign-up process from signing up to the Cooking Light newsletter.  Today on the Cooking Light Newsletter I found a link to the best vegetarian meals at restaurants.  I’m not a vegetarian, but I do not have to have meat to survive and when eating out, most often the lowest caloric items on the menu are those without meat.  One of the winners is Subway’s Veggie Delight coming in at 230 calories for the 6 inch on whole wheat bread and without cheese.  I order it with their sweet onion sauce instead of low-fat mayo.

I mentioned in an earlier blog the Holly Clegg series of Trim & Terrific Cookbooks.  If you haven’t had a chance to go to her website at:  www.hollyclegg.com, do so and sign up for her newsletter.  It too is free and you will be glad you did.  The most recent one made me want to put on my favorite LSU t-shirt and start cooking as it was filled with the perfect food to eat while watching your favorite team on TV.  (Both Holly and I being from Baton Rouge, wearing purple and gold makes sense.) Or you might check out Holly’s blog at: www.thehealthycookingblog.com . 

Finally I want to share with you a TV show that airs locally here in N. GA on Dish Channel 266.  It is called Tasty Traditions and is stars Kim Correll.  I interviewed Kim for an article in the upcoming October/November Catoosa Life Magazine and found her to be an amazing woman.  On her television show which is filmed in her own kitchen at home, she demonstrates foods that are handed down from family and friends.  In addition she touches on handmade items, hostess gifts, and foods that remind us of times gone by.  Eating healthy does not mean one has to stay away from the foods you grew up with and shared around the table with your parents, grandparents and own families before they all disappeared.  If you check out the Tasty Traditions Facebook page you can keep up with what’s cooking in her kitchen.  And if you don’t have Dish TV, watch her on www.catt.com, a web TV with links to her shows and more recipes including heart healthy recipes.

It’s a new month, a new school year, a new day to begin thinking about your health.  I hope you take the time to check out the websites and enjoy some good old fashion heart healthy recipes including some fun football foods……and Geaux Tigers!

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