First, I'd like to announce that JavaJill has been named Community Director of Cooking Smart. Congratulations Jill, I know you will do a fantastic job as you did with CS in the past. You made this a great place to be and I know you will do wonderful things with it in the future.

I'd like to announce the winner of the Cooking Smart Monthly Recipe Contest. RODEONan won with her recipe for Christmas Fruit Salad. You can find it highlighted in this month's Recipe of the Month in this newsletter and also the Babydust and Graphic Central newsletters. Congratulations to Nancy for that delicious recipe. It was a hard decision to make with all the tasty recipes and I hope that next month everyone will come up with someone as equally as tempting as they did this time around. Remember, this is a monthly thing and you have another chance to win the 1000 P&P points each month. Good luck everyone.

If you have any questions you would like answered, please let us know and we will help you as soon as possible. If it's an emergency, we'll get to it right away. If it's just a general question, then I'll put it in the next newsletter and maybe it will help out the next person who might have the same question.





Our Deal of the Month is just in time for football season. It's the NordicWare Stadium Cake Pan ($32). It bakes up a cake in the shape of a sports arena with bleachers. To maximize the details, grease the pan with solid shortening and sprinkle with Wondra quick-mixing flour before adding cake batter. Use a dash of your favorite team's colors to decorate 877-466-7342 or www.jcpenney.com to order



The get-to-know-you question this month is what was your favorite costume as a child when you went trick-or-treating. Please hosts, leave that answer, along with your P&P name in the Leaders board so you can collect your points.



This month's Featured Forum will be our Recipe Contest Forum. I hope more people will enter to win the 1000 P&P points being offered to whomever wins each month. All entries must be submitted by the 25th of the month for final drawing and then the winner will be announced on the of the month. Please dig through those grand prizing-winning recipes ladies!



Oct. 1 - Homemade Cookies Day, World Vegetarian Day
Oct. 2 - Name Your Car Day, Yom Kippur
Oct. 3 - Captain Kangaroo Day, SOS Established
Oct. 4 - National Golf Day
Oct. 7 - World Habitat Day
Oct. 9 - Columbus Day, Leif Ericson Day, Mouldy Cheese Day
Oct. 12 - Farmer's Day
Oct. 15 - National Grouch Day, National Poetry Day
Oct. 16 - Dictionary Day, World Food Day
Oct. 17 - Black Poetry Day
Oct. 22 - National Nut Day, Rosh Hashanah
Oct. 24 - National Bologna Day, United Nations Day
Oct. 25 - National Denim Day
Oct. 28 - Plush Animal Lover's Day
Oct. 31- Halloween



Our thoughts and prayers are still with Jill, JavaJill, and her family at the loss of her second eldest son and the accident of her eldest son. Our hearts are with you.



Here is the winning recipe for our contest!!!!

This has been passed down many generations.
That I know of, 2 things were left out since my Great-grandma would make it. My Grandma didn't like the gumdrops so she left them out. And my mom would sometimes leave out the chopped walnuts, since I don't really like them. What follows is the way I make it and have tought my oldest to make it. I very rarely have left overs!!
Very yummy and I've not found anyone who doesn't like it, esp. if I can find some real cream to use ( those who live by a dairy should be able to get some real cream ). We haven't spread this around too much, but I think you might like this and it is one that I can remember helping make as a young child! Word of caution, my aunt tried to use shortcuts and it did not come out the same. Do NOT use geletan for the jello. Do NOT use canned fruit cocktail for the fruit. Do NOT use mini marshmallows in place of the cut up ones. Do NOT use either cool whip or canned whip topping instead of the heavy whipping cream/real cream. These ingredients will change the apperance and taste.
Yes, it can be messy to make, but it's chock full of love!
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Christmas Fruit Salad

1 lg. package of red Jell-o, cherry
1 package of regular sized marshmallows
1 or 2 lg. orange or 2 or 3 med. oranges
1 to 2 pounds of red grapes
2 or 3 medium bananas
1 pint of heavy whipping cream, or real cream
powdered sugar

Make jello according to package directions. While it is in the refrigerator
do the following;
peel and cut the orange(s) into bite size pieces. Put them into a large bowl.
Quarter the marshmallows ( Tip: using sisicors and dipping the blades into warm water is how we do this, kids can usually handle this ), place into the bowl with the oranges.
Halve the red grapes, seed them if neccesary ( Tip: wiping the paring knife on a paper towel in between slicing grapes helps to keep the stickiness down ), place these into the bowl
Peel and slice the bananas into the bowl with the other ingredients.
Once jello is set, slice it into bite sized pieces and dump it into the bowl
with everything else.
In a seperate bowl, beat cream and add powdered sugar slowly and a bit at a time, until soft peaks hold ( Tip: think of cool whip and how it looks when you take it and plop a spoonful on somthing ), add to the rest of the ingredients and stir. The cream should take on a very soft, almost pastel, pink color (from the red jello ).
Transfer as needed to a pretty glass or plastic ( see-through ) serving bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving. If you want to add the chopped walnuts, just add about a cup or 2 before adding the cream. Serve in either small salad bowls or let people help themselves



Here is a site for Halloween Printables for the kids. Let them decorate the house and have some fun at the same time.

http://talk.sheknows.com/showthread....10#post4838310

submitted by JavaJill



Jill - Community Director - Freebiediva@gmail.com
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