My First Radio Appearance!

Guess what everyone!?  Today was my first live radio appearance on The Cleverley Show on CBS Sports Radio Houston AM 650.  It was exhilarating and intimidating all at the same time.  We talked about my audition for MasterChef, then talked about me, and about JBistro Style and our food.  It was truly a great experience and I will remember it forever!  If you had the opportunity to listen, thank you.  If you were unable, hopefully there will be future opportunities for me!

Thank you again for all the support and remember to visit me here for all the great deals, recipes, and more! 

 

 

Happy 3rd Birthday JBistro Style!

 

Celebrate with me...today JBistro Style turns 3!!!  It has been a great 3 years, and I'm looking forward to 30 more!!  Help me celebrate by taking advantage of our birthday deal, Buy 1 pound Get 1 pound Free of our almost famous "3 Bean Chili!"  This chili is available any way you want it: vegetarian, beef, chicken, or turkey!  

More exciting news.  I will be featured on CBS Sports Radio Houston AM 650 with Cleverley Stone!  Be sure and tune in or stream live!!  Just go here.

Thank you to everyone that is helping me realize my dreams and remember to Follow My Food at JBistro Style!!

Seasonal Eating in Texas!

Today we're talking seasonal eating.  Well, more specifically, seasonal fruit eating here in the great state of Texas.  I bet you are wondering why I decided on this subject.  Yesterday I made mini cheesecakes (pictured below) and topped one with caramel apples and the other with strawberries that were saturated in rum and orange juice.  They were both amazing tasting but a fellow foodie commented that while he attended culinary school, he was thoroughly trained to never mix seasons!  Of course, being that I have never been trained I had no clue about this "forbidden" rule, and I was very thankful he shared this information.  So now I'm sharing this information with you.

I did a little research and I'm going to give you a reasonable list of fruits and what months they are in season.  I found the information here on Ask.com and here.

• Apples, July through November
• Blackberrries, May through July
• Cantaloupes, May through December 
• Cherries, June and July
• Figs, June and July, second crop in fall
• Grapefruit, October through April
• Grapes, August through October
• Honeydew, May through January
• Oranges, October through June
• Peaches, June through Sept
• Pears, August through November 
• Plums & pluots, May (red and yellow) and July through September
• Pomegranates, October through December
• Strawberries, June through August
• Watermelon, May through November

This is just a preliminary list, so I encourage you to visit the two links mentioned above for a more detailed list.  Other things you want to keep in mind is when you purchase fresh fruit it is at its cheapest when its in season.  Of course we all know you can buy frozen fruit year around, and that is perfectly okay, but if you are expecting to wow a culinary expert you might want to keep this in mind.  Or you could become a culinary rebel (of sorts) and break all those rules...just because you can!  Just imagine the first person to bring sweet & salty together, or the creator of savory cupcakes...they broke the rules and became successful.

Here are a few more of my fruitful delights just for your viewing pleasure:

      

MasterChef Here I Come!

Good morning everyone!  So I have super exciting news that I just had to share with y'all.  Last night, around 8:30 pm, I got a phone call.  Unfortunately I was giving my son a bath so I couldn't answer the phone.  After he was done with his bath and dressed, I sat down and started listening to this amazing message:

"Hi, this message is for Jennifer.  This is Kelsey, a casting producer for MasterChef...."

I quite literally couldn't listen to the rest of the message from shear excitement.  The words casting producer for MasterChef made my entire body shake!  Of course I had to call her right back.  When she answered my heart started racing but I was fairly calm.  It was a pretty straight forward conversation.  She said they were setting up open appointments for those that preregistered to try and do crowd control and move people thru a little quicker.  She asked me what time I would like and I simply said the earliest the better.  I can get in and out the sooner the better.  

For me time will be my enemy.  The more time I sit and think about it, the more nervous I will get.  I laughed and told her "I have to get in and out so I don't overwhelm myself!"  She laughed and asked me what I was thinking about bringing.  That question struck pure panic in me!  

Oh my goodness, what AM I going to make?  This is probably the most important dish I will ever make.  This dish is my ticket to a journey that will change my life, my families life, forever!  Even if I didn't win, this would still be a life changing experience!  I can now say that I was called and asked to go before the MasterChef judges and cook for them.  That is just amazing!  

Now onto the hard part of deciding what I'm going to make and what I'm going to wear!  Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers!

MasterChef....get ready for me!!!!  And remember to stop by my website for all the latest and greatest updates and recipes!    

Special starts TODAY! Free Food!

Good afternoon everyone.  This is going to be short and sweet.  I wanted to get the word out that our monthly special begins TODAY!

Be sure and stop by here to view this current special that will be available for the full month of October.  Just a reminder this special is good for future orders but it must be placed BEFORE November 1st!

Moving Forward...Good things coming

Good morning everyone!  First, let me say that my next video is almost done.  I do wish I could get them done quicker, but I am the one and only shooting, editing, etc, so it takes a little longer than I would like.  But patience is a virtue, and a virtue never hurt you!

Yesterday I had a small event to cater and the feedback was fantastic.  It was only for 30 people, but those 30 had nothing but good things to say.  If you recall in my first video I said that even though I'm not a millionaire I consider myself and my company to be very successful because I have only satisfied customers and that's what matters most.

Now onto my next exciting venture.  These bottle pictured above are a representation of the next step for JBistro Style, and I am beyond excited about it.  I can't give you full disclosure, but I will say that I am working on bottling a product that I'm hoping to sell.  I will start by doing this at Traders Village and see how well it goes (Market research) and then hopefully pitch it to grocery stores.

I want to remind all of my readers to go for it!  Whatever your dream is, just do it.  Recently I was reminded of this by an incredible woman, Martie Duncan (pictured below), the runner-up of last season's Next Food Network Star!  It was so exciting meeting her and I asked her if she had any words of wisdom for me.  She took both my hands and faced me and simply said, "Never give up because the people you surpass did, and never lose confidence.  I applied for Food Network Star with no culinary experience at all and I came in 2nd place out of 60,000+ applicants."  Those are the most inspiring words anybody could have ever said to me and I will remember them forever, and I hope you will too!

See y'all very soon with the next video!  Want a hint about it?  It features my garden!

Video #2 Pancake Muffins!

 

As promised, this video is all about a family favorite in my household.  Its easy enough to make any day of the week so the entire family can enjoy a delicious and healthy breakfast even on the go.

I even included the "bloopers" for your enjoyment (and mine).  The finished product is featured here: