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Food and Update

February 1, 2012 in Food, Monthly Update, Race to the Hugo, Writing | 4 comments

It’s the first of the month, so there’s a new Hot Flash (micro-mini story) on the Hot Flashes page. You might have to think about it for a minute, especially if you haven’t had your morning cuppa.

Next, I’m happy to announce I’ve given birth to a bouncing baby science fiction romance story posted at the Race to the Hugo Award. Mitchell Allen and Holly Jahangiri are both in there working and posting, too. I must have been subliminally influenced by new blog follower Nicholle, because I gave the main characters the last name of Brisbane. My mind is such a rag-bag!

And, since Wednesday is Food Day here, I have a “recipe”, if you want to call something so simple by that name.

BOK CHOI AND ORANGE SALAD

  • bok choi, cut into bite-size pieces
  • oranges, cut into bite-size pieces
  • almonds, toasted in a skillet

And that’s it. I should have tossed it before I took the picture, because it looks all garnish and no salad. We used Honey-French dressing, but you could use anything you think would taste good with it. An Asian-Ginger would be nice. Rice vinegar and sesame oil would be VERY nice.

Hope your February is as wonderful as February ever gets!

WRITING PROMPT: Make a list of first names and a list of last names and organize them by “sounds like a good guy”, “sounds like a bad guy” and “neutral”.

MA

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Egg Salad SUPREME

January 25, 2012 in Food | 6 comments

pickled capers photo from Wikipedia

Okay, you already know that any recipe with “supreme” in the name probably has black olives in it and, look at this, no surprise, this one is no different. It really turned out to be good, though.

EGG SALAD “SUPREME”

  • hard-boiled eggs, cut up
  • thin-sliced celery
  • thick-sliced green onions
  • sweet pickle relish
  • black olives (ta-daaa!)
  • pickled capers
  • mayonnaise
  • salt and pepper

Mix and eat. Good on fresh-baked bread. Good on toast. Good warmed and sprinkled with cheese.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you might detect an uptick in promotional posts. That’s because I want to sell more books. Apparently, “If you build it, they will come” only applies to baseball diamonds in cornfields. Or maybe I should be doing all my book signings in cornfields out in the country. Yeah, yeah, that’s it! And I bet having a ghost with the voice of Darth Vader looking over my shoulder and giving advice wouldn’t hurt, either.

WRITING PROMPT: A character tries to make something plain seem fancy with a couple of slight additions.

MA

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Strata Rocks: A Post NOT About Geology

January 11, 2012 in Food | 6 comments

This is Food Day on the blog, you you know Strata is going to turn out to be edible. Appropriately enough, today’s Google Doodle celebrates Nicolas Steno, the father of stratigraphy (the geological kind).

Strata means layers, and the kind of strata I’m writing about today is another term for “layered casserole”. They’re very good and they’re very easy, which is why I say they rock, although you can make them as complex and difficult as you choose. I’m sure Nero Wolfe and Fritz Brenner would take three days to plan one, a month to gather the ingredients and a week to construct it. And Archie would call it a relapse and get disgusted and quit and …. If you haven’t read any Nero Wolfe mysteries, do so.

ANYWAY, the strata I make has a bread base, an egg-and-milk body and something else. Very versatile. Here’s the one I made the other night:

CHEESE STRATA

  • two pieces of leftover, stale bread, broken into small pieces
  • two eggs, lightly beaten, in a measuring cup
  • milk added to bring liquid level up to 1 cup
  • spicy brown mustard to taste
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • grated cheese

Butter a small casserole. Put in the bread. Thin the mustard with a little of the egg mixture, then re-combine with the rest of the egg and milk. Add salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the bread. Sprinkle on the cheese. Let sit until the liquid is absorbed by the bread. Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. [NOTE: The knife should be clean when it goes in, of course.]

Now, you could put a layer of mushrooms, spinach and/or other vegetables over the bread and egg/milk. You could use spices or herbs to vary the flavor. You could do a layer of sausage or ham or bacon or chicken.

You could make a sweet strata by starting out with sweet bread and adding fruit and/or nuts and cinnamon or nutmeg or any favorite spice.

Here’s a link to a collection of strata recipes at AllRecipes.com. Enjoy!

WRITING PROMPT: A character finds something unexpected while digging.

MA

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From the CPP Culinary School

January 4, 2012 in Food | 2 comments

CPP stands for “Container, Paper and Plastic”. See, I learned how to cook from the recipes on food containers or printed in ads. I still check out the containers for recipes. Food packagers (and, let’s face it, food manufacturers) pay people good money to come up with recipes that make those foods appealing, so why not try them?

Here’s one I tried over the holidays and really liked. It was on a can of store-brand cranberry sauce. It’s vegan, if you use vegan margarine, as I did, but not gluten-free, unless you have a gluten-free flour you can substitute. Maybe powder some oatmeal and substitute that?

CRANBERRY-CRUNCH

  • 1 1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter or margarine
  • 1 can (14 ounces) jellied cranberry sauce
  • ice cream [or whipped topping]

Preheat oven to 350F. In a bowl, mix together oats, flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly [the butter, I assume, not you]. Press half of the mixture into an 8″ square baking dish. Spread with cranberry sauce. Top with remaining crumb mixture. Bake 45 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream. [or whipped topping]

I really liked this. It’s not too sweet, which was refreshing after the sweet-laden holiday. I think it might be good heated in the microwave and eaten like cereal for breakfast, maybe with a little vanilla almond milk. Mmmmmmm!

WRITING PROMPT: What does your main character habitually eat for breakfast? Or DOES your main character eat breakfast?

MA

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Wash Your Hands

December 21, 2011 in Grab bag | 2 comments

When we were on Tybee Island, we went to a few places that wanted to hit us up for a quarter-C ($25) for a jar of Hand Scrub. Today, special just for you, Baby-Doll (Bahamas in-joke for Mom and Sara), I give you a recipe for it. You can get as fancy as you want. This one is my favorite, because I have all the ingredients in my pantry. There are more, more, more recipes at Natural Homeremedies For Life.

Hand Scrub

  • 10 tablespoons coarse Kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons Baking soda
  • 5 tablespoons extra virgin Olive oil

I might add a drop of vanilla, because I like it.

I’m posting today at The Write Type about Mermaid Cottages’ Getaway Giveaway and the importance of a sense of place in your writing. Tomorrow, I’m going to Louisville for my monthly meet-up with the fabulous Jane, but I’ll post here before I leave.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, Imma go make some springerles and fruitcake. Mmmmm!

WRITING PROMPT: How do-it-yourselfy is your main character? Does he or she know anybody who makes his or her own anything?

MA

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Ravioli con Espinichio

November 30, 2011 in Food | 7 comments

That’s a term I just made up because it’s 9:00 am already and I haven’t posted my post and I don’t feel like looking up the real Italian for these words. “Ravioli” is right, anyway.

RAVIOLI CON ESPINICHIO

  • ravioli (this is cheese)
  • spinach (this is frozen)
  • olive oil infused with garlic (or with garlic toasted in it then removed)
  • capers
  • good cheese, grated

Cook the ravioli and spinach together. Drain. Toss gently with olive oil. Put on plates. Sprinkle with capers and cheese.

Yum!

WRITING PROMPT: Does your main character speak/understand more than one language or heavy dialect?

MA

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White Sauce Without The Murder

November 2, 2011 in Food | 9 comments

MURDER WITH WHITE SAUCE is the title of my NaNo novel this year. So, just in case you don’t know what white sauce is, imma tell you.

In France, they call it bechamel, but it ain’t a thing in the world but plain old milk gravy.

WHITE SAUCE

  • 1 Tablespoon butter, oil, margarine or meat grease
  • 1 Tablespoon flour
  • 1 cup milk

Heat the butter (or whatever). Remove from heat and stir in the flour, mixing well. Return to heat and cook for a minute or so. Remove from heat and stir in milk. Return to heat and stir until sauce is thick and glossy.

If you want it thinner or thicker, adjust the proportions of milk and flour.

Cream will thicken more easily than low-fat milk.

Taste before you add salt and pepper, since the fat you start with will flavor the sauce you end up with.

You can add herbs and spices. You can begin with flavored oil or herbed butter. If you use spices, add them to the flour and toast them in the oil to release the full flavor.

Put some dill weed in with the milk and this is delicious over salmon.

A very versatile sauce.

WRITING PROMPT: How many ways can you combine “cat” with “white sauce”?

MA

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Kerri Nelson’s Two Choices

September 28, 2011 in Food, Guest Posters | 11 comments

Kerri Nelson is with us today, with word about her intriguing new book, Courting Demons, and a recipe that’s just like I like ‘em–quick and easy!

Book Title:
Courting Demons

Click image to enlarge.

Blurb: 

Paisley Barton was already having a bad day before she turned her husband into a rat.

First, she was fired by her boss and then came home to find hubby in the shower with a naked blonde chick. They say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned but this break-up may just unleash hell on Earth when Paisley casts a spell of vengeance against her philandering husband.

After her spell casting inadvertently opens a portal between dimensions, Paisley finds her family home transformed into a nightly courtroom for settling disputes between demons of the underworld and she’s the judge! If that’s not enough, she’s got to deal with a charming, ancient demon named Camden who wants to be her personal bodyguard while trying to explain her husband’s sudden, mysterious disappearance to sexy police Detective Dalton Briggs.

But Paisley will show them all that an everyday working mom is better equipped than most to deal with the mystical mayhem…and with a tempting demon hottie and a flirtatious young detective vying for her affection, she soon learns that being single again isn’t so bad after all.

“When a wronged wife turns her cheating husband into a rat, you know you have to keep reading! Kerri Nelson offers up a lot of fun and wild magic in Courting Demons!” –Bestselling author, Linda Wisdom, Demons are a Girl’s Best Friend

Author Bio:
Kerri Nelson discovered her love of writing at an early age and soon became a columnist for her local newspaper winning the Outstanding Young Journalist of the Year Award for her efforts.

After a fifteen year career in the legal field, Kerri fulfilled her lifelong dream of publication and is now an award winning multi-published author of nearly every genre under the sun (and moon) and also writes young adult fiction under the penname K.G. Summers.  

A true southern belle, she comes complete with a dashing southern gentleman and three adorable children for whom she often bakes many homemade treats.  

Kerri is an active member of Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America as well as numerous chapters including Futuristic Fantasy & Paranormal Writers and her Presidency of Celtic Hearts Romance Writers.

Read more about Kerri’s books at her website:  www.kerrinelson.com
Follow her on Twitter here:  www.twitter.com/kerribookwriter
Visit her industry blog here:  www.thebookboost.blogspot.com

Buy Links (print and e-book versions available 9/15 wherever books are sold but here’s the publisher link—free gift available with purchase of print copy—while supplies last):

Publisher–Jupiter Gardens
or
Amazon.com

Giveaway for the day:
Leave a question or comment to be entered to win today’s prize: A Custom made Momwitch Bread Bag Clip and a choice of e-books from my back list!

Then, enter to win my book tour Grand Prize Kindle by following me on tour and e-mailing me the answers to each question of the day at the end of tour.  The more questions you answer, the more entries you gain.

Question of the Day:  
What does Paisley cook for the kids for dinner before she makes her trip to the Underworld?

Details on how to enter to win the GRAND PRIZE Kindle at the end of my “Dark Days of Demons Tour” located here:
Blog Tour–Win A Kindle

Excerpt link for Courting Demons

But what about the choices? Oh, do you mean between the demon and the detective? No? You have a recipe? And two choices for dinner? Tell us more!

Two Choices for Dinner:  Take It or Leave It!

As a busy mom of three young children and step-mom to one college age son (who still comes by for dinner now and then), finding time to cook when all I want to do is write can be a challenge.

Now, I’ll admit something to you and it may gain me some hate mail—I have a hubby who loves to cook and does a brilliant job of it.  I’ll duck now from all the rotten tomatoes being thrown my way by the crowd.

But there are times when Mom has to cook—like when Dad is out of town with work or most recently when we had a severe illness in the family and Dad had to take off for days at a time to deal with it.

Now, I’m not a fan of cooking really.  Although, I do love to bake goodies.  You know, all those cute little cookies and cupcakes and I’m a huge fan of decorating cakes!  I think I might have been a professional  baker in a previous life time.  It just comes naturally to me.

The thing is…these kids need more than just dessert.  Not that they’d argue with me about eating dessert for dinner but that wouldn’t make me very good Mom.
In my book, Courting Demons, Paisley is a very good Mom.  Even with demons, rats, mayhem and nonsense running rampant in her home on a nightly basis—she always finds time to prepare something good for her kids (even if she can’t stomach eating any of it herself).

I thought it would be fun to share with you a fun (easy) recipe that I cook for my family quite often.  It is a big hit and super easy to prepare cause you basically dump the entire thing into a crock pot and voila!

So, here goes…

Chicken Tortilla Soup

  • 1 lb. shredded, cooked chicken (in a hurry?  Use 2 (8 oz. cans) of the white meat chicken)
  • 1 15 oz. whole, peeled tomatoes mashed
  • 1 10 oz. enchilada sauce (hot or mild, per your family’s preference)
  • 1 med. Onion, chopped
  • 1 4 oz. chopped green chili peppers
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 14.5 oz. can chicken broth
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper (or more, if you like it spicy!)
  • 1 bay leaf (remove after cooking)
  • 1 10 oz. package frozen whole kernel corn (I use 1 14.5 oz. can instead)
  • 1 TBsp. chopped cilantro (I use fresh, if available)

Combine all in crock pot and simmer on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Serve with Tortilla chips from the bag (the easy way) or Cut soft, corn tortillas into ½ inch wide by 2 inch long strips and coat in olive oil, bake for 10 minutes @ 400 degrees (or until crispy) and sprinkle on top of individual bowls of soup.

If you do get a chance to try the recipe, let me know how it turns out for you.  Oh, and if you have a super easy recipe that can rescue me during a “Mom must cook” emergency, please do share.

Thanks for hosting today, Marian.  Enjoy!

©  Kerri Nelson 2011

Thanks for visiting, Kerri, and thanks for the recipe! Just search my tags for recipe, recipes, recipe (sort of) and recipes (sort of) and you’ll find that many of them are “in a hurry” recipes. So are the recipes you can get to by clicking on my Recipes tab on the blog menu. :) Great to have you with us!

WRITING PROMPT: What would you feed your children, if you had to adjudicate between demons in half an hour?

MA

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Should I Or Shouldn’t I?

August 24, 2011 in Food | 2 comments

Today is food day on the blog, so here is what I made for dinner and a question that arises from it. Also a recipe.

  • Cucumbers with Honey French dressing.
  • Cheese tortellini (store-bought) dressed with mushrooms, margarine and parsley.
  • Zucchini and tomato casserole.

ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO CASSEROLE

Peel and slice zucchini into sections. Dredge in seasoned bread crumbs mixed with Parmesan cheese. Brown on both sides. Meanwhile, peel and dice a large tomato. Mix with chopped fresh oregano and basil. Grease casserole dish. Layer tomatoes, zucchini, cheese and breadcrumbs left over from zucchini. Dot with margarine or sprinkle with olive oil. Cover and bake at 375 F for 45 minutes or so.

Okay, so there was my dinner. And Charlie says, “None of those dishes would have been all that good alone, but it was a really good combination.”

So my question is…. :/

WRITING PROMPT: Someone makes a comment which a character is unsure how to take.

MA

 

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I’ll Drink To That!

August 18, 2011 in Food, Writing | No comments

I was away from the internet all day yesterday, so I’m catching up today, but I had to share this with you.

My pal Red Tash has just finished edits on her upcoming book, This Brilliant Darkness. She was in a writers’ retreat with me at one point in the process, and read some chapters aloud. Her description of the creature she created struck me, and I was like, “You know, a flying birdbath sounds funny at first, but I bet it would be WAY creepy if you actually saw one.” And everybody else was like, “…Are you nuts, or are you hard of hearing? It looks like a flying bird-bat, you lunatic!” And I was like, “Oh.”

Well, in celebration of the completion of the latest and possibly final round of edits of This Brilliant Darkness, I have invented a drink called:

FLYING BIRDBATH

  • Blue Curacao
  • Blue Sapphire Gin
  • Twists of citrus peel

Mix equal amounts of liquors in a martini glass. Garnish with citrus peel.

WRITING PROMPT: A character is terrified by something he or she mishears.

MA

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