#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR NANCY J. COHEN'S HANUKKAH BRISKET RECIPE

Nancy J. Cohen returns today to celebrate offer us a Hanukkah recipe. Nancy writes the Bad Hair Day Mysteries featuring South Florida hairstylist Marla Vail. Her books have won numerous awards, including her instructional guide, Writing the Cozy Mystery. Her latest title is A Bad Hair Day Cookbook: Recipes from Nancy J. Cohen’s Cozy Mystery Series. When not busy writing, Nancy enjoys cooking, fine dining, cruising, visiting Disney World, and shopping. Learn more about Nancy and her books at her website and blog.

Hanukkah Traditions

Hanukkah was never as big a deal as Christmas when I grew up. Nonetheless, we made the holiday festive and celebrated the traditions. When I had kids, I continued these practices and added blue and silver decorations as they became prominent in stores.

As I prepared the holiday meal, I would play a CD with Hanukkah music. The strains of “I Have a Little Dreidel” played in the background as I made the brisket and potato latkes for a traditional meal. After dinner, we’d light our eight-branched menorah with the shamashcandle and exchange gifts. Staring at the lit candles, I would remember how an oil lamp had started the holiday.

In the old days, the Syrians—under the leadership of a tyrant named Antiochus—defiled the holy Temple in Jerusalem and abolished the practice of Judaism. Jews were given a familiar choice: conversion or death. But a resistance movement grew strength, led by Judah Maccabee. His forces liberated the Temple from Syrian armies. To purify the Temple, the saviors lit the eternal lamp that is in every synagogue to this day. But there was only enough oil to last for one night. Miraculously, the lamp burned for eight days. Hence, Hanukkah is known as the Festival of Lights. It symbolizes freedom from oppression. This is why we eat potato pancakes, because they’re fried in oil. Jelly doughnuts are another traditional food.

Each night, we add another candle from right to left. Normally, the kindling is done from left to right so the newest candle is lit first.

Children play the dreidel game and eat the foil-wrapped chocolate coins known as gelt. At our house, we gave a gift each night of Hanukkah. Our kids got used to having at least eight wrapped presents over the holiday. It’ll be interesting to see how they celebrate these traditions with their offspring.

Brisket with Dried Plums

If you want a recipe for Hanukkah, try this one. You get a side of tzimmesout of it with the sweet potato chunks, prunes and apricots. You can serve potato latkes on the side with a dollop of applesauce.

Ingredients:

3-1/2 lb. flat cut beef brisket

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 medium onions, sliced

1 cup beef broth

1/4 cup sweet Marsala wine

3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

3 Tbsp. honey

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 cup pitted dried plums (prunes)

1 cup dried apricots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Trim fat off brisket. Heat olive oil in Dutch oven. Sear meat on both sides until lightly browned. Remove brisket and set aside. 

Add onions and sauté until wilted, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix beef broth, Marsala wine, balsamic vinegar, honey, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon in a bowl. Place brisket on top of onions in pot. Pour broth mixture over meat.

Cover and cook for 3 hours. Then add sweet potato chunks. Scatter dried fruit on top. Cover and bake 1/2-1 hour more until meat is fork tender.

Transfer brisket to cutting board. Cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes. With slotted spoon remove fruit and sweet potatoes from pot into a separate bowl. Ladle any pan juices into gravy boat. Slice meat and serve warm with fruit and potatoes on the side along with pan juices.

Facials Can Be Fatal is my book with a Hanukkah theme.

Facials Can Be Fatal 

Salon owner Marla Vail’s new day spa hits a snag when a client dies during a facial. The victim, Valerie Weston, was a major donor for Friends of Old Florida, a historic building preservation society. Marla’s stylists are scheduled to work backstage at their upcoming fashion show, but Val’s demise might put a crimp in their plans. Hoping to salvage her reputation, Marla determines to track down the killer. As she learns more about Val, she realizes the benefactress might have stumbled onto secrets others would kill to keep. She’d better prepare for a body count that has nothing to do with hot stone massages and everything to do with murder.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--BAD HAIR DAY RECIPES FROM NANCY J. COHEN

Nancy J. Cohen writes the Bad Hair Day Mysteries featuring South Florida hairstylist Marla Vail. Nancy’s books have won numerous awards, including her instructional guide, Writing the Cozy Mystery. Her latest title is A Bad Hair Day Cookbook: Recipes from Nancy J. Cohen’s Cozy Mystery Series. When not busy writing, Nancy enjoys cooking, fine dining, cruising, visiting Disney World, and shopping. Learn more about her and her books at her website and blog.

Fun and Fumbles in the Kitchen

I like to cook and experiment with recipes in the kitchen. Wanting to share my favorite dishes, I created A Bad Hair Day Cookbook: Recipes from Nancy J. Cohen’s Cozy Mystery Series. This is written from the viewpoint of my hairstylist sleuth, Marla Vail. Marla shares her comments and tips on each page. Her experiences in the kitchen mirror my own.

Trial and Error

Like any trial and error experiment, not everything I tried turned out successfully. Let’s examine my mint recipes, for example. I wanted to use up a bottle of Vandermint in our liqueur cabinet, so I found recipes using this ingredient and put my own twist on them.

After cooking the lamb in the oven for the allotted time, the roast was still raw inside. I’d forgotten the advice to remove the lamb roast from the refrigerator an hour before cooking to let it warm to room temperature. Oops! I put it in our slow cooker for another two hours and it came out just right. 

For dessert, I thought the chocolate mint cake sounded tempting. I baked the cake as directed in a rectangular pan and turned it out onto a powdered-sugar dusted surface. Then I attempted to roll it up as instructed. The cake broke apart. Uh-oh. Maybe I should have let it cool more first? Not to worry. I decided to make it into a torte instead. And so I did, adding filling in between three layers of cake.

NOTE: Leave a comment below for a chance to win an ebook copy of A Bad Hair Day Cookbook.

Minted Roast Lamb

Serves 8

Ingredients:

5 lb. boneless leg of lamb

1/2 cup water

1 cup Vandermint liqueur

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 Tbsp. lime juice

3/4 oz. package fresh basil, trimmed and chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine

Remove lamb from refrigerator one hour before cooking to bring to room temperature. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place lamb on rack in roasting pan. Pour water into bottom of pan. Roast uncovered for 1 hour. 

In a bowl, combine Vandermint liqueur, melted butter, lime juice, and chopped basil. Baste lamb with mixture. Roast for 1-1/2 hours more, basting occasionally. Meat thermometer should register 135 to 155 degrees F, depending on how well done you like the meat.

Transfer lamb to cutting board. Cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes before slicing. Meanwhile, skim fat from pan juices. Add remaining basting liquid and 1/2 cup white wine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour into gravy boat. Serve on the side with lamb. 

Chocolate Mint Torte (pictured above)

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup Vandermint liqueur

Powdered sugar

Filling

8 oz. whipped topping

2 Tbsp. Vandermint liqueur

2 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 10”x15” baking pan with wax paper. Coat with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

Using an electric mixer, beat eggs in a large bowl until well blended. Gradually add 1 cup sugar. Mix in Vandermint liqueur. Stir in dry ingredients in batches until smooth.

Pour into baking pan and bake for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto towel sprinkled with powdered sugar and remove wax paper. Allow cake to rest. Meanwhile, blend whipped topping with 2 Tbsp. Vandermint liqueur and 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar. 

Cut cake into thirds cross-wise. Spread filling on top of first third. Place second cake piece on top. Cover with another layer of filling. Top with remaining third piece of cake. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Slice and serve cold. 

A Bad Hair Day Cookbook: 

Recipes from Nancy J. Cohen’s Cozy Mystery Series 

Are you having a bad hair day? Whip out your whisk, snatch up your spoon, and prepare your palate. Inside the pages of this cookbook are recipes that will bring you good cheer.

Enjoy 160+ tasty recipes from Nancy J. Cohen's popular Bad Hair Day cozy mystery series. Included in this cookbook are excerpts, cooking tips, and anecdotes written by hairstylist and savvy sleuth Marla Vail. From appetizers to desserts, Marla offers cooking tips and tricks along with commentary about the dishes she prepares for her family. Whether you're a skilled cook or an eager novice, this cookbook will unravel the mystery of cooking. Put on your apron and plan to make some killer recipes! Bonuses Include:

*Meet the Sleuth

*Introduction by Marla Vail

*Cooking Tips

*Excerpts from Series Titles

*Themed Menu Suggestions

*"A Sabbath Dinner" by Nancy's Mother

Recommended for Home Cooks, Food Lovers, Mystery Fans and Cookbook Collectors

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE WITH AUTHOR NANCY J. COHEN'S HAIRSTYLIST AND AMATEUR SLEUTH MARLA VAIL

Award-winning author Nancy J. Cohen writes the Bad Hair Day Mysteries featuring South Florida hairstylist Marla Vail. She’s also written the instructional guide, Writing the Cozy Mystery. Learn more about Nancy and her books at her website and blog. Keep reading to learn how you could win a digital copy of Nancy’s short story “Hairball Hijinks”. 

Food Fiction with Hairstylist Marla Vail

I’d never thought much about my food sources before my recent adventures. But learning that a lot of the items we buy in stores are mislabeled was an eye-opener for me. Normally, I work all day at my salon that I own along with an adjacent day spa. When I get home, it’s near dinnertime and I’m in a rush to fix a meal for my husband and teenage stepdaughter. Tonight, for example, I’ll pull together whatever is convenient from my kitchen.

I’ve always enjoyed experimenting with cooking when I have the time. In my previous marriage, I liked to create recipes using tropical fruits. So it wasn’t any big stretch when my friend Tally coaxed me into entering a bake-off contest at a fall harvest festival. The event was hugely fun, despite the fiasco that followed. I love farmer’s marketplaces, don’t you? It’s even better when the farmers use sustainable growing techniques.

Food blogger Alyce Greene, another entrant in the contest, has a lot to say on the subject of food sources. I interviewed her after I found food magazine publisher Francine Dodger dead in the strawberry field. Alyce bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead woman. I’d even wondered if the killer got the wrong target.

Alyce was eager to tell me about how restaurants and fresh markets offer seafood at high prices when the item is actually a lower-priced variety. Take Florida-caught shrimp, for example. Through DNA testing and tracing the bills of sale, she discovered it came from a fish farm in India. She found “locally grown” heirloom tomatoes that came from Mexico, Florida blue crab that came from the Indian Ocean, and Alaskan pollock that was frozen fish from China.

Alyce did a service to consumers through her reports, but how many providers had she offended along the way? Did she ruin someone’s business without being aware of the damage she’d caused? I suggested to my husband, homicide detective Dalton Vail, that Alyce may have ticked someone off enough to want to kill her.

After this conversation, I decided to eat home for a while. At least that way, I could control the ingredients that went into my meals. Fortunately, I know the source of my Florida blueberries. I pick them myself at Beck Brothers Blueberry Farm in Windermere when I visit Orlando.  Sometimes my author comes along, too! Here’s a luscious dessert recipe using this fruit.

Blueberry Crumble

Ingredients:

2 pints fresh blueberries

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup flour

1 packet flavored instant oatmeal

4 Tbsp. butter, softened

Cinnamon sugar

Grease square baking pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread blueberries in bottom of pan.  Sprinkle with lemon juice, cinnamon, and sugar. In separate bowl, combine flour, contents of oatmeal packet, and softened butter. Mixture should resemble small crumbs. Spread over blueberries. Sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Serve warm with whipped topping or vanilla ice cream.

Question for Readers: Do you examine labels for the origins of what you buy in the supermarket? Do you care where they originate? Leave a comment below, and you’ll be entered into a random drawing for a digital copy of Hairball Hijinks short story.

Trimmed to Death

Savvy hairstylist and amateur sleuth Marla Vail enters a charity bake-off contest at a fall festival sponsored by a local farm. While she waits to see if her coconut fudge pie is a winner, Marla joins a scavenger hunt where people playing character roles are the targets. Instead of scoring points with a live person, she finds a dead body planted face-down in the strawberry field. Who would want to cut short the life of food magazine publisher and fellow bake-off contestant Francine Dodger? As she investigates, Marla learns there’s no shortage of suspects. Can she unmask the killer before someone else gets trimmed from life? Recipes Included!

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR NANCY J. COHEN

Nancy J. Cohen is our Book Club Friday guest today. In her newest mystery, Shear Murder, a wedding turns deadly when hairstylist Marla Shore discovers a dead body under the cake table. Nancy is currently on a blog tour and will be giving away a copy of Shear Murder, along with a set of Paua shell jewelry, at the end of the tour. To enter the drawing, simply leave a comment at any of the blogs on the tour. You can find the tour schedule and learn more about Nancy at her website. -- AP

Character Quirks by Nancy J. Cohen

You’d think wedding preparations would keep a bride busy, but not so for Marla Shore, my hairdresser sleuth. She has a gazillion things to do to get ready for her nuptials that are several weeks away in Shear Murder, the latest title in my Bad Hair Day mystery series. Besides running her own salon, prepping for the grand opening of her new day spa, and packing for her move into a new house with her fiancé, Marla has last minute wedding details to surmount.

In the midst of this chaos, she’s a bridesmaid in her friend Jill’s ceremony. Imagine Marla’s horror when she discovers the matron of honor’s dead body at the reception. This launches her into another murder investigation just when she can’t spare the time.

One of the suspects she interviews is the victim’s husband. He owns a clock repair shop and has been accused of paying more attention to his timepieces than to his dead wife. Having fun with secondary characters is something I like to do, and I was delighted to explore this obscure art.

When’s the last time you had a watch fixed? Did you wonder how the person got their training? Where they went to school for this skill? We have a cuckoo clock in our house that once needed repair. Thankfully, there is a shop in town that does this work. It’s like entering a time machine to step inside. The musty smell and the repetitive tick-tocks ringing in your ears herald a bygone era.

Let’s listen in on my heroine’s conversation with the suspect as she interviews him in his house.

Marla sniffed at a hint of tobacco, like from a pipe or cigar. “What kind of work do you do?”

His challenging gaze met hers. “I own a clock repair shop. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I’ve always had a fascination with time pieces. We fix everything from watches to chime and cuckoo clocks to antique long case models. Those are especially beautiful in mahogany.”

From the passion lacing his voice, she could tell he truly enjoyed his occupation. “How you do train for that type of job?”

“I studied Horology in Pennsylvania.”

“What?”

“Horology. It’s the study of time, timekeepers─meaning clocks and watches─and timekeeping. I’m certified as a master clockmaker and master watchmaker.”

Her ears picked up the sound of clocks ticking. She followed their direction to a wall unit displaying several models. “That’s a nice collection. Are they antiques?” She knew nothing about the subject. Her clocks at home were either battery run or digital, certainly unlike these decorative objects.

“Those are my vintage Atmos clocks.” Scott beamed proudly. “All of these have a mercury motor. It’s inside the round box behind the movement. The motor transforms thermal energy into mechanical energy, which the clock movement uses to drive the balance and display the time. The Atmos clock consumes sixty times less energy than a wrist watch.”

Cool, huh? Although most people today don’t think of them as such, clocks can be decorative objects. Next time you’re in a neighbor’s house, note what type of timepieces they have on display. An interesting clock may reflect their personality. And when you’re reading a story, consider how a character tells time. Does he use his cell phone or wear a wrist watch? It is quirks like these that reveal clues about people.

What is unique and interesting about you that might reveal an insight into your personality?

Thanks for joining us today, Nancy! -- AP