#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR EILEEN CURLEY HAMMOND GRILLS UP PORK TENDERLOIN WITH BLUEBERRY SAUCE

Eileen Curley Hammond writes a cozy mystery series based in the fictitious small town of Hopeful. Her main character, Merry March, owns an insurance agency and loves to cook and eat. There are six books in the series so far, and they chronicle Merry’s adventures as a businessperson, amateur sleuth, and mother of a seventeen-year-old daughter. Learn more about Eileen and her books at her website, where you can also find links to her social media.

Although the books in the series don’t feature recipes, Eileen thought you might enjoy one of her favorites, Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Blueberry Sauce

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Blueberry Sauce

Serves 6 

 

Ingredients:

One whole pork tenderloin (not pork loin) 1-1/2 - 2 lbs., silver skin removed (they usually are sold in a packs of 2; use both)

Marinade Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups white wine (I use Chardonnay)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped (or 2 teaspoons dry)

 

Blueberry Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup blueberries

1 large shallot, minced

1/2 cup real maple syrup

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon water

Pat pork tenderloins dry. The pork tapers on one side. Fold that over so that the meat is of similar thickness and fasten with a metal skewer or tie with kitchen twine.

 

Whisk marinade ingredients in a bowl until combined.

Pour the mixture into a large, sealable bag. Place the pork tenderloins inside the bag and seal. Chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

 

Preheat grill to 400 degrees F.

 

Shake marinade off pork and place in the middle of the grill. If you are using a gas grill, turn all knobs to low and put the lid back on the grill (you want to maintain the 400-degree heat but not burn the pork). Turn the pork every 5 minutes until it is browned on all sides. 

 

Cook the pork for a total of 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches at least 145 degrees F. I like my pork on the well-done side; many recipes advise cooking the pork for 20 minutes—gauge based on how you want it cooked (but again, at least 145 degrees F).

 

Remove pork from grill, rest on cutting board, and cover with aluminum foil.

 

Place butter in small saucepan and melt on medium heat. Add shallots and cook till soft, stirring often. (about 2 minutes)

 

Add blueberries, maple syrup, and water. Cook for 5 minutes on low—do not over reduce; if it gets too thick, add a bit more water.

 

Slice pork tenderloin, drizzle sauce on top. 

 

Note: I don’t use salt or pepper in this recipe because I find pork seems to be already salty (maybe from the packaging), and the marinade is flavorful. If you would like, you can salt and pepper the pork just before grilling

 

Murder So Tempting

Merry March Mystery Series, Book 6

 

The Allure of the Unattainable

 

People pine for what they can’t have for a minute, a day, a month, and then move on. But those who don’t may be tempted to do the unthinkable.

 

Merry returns to Hopeful, becomes engaged, and jumps more than a few hurdles to get to happily ever after when her overzealous mother-in-law plans the ceremony. Unfortunately, that’s the least of her worries as an attendee at her marriage preparation class dies from a tragic overdose. Accident or murder?

 

A grief-stricken mother pulls Merry into her most dangerous investigation yet.

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR LEV RAPHAEL COOKS UP ONE OF HIS SLEUTH'S FAVORITE DISHES

Lev Raphael is the prize-winning author of twenty-seven books in genres from memoir to mystery, and his work has been translated into more than fifteen languages.  In recognition of his stature as an American author, Michigan State University's Library has purchased his literary papers for its Special Archives and updates that collection yearly. Learn more about Lev and his books at his author website and at Write Without Borders. 

Nick Hoffman at the State University of Michigan loves to cook and loves to eat. Focusing on food helps keep him centered despite the perpetual chaos in an English department filled with academic jackals snapping and snarling at each other over things as trivial as sharing an office.  And then there are the murders....

 

Cooking and enjoying a good meal give Nick and his spouse a perfect time-out to reflect and strategize. It makes their well-pointed kitchen an island in a storm of raging egos and all kinds of bad news. Nick is a bibliographer and loves teaching, so the last thing he expected on his bucolic midwestern university campus was a persistent crime problem with himself not only often involved, but worse than that, a suspect. Homicide is something that was only a news item when he was growing up in New York or subject matter for a TV series.

 

In Department of Death, Nick's life has changed dramatically once again because he's ascended to a position he never wanted: he's now chair of the department, peremptorily installed there by the dean who despises him. Does the malicious administrator have some hidden agenda? Of course. On the way to figuring that out and dealing with the latest suspicious death on campus in a climate of paranoia and authoritarianism, Nick and his spouse eat one of my favorite meals, sausages with grapes and onions. It sounded improbable when I first encountered the recipe, but it's terrific.

 

My version below is adapted from Melissa Clark's food column in the New York Times. Clark does a lot of roasting; I simplified everything by a switch to stove top prep. This serves four people and goes well with a sparkling wine.

 

On book tours for the Nick Hoffman series, I've often been asked if I eat as well as my hero. The answer is not all the time, because I don't get to the gym as regularly as he does (and not at all right now. But if Nick prepares or reheats an interesting meal in the series, I've tried it and liked it enough to share it with my audience, which is why Nick enjoys it in Department of Death.

 

Sausages with Sautéed Grapes and Onions

 

Ingredients:

1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 cups seedless red grapes, halved 

1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds

1 pound sliced chicken sausages

2 tablespoons chopped or snipped chives

2 tablespoons  sherry vinegar

 

Toss together onion slices, 2 tablespoons oil, salt and pepper and sauté in a large pan until translucent.

 

Add grapes, fennel seeds, and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and cook until the grapes soften.

 

Add sliced sausages to heat through, and stir well.

 

Transfer sausages, grapes, and onions to plates.

 

Add vinegar and chives to pan and scrape up anything left in the pan, then drizzle the juices over each plate.

Department of Death

A Nick Hoffman Mystery

 

Years ago, Nick Hoffman was given a position in the English Department at the State University of Michigan because SUM wanted to hire his partner as writer-in-residence, but now he's been unexpectedly installed by his dean as chairman of that department. It's a wildly unpopular choice, and he's suddenly the focus of more animosity from his colleagues than he's ever dealt with before. He can't seem to make anyone happy and can't get a handle on his myriad new responsibilities as an administrator, a position he never wanted. Then tragedy strikes again way too close to home: Someone seeking his help is murdered, and under the shadow of another recent murder, Nick is a prime suspect. Hounded by campus police, the local press, and social media, Nick wonders if this could finally be the end of his career. That is, if he manages to stay out of prison.

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--A MEDICAL THRILLER AND ITALIAN CHICKEN FROM AUTHOR TAMMY EULIANO

By day, Tammy Euliano, MD is a Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Florida where she cares for obstetric patients, teaches medical students and residents, performs research, and invents cool stuff. By night, she plays games with her family, cuddles her dogs, reads, and writes medical thrillers. Fatal Intent is her debut novel. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Kate Downey, the protagonist in my debut novel, is quite a lot like me. Shocking for a debut author, I know. Though a few years my junior, ahem, we share careers as anesthesiologists who specialize in obstetric anesthesia and teaching medical students and residents, sometimes using a simulated operating room environment. 

Our personalities overlap a bit, or did when I was her age, but there the similarities end. Instead of my tragedy-free life to date, she suffered the loss of her parents and now the traumatic brain injury of her husband. Boy, are we authors cruel, or what? I have to keep reminding my husband that Kate is not me, and he is not her comatose husband, Greg. As for her dog, I’m afraid mine is just as energetic, spoiled, and completely untrained…times two.

One of Kate’s many blessings, though, is her Great Aunt Irm, who moved in after Greg’s accident. I based this character on the favorite relative of my early-career mentor. Dr. Gravenstein was a model physician and teacher whose Aunt Irm was important in his orphaned childhood in Germany during World War II. He planted the seed that set me on this encore career as an author, so I borrowed Aunt Irm as a bit-part character, except she stole the show. 

My readers and I have fallen in love with her -- her maternal instincts despite being childless, her loyalty and compassion, her mixed-up English idioms. She loves to cook and, in the opening scene, is helping her Italian friend, Carmel, prepare food for a wake. Here I offer the recipe my own Great Aunt Carmel might have offered to Aunt Irm.  I love that my copy of the recipe is on card stock in her own blue cursive. Hmmm, come to think of it, I’m not sure my kids would be able to read it.

Unfortunately, Kate, like her creator, has unrefined taste buds that fail to fully appreciate her aunt’s skill in the kitchen. But she appreciates the effort, as I would. Though I suppose I’ll suffer meal prep if I get to keep my husband’s brain functioning. (See honey, I do love you…now what’s for dinner?).

Easy Italian Chicken

2 chicken breast fillets

1 whole egg beaten, combined with 1 Tbs cold water

1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

1 T. olive oil

4 oz. can mushrooms, drained

Glaze:

1 tsp. cornstarch

3/4 cup cold water

1 chicken bouillon cube

Dip chicken in egg mixture. Then into breadcrumbs. Heat oil on medium heat. Set fillets in pan. Cook only until lightly browned. Placed on baking sheet. (Leave chicken dregs in frying pan for glaze prep.) Cook chicken at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Mix cornstarch and water. Dissolve bouillon cube. Add to frying pan where chicken was cooked. Thicken a bit. Stir in mushrooms. Serve over fillets.

Fatal Intent

When her elderly patients start dying at home days after minor surgery, anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey wants to know why. The surgeon, not so much. When she presses, Dr. Charles Ricken places the blame squarely on her shoulders. With those shoulders currently on probation, the chief of staff sides with the surgeon and Kate is left to prove her innocence and save her career. With her husband in a coma, it's all she has left.

Aided by her eccentric Great Aunt Irm, a precocious medical student, and the son of a victim, and undeterred by threats and a break-in, she pieces together a mercy killing-for-hire scheme. The stakes rise, against her family, her colleagues, and her own life. When her husband becomes the next target, Kate is forced to make the most difficult decisions of her life.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR MARIAN ALLEN SERVES UP BUMBLEBEE STEW AND A NEW SERIES

Marian Allen writes science fiction, fantasy, mystery, humor, horror, mainstream, and anything else she can wrestle into fixed form. She blogs daily at Marian Allen, Author Lady ():Learn more about Marian and her books at her blog where she has daily topics: Monday with nail art, Tuesday on food, One-Liner Wednesday, Thursday Doors, Fridays For Future, and Sunday Snapshot. Her cats take turns blogging for her on Caturday … er … Saturday.

Bar Sinister is the first of a projected series called the Spadena Street Mysteries. Spadena Street is a two-block Storybook Style neighborhood with a past as corporate housing for privileged employees of a now-defunct factory. Some of its mysteries are connected to that past, some are connected to the characters of the people who lived there or live there now. Some are connected only by the networks of the current residents. Some just are.

Juss has a hobby: She collects people. Or, as her foster mother and lapsed hippie, Doris, puts it, “She’s a people junkie.” It’s Juss’s nostalgia for community involvement that leads her to her profession, and it’s the same nostalgia that fuels her impulse to stick her nose into other people’s business. At the same time, the bitter memory of “tourists” from outside the commune coming around to rubberneck and judge makes her resistant to her neighbors’ attempts at friendliness. It takes a neighbor coming to her for help (sub-plot!) to open Juss to the perfectly collectible people right on her own block.

That neighbor, Chickapoo Tomaneck, brings Juss and Doris a chocolate lava cake, although that’s not the recipe I’m sharing today. Doris is a firm believer in the medicinal value of dark chocolate and wine, but she preferred me to share something more nutritious. She also wanted me to tell you that Bumblebee Stew is great with shrimp in it. Or chicken. Or pork belly.

This recipe wasn’t in the book, but Juss and Doris love to garden and cook. They would have made this from scratch, not out of nasty old cans. Nasty old cans is what I use.

Bumblebee Stew

Ingredients:

olive oil

chili powder

cumin

onion powder

garlic powder

salt

flour

can black beans, undrained

can corn, undrained

can chopped tomatoes with green chilies, undrained

cilantro

semi-sweet chocolate

Heat the oil and toast the spices. Stir in the flour, adding more oil, if necessary. Add the vegetables, cilantro, and chocolate and heat until thickened. 

Serve over rice.

Bar Sinister

A Spadena Street Mystery, Book 1

Juss -- Injustice H. Chocolate (named and raised by hippies) -- questions the usefulness of her Life Coach work and hires a secretary to prove its importance. Prim and efficient Kerry Dashingly can hardly wait to tell his wife that his latest secretary temp job is in a miniature castle in a neighborhood of Disneyesque architecture. Kerry hasn't even begun when he gets a call from his hapless cousin, Abby: A man she openly hated is dead, and the police found unspecified evidence in the back of her car. Juss immediate attaches herself to the problem, determined to help, even if it kills her.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE AUTHOR TL SCHAEFER WHIPS UP SOUTHWEST LIME CHICKEN

TL Schaefer writes romantic mysteries, sometimes with a paranormal twist, and romantic suspense. She’s worked for the Department of the Air Force for more than twenty-five years. Learn more about her and her books at her website.

Food is such an important part of our lives. So when I read a book where the on-the-run hero/heroine don’t stop to get at least some kind of sustenance, I do a bit of an eye roll. I mean, sheesh, even if you’re grabbing crackers on the run, they’re gonna taste either fantastic or pasty or give you a quick burst of energy, right?

It’s those details that immerse a reader into the story, make it come alive. At least to me. Especially when they help move the story along or showcase a character quirks.

In my Mariposa series, romantic mysteries with a paranormal twist, food definitely is a character in itself, especially in The Paladin.

From The Sugar Pine’s patty melt (which really exists, BTW) to the General Tsao’s chicken on the Smith’s food truck to the awesome Mexican at Maracas. And we can’t forget the delicious breakfast at Mindy’s Maple Street Bed and Breakfast.

My characters need all that food to solve a mystery as old as time, and to find their happily-ever-after.

To celebrate The Paladin’s release, I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes, one I make ever few weeks. It’s originally from Bon Appétit about a million years ago, but I’ve made a few tweaks over the years.

Southwest Lime Chicken

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

6 T. soy sauce (I use coconut aminos)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 T. molasses

2 T. chopped fresh oregano

1 T. chopped fresh rosemary

1 T. minced garlic

1-1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

8 skinless boneless chicken thighs

8 slices pepper jack cheese

Whisk together first 9 ingredients. Marinate chicken in mixture for approximately 6 hours. 

Broil or grill using medium low heat until cooked through.

Chop and return chicken to the pan. Cover with cheese and quickly broil until the cheese has melted.

Serve on tortillas with your favorite condiments (I love to add guacamole and shredded lettuce) or on a hoagie roll or sourdough bread.

The Paladin

Mariposa Series, Book 3

Redemption. Love. Betrayal. An ancient evils stirs. Unleashing… The Paladin.

James Goltree put Mariposa in his rearview mirror five years ago, escaping a past and a family he’s desperately ashamed of. But now the Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent must return after the death of his grandfather. The grandfather he helped send to prison.

Emergency room LPN Madison Campbell’s quiet life is turned upside down when her son inherits enough money from James’ grandfather to settle all their financial woes. But there are strings.

James and Madison throw sparks neither has ever felt before. But now isn’t the right time for a man unwilling to commit and woman still crippled by betrayal to fall in love.

Not when a killer has once again come to town, one with an unfathomable, unbelievable agenda.

James and Madison must embrace and overcome their pasts to defeat evil and find a love that transcends time.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST MYSTERY AUTHOR JULIA BUCKLEY'S CHICKEN PAPRIKAS

Mystery author Julia Buckley, who writes The Writer’s Apprentice Series, The Undercover Dish Series, and the new Hungarian Tea House Series, is the child of European parents—one Hungarian, one German. She grew up eating good food. Chicken Paprikás was one of the staples of her diet, and she joins us today to share the recipe for it. Learn more about Julia and her books at her website.

Chicken Paprikás: A Hungarian Meal You Won’t Forget

In my new mystery novel, Death in a Budapest Butterfly, Hana Keller often consumes food made by her grandmother, an innate cook who was born in Hungary and cooks, as my own grandmother did, by instinct.

Chicken Paprikás is a popular Hungarian dish; I’ve tasted a lot of versions of it in my life, and not one has yet rivaled my grandmother’s. I’ve tried for years to come close to the flavor I remember from my childhood, and now I’ve got my husband on the case, since he is the cook in the family.

The recipe is relatively simple and surprisingly delicious when you consider the paucity of ingredients. But it’s in the blending of the ingredients that the genius lies (and, I fear, in the lard that was a staple of my grandmother’s cooking and which heart specialists encourage us not to eat nowadays).

Another trick to making good paprikás is the paprika. If it’s not from Hungary, you’re not getting the flavor you could be achieving. I recently found that I could order from Bende, Inc. online and get Szeged paprika imported from Szeged, Hungary. I got a large bag and it’s delicious.

Chicken Paprikás (Csirkepaprikás)

1 chopped onion

1 tablespoon shortening

1 tablespoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons salt

4–5 pound chicken, disjointed

1-1/2 cups water

1/2 pint sour cream

Sauté the onion in either shortening or butter. Add paprika, pepper, and salt and stir well; lay chicken pieces in pot and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add water to the mixture, cover, and simmer until chicken is tender. Remove chicken (place temporarily on plate or platter) and add sour cream to the spices and drippings; mix well. Add dumplings and place chicken on top of dumplings. Heat and serve. If more gravy is required, add ½ pint sweet cream to the sour cream mixture.

When the dish is finished, you’ll normally want to pair it with dumplings, and there are a variety of recipes for Hungarian dumplings online. You don’t want the little German spaetzli, but the dumplings called Nokedli. However, you don’t need to push them through a pasta strainer, as the fancy recipes say. My mom just made them in a glass bowl with a spout, and she flicked the dough into boiling water in one-inch sections, one after the other. The dumplings are finished when they rise to the surface. Make sure they don’t stick to the bottom.

In my husband’s latest crack at paprikás, he substituted chicken breasts for the legs, but I think you lose some of the flavor when you don’t have the bone-in chicken. Also, he used egg noodles at the end (delicious, but not the same).

Try making this dish for your family; if you’ve never had it before, the flavor will be your reward! If you’ve eaten this dish in the past, then you know how good it is. Enjoy!

Death in a Budapest Butterfly

A Hungarian Teahouse Mystery, Book 1

Hana Keller and her family run Maggie's Tea House, an establishment heavily influenced by the family's Hungarian heritage and specializing in a European-style traditional tea service. But one of the shop's largest draws is Hana's eccentric grandmother, Juliana, renowned for her ability to read the future in the leaves at the bottom of customers' cups. Lately, however, her readings have become alarmingly ominous and seemingly related to old Hungarian legends...

When a guest is poisoned at a tea event, Juliana’s dire predictions appear to have come true. Things are brought to a boil when Hana’s beloved  Anna Weatherley butterfly teacup becomes the center of the murder investigation as it carried the poisoned tea. The cup is claimed as evidence by a handsome police detective, and the pretty Tea House is suddenly endangered.  Hana and her family must catch the killer to save their business and bring the beautiful Budapest Butterfly back home where it belongs.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS FEATURING ANN MYERS' SOUTHWEST-STYLE EGGS IN PURGATORY

Ann Myers, author of the Santa Fe Café Mystery series, loves cooking, crafts, and cozy mysteries. She’s also one of the authors who contributed to We’d Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips, for which a percentage of the profits of are donated to No Kid Hungry. Learn more about Ann and her books at her website. 

Southwest-Style Eggs in Purgatory

I love the name of this dish of eggs suspended in a bubbling tomato sauce. It’s also quick, inexpensive, and flexible. Classic recipes use Italian or Middle Eastern herbs and spices, but here the fire comes from Southwest chili.

Prep time: 10 min.

Cooking time: 25–35 min.

Serves: 4

1 T. olive oil

1 sm. onion, diced (about 2/3 cup)

1 clove garlic, minced

1-2 tsp. chili powder, to taste

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/4–1/2 tsp. salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

Red pepper flakes (optional)

2/3 cup water or broth, divided

28 oz. canned diced tomatoes (or an approximate equivalent amount fresh tomatoes, whirled in a food processor until saucy but still chunky)

4 eggs

1/2 cup grated cheddar, Monterey Jack, fresh farmer’s or Mexican cheese

Corn or flour tortillas, crusty bread, fluffy sopapillas, or rice

Optional garnishes: sour cream, Mexican crema, chopped cilantro and/or chives, diced avocado dressed in lime juice, and salt.

Heat oil in lg. skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions, stirring frequently until onions are soft and translucent.

Mix in minced garlic, cumin, coriander, and red chili. Stir 1-2 min. Add tomatoes, 1/3 cup water or broth, oregano, salt, and pepper. Simmer gently about 15 min.

Taste for seasoning and check that the mixture is still somewhat soupy (add the extra water or broth if it seems dry.) Create little wells for the eggs in the tomato mixture. Crack an egg into each well. If you’re concerned about stray shells, crack each egg into a bowl and pour from there into the tomato mixture. Cover and cook eggs 5-7 min. or more, depending on how you like your eggs. Check occasionally, jiggling the pan so that the eggs don’t stick to the bottom. Sunny or medium-side up works well in this recipe because the eggs will cook more when broken into the hot tomatoes.

When eggs are nearly done, uncover and sprinkle with cheese, aiming for the tomato and egg whites rather than the yolks. Let the cheese melt 1-2 min. Serve immediately in wide pasta or soup bowls, garnished with the optional toppings and a side of seasoned pinto beans or green salad.

We'd Rather Be Writing

88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips

Have you ever wished you could find more time to do the things you want to do, rather than just doing the things you have to do? Most authors juggle day jobs and family responsibilities along with their writing. Because they need to find time to write, they look for ways to save time in other aspects of their lives.

Cooking often takes up a huge chunk of time. In We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips you'll find easy, nutritious recipes for meat, poultry, pasta, soup, stew, chili, and vegetarian meals. All of the recipes require a minimum of prep time, freeing you up to read, exercise, garden, craft, write, spend more time with family, or whatever.

Within the pages of We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips you'll be introduced to authors who write a wide range of fiction—everything from mystery to romance to speculative fiction to books for children, young adults, and new adults—and some who write nonfiction. Some of the authors write sweet; others write steamy. Some write cozy; others write tense thrillers.

Some are debut authors with only one published book; others are multi-published and have had long publishing careers. Some are New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors who may or may not be familiar to you, but being a bestselling author doesn't mean they still don't have to juggle their day job along with their writing.

The authors who contributed to this book are a rather creative and resourceful bunch when it comes to carving out time from their busy lives. So in addition to timesaving recipes, within the pages of this book you'll find timesaving and organizational tips for other aspects of your life. And if you happen to be a writer, you'll also find a plethora of great ideas to help you organize your writing life.

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WE'D RATHER BE #WRITING #COOKBOOK

Last year I had an idea for a cookbook featuring my fellow authors. The result was Bake, Love, Write: 105 AuthorsShare Dessert Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing. My hope was that people who bought the book for the yummy recipes would be introduced to authors new to them, thus gaining new readers for my fellow authors and me. I donated a portion of the profits from the sale of the book to my local food bank.

When Bake, Love, Write: 105 Authors Share Dessert Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing became an Amazon bestseller, many of the participating authors suggested a follow-up cookbook.

After giving it some thought, I came up with:

We'd Rather Be Writing

88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips

Have you ever wished you could find more time to do the things you want to do, rather than just doing the things you have to do? Most authors juggle day jobs and family responsibilities along with their writing. Because they need to find time to write, they look for ways to save time in other aspects of their lives.

Cooking often takes up a huge chunk of time. In We'd Rather BeWriting: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips you'll find easy, nutritious recipes for meat, poultry, pasta, soup, stew, chili, and vegetarian meals. All of the recipes require a minimum of prep time, freeing you up to read, exercise, garden, craft, write, spend more time with family, or whatever.

Within the pages of We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors ShareTimesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips you'll be introduced to authors who write a wide range of fiction—everything from mystery to romance to speculative fiction to books for children, young adults, and new adults—and some who write nonfiction. Some of the authors write sweet; others write steamy. Some write cozy; others write tense thrillers.

Some are debut authors with only one published book; others are multi-published and have had long publishing careers. Some are New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors who may or may not be familiar to you, but being a bestselling author doesn't mean they still don't have to juggle their day job along with their writing.

The authors who contributed to this book are a rather creative and resourceful bunch when it comes to carving out time from their busy lives. So in addition to timesaving recipes, within the pages of this book you'll find timesaving and organizational tips for other aspects of your life. And if you happen to be a writer, you'll also find a plethora of great ideas to help you organize your writing life.

Once again, a percentage of the profit from the sale of this new cookbook will be donated to charity. The charity I’ve chosen this year is No Kid Hungry.

Authors who contributed to We'd Rather BeWriting: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips include: Lisa Alber, Reggi Allder, Judy Alter, Krista Ames, Rose Anderson, Cori Lynn Arnold, Judy Baker, Beverley Bateman, Donnell Ann Bell, Paula Gail Benson, Kris Bock, Maureen Bonatch, Ava Bradley, Susan Breen, Lida Bushloper, Michelle Markey Butler, Ashlyn Chase, Judy Copek, Maya Corrigan, Mariposa Cruz, Melinda Curtis, Lesley A. Diehl, Conda V. Douglas, Nancy Eady, Helena Fairfax, Jennifer Faye, Flo Fitzpatrick, Kit Frazier, Shelley Freydont, Mariana Gabrielle, Rosie Genova, Marni Graff, Joanne Guidoccio, Margaret S. Hamilton, L.C. Hayden, Linda Gordon Hengerer, Heather Hiestand, R.Franklin James, Kathryn Jane, M.M. Jaye, Elizabeth John, Stacy Juba, Gemma Juliana, Carol Goodman Kaufman, Melissa Keir, Kay Kendall, A.R. Kennedy, Lynn Kinnaman, Marie Laval, B.V. Lawson, Claudia Lefeve, Alice Loweecey, Cynthia Luhrs, Sandra Masters, Lisa Q. Mathews, J.M. Maurer, Sandra McGregor, Kathy McIntosh, Claire A. Murray, Ann Myers, Tara Neale, Stacey Joy Netzel, Jayne Ormerod, Alice Orr, Laurel Peterson, Irene Peterson, Pepper Phillips, Caridad Pineiro, Kathryn Quick, Renée Reynolds, Josie Riviera, Elizabeth Rose, C.A. Rowland, Cindy Sample, Sharleen Scott, Terry Shames, Susan C. Shea, Judy Penz Sheluk, Joanna Campbell Slan, Karen Rose Smith, Lynette Sofras, Kaye Spencer, Skye Taylor, Lourdes Venard, Lea Wait, Regan Walker, Lois Winston, and Aubrey Wynne.

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