COOKING WITH CLORIS -- CHICKEN SAUSAGE AND SPINACH STUFFING

Last week Cloris featured a slow cooker stuffing. Today she’s got one that goes in the bird. -- AP
CHICKEN SAUSAGE AND SPINACH STUFFING
(for a 12-14 lb. turkey)

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. sundried chicken sausage, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 lbs. fresh spinach, washed and torn

1/2 cup butter

2 cups chopped celery

1 medium onion, chopped

6 cups crumbled cornbread

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup cold water

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

In a Dutch oven brown sausage in oil. Place sausage in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter. Add celery and onion. Sauté until tender. Add spinach, continuing to cook until spinach wilts. Add sausage and remaining ingredients. Stir well. Spoon into turkey. Cook turkey as you would any stuffed turkey. Extra stuffing can be cooked in a greased baking dish at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

We’re all heading to Cloris’s house for Thanksgiving. Want to come? -- AP

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA-- GIFT BASKET IDEAS FROM AUTHOR BETH GROUNDWATER

I’m taking a bit of a crafts break today and have invited author Beth Groundwater to do a craft related guest post. Beth writes the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series and the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventures mystery series To learn more about Beth, visit her website.  -- AP

When Anastasia Pollack invited me to be a guest blogger on Killer Crafts and Crafty Killers, I decided that I’d provide a very different kind of recipe, one for a gift basket, since I write the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series. The first book in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, A Real Basket Case, was originally released in hardcover and large-print in 2007 and was a finalist for the 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award. It is being re-released by Midnight Ink in trade paperback and ebook this month, complete with a jazzy new cover.

Some important things to keep in mind while designing a gift basket are to stimulate all the senses (taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight), to pick one main color and two complementary accent colors and use them throughout, and to tailor the contents to the recipient’s interests. Here I assume that you’re making a gift basket for a friend who loves mysteries.

Recipe for a Mystery Lover's Gift Basket

Color scheme:

black, red, and white/gray

Container:

black-painted basket, bucket or box, with a lid or handle sticking up, from which you hang some spider webbing

Stuffing:

dried Spanish moss or red-dyed tissue paper, paper shreds, or wood shavings

Contents:

Mystery book(s). In keeping with the gift basket theme, I recommend my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery books, A Real Basket Case and To Hell in a Handbasket.

CD of eerie music such as Mystery Movie Scores or Mystery Sound Effects

Pocket-sized mystery party game or travel Clue game

Movie DVD: Clue, Mousetrap, Alfred Hitchcock or Sherlock Holmes movie, or movie collection (Mystery Classics: 50 Movie Pack)

Chocolate/bubble gum coins or other mystery-related chocolate shapes such as blood drops, knives, or guns (see http://www.chocolatepen.com for a sample vendor)

If your recipient is a tea drinker, include an antique tea cup and saucer, a selection of teas, and a tea cozy, in keeping with a cozy mystery genre theme.

And an assortment from:

Bookmarks from mystery authors

Magnifying glass

Pair of play handcuffs and/or sheriff's badge

Rubber knife or plastic pistol

Glasses, nose, mustache disguise

Spy Gear toys from http://www.wildplanet.com

Skull-shaped/logo item: tealight candle holder, squeeze ball, notepad, etc. (see http://www.orientaltrading.com/)

Bottle of stage blood from Halloween/theatre costume/makeup supply store or make your own (see http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/fakeblood.htm)

Thanks for stopping by today, Beth! I recently won a cupcake gift basket at a raffle. What a treat that was! I love making gift baskets and hope some of our readers will now enjoy making them, too. -- AP 

THIS WEEK'S BOOK GIVEAWAY WINNER

Thanks to everyone who stopped by this week and a special thank you to author Kari Lee Townsend for being our Book Club Friday guest and offering a copy of Tempest in the Tea Leaves to one of our readers. The winner this week is Gabriella Hewitt. Gabriella, please email your mailing address to anastasiapollack@gmail.com. I'll forward it to Kari so she can send you your book.

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR KARI LEE TOWNSEND

We're happy to have back author Kari Lee Townsend today. Kari lives in Central New York with her very understanding husband, her three busy boys, and her oh-so-dramatic daughter, who keep her grounded and make everything she does worthwhile...not to mention provide her with loads of material for her books. Find out more about Kari at her website and Mysteries and Margaritas, the group mystery blog she co-hosts.

Kari is giving away a copy of Tempest in the Tea Leaves to one of our readers who posts a comment to the blog this week. -- AP

Thanks so much to the fabulous Anastasia (aka Lois Winston) for letting me blog here today. And thanks to all of you awesome readers and writers who came to hang out with me today. As I tried to think about what I would blog about this morning, I looked around and noticed the covers for Tempest in the Tea Leaves and Corpse in the Crystal Ball (books 1 and 2 of my Fortune Teller Mysteries). I LOVE my covers! I got lucky. Berkley Prime Crime has some amazing artists on their staff, and my editor is always great about asking me what I’d like to see on the cover. Smart, since authors know their books better than anyone else and can probably come up with some pretty cool aspects to add to a cover. So basically I get to give my input, but I do not get final approval. What they come up with is pretty much what they come up with, period. Especially when an artist paints a picture. Knowing all that, I try to think of exactly what I really want to see on the cover first. Often times the artist has not read the book.

With Tempest in the Tea Leaves I sent them this blurb:

In the fortune telling business there are a lot of pretenders, but Sunshine Meadows is the real deal—and her predictions can be lethally accurate… Sunny is a big city psychic who moves to the quaint town of Divinity, NY to open her fortune-telling business in an ancient Victorian house, inheriting the strange cat residing within. Sunny gives her first reading to the frazzled town librarian and discovers the woman is going to die. When the woman flees in terror, Sunny calls the police, only she’s too late. The ruggedly handsome, hard-nosed detective is a “non-believer.” He finds the librarian dead, and Sunny becomes his number one suspect, forcing her to prove her innocence before the real killer can put an end to the psychic’s future.

I also sent descriptions of the main characters, and a description of the house as well as Morty. I think something about all the covers in a series needs to brand the books. In my case, each book will have whatever fortune-telling tool that book is showcasing. Also, the big white cat with black eyes named Morty is quite the character and plays a big part in helping Sunny solve the mysteries. So I suggested that Morty be on each of the covers. Then I suggested for book one, since it’s the first in a series and the first time we meet Morty, that it would be really cool if we could showcase Vicky—the ancient Victorian house that is presumed to be haunted that Sunny buys to be used as her home and business. This house has charm and character and was Morty’s house first. The only thing I didn’t consider mentioning ahead of time is that Book One takes place in winter, and the flowers and the house on the cover are definitely not set in winter. But that minor detail is overshadowed by the great detail they put into the cover: the peeling paint, the tea table on the front porch, Sunny’s Sanctuary sign hanging from the roof. Even Morty looks eerie and mystical. All in all, it’s a fabulous cover.

For book two, Corpse in the Crystal Ball, I sent them this blurb:

Psychic Sunshine Meadows makes a dark discovery in the woods… After clearing her name as the prime suspect in a murder, Sunny Meadows hopes she can finally enjoy some serenity in the idyllic town of Divinity in upstate New York. She’d also like a second chance with Detective Mitch Stone. But when Mitch’s gorgeous ex-girlfriend Isabel Gonzales shows up, Sunny’s not sure she can compete. Then Isabel mysteriously disappears. When the police turn to Sunny for help, her visions lead to the discovery of Isabel’s corpse in the woods. Before she died, Isabel scrawled in the dirt a message implicating Mitch in her murder. Now Sunny must help the man she’s falling in love with as she sets out to find the real killer. But this time Sunny’s clairvoyant abilities might not save her—as what she doesn’t see can hurt her.

I also sent them descriptions of the main characters once more. Then for this book, I suggested that we go inside Sunny’s Sanctuary so we could sneak a peek inside her world. I gave them a detailed description of her sanctuary, and again suggested that Morty be in there somewhere. I mentioned that money is a clue in the book as well.

I love this cover even more than the first, and I really hadn’t thought that was possible. The amount of detail that went into this cover amazed me. The constellations on the ceiling, the horoscope border, the Victorian style blue walls, the palm reading chart on the wall, the beaded doorway, the Victorian table with the black scrying cloth on top, the crystal ball behind Morty, and even the protective crystal angels on the corners of the table. I couldn’t be happier. I also think lots of color in a cover is eye catching and will surely hook a reader into at least flipping the book over and reading the back cover blurb. And isn’t that the point?

So next up will be book three, Trouble in the Tarot. I am already thinking ahead to what should go into this cover. Tempest took place in winter and involved tea leaves. Corpse took place in spring and involved a crystal ball. Trouble will take place in the hot and sticky summer and will involve Tarot Cards.

I don’t have a blurb for this book yet, but it will involve the local summer carnival that takes place in the center of old fashioned Divinity with its lantern street lamps in Mini Central Park. There will be the park’s gazebo and the swan pond, of course, but also carnival tents with games and crafts and rides, etc. Sunny will be helping her grandmother who’s sewing group put on the carnival by setting up shop in one of the tents and giving Tarot Card readings to the locals. Granny Gert is also quite the character who was introduced in book two and will now be a regular. I’m thinking book three’s cover could be a shot of Mini Central Park with the gazebo, the swan pond, and Sunny under one of the tents reading the victim’s tarot cards with Morty by her side. That could be fun. What do you all think? Any ideas? I’d love to hear them.


Any suggestions, readers? Post a comment to enter the drawing for a copy of Tempest in the Tea Leaves, and don't forget to either include your email or check back on Sunday to see if you've won. -- AP

TRAVEL WITH SERENA -- LITERARY MYSTERY AUTHOR SHEILA DALTON ON GUATEMALA

Literary mystery author Sheila Dalton joins us today to talk about how a trip to Guatemala inspired The Girl in the Box. Sheila was born in Hillingdon, England and emigrated with her family to Canada when she was six. She's worked as a barmaid, an art gallery assistant, an artist and crafter, a freelance editor and writer, and a librarian. She lives in Newmarket,Ontario with her husband, grown son, and two cats. Learn more about Sheila and her books at her website. -- AP

How Guatemala inspired my book

If you’re a reader, do you love books set in other countries? I hope so, because as a writer, I often get my inspiration from travels abroad.

My latest, a literary mystery (that’s what my editor calls it), The Girl in the Box, originated from a trip I took to Guatemala, way back in the eighties. I was traveling with a girlfriend. It wasn’t a vacation; it was an exploration. I wanted to write, and that seemed to require discovering more of the world and what it was all about.

We went for four months, with no itinerary and no reservations-in-advance. I had struggled to afford the trip through saving everything I could from my handicrafts business of the time. I lived in a ramshackle house in Toronto with a group of friends back then, and sold my crafts on the street, on consignment in stores, and at festivals and fairs. Luckily, the shared rent on our house was low, and I was very into an alternative lifestyle that meant not buying big ticket items or expensive clothes, so I was able to squirrel away just enough to cover our adventure.

We traveled on second-class buses and stayed in no-star accommodations. It was what we wanted, to be close to what we then defined as the “realities” of Central America. What we saw shocked us. It was the time of the Civil War, when the government was pitted against guerrillas fighting for the rights of the Maya, and there were terrible things going on. On one bus trip, several Mayan men were taken away by soldiers and never returned. We found out later they had been killed.

The beauty of the country could not blind us to the secret tragedy all around us. Locals told us of screams heard coming from a village church at night, a church they were convinced had been converted to a jail and torture center for rebels.

I was horrified by all this. I did not feel capable of using it in fiction. But it stayed in my mind for years and years, until, at last in the late nineties, a story began to gather together inside my head. It wasn’t a story directly about war or genocide or politics: it was the story of a beautiful Mayan teenager traumatized by violence, kept in a shed by her parents who believe she is cursed, and rescued by a North American doctor she ultimately kills.  Finding out why was the mystery the doctor’s lover, a journalist, set out to solve.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Sheila. Readers, have you ever travelled to worn-torn or strife-riddled locales? Tell us about your experiences and the impact they had on you. -- AP

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - SELF-DEFENSE OPTIONS FROM A BLACK BELT AUTHOR

Stephen L. Brayton is both a mystery author and a Fifth Degree Black Belt instructor in the American Taekwondo Association. He began martial arts training in 1991, earned his black belt in 1993, and gained his instructor certification in 1995. He’s visiting with us today to discuss self-defense options. Visit Stephen’s website to learn more about him and his books. -- AP

Self Defense Options

I conduct several self defense seminars for high school students and women, as well as the various techniques shown in my regular classes. One of the things I teach those who participate in self defense courses is to have options available to immediately utilize.

For example, let me keep it simple and discuss a basic wrist grab. After determining the level of threat indicated, the person would pull his/her wrist against the opponent’s thumb, that finger being the weakest part of the hand in terms of grip. Depending on the intentions of the opponent, various follow up techniques can then be applied. However, what if the original pull-away doesn’t free the hand? I tell my students not to keep fighting because it isn’t going to work and will only bolster the resolve of the opponent. Instead, immediately apply two or three options, usually distraction techniques. These can be as simple as a stomp on the instep, kick to the knee, raking the shin with the side of the foot, poke to the eye, palm heel to the nose, or several others. Don’t forget to go back to the wrist release because that was the original goal.

Also remember to practice various techniques so you know with which ones you are most comfortable and are easiest for you to implement. If you aren’t sure about kicking, then that method would be wasted on an attacker.

In Beta, the heroine, Mallory Petersen, a private investigator/martial artist, uses various techniques when facing the bad guys, depending on the situation in which she finds herself.  In one scene, she plans to deliver a palm heel to the opponent’s nose, but because she has been hiding under a table, her calf muscles cramp and she stumbles during the attack. Immediately she changes her plans to a midriff tackle to bring the man down to her level before proceeding to incapacitate him.

Keep your options open and have a game plan already prepared before something goes wrong. You don’t want to have to be thinking of what to do next because seconds count in an attack.

Thanks for the advice, Stephen. These are things we should all know, but hopefully will never have to use. Readers, do you know how to defend yourselves in case of an attack? -- AP

COOKING WITH CLORIS -- APPLE CRANBERRY BREAD PUDDING

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. If you want something a bit different from the standard stuffing this year, try Cloris’s Apple Cranberry Bread Pudding. Because you make it in the crock pot, you don’t have the hassles of stuffing the turkey. -- AP

APPLE CRANBERRY BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients:

non-stick cooking spray
10 cups cubed brioche or challah bread

4 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced

2-1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 can whole cranberry sauce

Spray inside of slow cooker with non-stick spray. Place bread cubes in the bottom of the crock pot. Sprinkle in walnuts. Mix loosely with bread. Place eggs in mixer and whip. Continue whipping as you add milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Pour over bread. Press down to submerge bread. Add spoonfuls of cranberry sauce on top of the bread. Cover and cook on high for 2 hrs.

This sounds like it would make a great dessert as well. Anyone going to try it? -- AP