#COOKING WITH CLORIS--BLUEBERRY BANANACHINI BREAD

For those of you who were lucky enough to have an abundant crop of zucchini this year, you’re probably swimming in it by now and wondering what else you can make with it. Before you start sneaking out in the middle of the night to depositing veggies in your neighbors’ mailboxes, try this bread recipe. Make as many loaves as your freezer will hold.

Blueberry Bananachini Bread

Ingredients:

3 eggs

3/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup grated zucchini

2 over-ripe bananas, mashed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 T. ground cinnamon

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 cup fresh blueberries

Mix together all dry ingredients.

In mixing bowl beat eggs until light yellow and frothy. Mix in oil, sugars, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, mixing until incorporated. Mix in zucchini and bananas. Fold in blueberries.

Divide mixture into two greased 8”x4” loaf pans. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven approximately 50 minutes. Bread is done baking when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack before removing and serving.

Variations:

Omit the blueberries and substitute chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, or pistachios), dried fruit (cherries, cranberries or apricots), chocolate chips, or any combination of these ingredients.

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR AND KNITAHOLIC MEGAN RYDER

Ever since Megan Ryder discovered Jude Deveraux and Judith McNaught while sneaking around the “forbidden” romance section of the library one day after school, she has been voraciously devouring romance novels of all types. Now a romance author in her own right, Megan pens sexy contemporary novels all about family and hot lovin’ with the boy next door. She spends her days as a technical writer and her spare time divided between her addiction to knitting and reading. Learn more about Megan and her books at her website. 

My name is Megan Ryder, and I am a knitaholic.

I believe there should be support groups for us to stop us from buying more yarn, more patterns, and more accessories than we could ever use in a mortal lifetime. I started knitting when I was nine years old. No one in my family knitted so I got a book from the library (my true happy place back then) and got to work. I think I still have my first needle somewhere around here. Only one because I lost the other in the sea of knitting supplies in my house.

Knitting is not only a form of meditation for me but a true plotting technique. If I’m stuck or not sure where to go, I pick up my needles and start knitting. I empty my mind, and the ideas just flow. It’s not unheard of for me to suddenly drop the knitting and grab the computer or a pad of paper or even start speaking lines of dialogue.

For every book, I pick out a project to work on. Usually, it’s a fairly simple project. My heart and soul belong to lace knitting but that’s too complex when I am working on a book. So I stick to shawls, socks, or even the occasional sweater with a simple pattern. For me, the goal is not the knitting project but how it keeps me on track with the book.

My all-time favorite project (and one I’m known for in my family) are felted hedgehogs. Aren’t they the cutest things ever?

After every writing session or plotting session, I put the writing down and pick up the needles, letting the day’s writing and brainstorming settle into my subconscious. Inevitably, when I wake up the next morning or finish knitting for a while, my brain is calm and quiet and the writing ideas just float to the surface.

  

Love From Left Field

The Georgia Knights are drowning in debt, and when her father has a heart attack, it's up to Miranda Callahan to save them. Too bad the man with the life preserver is Lucas Wainright, her father's sworn enemy - and her childhood crush. Lucas is walking a tightrope, torn between his desire for revenge against the man who stole his father's baseball team and his desire for the man's daughter. Can Lucas and Miranda let go of old grudges, hold on to their new love and save the Knights… and each other?

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR DAKOTA MADISON

USA Today bestselling author Dakota Madison is a writer of many facing, also writing as Savannah Young, Ren Monterrey and Sierra Avalon, in various romance sub-genres, including contemporary romance, new adult romance, midlife romance, and romantic suspense. Today she sits down for an interview with us. Learn more about Dakota at her website.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

As soon as I learned to read I immediately wanted to write my own books!

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

I actually had some stage plays published before my first novel was published in 2002.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

I own my own publishing company, Short on Time Books. We published my work as well as the work of 16 other authors.

Where do you write?

In my living room, or in bed!

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

I can only write in silence.

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

I tend to write a lot about college professors, or psychologists. I happen to be a psychology professor! I think the emotional reality of my books is drawn from my life more so than actual characters or plots.

Describe your process for naming your character?

I made use of a lot of “baby name” websites.

Real settings or fictional towns?

I fictionalize real towns. I base the towns on places I know, but change the names and add the characteristics I want to them.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

The most fun I had was writing Max in Rye Must Die. He loves to sing along with songs, but always mixes up the song lyrics.

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I have too many to mention. One quirk I have is that I cannot lay my head on a pillowcase that has any wrinkles on it. The case has to be completely smooth and wrinkle free.

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Lisbeth Salander is such a cool character.

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

I would never have started using a pen name. Now I’m stuck with four of them!

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Right now it’s service providers who think they can treat authors like trash because they have more business than they can handle. The minute you believe you can afford to lose customers is the minute your business is doomed to fail.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

Chapstick, my husband, our bloodhounds.

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

Delivering phonebooks.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Ocean or mountains?

Can’t I have both?

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

I seem to always find myself living “out in the country” but outside of a major city. Best of both worlds.

What’s on the horizon for you?

Right now I’m working on more books for my Love in Midlife romance series.

The Killer in You

A Love in Midlife Romance (Each full-length novel in Dakota Madison's Love in Midlife romance series features one of the graduates of Bookman College attending their 25th reunion.)

Falling in love with your boss's wife is never a good idea, especially when you're a mobster.

Mia Corrado can't remember the last time she had sex with her husband Nicky. He's been preoccupied with his job as the head of New Jersey's most powerful crime family and all of the wild oats he sows on the side.  When Nicky tells Mia he's too busy to attend her college reunion, and wants to send one of his underlings to accompany her, Mia is completely fed up. Until she discovers it is Luka Russo who will be escorting her. He's handsome, charming and sensitive, definitely not the typical mobster. Mia is completely captivated by him. And Luka is just as smitten with Mia. But if they act on their feelings for each other Luka may end up sleeping with the fishes.

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#TRAVEL TO KAUAI WITH GUEST AUTHOR PATRICIA PRESTON

Alekoko Fishpond, Kauai

Patricia Preston writes witty mainstream romances where love matters most. Learn more about her at her website. 

Books and a Gift Card Giveaway!

Patricia is celebrating the coming of fall and the release of One Week in Your Arms, the first book in her new Love Heals All series, by giving away a batch of her Kindle ebooks and a $20 Amazon gift card. Enter by leaving a comment and email address on this blog and add extra entries by going to her Giveaway post on her blog. Drawing will be on Sept 30^th. The winner will be notified via email and posted on her blog.

The Magical Menehune

In my new release, One Week in Your Arms, Marla and Carson spend a week at a resort on the island of Kauai. During this time, Marla finds out about the legendary Menehune, and she can’t wait to share it with her little girl when she gets back home to Tennessee.

Legend has it that a race of tiny, magical people, like leprechauns, once lived in the mountains of Kauai. The Menehune stood only about two or three feet tall. They had stout bodies with potbellies. They loved pudding made from sweet potatoes, squash, and taro leaves. The Menehune were mischievous and playful. They loved diving off the cliffs. It is said when you hear water splash at night on the island, it is Menehune diving into the ocean. 

The Menehune slept all day hidden deep in caves and roamed through the forests of the island at night. According to legend, they were master builders, and they would band together in groups of thousands to do great feats of construction overnight. They did not like being seen, and if they were seen at work, they would abandon the project.

The Alekoko Fishpond on the island of Kauai was built by the Menehune. One of the stories regarding the fishpond is that it was built by the Menehune who used lava rock transported by a brigade of thousands of Menehune. They were building the fishpond for a princess and her brother, who stole through the forest at night to watch the Menehune at work although they had promised not to do so.

They were discovered by the Menehune who turned the princess and her brother into twin stone pillars, which still remain in the mountains above the fishpond. As was their custom, they abandoned the fishpond, leaving a gap in one of the retaining walls, which was finished by workers in the 1800’s.

The Menehune loved singing, dancing, and archery. They were said to use magical arrows on an angry person, thus replacing the anger with love. 

Some have suggested the Menehune were early inhabitants or primates that populated the island before the third century and the arrival of the modern Hawaiians. Nevertheless, their stories and legends thrive on the islands.

One Week in Your Arms

Book One of the Love Heals All series

It Started With A Fling...

Six years ago, ambitious med student Marla Grant gave into temptation with a gorgeous man. Now a busy doctor and a loving single mom, the only thing that matters to Marla more than her adorable daughter is the Lafayette Falls Community Clinic. When its funding is threatened, Marla is determined to find out why-until she learns the person responsible is none other than the powerful, persuasive man of her long-ago fling and the unsuspecting father of her child...

Carson Blackwell has never forgotten bright, beautiful Marla. When he discovers that she runs the clinic his grandmother's foundation funds, it's the perfect chance to put an end to his ongoing infatuation-and use his leverage to cement a new business deal. He needs a fake girlfriend for one week in Hawaii, and Marla is just the woman for the job. It's a win-win situation, until they realize the attraction between them isn't feigned, and the heat has never died down. Only the secrets they're both keeping stand in the way of a future together-and a love that could last a lifetime.

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#DECORATING WITH #TOILE DE JOUY

Toile de Jouy

If you’ve ever visited a Colonial America site such as Williamsburg, you’ve seen toile. Originally known as Toile de Jouy, toile is a small decorative repeat pattern of a complex scene, usually printed in one color on a white or cream background. Traditional designs depicted mythological or pastoral themes such as landscapes with animals, picnicking couples, or floral arrangements. However, toile just as often depicted more modern events such as hot air balloon voyages.

Toile was originally produced in Ireland in the mid-18^th century but quickly became popular in England and France. Toile de Jouy translates to “cloth from Jouy”, a small village southwest of Paris where Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf established a factory for printed cotton in 1760. It became a decorating staple, used in both fabric and wallpaper and was introduced into the American colonies by Benjamin Franklin, who in 1770, while in England, bought a bolt to bring back to Philadelphia as a gift for his wife.

Ever since, toile has come in and out of fashion. The style saw an upsurge in popularity in the 1930’s with the popularity of Colonial Williamsburg and in the 1970’s during Bicentennial celebrations. Toile once again grew in popularity at the beginning of the 21^st century.

Lately designers have rediscovered and reinvented toile once again, using colored backgrounds and creating more modern images, often with tongue planted firmly in cheek. For instance, at flavorpaper.com you can find a design inspired by SanFrancisco Bay area legends such as Joe Montana and Angela Davis.  Another modern toile design is a Brooklyn inspired pattern that depicts everything from Coney Island to pigeons to Notorious B.I.G. 

Toile has been around for hundreds of years, and it appears it will continue to go in and out of style for years to come.

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR M.S. SPENCER

M. S. Spencer has published ten romantic suspense and murder mystery novels. She has two fabulous grown children and an incredible granddaughter and divides her time between the Gulf Coast of Florida and a tiny village in Maine. Learn more about her and her books at her blog.

My new release, Whirlwind Romance, features a heroine who makes jellies and jams from wild fruits she gathers in Florida. 

Up until my thirties, I traveled a great deal, living in many countries with amenities that many would consider below standard. So it wasn't until I married and settled down in an old farmhouse with an acre of land that I could indulge my fantasy growing my own food. We planted apple, plum, peach, fig, hazelnut, and cherry trees; gooseberries, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries; all kinds of vegetables, including an ill-fated attempt to grow artichokes; and finally, lots and lots of herbs. I built a formal herb garden and planted thyme, lovage, rosemary, chives, tarragon, sage, and lemon balm. The one thing I couldn't get to grow was mint. Yes, the gardeners among you will scoff, but it took me years to get a plot to flourish. When it did, I had to do something or it would take over the entire acre.

So I called upon my sister-in-law, to whom Whirlwind Romance is dedicated. She directed me to an old recipe for mint jelly. Once the mint invasion was under control and I'd mastered the technique, I spent whole summers working up recipes for herb jellies. It was great fun. Despite the fact that I'm not really fond of jelly, they made excellent Christmas gifts.

As I started Whirlwind Romance, I thought about what my heroine, Lacey Delahaye, would do for a living. She lives alone in Florida, her one son grown. What could she do? I thought of the innumerable ecosystems in Florida, from pine uplands, to coastal plains, to palm hammocks—all of which are host to many wild fruits, most of which can be made into jelly. Ah hah! She'd be a jelly maker.

For fun, I added the recipes to each chapter. I hope you enjoy them as much as you do Lacey and Armand's love story.

For your cooking pleasure, here is one of her recipes:

Sea Grape Jelly

Sea grapes are tall, multi-trunked trees with round leaves that grow along Florida's coastal areas. The clusters of grapes ripen in the summer and should be picked when fully purple.

Makes 4-6 pints

8 cups ripe sea grapes

4 cups water

5 cups white sugar

1 box powdered pectin

1/4 cup lime juice

1/2 teaspoon butter

Wash grapes. Place in large pot with the water and cook over medium heat until the skins are soft. Press the pulp through a sieve. Place the pulp in a jelly strainer or two layers of cheesecloth and let drip. Add water to the clear juice to make 5 cups.

In a large pot, bring the juice, lime juice, pectin and butter to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add the sugar and bring again to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil exactly one minute. Remove from heat, skim off any foam, and ladle into hot, sterilized jelly jars to within 1/4-inch of the top. Wipe rims and place the two-piece canning lids on the jars but do not tighten completely. Turn the jars over and leave upside down for five minutes on a padded rack. Turn upright and tighten the lids completely.

Alternate method: Process filled, tightly closed jars in boiling water for 15 minutes. Cool.

Whirlwind Romance

Pirates, Puritans, propaganda, and princes—pieces of the puzzle in the whirlwind romance between a beautiful jelly maker and a mysterious castaway.

In the aftermath of a hurricane, Lacey Delahaye finds herself marooned on an island on the Gulf coast of Florida with a mysterious man. They are immediately drawn to each other, but before Armand can confess his identity, they are kidnapped and taken to a tiny island in the western Caribbean. With the help of her son Crispin and a cadre of loyal followers, she and Armand must face down pirates, power-mad ideologues, and palace intrigue, if they are to restore the once idyllic tropical island to its former glory.

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#CRAFTING WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR NANCY HADDOCK AND #GOURD CRAFTS

Painted Gourds

Nancy Haddock is the award-winning and national bestselling author of the Silver Six Crafting Mysteries. She draws on historic wealth, southern culture, and the plain old quirkiness of places and people for her books. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Learning New Skills

Last time Anastasia and Lois so kindly hosted me, I talked about my family’s tradition of crafting. From knitting to crocheting to sewing, from tole painting to batik to refinishing and upholstering trunks, my mother, aunts, and grandmothers expressed their artistic natures. I said then, and I still believe, that if there’s a gene for crafting, I got it.

We have an army of local talent in St. Augustine, Florida, and I love to see what artists are offering at our local farmer’s market events. At one, I met a gentleman whose business name is Chairman of the Gourd. Don’t you love that? He primarily crafts gourd birdhouses and carves walking sticks, and he was wonderful to spend time visiting with me about his work. I subsequently attended one of St. Augustine’s juried art fairs and got a whole new education about gourd art! That was the final punch of inspiration for the featured craft in Paint the Town Dead.

Gourd Cat Bed

As I delved into researching the subject, I met several artists who call gourds “Nature’s Sculptures.” When I saw the array of what craftspeople do with gourds, I understood why they’re so versatile. Painted, etched, burned. Used as vases, pencil holders, wall decorations. I saw one huge gourd that the artist had turned into a cat bed!

The more I saw, the more I wanted to try my hand at gourd art. Now gourds are available to buy online, but I needed to start small. The Chairman of the Gourd had “mini” gourds for sale, so I bought six of them. I lost track of them for a while, but the gourds are now safely in a bin. Unless the fairies move them, I’ll be ready to pull those puppies out in the fall, clean them, and let them tell me what they want to be. I’m most likely to simply paint them, but I have a rotary tool that does all kinds of things. I want to learn to use it, though I will experiment on a flat surface first. My gourds are small enough to be Christmas tree ornaments, but I just may paint them tropical colors and mount them on a large wreath.

This is one of the bonuses of writing the Silver Six Crafting Mysteries—the researching and sometimes the experimenting. In Paint the Town Dead, Nixy and the Silver Six are opening the Handcraft Emporium, so I got to research all kinds of painting projects and vicariously craft to my heart’s content.

Still, I’m itching to get my hot little hands on those gourds. I’ll let you know how they turn out!

Paint the Town Dead

Leslee Stanton Nix—aka “Nixy”—thought moving to small-town Lilyvale, Arkansas, would be about as thrilling as watching paint dry. But keeping up with her retired Aunt Sherry and her housemates—collectively known as the Silver Six—has proven to be as exciting as it is exasperating.

To kick off the grand opening of their craft shop, the Handcraft Emporium, Nixy and the Silver Six invite Doralee Gordon to teach a gourd painting class. Nixy isn’t happy when Doralee’s ex crashes the class with his new fiancée, but things really get messy when the bride-to-be later turns up dead.

Now it’s up to Nixy and the Silver Six to use their melons to find the killer—before someone else gets painted out of the picture...

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