Do You Have a Great Stuffing Recipe?

For years, my husband has made a fabulous stuffing every Thanksgiving and Christmas. It involved hot sausage and raisins and plenty of delicious taste … and fat.

He’s now on a healthy eating plan, plus we have some dear ones who don’t eat pork. For Thanksgiving, he tried out a new recipe involving oranges, which sounded great at the recipe level but turned out a bit sour. He added currants and raisins and some sugar, which brought it up to the level of palatable, but it fell short of his standards.

Do you have a great stuffing recipe that you can vouch for? Especially one that’s moderate to low in fat and doesn’t involve pork? I would love to have it, and I’ll share as many as I have space for with readers next month (assuming I receive some – hope hope!). Rather than post these, since they might run long and I might miss them, please email me at jdiamondfriends@yahoo.com. I hope we can find one for my husband to make this month for the holidays!

Meanwhile, I hope you’ll enjoy my December release, The Holiday Triplets. It’s book three of my Safe Harbor Medical series, but it stands alone, so you don’t need to have read the previous two (The Would-Be Mommy and His Hired Baby). There’s a fourth entry coming up in February, Officer Daddy.

Wishing you a great holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year, and I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

Checkin' His List

My oldest was born just three days after Christmas which meant she was just shy of one when her first holiday season came around. Aside from the traditional shape sorter, chubby blocks, and fabric dolls that made perfect gifts for that age, books made it into her stocking and under the tree, too.

The same held true for my youngest who was just shy of three months when her first Christmas rolled around. Granted, she hadn't even reached the book-chewing stage, but still she got books. Lots and lots of books.

Books meant cuddle time.
Books meant quiet time.
Books meant the kind of special one-on-one time with each girl that I will forever hold in a special place in my heart.

Fast forward fifteen years with the one, and twelve years with the other and the one staple under the tree each year is books. Sure, they represent slightly different things at this point in their lives, but they are no less special now than they were then.

Books offer an escape.
Books offer a place to learn.
Books offer a chance to slow things down and regroup.

And giving books gives me an excuse to roam around in the bookstore for hours on end...

Ah yes, the truth is out (don't tell anyone, okay?). :)

So how about you? Do you give books for the holidays?

~Laura

P.S. I'm holding a sort of holiday contest on my alter ego's website. Each week, from now until Christmas, my blog readers have a chance to win a book for their best friend. Curious? Visit www.elizabethlynncasey.com/blog/posts

Thankful

I have a lot to be thankful for this and every year. Most immediately--because I'm writing this the morning after Thanksgiving--I'm grateful for the wonderful food and hours of laughter shared with my friends yesterday. Here are some other things I'm thankful for:

1. Having a husband who is also my best friend. He supports, encourages and pushes me and somehow knows exactly when to offer just what I need.

2. Having a good sense of humor. Most of what life throws at me is funny, even if I don't think so at the time.

3. Having a good imagination. Even though this gets me into trouble at times (I hate to fly, because I can always come up with the worst-cast scenario for every bump, jostle and shimmy that plane makes), it has led me into writing and opened up worlds.

4. Having a great family. No matter what, they're there. How cool is that?

5. Having fabulous friends. We laugh, cry and sometimes even scream together. I couldn't get through life without them and they know it.

6. Having good health. So far, so good, but I don't take it for granted and I exercise every day. (Even though I hate it, lol.)

I'm sure there are a hundred other small things to be thankful for, among them would be caffeine, chocolate and wine.

What are you thankful for?

Shop or Sleep, That is the Question

At around 5 this morning, I heard our neighbors pulling out of their driveway. My first thought was, I wonder if they're going shopping for Black Friday. For the last several days, the ads for Black Friday sales that started at the unholy hour of 4 a.m. have been everywhere. 4 a.m.? Seriously? That's prime sleeping time in my book. :) Plus it was cold. I'm not standing in a line when it's 20-something degrees unless I can be guaranteed a 52-inch flatscreen for 100 bucks or 50% off the new driveway I'm having poured soon.

I've never really been a Black Friday shopper. The thought of all those lines, the crowds, the mad dashes to get the few items available at the advertised super-low price just don't appeal to me. I'd rather go to the stores when I can shop leisurely or order presents online. But that got me to wondering...if you love the madness of Black Friday shopping, why?

So, dear readers, are you shopping today? If so, did you get any great deals? Or do you want to wait for calmer shopping conditions?

And let's pretend Santa is listening...What do you want for Christmas?

Happy Thanksgiving

Yesterday, dear hubby and I braved five hours’ worth of heavy traffic in our trek north to Tallahassee for a weekend of family, food, and football. Because it’s Thanksgiving weekend in the United States. Officially established as a national holiday by President Lincoln in 1863, it’s a day when we remember the first thanksgiving of 1621. That year, after a brutal winter, the Pilgrims threw a feast to give thanks for their survival. Nearly four centuries later, the day before Thanksgiving has become the busiest travel day of the year as families across this country gather together.

Today, there will be parades to watch, turkeys to roast, the laughter of family and good friends. We’ll give thanks for those who are with us, say a prayer for those who are not, eat, catch up on one another’s lives. And, after the dishes are cleared and the leftovers are stored, someone will break out a guitar, another will reach for a fiddle. My sister will pick up her mountain dulcimer, and there will be music.

Happy Thanksgiving.

What I love most about the holidays is...

ETA: The winner is...

Virginia C

Congratulations, Virginia! Please email me via my website and send your mailing address!

***

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love everything about the holidays. I've also had a lot of wonderful things happen in the past month and have much to be thankful for, so it already feels a lot like Christmas. So I hope you'll help me celebrate by posting a comment here, because I have stuff to give away.

What exactly am I celebrating?

First there was the fabulous cover for The Wedding Bargain (January 2011).

Then I learned that my December 2007 American Romance, With This Ring, is being reissued next month, along with Michele Dunaway's Bachelor CEO, as a Mills & Boon Desire in Australia and New Zealand. Here's the cover.

This is my first foreign sale and I'm very excited!

And then RT Book Reviews gave The Wedding Bargain a fabulous 4-star review. Here's what they said:

"McKenzie's tale evolves with sincerity and sizzling passion as two wary individuals fall hard in this touching story."

Color me happy, happy, happy!

Okay, so enough about me.

What's in this for you?

Well, for starters I'm giving away a copy of Firefighter Daddy (July 2010).

The book will be personalized for the winner to keep, or simply autographed so it can be re-gifted. This is one of those times when I am totally cool with re-gifting.

The winner will also receive a festive, handmade polka dot garland. How fun is this?

I do have a thing for polka dots, but this was not made by me. It's from Love Monkey.

In addition to these two prizes, I reserve the right to throw in a few other goodies, at my discretion.

Now for the big question...what do you have to do for a chance to win?

Simply post a comment that finishes this sentence:

What I love most about the holidays is...

The name of one commenter will be drawn from my hat and posted here...at the end of THIS post...on Friday...the day after Thanksgiving. Check back then!

Happy reading! Happy Thanksgiving! Happy holidays!

Until next time,
Lee
LeeMcKenzie.com

Friday Night Lights, Modern Texas Style

On Thursday night when we arrived in our home away from home, Mineola, TX, the local grocery (Brookshires) was just gearing down from a big "Yellow Jackets" pep rally in their parking lot, complete with a barrel style grill still belching hickory smoke. On Friday at the barbecue restaurant we visited for lunch, we saw a panther (stuffed animal) hanging upside down on a rope, with the banner "Sting the Panthers." The whole restaurant was decorated with signs and banners. Everyone who worked there wore orange Mineola High School football T-shirts. (BTW, I'm not sure why "Yellow Jackets" in Mineola are actually orange, rather than yellow, but I'll answer that question in another post!)

Ah, high school football playoffs. This was the first round (district) and Mineola hasn't been to the playoffs in over 50 years.

The Mineola Yellow Jackets photos are from the Facebook page

"Mineola Yellow Jackets Playoff Run 2010" from fan Carrie Ann Stafford Kerby.

On the other end of the playoff spectrum, our daughter, an English teacher at Rowlett High School in the Garland Independent School System, attended their playoff game. Since they are a large, suburban school in the Dallas area, they played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX. In 2009, one of Rowlett's stars, Marquise Goodwin, graduated and went to The University of Texas, where he is a excellent wide receiver and expected to be a favorite in the 2012 Olympics Track and Field competition. This photo is from her I-Phone as she and her husband walked toward the stadium. Inside, this is what the Rowlett playoffs looked like. (I hadn't realized the giant high def video screen was quite that large!)

Back in Mineola, I wanted to find out how the Yellow Jackets were doing in their playoff quest. I logged onto Facebook and went to the KMOO page. KMOO is the local radio station, located just down Hwy. 69 from us. (http://www.kmoo.com/) On their FB page, 999kmoo, they had someone updating the scores from not only Mineola, but several other schools as well. (Lindale, for example, is just down Hwy. 69 and is the home of country singer Miranda Lambert.) It was great to be able to get the updates as they happened.

I tried to find the same thing for Rowlett, searching for scores on the Internet after trying in vain on the school district website, the local TV station pages, etc. I could not find the score anywhere. Since we don't get the Dallas TV stations in Mineola, I knew we wouldn't find the scores any other way. My daughter had uploaded her photos to Facebook, but then went silent on the score. Despite all the modern conveniences of the "big city," I couldn't find out if Rowlett was winning or losing!

The Yellow Jackets, on the other hand, took the lead against the Maypearl Panthers and kept it throughout the game. The final score was 34 to 20. Saturday night at the Mineola Country Club (the only place in Mineola where you can get a drink!) we discovered that they are next playing New Boston in Mt. Pleasant. This was from someone we didn't know who used his Blackberry to find out the information when we asked.

It may seem odd that the small town atmosphere of community, school pride and "clothesline gossip" can be found in person and online, but that is definitely the case in Mineola. As I sat in my living room, I felt very connected to the KMOO reporter who updated the scores on Facebook. I didn't have to wait for news of the next playoff matchup; I only had to ask the man across the small bar at the country club. (BTW, this would have been the case if I'd been anywhere in town, I'm sure.) I still don't know the score of the Rowlett game, but I believe they lost. The Yellow Jackets, however, are big winners in my opinion.

I've never mentioned high school football in any of my Harlequin American romances, even though I've created two small Texas towns where it should be a big part of the community. I'm going to remember this experience and try to include the spirit of the season in my fictional Brody's Crossing series. It's just one more way that small towns are special.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with friends or family. I'll be posting some holiday recipes on Dec. 4th, so I hope you'll check back in then.

The Best Thanksgivings

A week from today we’ll be gathering around the table with our family and friends, stuffing ourselves like the turkeys we’ll be enjoying. But there’s nothing like a holiday to bring back memories of the past.


Each year when I was a young girl, one of the aunts (my great aunts) or cousins would host Thanksgiving, then another would host Christmas. Those were the two times a year I could count on seeing all my cousins. Sometimes it was our turn, but I liked it best when we went to Aunt Dorothy's house. She and her husband lived on the farm in the big house near Clearwater where Uncle Milt had been born in 1900. For many of those years, it seemed to me that it took most of the day to drive there from our house in Wichita, although it's only about twenty-five miles.

My mom was the designated turkey roaster, and I would awaken on Thanksgiving morning surround by the aroma of turkey. I doubt we ever missed the Macy's Christmas Parade back then, even as we packed up the turkey and other delights to head down the road to our holiday destination. Everyone brought something to eat. Aunt Dorothy's chocolate pie was always in high demand. At her house, there was a huge, solid wood table where the grown ups all sat. There were always at least a dozen of them, laughing and talking as they passed around the food. Kids sat at card tables, sometimes on Sears catalogs to boost us to the right height.

When dinner was over and the women had cleaned up, while the men--mostly farmers--sat in the living room, talking throughout the football games, the decks of cards were pulled out of the drawer in the buffet and the rousing games of pitch began. The games lasted throughout most of the afternoon and into the late evening, long past dark, and I can still hear the sounds of their voices, whooping and hollering at each other over each hand dealt and each card played.

But it was later in the evening that became my favorite as we grew a little older. My three female cousins and I made the table talk. Some call it table knocking, others call it table rapping, but whatever it’s called, the use and purpose is the same. One person on each side, if possible, hands flat on the table top and concentrating so hard that the house should've rocked, we mentally lifted the table on one side/two legs. Questions asked were usually yes or no, or sometimes involved counting. One knock for yes, two knocks for no. The adults eventually grew quiet, ending their last game of pitch to watch us. Uncle Sterl (Aunt Lucy's husband) would hoot and boo at us, convinced that one of us had to be tilting the table. We weren't. "How can we?" we'd ask and show him that the table could rise several inches...with no legs touching the floor. He never did believe us. One of my cousins reminded me recently that one year the table talking was so rambunctious, one of the legs broke!

I miss those holidays, and especially the talking table. We kids grew up and had kids of our own, who now have kids of their own. We made new traditions. My great-aunts, great-uncles, parents, and even a few of the older cousins are gone, but those Thanksgiving and Christmas memories will always be my favorite. If, like Emily in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, I could choose a time to revisit the past when I'm gone, it would be a holiday at Aunt Dorothy's house.

Have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

Thanksgiving Dessert

My husband and I have moved around a lot throughout our twenty-four years of marriage and many times during the holidays we were without family. That's both good and bad. I enjoy being with family but it's a lot more stressful than just spending the day with your husband and kids. When it's just "us" for the holiday I don’t have to clean the house. I don't feel pressured to go all-out on the decorations. And for fun we've been known to have a "non-traditional" meal on occasion. If it were up to our kids we'd have pizza all the time, so they no longer get a vote.

The one thing I've done through the years whether we eat alone or with family is to prepare a special dessert. I love to watch the food network when I can and Paula Deen's show is one of my favorites. Because of Paula I now have a favorite Thanksgiving dessert. If you're looking for a twist on the traditional pumpkin pie you must try Paula's recipe for Pumpkin cheesecake. It's to- die-for. You can find more of Paula's recipes at www.foodnetwork.com

No matter who or how you celebrate Thanksgiving this month, I wish you and yours a blessed holiday.

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Cheesecake



Ingredients
Crust:
• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:
• 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:
In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling:Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Enjoy!

Marin
Roughneck Cowboy (Feb 2011)
Rodeo Daddy (April 2011)
www.marinthomas.com

Life has been a bit crazy since my last blog

On October 28, our daughter-in-law gave birth to our second granddaughter, Katherine Grace. This is their second daughter plus my older son and his wife have two boys, so Katherine is not my first grandchild, but she’ll probably be our last. Not only does that make her especially precious, but my daughter-in-law invited me into the delivery room. This was the first time I’ve ever been in a delivery room when it wasn’t me delivering and it was quite an experience. I got to watch them clean up the baby and all the hubbub that happens those first few minutes of life. I got to see the expression on my son and daughter-in-law’s faces as they first held their beautiful daughter. I too got to hold her when she was only a few minutes old.

I guess I’m feeling nostalgic, but in addition to our family my best friend and her family were at the hospital to help celebrate Katherine’s birth. Debra and I started 4th grade together and have been best friends ever since. Our kids grew up together and went to the same high school. And Debra babysits both her granddaughter and mine so they are growing up friends. As will her new grandson and Katherine.

That’s three generations of friendship. I feel blessed in so many ways.

Do you have friends who have always been a part of your life? People who you are almost closer to than family? I take that back. Not ALMOST closer to, but actually CLOSER.

When Am I??

I know--I'm only experiencing the end of daylight's saving time, not time travel. No big deal, right? However, I have been traveling, although just from the Midwest to the Eastern time zone. Still, it threw me off. For a week, I waited for my TV shows to come on...and waited. It's an hour later there and I have no problem staying up. It's just that I know Hawaii 5-0 starts at nine on Monday. When it wasn't on, I got a little panicky, until I realized the program on the TV wasn't replacing my show. I hadn't missed Steve McGarrett going swimming. :)

After six days, you would think I'd have adjusted, right? But my sister, convinced despite my arguments that daylight savings was last weekend, had changed the clocks without telling me. What a mess. Now I'm back home, but I returned on a Tuesday. All week, I've been asking what day it was. I'm just getting oriented, and guess what?: now it really is daylight savings. Sheesh. So fall back, everyone.

How long does it take for y'all to reorient yourselves after a trip or after a time change? Am I the only one crazily spinning?

By the way, it's three a.m. as I write this, and even the crickets aren't chirping this time of year. I feel very much like "the only one" awake.

Megan Kelly

THE MARRIAGE SOLUTION, May 2011

www.megankellybooks.com

November Recipes

Autumn is finally here in Texas, with cool temperatures at night and not-so-sweltering days. It's a lovely time of year. In a few hours we are heading out to the lake in Mineola, TX to enjoy the annual Iron Horse Festival on Saturday. The train played a big part in the town's development and Amtrak still stops there. If you ever want to visit, it's about halfway between Shreveport and Dallas. Here's a photo of Lake Holbrook from last November, just after we closed on the house.

With the cooler weather comes the desire for warm, hearty food. I want to share two recipes for soup this month. Last night I made a pot of bean soup, which is an unwritten old family recipe that I'm sure lots of people have made before. I didn't make a big pot because there are just the two of us at home and hubby isn't a huge fan of leftovers. In case you don't have a recipe or have forgotten how good bean soup can be, here's our version, which makes about four big bowls.

Victoria Chancellor's Bean Soup

3/4 of small bag of Great Northern Beans

1 T. butter or oil

3/4 c. of diced fresh or frozen onion

2 stalks of celery, diced or sliced thin

3/4 to 1 c. diced leftover ham or other similar meat

6 oz. can of tomato paste

Salt and pepper to taste (You need a little more salt than you think you'll need!)

Soak beans overnight. Change water several times and rinse well.

In a large saucepan or pot, Dutch oven or other covered cookware, place rinsed beans and over about 1 inch over top of beans with water. In a small saucepan saute the onion, celery and ham in butter or oil until limp and slightly browned. Add to beans in saucepan/pot along with tomato paste, salt and pepper, and stir well. Raise temperature only until bubbly, then reduce temp, cover and cook for about three hours, until beans are tender. Serve with cornbread and ice cold milk for a great dinner.

This second recipe is from the blog of friend and fellow writer Winnie Griggs, who is also from the East Texas region. I haven't made this gumbo yet, but if you have a little more time and need to serve more folks, it sounds like a great recipe.

Winnie Griggs' Cowboy Gumbo

(from Petticoats & Pistols blog 9/30/10)

Ingredients:
■1/4 cup butter or vegetable oil

■2 tblsp flour

■2 cloves garlic, minced

■1 small onion, chopped

■1/4 cup green onions, chopped

■1 stalk celery, finely chopped

■1/3 cup chopped bell pepper

■5-6 cups chicken or seafood stock (can substitute water if this is unavailable)

■1 can (12-15 oz) diced tomatoes (if you’d like an extra kick, use the kind with chopped green chilies or southwestern style)

■1 can (6-8 oz) tomato paste

■2 bay leaves

■2 tablespons Worchestershire sauce

■3 teaspoons chili powder

■1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

■1 lb sliced okra (best if sauteed separately with ½ teaspoon vinegar until ‘slime’ is gone)

■4 lbs meat – any one kind or a combination of your favorites. Meats that work well in a gumbo are Sausage (cut into ½ inch slices), deboned chicken or other fowl, pork, shrimp, crawfish, crab or even game meats

■Tobasco sauce or liquid crab boil to taste (optional)

Directions:
■Use flour and oil or butter to make a roux. Do this by combining the two ingredients in a heavy saucepan and cooking over a low heat, stirring constantly until the mixtures turns the color of a copper penny (about 15-20 minutes).

■Add garlic, onions, green onions, celery and bell peppers. Cook until tender

■Add the remaining ingredients EXCEPT okra (and shellfish if applicable) and bring to a boil.

■Reduce heat, cover and cook for 30 minutes

■Add okra (and shellfish if applicable). Return to a boil.

■Reduce heat and simmer for another twenty minutes.

■Remove bay leaves, skim excess oil, and serve over rice.Leftovers (if there are any!) can be frozen for later consumption.

Enjoy your hearty soups and stews! See you next month for some holiday inspired recipes. Best wishes, happy reading and happy Thanksgiving.

The Heirloom

Don’t tell my son, but we now have an elephant foot in our house. Yep. It’s real, it’s old, it’s icky, and my 19 year old son wanted it badly.

Perhaps I should back up. My husband’s Aunt Sandy used to be a flight attendant for TWA. Back in the 70′s, she brought home an elephant foot table from Africa for her dad-my husband’s grandfather~AKA-the man who had everything. Rumor has it that the table was used and bragged about, and was the focal point of more than one house tour.

Years passed. The foot went into storage. When both grandparents passed away, Tom’s mom couldn’t bear to just toss out the thing, so it was passed to my husband’s relatives, taking up space in attics. Sitting and, well…molting. (the years have not been kind to this foot)

Fast forward to last month. My husband was talking to our son Arthur, who reminded him that the University of Alabama’s mascot is the elephant.(Roll Tide!) And, well, didn’t Dad think that elephant table would go GREAT in Art’s apartment?

My husband agreed!

(No, I wasn’t consulted)

Two weeks ago, we went to Charlotte to go to Tom’s cousin’s wedding. That’s when my husband decided he was going to track down that foot.

And so he did. Before the wedding and during the reception, Tom went from one relative to the next, just like a police investigator. Finally he discovered that Matt, the groom, now owns this foot! It’s in his mother’s attic. No, Matt’s new bride didn’t know about the foot…and no, she did not want the thing in their new home. (She is beautiful and smart!)

But Matt was not going to give up the heirloom easily.

Turns out, Matt needed tools. So Tom made a deal. He offered to buy Matt and bride tools as a trade for the foot. After all, it was their wedding day.

Done.

The next day, Tom drove to his aunt and uncle's house, got that foot, and took it to UPS. There, he asked them to carefully wrap it up. They were grossed out, but just like they say in their ads, no job is too big or too small.

Last Thursday~the 40 year old elephant foot, all hairy, yellowing, icky and molting~arrived here. Tom plans to tie a red bow around it and give it to our son for Christmas!

Until then, it’s out of the box and taking up space in my husband’s office. The wiener dog barks at it every time she sees it. I can hardly look at it.

So…I’m thinking maybe my son needs his surprise Christmas gift sooner than later. Arthur comes home this weekend. Maybe it’s time for an early Christmas present?

I hope we’re not the only ones to have possession of a truly awful family ‘heirloom’. Anyone have something they’d rather not have that gets passed down from generation to generation?

Shelley Galloway

OCTOBER WINNER!!

CONGRATULATIONS Winter! You’re the October winner. To receive your free autographed books please contact Roxann Delaney and Trish Milburn through their Web sites.

To enter the contest simply leave a blog comment and your name will go into the drawing. Simple and painless. And FREE BOOKS.

So check back often and be sure to leave a comment. Good luck!