Holiday Food Rescue

by Saralyn Richard

This is the time of year to think about holiday giving, and this year the need is greater than usual for opening our hearts and our pocketbooks to support worthwhile causes. I don’t mean the robotic ones with unavailable numbers, who call on your phones every five minutes. The charities I’m thinking of are those that meet the needs of people who are hungry, ill, infirm, or under-served in some of their basic needs.

One of the most inspiring of these is Second Servings of Houston, founded in 2015 by my friend Barbara Bronstein. This “food rescue” organization connects those who need food with those who need to dispose of food. Its motto is, “Fighting Hunger. Ending Waste.” In its five years of operation, Second Servings has rescued over four million pounds of food, valued at approximately $40 million, from more than 400 food donors, and delivered it at no cost to over 90 Houston charities. A huge side benefit for the environment is that delicious “party” food has fed people instead of smoldering as toxic waste in landfills.

Every dollar donated to this amazing food transportation organization delivers thirty dollars’ worth of food to someone who is hungry. If this impresses you as much as it does me, check out Second Servings at this link:  https://secondservingshouston.org/donate-now.

When I think of the extravagant nine-course meal served at the Brandywine Valley birthday party in my novel, MURDER IN THE ONE PERCENT, I wish I could donate the leftovers to an organization like Second Servings. Let’s all make our end-of-the-year tax-deductible donations count this year, because we are all in this together!

 

Saralyn Richard was born with a pen in her hand and ink in her veins. Check out her mysteries and children’s book at http://saralynrichard.com, and sign up for her monthly newsletter for fun content and special opportunities.

 

Now until December 31, enter the Goodreads giveaway for Saralyn’s upcoming release, A MURDER OF PRINCIPAL. https://bit.ly/2Vk7roZ

 

Three Wishes by Debra H. Goldstein

Three Wishes by Debra H. Goldstein

I’m tired.

It’s been quite a year – lockdowns, masks, two surgeries (removal of the hardware from the foot rebuilt a few years ago and cataract), building and moving into a new house, prepping and selling a house, finding a place to live during the weeks between the 7 hour house sale and the finishing of the new house, writing and editing a book, launching two books, writing and editing three new short stories, balancing the needs of my husband, and cooking more than I have in the thirty-seven years we’ve been married.

I don’t have any complaints – it’s just that I’m tired.

So, what I’m going to do is not write a full blog. Instead, I’m going to offer a holiday gift of all three of the published Sarah Blair mysteries to three lucky readers (U.S. only) who leave a comment either directly on the blog or on Facebook – all you have to do is tell me your three wishes for 2021.

 My three wishes are simple: Health, happiness, and prosperity for all.  (and maybe a few more hours of sleep)

The Path Through the Forest of Words

 by Bethany Maines

Writing is both hard and easy.  Like a lot of things, it's a relatively simple process that is accessible to just about everyone.  Sit, type, repeat, and you've got a book.  Also like a lot of things, doing it well is something that takes years of practice and refinement. And the better you do it, the less the effort is apparent. Good writer's make writing seem easy. From the effortless flow of a sentence to the way the plot of a book doesn't strain to contain it's characters, but seems to come directly from the characters themselves. But what can elevate clunky sentences to art?

I'll be giving a guest lecture in a few months to some high-school students on the topic of writing a mystery.  I love connecting with kids and I'm really looking forward to this class, but it got me thinking about how to teach such a thing.  I've been known to teach a variety of things—how to write action scenes, karate, how to pee in the woods. According to my daughter, who was four at the time, that last one is not my strongest topic. But like any skill, there are ways to breakdown each skill and pass on that recipe to the next person. Even if some small children don't want to listen to you, not peeing on your underwear is still an achievable goal.  As is writing a mystery.  But can I teach someone how to write a good mystery?  

As I have pondered the ins-and-outs of good writing and mystery's and teaching I've come to the conclusion and I don't think I can teach someone how to write well.  I can teach someone how to be competent and I can give them an entire toolbox of tips and tricks, but I think in the end the only person that can make a writer write well is... the writer. I think that it really comes down to the practice and ambition of the writer to push themselves beyond craftsmanship and into art.

I hope I’m on the path to art as I wander through the forests of words, but I have to admit that on some days, the best I can say is that I didn’t pee on my underwear.

Writer Update: The Lost Heir – The Deveraux Legacy prequel novella is now available! Catch up on all the Deveraux family dirt.

Aʟʟ Rᴇᴛᴀɪʟᴇʀs﹕ ʜᴛᴛᴘs﹕//ʙᴏᴏᴋs2ʀᴇᴀᴅ.ᴄᴏᴍ/Lᴏsᴛ-Hᴇɪʀ

𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏.

Jackson Deveraux was orphaned, abandoned and imprisoned, but life is about to hand him a second chance and a new family. Eleanor Deveraux lost her children in a plane crash and she’s in danger of losing her grandchildren to the Deveraux Legacy of drugs, abuse and secrets, but life is about to hand her Jackson. When Eleanor discovers an illegitimate grandson in prison for armed-robbery she grits her teeth and does her duty—she gets him out. But being out of prison doesn’t instantly make Jackson part of the family. And as Jackson and his cousins struggle to find common ground, Eleanor steers Jackson away from befriending her other grandchildren. She only needs Jackson to keep them out of trouble—not be their friend. But Jackson and Dominique, the youngest Deveraux cousin, have other plans and, as his first Christmas as Deveraux arrives, Jackson sets himself on the path to fixing the Deveraux clan and getting the family he’s always wanted.

 **

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

 

 

Gay Yellen: Finding Comfort and Joy

In the before-times, the term "twenty-twenty" usually indicated good news.

"Hey! Your eyesight is normal!" Or, "Wow! Your logic is clear-sighted!"

This year, a not-so-good connotation arose. At the end of December, when calendar turns, twenty-twenty will forever signify our historic year of global pandemic.

At our house, the trials we've endured have led us to count our blessings. We survived. So many things that we once took for granted have sustained us and saved us from running naked in the streets, howling like banshees. Through social isolation, family separation and, yes, fear of infection, we've learned to count our lucky stars, dim as they sometimes have seemed.

We've found a few uplifting—and often downright silly—activities to keep us sane. A friend turned us on to the old TV mystery series, Murdoch, about a 19th Century police detective who sometimes invents forensic tools to solve crimes. The show is easy on the psyche and a much-needed antidote to our relentless daily news.

 

Even better, we've dug out some of my parents' old LP's of original Broadway shows. We plunk them on the turntable, sing along with great gusto, and dance around the room until we're breathless. No worries about looking foolish. After all, no one's watching.

On nice days, we walk in the park, feed the squirrels, and summon the wintering ducks. My husband's spot-on Donald Duck impression can spark quite a lakeside conversation.

And sometimes, he cooks. Today, he's making turkey vegetable soup, a seasonal change from his delicious chopped salads. There's some to give to neighbors and plenty to freeze for later.

And there's joy to be found in books. Reading is a great way to while away hours in isolation. Because finishing Book 3 of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series has been my top priority this year, I've read less than usual. But gobs of books are in my to-be-read file, and I look forward to the day when I can start whittling the list down.

Finding comfort and joy in small pleasures helps lift our hearts. I hope you're finding ways to grab some for yourself.

What have you found to spark joy these days?

Wishing you a warm December, full of books and love.

Gay Yellen

P.S. Oh! I almost forgot: Mark your calendar for the last week in December when you can pick up The Body Business, Book #1 in the Samantha Newman Mystery Series, free.

Gay Yellen is a former magazine and book editor. She writes the award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series, including The Body Business and The Body Next Door. Book #3 in the series is slated for release in 2021.

Gay would love to hear from you, here, on Facebook, or at her website, GayYellen.com.

Easy Festive Holiday Dessert

 By Debra Sennefelder   

Happy Holidays! It's clear that this holiday season is going to be different from years past. But that doesn't mean it can't be merry and festive and yummy! And I have the perfect dessert to whip up that will impress. Mini-Eggnog Cranberry Pound Cakes. You can also make one large cake if you choose. Take a look at the little beauties.

I had an island full of those yummy little cakes. Ready for the recipe? Okay, let's do this.

What you'll need:

One box of pound cake mix along withe the ingredients listed on the box but you'll replace the milk with eggnog and you'll add 3/4 cup finely chopped cranberries and a dash of vanilla to the batter. In addition, you'll dust each cake with confectioner's sugar.

See. I told you it was simple!

Once the cakes cool, you'll dust them with the sugar and then wrap with cellophane and tie with ribbon if you'll be delivering them.

 

There you go! A treat that definitely will impress. 

Now, I'd love to hear your best kitchen shortcut.

Turkey pileup on aisle 10!

 by Sparkle Abbey

Like most of the world, we “canceled” our traditional Thanksgiving gathering. Instead, we celebrated with only the family members we lived with, which was 2-4 people, and Zoomed with the rest of the family.  And while the size of the turkey was reduced from the typical twenty-two pounds to a paltry ten pounds, one of us doesn’t know how to cook a Thanksgiving meal for less than 10 people. So we were left with a pileup of turkey, ham, stuffing, glazed carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, corny cornbread, and rolls. What to do with all that leftover food?

The truth is, you can only eat so many boring ham or turkey sandwiches, right? Eventually, even we have to get creative and transform those bland leftovers into something we want to eat. Plus, we need room in the fridge for Christmas cookies and fudge. After a quick Google search, we actually found a couple of recipes we liked, that was not only super easy to make but pretty quick to throw together. Sorry, we didn’t take any photos of our actual dinners, but we promise the meals were delicious!

Enjoy!

Easy Shepard Pie
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped leftover turkey
• 1 cup gravy
• 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 cup stuffing
• 1 cup mashed

Directions:

1. Preheat over 350 degrees.
2. Grease two ramekins with cooking spray.
3. Combine chopped turkey with gravy.
4. Layer equal amounts of ingredients in each ramekin in the following order:

        Turkey and gravy
        Frozen vegetables
        Stuffing
        Mashed potatoes

  5. Place ramekins on a baking sheet, place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until potatoes slightly brown.

Serve warm.

 

Turkey Tortellini Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced celery
• 1/4  cup thinly sliced carrots
  
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 3 cups turkey stock or chicken broth
• 2 cups chopped or shredded leftover turkey
• 1 (9-oz.) pkg. refrigerated tortellini of your choice
• 1 (5-oz.) pkg. fresh spinach
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Shaved Parmesan cheese

 

Directions: 

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high.
2. Add onion, celery, and carrots; cook, stirring often, until vegetables begin to soften, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Add garlic. Stir for about 1 minute.
4.  Add turkey/chicken stock and cooked turkey, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes.
5.  Add tortellini, and simmer until tortellini are cooked per directions on the package.  Usually 6-7 minutes.
6.  Stir in spinach, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat. Top each serving with shaved Parmesan cheese.

Leftover Ham & Cheese Brunch Bake

Ingredients: 

• 10 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup milk
  
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, plus more for garnish
  
• 1 tsp garlic powder
  
• Salt & pepper 
  
• 4 cups of cubed bread (Crusty bread, like French bread works best.)
  
• 8 ounces of chopped ham
  
• 1 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (Can be regular cheddar or white cheddar.) 

Directions:  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, mustard, thyme, & garlic powder.
3. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
4. Butter a large baking dish. Add bread and top with ham and cheese. 
5. Pour egg mixture over the top.
6. Bake until eggs are cooked through – approximately 45 to 55 minutes. 
7. Reserve a little of the thyme for garnish and add it before serving. 

Note: The bake is even better if you make it the night before, cover with foil, and refrigerate overnight

Here are the links to the original recipes:

https://www.today.com/food/sandra-lee-uses-thanksgiving-leftovers-make-shepherd-s-pie-t200150?cid=sm_npd_td_tw_ma

https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/turkey-tortellini-soup-greens

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don't tell the other neighbors.) 

They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites. Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website

Clicking Our Heels: Creativity

Creativity – what a magical word. The Stiletto Gang examines when and where we get our creative ideas.

Dru Ann Love – Sometimes while sitting on the train I’ll come up with a great blurb to put in one of my musings, and I try to remember it, but I never do.

 

Julie Mulhern – I get my best ideas walking or in the sower – places where I’m without a pen and paper.

 

Juliana Aragon Fatula – Full moons wake me in the night. I write until I fall asleep. Other times, I have a memory that sparks an idea. Or a song lyric, or a painting might inspire me to think, what if …

 

T.K. Thorne – They seem to flow best when I am in the car-which is why my husband won’t let me drive when we are together….

 

Robin Hillyer-Miles – My ideas come from my dreams, from random events that occur to me and around me and from talking with people. A seed of an idea will be a gateway to a story. It doesn’t take much to get my imagination going.

 

Debra Sennefelder – Everywhere. Anytime. Just the other day I was finishing up the final edits on a Resale Boutique manuscript before sending it to my publisher and an idea for a scene in my next Food Blogger book popped into my head.

 

Kathryn Lane – Growing up in Mexico, at a time when the country had an important story telling tradition, gave me a head start in creativity. Life was difficult in Mexico, and escaping into a fantasy world of storytelling gave many people an outlet for their frustrations. I benefitted from hearing the tales invented by my grandmothers and other women in the community.

 

Debra H. Goldstein – Out of thin air. I hear a phrase and the words jump me into a new place to write.

 

Shari Randall – I get a lot of ideas from those free shopper magazines that you find in a rack by the door at CVS. Calendar sections with articles about locations, history and culture are rich sources of inspiration.

 

Lynn McPherson – My creative ideas come at random moments throughout the day, often when I’m doing something completely unrelated.

 

Paula Benson – They often seem as if they come from everywhere, but truly I think they come from the spark that makes me question “what if?” I can see something that intrigues me, but until my imagination takes that next step [for instance: Look at that slope of rocks down to the creek. What if there was a body there? How did it get there and who found it?] it’s just an interesting fact.

 

Sparkle Abbey

Mary Lee Ashford - Often a spark from talking with someone, reading a news story, or the fragment of a thought. More than likely nothing comes of the initial spark but then another something will come along that when you put them together, viola! You have a story idea. 

Cathy Perkins - Walking, riding in a car, anything that lets my mind wander and allows my creativity to slip the leash. But a random comment at a party or a snippet of a song may also make me think, Hmm, what if...

Anita Carter - Ideas are everywhere. The news, books, songs, people’s personal stories, conversations. The hard part is REMEMBERING all the ideas. That’s why writers always carry notebooks and pens. If you dumped out my purse right now, you'd find at least two notebooks and 3 or 4 pens.

 

When Pigs Fly

 

"When pigs fly" is an adynaton, an absurd figure of speech to describe an action or event that will never happen. But in literature, there are several examples of pigs that take action or participate in events, and a few indeed fly.

In real life in 2020, pigs are flying…on commercial airlines!

A consequence of less people on flights is that airline companies are repurposing their planes to take pigs around the globe. That’s right – the cargo bays of jets are transporting more animals than ever before, especially hogs to China. In addition to the flight crew, animal handlers are on board to monitor the pigs’ temperaments and to fill the porcine sipper bottles. The only drawback, according to handlers, is the distasteful aroma of even the cleanest and most scrubbed-down porcine.

Returning to the idea of pigs in literature, most western kids grow up reading or at least hearing about The Three Little Pigs. In recent years, children may have read The Three Little Javelinas, where the story is recast with wild boars of the Southwestern US. They build their home using tumbleweed, saguaro ribs, and adobe. A coyote huffs and puffs to blow the house down instead of a wolf. And there’s The Three Ninja Pigs intended to take literary swine to ninja fans. And in Today I Will Fly, Piggie is determined to fly.

But the best example of pigs in literature is perhaps Animal Farm.

If George Orwell were writing Animal Farm today, would he have Napoleon and Snowball argue about taking over the future of aviation, placing pigs in the cockpit, having flight attendants take alcoholic drinks to the passengers in first class? Would it be Mr. Jones who would be in the cargo bay?

Would Orwell have the common animals in coach peering into first class and the cockpit, and realize they could no longer differentiate the swine from the humans?

Leaving Orwell aside, I can see Noah’s Ark becoming Noah’s Jet. Instead of embarking on a boat, the giraffes, elephants, chipmunks, bears, antelopes, horses, birds, and remaining critters could simply board a Boing 777 or an Airbus A330, and fly off to higher ground until the flood waters recede.

Personally, I will never get on another jet without wondering if unpleasant odors will rise from the cargo
bay. For that, I already have my mask ready!

Do you have your mask?

                                                                    ***

The Nikki Garcia Mystery Series  -  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GZNF17G

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in international finance with a major multinational corporation. After two decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery and suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

Book Credits:

The Three Little Pigs by Joseph Jacobs, first published on June 19, 1890

The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell/Illustrated by Jim Harris

The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz/Illustrated by Dan Santat

Today I Will Fly by author/illustrator Mo Willems

Photo Credits:

Flying Pigs by BugMan50 – licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Animal Farm book cover – Public Domain

Flying Pig Mask – Public Domain

Kathryn’s books – designs by Bobbye Marrs