Tuesday Treats: Festive Fall Foods and a Book

This is Thanksgiving week. I’m lucky. My favorite BiL and SiL are hosting both sides of the family at their place. I’m doing a couple of things but mostly, I just have to show up and eat wonderful food. Still, it’s fall and that makes it time for foods that are uniquely autumnal in nature. I have no actual recipes and you may have to slow/stop the video to catch up but da-yam. There are some tasty looking tidbits, treats, and a toastable libation. I’m looking at the crock-pot spice cake, the apple bread pudding, the fall sangria, the cheddar potato bites, and those loaded sweet potatoes. What’s your favorite? Will you attempt any of these goodies?

rescue-moonkwOh, and I just happen to have a book releasing today… Trust me, Hawk and the other Wolves would dive into the goodies in this video. 😉

His secret should have been safe…
Master Sergeant Hawkins “Hawk” Greenwood has all his tickets punched—Green Beret, Ranger, Delta Force, and working ops so secret they don’t show up in his personnel file. On loan to Captain Ghost Bryson’s Delta Force team as a survival instructor, Hawk receives new orders: rescue a school teacher kidnapped in Mexico. His full-blood Choctaw heritage is great for going undercover south of the border, but his secret ability to shift into a wolf makes him uniquely qualified for this assignment.

Her safety should have been assured…
Anthropologist Dana Peterson assumed she’d be safe working on a project for the Mexican Department of Antiquities with her group of prep school students—until the local drug cartel kidnaps them all. The kids have rich parents to pay their ransoms. Dana has no one. Abandoned by the State Department, her only chance for freedom comes in the form of a wolf attacking her kidnappers. When a mysterious man appears to guide her to safety, it’s not desert heat she needs to worry about, but the chemistry flaring between her and her rescuer.

Her blood is the key…
There’s more at stake than meets the eye. Dana has a target on her back—placed there by a shady geneticist. It’s up to Hawk to keep her safe and claim her as his mate because under the full moon, even hearts can be rescued.

AVAILABLE TODAY EXCLUSIVELY FROM AMAZON! Click HERE to get your copy!

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Monday Thanks

monday-means-nothingYeah, cats and writers. Thanksgiving is Thursday. This is Day 21 of #NaNoWriMo. As I start the day, I’m only about 400 words from reaching today’s minimum goal. That said, I need to hit my 2500 word count to stay ahead. Wow. I live an exciting life. 😆

So…I have this thing tomorrow. It’s call a book release. I don’t have links yet. Thanks Amazon Kindle Worlds. 😛 Anyway, RESCUE MOON goes live at midnight tonight or thereabouts. I’ll share links as soon as I have them. Set against the backdrop of Susan Stoker’s Special Forces: Operation Alpha, the story is about one of my Wolves, Hawkins “Hawk” Greenwood and his heroine, anthropologist Dana Peterson. It’s fun. It’s sexy. You want to buy it. Trust me!

Football. There was some. OSU won. OSU almost got beaten by Michigan State. I was really rooting for MSU. Wait…What?!?! 😆 MY ‘Pokes beat TCU. That fake OSU was almost taken out of the mix by unranked MSU. Ah well. There’s still hope Michigan will take them out. Do your mojo, B.E.! OU also won. The rankings come out tomorrow. I doubt either of my schools make the top four for the playoffs but there’s always hope.

Reading is sort of…unfulfilling at the moment. Sad, right? Every time I get on social media, I end up angry. I want to live in some other world for awhile but no book I’ve opened has caught my attention–not even my old reliables. The TV shows I have DVR’d don’t resonate. There are no movies…okay. I take that last one back. I switched over to the Hallmark channel last night. I sniffled my way through a couple of Hallmark Christmas movies. Normally, I don’t even start on those until after Thanksgiving. The thing is, as much as I enjoy them, they aren’t truly the escape I’d like. Ah well. Depression is such a harsh mistress sometimes. So anyway…

This is week about giving thanks. About family and friends. About remembering the good things in life. So, this is short–for which I’m sure y’all with be thankful. 😉 I’m thankful for each of you. I’m thankful I live in a land that’s free and I wish people could be happy for that instead of sowing discord and upset. Ah well. I can hope.

So, I’m writing and baking this week. What are y’all doing?

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Friday Sinema: Boogie Bear

What a perfect way to end the week. Who knew bears had rhythm?!?! 😀 Have a great weekend!

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Investment

universeWow. Everywhere I look I see such anger and hate. I’m not going to point fingers no matter how much I’d like to tee off on people. Wouldn’t do any good anyway. Those I’d be pointing at don’t believe they are doing anything wrong. And just so you know, I’d be using both fingers. Just sayin’…

That’s why this bit of wisdom from the Universe seems very apropos. Instead of spewing vitriol, why not stop. Take a deep breath. Look for common ground. Find a way to have civil discourse. Talk about differences and why we feel the way we do. I know that’s asking a lot. But it’s an honorable goal. In the meantime, people should take a page from the Universe.

Investment Advice for Turbulent Times:

Kindness pays HUGE dividends, Silver, materially and ethereally, forever and ever.

Love on,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

Live longer, laugh louder, sell more widgets, Silver.

‘Nuff said. May we all find peace and calm sailing in the says ahead. Oh, and here’s to the buying and selling widgets. Can’t ever have too many of those, I always say…

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Wednesday Words: Sit On It

wurkn-on-mai-plan-for-word-domination-caleb-pupToday’s #1lineWed gives writers a choice. I sat on my seat until I could sit no longer. Are you sensing the theme here? 😉 Today’s prompt for a line or, in my case, a snippet is **SIT, SAT, or SEAT**. Here’s a snippet from my upcoming release, RESCUE MOON, part of Susan Stoker’s Special Forces: Operation Alpha Kindle World. It releases next week!

As you know, I’m returning to my Moonstruck world and introducing a new Wolf, Hawk Greenwood, and his heroine Dana Peterson. This snippet is in Dana’s POV. She’s been kidnapped by a drug cartel and held for a week now. Things are about to get very interesting… 😀

The windows all had bars on them and the only door was locked from the outside. At least she was in here alone and they hadn’t tied her up. Small favors, right? Oh, and the cabana had air conditioning. That was something good too, right? Dana chewed and swallowed. Instead of counting blessings, she needed to be figuring out how to escape. She obviously couldn’t count on the American government or Prescott Academy. If she ever got out of this mess… No, she amended. When she got out, she was going to create all sorts of bad press for both entities.

She spent the afternoon fitfully dozing in between bouts of manic pacing. All this waiting was wearing her down. Dana wasn’t sure why her captors were basically ignoring her. On the one hand, she was glad because there were so many truly horrible things they could be doing to her, but she’d become almost numb from the worry.

Night filtered in through the barred windows and lights flickered on outside. Dana wasn’t allowed lights inside the cabana. Like a blind person, she’d learned the furniture placement and how to avoid banging into anything when she walked around. At least the moon was full and being closer to the equator made it big and bright. If free, she’d be able to travel at night, except this was the desert where predators hunted after the sun went down. Better the four-legged killers than the two-legged butchers who would chase her.

The grating of a key in the lock was her first indication that things were happening. She sat up, eyes squinting and her hand hovering, ready to shade them from any glare of light. When the powerful flashlight beam caught her full in the face, she knew she’d been smart to take precautions.
“Let’s go,” a voice growled—an American voice.
***

So, anybody out there ready to sit or have you already sat on your seat? Share those words!

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Tuesday Treats: Pecan Pie Cookies

pecan-pie-cookies-28So…I love pecan pie. I love hot pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. I love hot pecan pie with whipped cream. After this recipe, I may have to add melted chocolate to that list. 😉 So…who else thinks these sound really yummy?

Ingredients
Follow Spend With Pennies on Pinterest for more great recipes!
1 prepared single pie crust (homemade or purchased, the baker used Pillsbury)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
½ cup pecans, chopped
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup corn syrup
2 eggs
⅛ teaspoon salt

Optional
¼ cup semi sweet or milk chocolate chip for decorating

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine butter, pecans, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt and eggs. While constantly stirring, cook on the stove top over medium-low heat just until thickened. (You don’t want it dry, just slightly thickened, about the consistency of pudding). Remove from heat and set aside.

Unroll dough and using a 3″ cookie cutter, cut out circles. Gently fold about ⅛-1/4″ up on the edges.
Spoon 1 tablespoon of the pecan mixture into each circle.

Place on a parchment lined pan (it’s important to line it) and bake 8 minutes or until filling is just set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Place chocolate chips in a small Ziploc bag (use brand name, the store brands tend to leak). Microwave about 15 seconds or until mostly melted. Snip off a tiny corner of the baggie and drizzle chocolate over the cookies. Cool until set.

These hints from the baker (in her words) came from the Spend for Pennies website:

The key to success with this recipe is the consistency of the filling. If it’s too runny, it’ll run out of the mini crusts. If it’s too thick it won’t spread to fill the crusts and caramelize on the edges.

You’ll start by combining all of the filling ingredients and then stirring constantly over low heat until the mixture slightly thickens. Low and slow is definitely the way to go on this recipe!

You’ll want it just slightly thinner than pudding so that once it is put into the crusts it will spread easily. If you happen to cook it a little too long you can mix in up to 1 tablespoon extra corn syrup to get the right consistency.

I very highly recommend baking these on parchment paper as the sugar caramelizes and the filling sometimes slightly overflows. If you don’t use parchment, they will most likely will stick to your baking pan!
I used Pillsbury refrigerated crust in this recipe however, you can use whatever crust is your favorite including homemade!
***

I have not made these but I’m thinking I need to the next time it gets really chilly or rainy outside and I’m not glued to my computer. Maybe in December. 😆

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Monday of the Week of Mondays

week-of-mondaysWhat a crazy week. That’s all I’m going to say about it. I really want to say a lot but this is one of those times when discretion is the better part of ranting. And my week is stacking up to look like the lolpic. *sigh*

So, there was a weekend. We had cooler weather. The real OSU won. Go ‘Pokes! OU won. There were upsets. OU moved up in the rankings. OSU stayed at #13. 😛

The weather was nice.

I didn’t do much reading. I critiqued my CP’s latest project. I wrote some words. Not as many as I’d hoped, but progress on RDR#6. I’m staying slightly ahead of the “curve” for #NaNoWriMo, which is good since I need to finish this book before NaNo is over… 😦

Lawyer Guy and I went out to dinner with some friends at The Ranch. It’s a high-end steak restaurant popular with the rodeo and horse crowd. The AQHA National Championship is in town. There were lots of horse people there. I kept looking for the Barrons to make an appearance. 😉 I had beef medallions, garlic mashed potatoes, and steamed green beans with almonds. The aged beef was magnificent!

Still loving LUCIFER on TV. The writing, character arcs, and acting just gets better and better! NCIS was a repeat. There is no baseball until February. :/

Can you tell I’m in the doldrums? I thought it was safe to come back to social media and the news. Yeah…not so much. ‘Nuff said.

I need to find a good book to read and/or listen to. Any suggestions? I also need to get my @$$ in gear on writing. It would help if my body would finally adjust to the new time. Yeah…no. Four a.m., I’m wide awake. Nine p.m., I’m snoring sitting up with the TV on. Sucks.

Okay, enough of my whining. Please tell me y’all did something fun/constructive/interesting/cool/awesome this weekend!?!?!

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Friday Sinema: Eavesdropping

I think we all need a good laugh…or five. 😉 I don’t watch Fallon but I sometimes trip over his YouTubes. This one made me gigglesnort coffee out of my nose. Yes, that means there’s a liquids alert. As writers, I think we’ve all listened in to other people’s conversations. Fallon checked his Twitter feed to find these. Have a laugh on me! And here’s to a great weekend. Enjoy.

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Thursday Thoughts – Universal Plan

universeSo…the sun rose again today. Amazing how that works. Both candidates talked a lot about hopes and dreams, and it seems the Universe is on the same wavelength.

Until you dream, Silver, there isn’t a mold.

Until you speak, there isn’t a promise.

And until you move, there isn’t a path.

Yet do these simple things, Silver, and you totally own me.

Friendsters forever,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

It really is all about you, Silver.

You can put your own interpretation on this passage. Since I’m in the middle of NaNoWriMo and deadlines, I choose to apply it to writing. Writers dream about characters and plots and settings. They create the mold of their story and then they write the words that go from the opening sentence to THE END. That’s the promise–reaching the end and the moving through the story is the path we follow. Yes, simple things which let the author own the story…

Oh, yeah…it really IS all about me! 😉

What are you dreaming about these days?

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Wednesday Words: My Memory Failed to Remember

wurkn-on-mai-plan-for-word-domination-caleb-pupSo…I remember going to Twitter to find the theme for today’s #1lineWed, but since my memory resembles Swiss cheese and I claim Deadline Brain™, I obviously didn’t get a post up. Then I had massive updates and my poor ol’ Toasterbox just didn’t want to download or install them. There went three hours. Yes, I am full of excuses but since late is better than never, here’s today’s Wednesday Words encompassing #1lineWed’s theme of **REMEMBER or MEMORY** from my soon to be released book, RESCUE MOON (set in Susan Stoker’s Special Forces: Operation Alpha Kindle World):

With supreme effort, Dana got her breathing under control. She’d encountered snakes on dig sites before but never a diamondback rattlesnake, tail shaking, head raised, fangs showing. She’d almost stepped on the thing and would have had Hawk not stopped her. Then she’d heard the drone and knew they were in serious trouble.

Until Hawk erupted into action. How could a man move that fast? She couldn’t remember even breathing while he whisked her out of the way, grabbed the snake and sent it flying. Then she was in his arms and now she was caught between a hot rock and a hotter man. She might be a scientist but she was very definitely a woman too. Anthropologically speaking, a primitive woman had a list of “must haves” in a potential mate. Master Sergeant Hawk Greenwood ticked off every item on that list. It was all about survival of the fittest and holy Hades was he the fittest of them all.

She fought the urge to push back against him, especially when his erection made itself known by poking her in the bottom. How was it possible to be aroused by such a thing, especially in these circumstances? Dana mentally rolled her eyes. If this kept up, she’d soon be swooning like a Regency romance heroine. Adrenaline, she decided. Fear. That whole flight or fight response and her reaction to a strong man who was totally sexy.
***
How good are you at remembering? Any holes in your memory?

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