Alene pulled out her old blender and made an edamame/avocado dip followed by a kale and parsley... < Back Edamame – Avocado Dip November 19, 2019 Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 3 Minutes Serves: About 2 Cups of Dip Tags: Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Dips and Sauces, Vegan About the Recipe p.220 Battered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery Alene felt stunned that Kacey was back in rehab and ashamed that she’d been so impatient with Frank, who said, “There’s a crazy person on the loose and I think all of you need to be cautious right now. Can you make sure your staff is on the alert for anything unusual and try not to be alone? Also, could you do me a personal favor and check your phone more often? You do have me on speed dial, right?” She nodded as Frank and Jack left. He didn’t have to speak to her as if she were a child, she thought glumly. She turned away, instead of admiring Frank’s muscular back and confident stride. She sat down and added him to her speed dial after her father, Ruthie, Lydia, and Brianne. Grabbing an apple from the counter, she headed to her office. It was the end of the month and she had to finish ordering and to work on payroll. She holed up in her office for a few hours, drank more decaf espresso with almond milk, and ate a raw kale Alene pulled out her old blender and made an edamame/avocado dip followed by a kale and parsley dip for the next morning. She grumbled to herself because the dips weren’t as smooth and fluffy as those made with the blender whose base was in police custody. Ingredients 12 oz frozen bag raw edamame (Trader Joe has them) 1 avocado ½ cup lemon juice About 2 tsp mixed herbs (basil, parsley, oregano – whatever you have) ½ tsp dry garlic or a fresh garlic clove ½ tsp salt ½ tsp pepper Preparation Cook edamame and garlic in the microwave about 1 -2 minutes Let it sit and cool for a few minutes Toss everything into a food processor or professional blender Taste for seasonings and add more salt, pepper or lemon as needed Previous Next

Gorgeous color, bright flavor, and filled with nutrients! < Back Spinach & Green Pea Dip/Sauce March 23, 2023 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Serves: 10-12 (but it'll last all week) Tags: Dips and Sauces, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free About the Recipe I always keep spinach and green peas in the freezer, and fresh lemons in the refrigerator, so this is a quick, healthy dip that we also pour over rice or pasta. I've also thinned it with olive oil and sprinkled on pepper to turn it into a salad dressing. Ingredients 2 cups (or a hefty handful) fresh or frozen spinach 1 cup frozen green peas 1 TBPS roasted pine nuts ½ tsp salt 1 TBSP (or a good squeeze) of lemon Preparation Blend together. Pour over rice/pasta/other grains or serve with vegetables as a dip. We love it. Previous Next

Lydia Warren has a particular kind of amnesia. She vaguely recalls arriving in Santorini with a one-armed man whom she calls David Copperfield, who takes care of her. Lydia spends her days watching the sea and the changing light, trying to remember who she is. < Back The Weary God of Ancient Travelers Jessica Stilling November 2, 2021 Lydia Warren has a particular kind of amnesia. She vaguely recalls arriving in Santorini with a one-armed man whom she calls David Copperfield, who takes care of her. Lydia spends her days watching the sea and the changing light, trying to remember who she is. She takes walks, befriends a kindly old antiques dealer who might have been a Nazi and a French woman who helps people remember their past lives. Bits and pieces of what might or might not have been past lives appear in brief visions. A lamp she buys from the antiques dealer reminds her of an New York apartment she once lived in, but it’s the 1960’s, well before she was born. Then she’s visited by someone from The Hague investigating war crimes, and she learns that she has an uncle who lives like a hermit behind a monastery, also somewhere in Greece. This is a story about memory, the mysterious workings of the brain, and the human capacity for forgiveness. Jessica Sticklor earned a BA from the New School and an MFA in Creative Writing from the City University of New York. Before The Weary God of Ancient Travelers, she wrote The Beekeeper’s Daughter (Bedazzled Ink Press), Betwixt and Between (IG Publishing), Nod, and the young adult Pan Chronicles Series (D.X. Varos). Her short stories have appeared in The Warwick Review, The Hawaii Pacific Review and Wasifiri, and her nonfiction has appeared in The Writer Magazine, Ms. Magazine, and Tor.com. She has worked as an editor at THe Global City Press and the The Global City Review and has taught creative writing at both high school and university level. She has published young adult fantasy under the name J.M. Stephen, lives in southern Vermont, and writes for the very local newspaper, the Deerfield Valley News. Jessica grew up in the Chicagoland area. She has lived in New York City and Southwestern Vermont. She loves skiing, hiking, Virginia Woolf and anything Icelandic. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

No dairy, low-sugar, healthful, delicious! < Back Fudgy Chocolate Butternut Squash Muffins June 18, 2019 Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 20 - 25 Minutes Serves: 12 Muffins Tags: Muffins and Breads, Gluten Free About the Recipe p.186 Battered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery She cut through the alley, unlocked the back entrance and stepped into Whipped and Sipped’s kitchen. The comforting smell of yeast, the enticement of cinnamon and the complexity of chocolate all soothed Alene, who realized she’d been holding her shoulders and neck in awkward stiffness. Ruthie approached with a steaming cup of her favorite espresso topped with whipped almond milk, cocoa and cinnamon powder. “I talked to Isobel, and she couldn’t get any information about Kacey,” said Alene. “That poor girl,” said Ruthie. “Let’s send her some healthy food as soon as we know where they took her. You’re not going to believe this, but Edith came in today.” Alene took a sip of her coffee and nodded, saying, “I texted her last night and told her to take whatever time she needed, but I see her through the kitchen door – looks like she’s back making smoothies.” “Yup,” said Ruthie, thrusting her hands into a large bowl and pulling out a ball of dough. Ingredients 1 cup smooth almond butter or peanut butter (room temperature) 2 eggs 3/4 cup pure maple syrup 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt 1 tsp baking soda 3/4 cup pureed butternut squash* ½ to 1 cup chocolate chips (more is more) *To prepare the squash, spread a 12 oz bag of fresh or frozen cubed squash onto a pan. Spray with olive oil and roast for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees. Cool. Measure out about ¾ of a cup and use the rest in a salad or some other dish. Or, if you’re feeling lazy, just use about 3/4 can of pumpkin instead (but not pumpkin pie filling). Preparation Preheat oven to 350 degrees Set 12 regular or 24 mini muffin liners in a muffin tray In processor, blend butternut squash until smooth Add almond/peanut butter with eggs, maple syrup and vanilla and blend together Add cocoa powder, salt and baking soda, pulse 3 – 4 times Add chocolate and pulse twice Spoon into the muffin cups and bake about 20 – 25 minutes Cool before serving, if you can wait that long Previous Next

"We can't all be heroes. Some try and succeed. Others posture and pretend. And a few--just a few--set off on their hero's quest only to discover that failure was within them all along." < Back Compass Murray Lee December 13, 2022 We can't all be heroes. Some try and succeed. Others posture and pretend. And a few--just a few--set off on their hero's quest only to discover that failure was within them all along. Murray Lee's Compass (Publerati, 2022) recounts the adventures of a man who, after traveling the world shilling stories for a major geographic magazine about historic expeditions and explorers, sets out on an adventure of his own--an ill-advised and poorly planned trip to the Arctic floe edge under the disorienting twenty-four-hour summer sun. When the ice breaks and his guide disappears, the narrator ends up alone and adrift in the hostile northern sea. He draws on his knowledge of historic expeditions to craft his own, inept, attempt at survival. As time passes and he becomes increasingly disoriented, his obsession with Sedna, the Inuit goddess of the sea, becomes terrifyingly real. Part Life of Pi, part Into the Wild, Compass draws heavily on true historical adventures, Inuit mythology, and its Arctic setting. The narrator, a self-aware buffoon who remains nameless throughout, is both remarkably well-informed and entirely useless. He knows just enough to steer himself into the path of disaster--repeatedly, often comically, and ultimately tragically. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

This book introduced the intrepid 11-year-old protagonist, Flavia de Luce, who lives in an enormous manor house in England, with her widowed father and two sisters. It’s 1950, and England is still rebuilding itself after WWII. < Back The Flavia de Luce Mystery Series Alan Bradley October 11, 2019 Alan Bradley ’s first mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie , came out in 2009, and received the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, the Agatha Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Macavity Award and the Spotted Owl Award. This book introduced the intrepid 11-year-old protagonist, Flavia de Luce, who lives in an enormous manor house in England, with her widowed father and two sisters. It’s 1950, and England is still rebuilding itself after WWII. Another book has followed each year. Golden Tresses of the Dead , the 10th novel in the series, was released in early 2019, and continues the escapades of now orphaned Flavia, who is being cared for, along with her annoying little cousin Undine, by a staff of servants. Flavia collaborates with the estate gardener, Dogger, who was her father's previous army companion and has a surprising repertoire of talents. Together, they solve whatever crimes pop up in the seemingly peaceful little English town of Bishop’s Lacey. In addition to the Flavia de Luce Mystery Series, Canadian-born author Alan Bradley is the author of many short stories, children's stories, newspaper columns, and the memoir, The Shoebox Bible. He co-authored Ms. Holmes of Baker Street with the late William A.S. Sarjeant. Alan Bradley and his wife live on the Isle of Mann in the middle of the Irish Sea. He began writing the series after retiring from the University of Saskatchewan, where, among other things, he taught television broadcast engineering and designed engineering studios. When not writing, he can be found reading, and often, both take place in his bed. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Sixteen-year-old Leni O’Hare loves her horse, so when her mother tries to sell it, she rides as far as she can. It’s 1972, and she ends up falling in love with another horse-lover. < Back Because I Loved You Donnaldson Brown April 11, 2023 Today I talked to Donnaldson Brown about her new novel Because I Loved You (She Writes Press 2023). Sixteen-year-old Leni O’Hare loves her horse, so when her mother tries to sell it, she rides as far as she can. It’s 1972, and she ends up falling in love with another horse-lover. Seventeen-year-old Caleb McGrath plays football with Leni’s beloved older brother Foy, and dreams of a future far from East Texas. Leni and Caleb fall in love and make the plans of young lovers, but they’re both torn between their desire and following their dreams. Tragedy strikes and turns everyone’s world apart, Caleb’s brother Hank has just returned from Vietnam filled with rage, and Leni needs Hank’s help to escape. Leni and Caleb build their lives separately until they’re pulled together again in New York City in the 1980s. Passion isn’t quite enough in this wide-ranging tale of young love, consequences, and finding home. An attorney and former screenwriter, Donnaldson Brown ran the New York office of Robert Redford’s film development company for several years. A student of theater (and clowning), her spoken word pieces have been accepted for performance by The Deep Listening Institute’s Writers in Performance and Women & Identity Festivals in New York City, and in the Made in the Berkshires Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She’s been awarded multiple residencies. She is a longtime resident of both Brooklyn, New York, and western Massachusetts, and grew up riding horses on a family ranch in northeast Texas and in her native Connecticut. Ms. Brown is currently a facilitator and trainer with The Equus Effect, offering somatic based experiential learning with horses for veterans, first responders and others struggling with post-traumatic stress injuries. She is certified to teach meditation and several forms of yoga. Ms. Brown is also a proud mother who loves to sing, and cycle, and hike with her dogs. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Set mostly in a remote cabin in the foothills of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, Trust Me is about a divorced dad who drives forty-five minutes to work and back each day. < Back Trust Me Scott Nadelson September 17, 2024 Today I talked to Scott Nadelson's novel Trust Me (Forest Avenue Press, 2024). After his divorce, Lewis moves into the cabin he bought as a vacation home towards the end of his marriage. It’s in the foothills of the Cascade mountains, a forty-five-minute drive from his twelve-year-old daughter’s school and his tedious government job in Salem, Oregon. In fifty-two short stories that alternate between Skye and her father’s viewpoint, we learn about a challenging, sometimes difficult year of hiking, fishing, reading, foraging for mushrooms, and cooking meals without television, computers, or cellphones to distract them from nature or each other. Their relationship changes over the months, but the love between father and daughter pulls them through the tragedy that changes everything. Scott Nadelson is the author of nine books, most recently the novel Trust Me and the short story collection While It Lasts . His work has appeared in Ploughshares, New England Review, Harvard Review , and The Best American Short Stories , and he teaches a range of creative writing classes, including introductory multi-genre, fiction, and creative nonfiction at Willamette University and in the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. He earned a BA in English from the University of North Carolina, an MA from Oregon State University, and an MFA in creative writing from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. When he isn't reading, writing, or teaching, he spends much of his time foraging for wild mushrooms in the foothills of Oregon's Cascade Mountains and cheering on his child's roller derby team. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

It’s December 1667 and London is still recovering both from the Plague and the Great Fire. Lucy Campion visits retired judge Master Hargrave and discovers that he’s been attacked and robbed in his home. < Back The Cry of the Hangman Susanna Calkins November 16, 2021 It’s December 1667 and London is still recovering both from the Plague and the Great Fire. Lucy Campion visits retired judge Master Hargrave and discovers that he’s been attacked and robbed in his home. She once worked as a maid for the judge, but she learned how to read and now works as a sort of printer’s apprentice. It turns out that a stash of the judge’s papers has been stolen. Then, while Lucy is working, trying to interest buyers in the books she has helped print, a rival storyteller poaches the crowd she has convened, and it becomes clear that his tales are directly connected to the judge’s stolen papers. When she hears someone being murdered, and that too is connected to the judge’s papers, Lucy is determined to figure out who is trying to destroy his name. In The Cry of the Hangman (Severn House, 2021), the historian Susanna Calkins also manages to convey 17th century British views about order and justice, crime and punishment, legal and illegal marriages, the possibility of moving out of the social order to which one is born, and enthusiasm for the accessibility of printed materials. Susanna Calkins writes the award-winning Lucy Campion historical mysteries set in 17th century London and the Speakeasy Murders set in 1920s Chicago. Her books have been nominated for the Anthony, Agatha, Mary Higgins Clark, the Lefty awards, and her third mystery received the Macavity. Holding a doctorate in history, she is currently an educator at Northwestern University. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and two sons. When she’s not writing or working--or maybe when she is--she enjoys interesting wines, beers and cocktails. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Now Alene began measuring ingredients for Ruthie’s strawberry breakfast cake. < Back Almond Berry Breakfast Cake (gluten-free/vegan) March 24, 2020 Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 50 Minutes Serves: 12 Slices of Cake Tags: Breakfast, Vegan, Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Cakes & Pies & Icing About the Recipe p. 28 Smothered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery #2 Now Alene began measuring ingredients for Ruthie’s strawberry breakfast cake. Neal had probably let the children eat fatty, salty burgers and fries at dinner the night before. She hoped he’d bring them to his mother’s place for lunch today. Mitzi always showered them with love, brought them to the playground, let them people-watch from her balcony, and sent them home well-fed and happy. If Mitzi had to work and couldn’t take the kids, Neal would do some activity that required little effort and get them fast food, the kind Alene rarely allowed. He’d probably introduce them to another one of his girlfriends, so that they’d be confused and upset. They’d all be crying by the time they got home. At least her father was being cared for. Blanca, Alene’s cleaning lady who had morphed into caregiver for her dad, would come at eight and stay until Cal fell asleep after lunch. Alene would probably get home before he woke up. Even though he liked being alone in the apartment and accused Alene of fussing, she tried to make sure someone was always close by. She worried that he’d fall, since his disease, finally diagnosed the previous year, caused weakening in his muscles. Or maybe he’d drop a glass that would shatter, and she’d come home to find him bleeding on the kitchen floor. Cal assured Alene that he was doing his exercises, building up his strength, and would soon be back to walking the bike path two miles to the North Avenue bridge and back. Ingredients 1 cup non-dairy milk ¼ cup oil 1 small seeded apple 1 small seeded tangerine or orange ½ cup maple syrup or agave 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar 1 tsp pure vanilla extract ½ tsp almond extract 2 cups almond flour 1 cup oats 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp salt 1 cup of washed berries (strawberries should be halved or chopped) 2 TBSP almond or other gluten-free flour Preparation In blender or processor, blend all liquid ingredients In a large bowl, stir dry ingredients Pour wet into dry ingredients and stir a few times until blended Pour into a prepared 8” round or loaf pan Toss berries with flour and press lightly into the batter Bake at preheated 350 oven for about 50 minutes until nicely browned Cool in pan before plating or serving I like refrigerating this cake but it can be left out on the counter for a couple of days Previous Next

At the end of a long, sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. < Back What Storm, What Thunder Myriam J. A. Chancy January 18, 2022 At the end of a long, sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster--Richard, an expat and wealthy water-bottling executive with a secret daughter; the daughter, Anne, an architect who drafts affordable housing structures for a global NGO; a small-time drug trafficker, Leopold, who pines for a beautiful call girl; Sonia and her business partner, Dieudonné, who are followed by a man they believe is the vodou spirit of death; Didier, an emigrant musician who drives a taxi in Boston; Sara, a mother haunted by the ghosts of her children in an IDP camp; her husband, Olivier, an accountant forced to abandon the wife he loves; their son, Jonas, who haunts them both; and Ma Lou, the old woman selling produce in the market who remembers them all. Artfully weaving together these lives, witness is given to the desolation wreaked by nature and by man. Brilliantly crafted, fiercely imagined, and deeply haunting, What Storm, What Thunder: A Novel (Tin House Books, 2021) is a singular, stunning record, a reckoning of the heartbreaking trauma of disaster, and--at the same time--an unforgettable testimony to the tenacity of the human spirit. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Burdened by the pressing weight of survivor's guilt, Sean McPherson, an ex-cop, is desperate for redemption. < Back Iconoclast: A Sean McPherson Novel Laurie Buchanan August 29, 2022 A trained killer without a drop of human compassion shows up early in Laurie Buchanan’s second Sean McPherson thriller (Iconoclast (Spark Press 2022)). She has no problem murdering a woman and taking her place at a writer’s retreat in beautiful Washington State. But she’s controlled by a Seattle-based crime family that is spreading its tentacles across the Bellingham Bay, a perfect location for trafficking drugs and people across the Pacific Ocean. The book opens with the murder of a priest, who turns out to be the brother of the retreat’s proprietor, and a gourmet cook. The lovely Pine and Quill offers several cabins, one for each writer, and enticing-sounding gourmet meals. The iconoclast is there to kill someone who might know too much, and it takes some time before Sean McPherson, a former cop, is pulled in. Can he save his fiancé and protect the other guests? Laurie Buchanan, who earned a PhD in Holistic Health with a emphasis in energy medicine from National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, writes the Sean McPherson novels— fast-paced thrillers set in the Pacific Northwest that feature a trifecta of malice and the pursuit and cost of justice. A cross between Dr. Dolittle, Nanny McPhee, and a type-A Buddhist, Buchanan is an active listener, observer of details, payer of attention, reader and writer of books, kindness enthusiast, and red licorice aficionado. Her books have won multiple awards, including Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Gold Winner, International Book Award Gold Winner, National Indie Excellence Awards Winner, Crime Fiction/Suspense Eric Hoffer Awards Finalist, PenCraft Award for Literary Excellence, and CLUE Book Awards finalist Suspense/Thriller Mysteries. In addition to reading, her passions include long walks, bicycling, camping, and photography— because sometimes the best word choice is a picture. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next