< Back Leek and Red Onion Rice Platter October 7, 2021 Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 90 Minutes Serves: 6 - 8 Servings Tags: Entrees, Vegetarian, Vegan About the Recipe ​ Ingredients 6 to 8 small roasted red/yellow peppers 3 large leeks 2 large red onions 2 cups brown rice 4 cups vegetable stock 2 tsp cumin 2 tsp zahtar 6 TBSP good olive oil 1 to 2 cups of wine or vegetable stock to deglaze the pan salt and pepper to taste Preparation On foil or baking sheet, spray and salt the peppers, roast at 400 for about 20 minutes until slightly browned. Clean and slice the leeks. Heat a large sauté pan, add 2 TBSP olive oil, and cook the leeks with zahtar until browned, about 15 minutes. Stir as needed. While that’s cooking, slice up the red onions. When the leeks are done, deglaze the pan with whichever liquid you choose, in 1/2 cup increments, and move them to a bowl. Reheat up 2 more TBSP olive oil, and cook the red onions, this time adding in the cumin. Again deglaze the pan, 1/2 cup at a time, and move them into a separate bowl. Now reheat the pan again, again add 2 TBSP olive oil, stir the rice until all covered, add in 4 cups of stock, bring to a simmer for about 15 – 20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Add stock or wine. As everything cools down, add salt and pepper, starting with about 1/2 tsp at a time, until you love how it tastes. Serve on a big, layered platter. Sometimes I drizzle the tahini on top of this dish so that it looks like frosting. I also forgot to a add a sprig of parsley to the picture – the splash of green is festive! Previous Next

Baking Recipes to Die For Gluten Free, Vegan, Baking Chocolate Hamantaschen These are hamantaschen for grown-ups. Not too sweet; just right. Read Recipe Muffins and Breads, Gluten Free, Baking, Breakfast Gluten-Free Pancakes We were desperate for pancakes so I tweaked another recipe I was working on to make these. Read Recipe Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Baking, Cookies and Brownies, Vegan Ginger-Molasses Cookies G.F. V. "Would you like a pot of chamomile tea?" Read Recipe Muffins and Breads, Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Baking, Vegan Gluten-Free/Nut Free/Vegan Banana Bread The recipes uses 2 bananas and a whole small seed apple. Read Recipe Vegan, Vegetarian, Baking, Cakes & Pies & Icing Chocolate Peanut Butter Frozen Pie A refreshing dessert in the summer and a pleasingly light dessert to nibble on after a heavy winter meal. Read Recipe Vegetarian, Baking, Breakfast, Muffins and Breads, Cakes & Pies & Icing Chocolate Zucchini-Pear Cake GF Healthy enough for breakfast! Read Recipe Baking, Gluten Free, Cakes & Pies & Icing Apple Banana Chocolate Cake (gluten free) The recipe is going to be in my second book, SMOTHERED: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery Read Recipe Muffins and Breads, Baking, Vegan, Gluten Free, Cakes & Pies & Icing Best Chocolate Cake/Muffins GF. V. Didn’t I tell you I was going to be at my Aunt Ivy’s for a barbeque dinner at which I ate purely protein ... Read Recipe Vegan, Gluten Free, Baking, Dips and Sauces, Cakes & Pies & Icing Dairy-free Chocolate Frosting After a night in the refrigerator, it will be thick like a ganache. Read Recipe Muffins and Breads, Baking Challah Traditional recipes never tasted so good! Read Recipe Muffins and Breads, Baking, Vegetarian, Breakfast, Cakes & Pies & Icing Chocolate Zucchini – Apple Cake Yes, we eat this for breakfast! Read Recipe Baking, Cakes & Pies & Icing Apple Crisp The one I made nearly every Friday while my kids were growing up! Read Recipe All Recipes Baking Breakfast Cakes, Pies, & Icing Cookies & Brownies Dips & Sauces Entrees Gluten-Free Muffins & Breads Soup Vegan Vegetarian Load More

< Back Mango-Avocado Salad June 11, 2020 Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes Serves: 4 Servings Tags: Vegan, Vegetarian, Entrees About the Recipe ​ Ingredients 1 Mango cut in small pieces 1 Medium Avocado cut in small pieces 1 cup (or more) chopped Napa cabbage 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/2 cup chopped red onion Juice and zest of one medium lime 1/4 cup Trader Joe’s Chunky Salsa (my favorite – has a smoky flavor) Salt and Pepper to taste (optional) Preparation Serve as shown in sections in the bowl because it looks awesome. Then mix at the table. Or just serve it already mixed. It’ll taste delicious either way! Previous Next

< Back Lemon-Leek Chicken August 6, 2019 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 60 Minutes Serves: 5 Servings Tags: Entrees About the Recipe p. 57 Battered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery Alene hurried back across the hall to her own apartment. The door was unlocked as usual, since they had a doorman, and nothing ever happened. They’d always felt completely safe in the building. Now she’d need to give the kids keys and retrain them about locking the door. Her father and children were sitting together with all eyes glued on a nature special. She opened the refrigerator and freezer, mulling her options. Lemon-leek Chicken seemed like a good idea. She pulled out celery, carrots and leeks, a large package of frozen chicken thighs, and a container of frozen chicken stock. She chopped the vegetables and sautéed them in a little olive oil, defrosted the stock in the microwave and added it to the pot along with the chicken. She covered the pot, and feeling more in control of her emotions, went to tell her father and children about Gary. Alene took a deep breath and turned off the television. “I have some bad news.” Even her father complained, adding his dismayed voice to the children’s sighs. “We were in the middle of a show about sharks, Alene!” Ingredients About a pound of skinless, boneless chicken breasts or thighs 2 leeks (cut in about 1/2/ inch pieces) 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) 4 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (box or homemade) 1 cup rice, faro, or orzo ½ tsp dried dill ½ cup fresh parsley ½ tsp lemon zest Juice of ¼ lemon (or more to taste) 1 tsp apple cider vinegar ½ cup fresh chopped dill ½ tsp kosher or sea salt ½ tsp pepper Preparation Sauté leek in olive oil Pour in stock/broth Add chicken and simmer about 15 minutes Remove chicken and let cool. Add ingredients through lemon zest to pot, including whatever rice or grain you choose Simmer covered until grain is cooked, about 15 minutes Continue simmering 5-10 minutes if you want a thicker (less soup-like) sauce Return chicken to pot, squeeze in lemon juice and season w/salt and pepper Serve in soup bowls with a generous amount of chopped dill over each serving Variation: chop a large onion if you don’t have leeks Previous Next

< Back Chocolate Passover Cookies April 5, 2023 Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: About 12 minutes, remove from oven, cool about 15 minutes before tasting. Serves: 18 Cookies Tags: Cookies and Brownies About the Recipe These cookies are also good for dipping in the chocolate sauce that I usually serve with dessert - Ingredients 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 6 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups fine almond flour Preparation Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking pans. In a medium glass bowl, microwave the chocolate chips 1 minute, stir. Microwave an additional minute. Stir until smooth. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and add the vanilla extract. Stir to break up yolks. Add egg mixture to melted chocolate and stir (don't stop stirring until mixture is smooth). Add almond flour to mixture and stir until blended. Pour tablespoonfuls on the lined pans, leave room for them to spread. Optional: sprinkle an additional 1/4 cup of chocolate chips into the mixture before pouring spoonfuls onto the baking pan. You could also add 1/4 cup of sugar (when you add the almond flour) for a sweeter cookie, although we like them just the way they are! Previous Next

< Back Side by Side but Never Face to Face Maggie Kast July 1, 2020 During the first few stories, we think the book centers on Manfred, an Austrian Holocaust survivor whose parents converted out of Judaism to save him from centuries of oppression. He and his third wife, Greta, are forced to mourn the accidental death of their youngest child, a trauma that affects them deeply but differently. Only after several stories focused on Manfred’s upbringing and young adulthood do we realize that the protagonist is his wife and then widow, Greta. Starting in Jamaica, the stories shift back and forth in time and place, from Europe to Chicago to Door County, Wisconsin. We follow Greta’s emotional journey, spiritual longings, and religious awakening as she survives the complexities of a full life. Today I talked to Maggie Kast about her new book Side by Side but Never Face to Face: A Novella and Stories (Orison Books, 2020) Kast received an M.F.A. in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has published fiction in The Sun, Nimrod, Rosebud, Paper Street and others. A chapter of her memoir, published in ACM/Another Chicago Magazine , won a Literary Award from the Illinois Arts Council. Her essays have appeared in America, Image, Writer’s Chronicle, and Superstition Review and have been anthologized in Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs (Beacon Press) and Gravity Pulls You In: Perspectives on Parenting Children on the Autism Spectrum (Woodbine House). Kast is a Board Member of Links Hall , an incubator and presenter of dance and performance art in Chicago. When not writing, Maggie loves cooking, and although she loves traditional midwestern food, also specialized in Viennese cuisine. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

< Back The Orphans of Mersea House Marty Wingate August 22, 2023 Olive Kersey is both penniless and alone at 37 – her brother and her boyfriend both died during WWII, her father not long after, and Olive spent all the years taking care of her ailing mother. Now her mother is dead and Olive has to vacate their rental. She lives in Southwold, a small town on the Suffolk coast of England and her choices are limited until her childhood friend Margery suddenly returns home. Margery has inherited a big old house, and hires Olive to run it, but the first two lodgers have secrets. Margery learns that she is the ward of an 11-year-old orphan, daughter of her first love. Olive adds little Juniper, whose legs were compromised by polio and requires braces, to her list of responsibilities in the old Mersea House. The officer in charge of placing children like Juniper begins keeping a close eye on the house, and in a small town, there are always those who want to expose secrets…… Marty Wingate began college life as a journalism major but ended up with an undergraduate degree in theater and a master’s degree in speech pathology from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. She worked as a speech therapist in Phoenix, at a school for the deaf in El Paso, and at the Central Remedial Clinic in Dublin, Ireland before settling in the Pacific Northwest where she met her husband and worked in public schools for many years. Her husband’s job as a newspaper and freelance copyeditor drew her back into the world of words by way of horticulture. She returned to school and obtained a second master’s degree, this one in urban horticulture from the University of Washington. She then wrote garden how-to books and magazine and newspaper articles and for several years could be heard taking gardening weekly on KUOW, the local NPR station. She segued from nonfiction to fiction writing with the appearance of her first mystery, The Garden Plot , in 2014. In the past nearly-ten years, Marty has written seventeen books. This includes eight books in the Potting Shed series featuring Pru Parke, a middle-aged American gardener transplanted from Texas to England; four Birds of a Feather mysteries that follow Julia Lanchester, bird lover, who runs a tourist office in a Suffolk village; three books in the First Edition Library series; and two historical fiction standalones including Glamour Girls , about a female, Second World War Spitfire pilot. More books are on the way. A Body on the Doorstep , the first book in The London Ladies Murder Club , set in 1921, will be out January 2024. Marty prefers on-the-ground research whenever possible, so she and her husband regularly travel to England and Scotland, where she can be found tracing the steps of her characters, stopping for tea and a slice of Victoria sponge in a café, or enjoying a swift half in a pub. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

< Back What a Wonderful World this Could Be Lee Zacharias June 25, 2021 Today I talked to Lee Zacharias about her new book What a Wonderful World this Could Be (Madville Publishing, 2021). Alex has always wanted a real family. Her father commits suicide, her mother has never noticed where she is, and at 15, she falls in love with a 27-year-old photographer. When she comes of age, she’s about to marry him, but someone else has turned her head, Ted Neal, a charismatic activist on his way to Mississippi for 1964’s Freedom Summer. Alex just wants to take pictures, but she and Ted invite some of his friends to live together in a collective that functions like a sort of family. Alex is happy, but the conversations focus in on anti-war movement of the 60s, and some of the so-called family members get radicalized by the ‘Weathermen.’ Alex is incensed to learn that the FBI is following her even after the ‘family’ disperses and shocked when Ted disappears. Eleven years later he shows up again, but now he’s dying and Alex, who hasn’t remarried, has to figure out what love means. Lee Zacharias, who holds degrees from Indiana University Hollins, College, and the University of Arkansas, has taught at Princeton University and the University of North Carolina Greensboro, where she is Emerita Professor of English, as well as many conferences, most recently the Wildacres Writers Workshop. She is the author of a collection of short stories, Helping Muriel Make It Through the Night ; three previous novels, Across the Great Lake , Lessons , and At Random ; and a collection of personal essays, The Only Sounds We Make . She has co-edited an anthology of stories, Runaway, released in 2020, with Luanne Smith and Michael Gills. Zacharias has received fellowships and is a recipient of several awards. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous journals, including, among others, The Southern Review, Shenandoah, Five Points, Gettysburg Review, Crab Orchard Review, Outdoor Photographer, and Our State. Her essays have been named Notable Essays of the Year by The Best American Essays, which reprinted her essay "Buzzards" in The Best American Essays 2008, and she served as editor of The Greensboro Review for a decade. Zacharias, when she’s not writing, loves photographing landscapes and birds. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

< Back Pigs Johanna Stoberock October 31, 2019 In her new novel Pigs (Red Hen Press, 2019), Johanna Stoberock has written a lyrical fable about an island that receives all the world’s garbage. That garbage, both physical and psychological in the forms of dreams and memories, is consumed by six enormous, voracious pigs. Four filthy, starving children wearing rags and living in squalor are responsible for sorting the trash, feeding the pigs and taking care of each other, while the island’s adults indulge in fantasies, gorge themselves, and live in the comfort of a huge mansion. Although this isn’t the first time that pigs are depicted in literature, it is probably the first time their presence forces readers to consider how much trash we create, how difficult it is to dispose of it, and how we are going to cope with a world in which recycling is too expensive, refugees are treated as disposable, and the earth is facing the crisis of climate change. Originally from New York, Johanna Stoberock completed her undergrad education at Wesleyan, earned an MFA in Fiction at the University of Washington, and lived in NYC until moving with her family to Walla Walla in 2005. Author of the novel City of Ghosts , she has received many honors, and in 2016 was named runner-up for the Italo Calvino Prize for Fiction. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Best of the Net anthology, and Catamaran, among others. When she is not writing, Stoberock teaches academic writing, is an avid duplicate bridge player and loves watching large birds like herons while out walking in her area of rural Eastern Washington. She also loves owls, which can be spotted in her neighborhood only in winter. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

All-time Favorite Mystery Authors Sort by Last Name Sort by First Name Sort by Most Recent Andrea Camilleri Author of The Inspector Montalbano Mysteries Read More Attica Lock Author of Black Water Rising Read More Barbara Cleverly Author of The Detective Joe Sandilands Mystery Series Read More Barbara Louise Mertz AKA Elizabeth Peters Read More C.S. Harris Author of The Sebastian St. Syr Mystery Series Read More Catherine Louisa Pirkis Author of Disappeared From Her Home Read More Charles Finch Author of The Charles Lynch Mysteries Read More Christopher Fowler Author of The Bryant and May Mysteries Read More Deanna Raybourne Author of The Veronica Speedwell Mysteries and Lady Gray Mysteries Read More Elizabeth George Author of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries Read More Elsa Hart Author of The Li Du Mysteries Read More Frank Tallis Author of The Max Liebermann Mysteries Read More Georgette Heyer Author of various mystery novels Read More Jacqueline Winspear Author of The Maisie Dobbs Mysteries Read More Jennifer Ashley Author of The Kat Holloway Mysteries Read More Load More

< 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

< Back Peanut or Almond-Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies July 2, 2019 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 12 Minutes Serves: 24 Servings Tags: Gluten Free, Vegan, Cookies and Brownies About the Recipe p.156 Battered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery “Everyone approached the gigantic tray and chose a cookie or two. After much study, the children took two or three each and scattered to the back bedrooms. Everyone munched while LaTonya continued taking pictures. Tinley was first to comment. “I love this chocolate-chocolate chip cookie,” she said. “Mine is coffee-flavored,” said Bill, making a face. “I hate coffee.” Tinley smacked him on his shoulder. “Does everyone need to know what you don’t like?” Alene wanted to hug her. Lydia said she loved her cinnamon cookie and wondered if it was gluten-free but nobody responded. She nibbled a few bites before passing it to Theo, who said, “Crunchiest cookie I’ve ever tasted.” Cal and Mitzi wanted to taste more flavors, so they shared plates. Neal blurted across the table, “This one is kind of buttery almond. Did you use real butter, Ruthie? I thought you were vegetarian.” Ruthie smiled while Alene imagined an imaginary bubble above her head that said, “Of course there’s no butter, you dingbat. Vegans don’t use animal products.” What Ruthie actually said, in the same voice she used to speak to her eight-year-old son was, “I’m vegan, and we don’t use animal products in anything, Neal. Which cookie did you like best?” Neal muttered, “They’re both good, I guess.” Ingredients 1 cup Almond or Peanut Butter (smooth or chunky) ½ to 1 cup packed dark brown sugar (optional, really) 1 egg (or a flax egg, or whip up half the liquid from a can of chickpeas) 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 package semisweet vegan chocolate chips Preparation Line two baking pans with silicone baking mats or parchment paper Preheat oven to 350 degrees Stir first six ingredients together with a spoon Stir in chocolate chips Place unformed globs of batter about 2″ apart on greased baking pan Bake about 12 minutes until they are slightly browned and puffy Cool on pan and then transfer to a rack They store well and are great cold from the fridge Previous Next