Only 4 ingredients and great for last minute cookies anytime of year, but I make these during Passover, when we don't use flour or leavening of any kind. < 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°F/180°C 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

I love making "pantry" soups with what I've got on hand plus whichever vegetables I have in the fridge. I thought I was making my old Black Bean Edamame soup until I saw that I was out of the frozen edamame. Cooking, like jazz, is all about improvisation! < Back Black Bean Mushroom Carrot Soup May 11, 2023 Prep Time: 10-15 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes plus an additional 10 minutes if you add farro Serves: 4 as a meal, 6 as a first course Tags: Soup, Vegan, Vegetarian About the Recipe No time to go to the grocery store today - what am I going to make for dinner? A protein and vegetable packed soup that takes 10 minutes of chopping and 20 minutes of one-pot cooking. And if I happen to have a bag of shelled edamame in the freezer, I toss that in with the beans for even more protein. It's also good without the mushrooms if you're not a fan. Ingredients 2 TBSPS olive oil 1 red or yellow onion, chopped 1 carrot, chopped 1 cup mushrooms, chopped 14oz can of black beans (not rinsed or drained) 1 small red pepper, chopped 2 tsps dijon mustard 1 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/8 tsp (or more if you like heat) black or cayenne pepper Juice of one small fresh lime or lemon 2 empty black bean cans worth of water Optional: 1/2 or 1 whole cup of farro Preparation saute chopped onion for about 5 minutes, until translucent add mushrooms and carrots, stir and cook about 2 minutes add red pepper, mustard, and the entire can of black beans fill the empty can with water and empty it twice into the pot, stir add the lime/lemon and spices, stir again and bring to a boil add the optional farro if desired and let it simmer about 10 additional minutes turn off the heat and let the pot stand until ready to serve pour into serving bowls and sprinkle each one with chopped scallion Previous Next

Martin Walker: Bruno, Chief of Police Mysteries < Back Martin Walker Author of The Bruno, Chief of Police Mysteries July 25, 2019 Martin Walker works at a private think-tank, is Editor Emeritus and writes an award – winning syndicated column for UPI, writes for the Guardian and other papers, has presented several BBC television series, serves on all kinds of boards, writes acclaimed history books, and authors the delightful Bruno, Chief of Police mystery series. You’re probably one of those gifted individuals who need only four hours of sleep, Mr. Walker, but I just made challah dough and hummus, roasted vegetables, washed the dishes, swept the floor, and set the table, so you’re not the only one who knows how to get things done. I’m admittedly in love with the hero, Benoît Courrèges, aka Bruno, who lives and works as a policeman in the fictional village of St. Denis in the South of France (where the real Mr. Walker and his wife have a home). The townsfolk fondly refer to Bruno as the Chief of Police, but he’s just a policeman, an injured veteran who carries a gun but never uses it. He’s also a gourmet chef who whips up fabulous meals after a trip to the local market. And he instinctively discerns the correct wine pairing at every enticing-sounding meal. A truffle omelet? Yum. I first met Bruno (and in real life I’m sure that if I came over for dinner, he would avoid cooking all those gross-sounding meats), when he first appeared in 2008. When he’s not helping his fellow St Denis townies with problems big and small or participating in the town’s many activities, Bruno actively helps foil aggressive EU inspectors that try to meddle with tradition. He relishes his slow-paced village life, and he’s passionate about the land. In the first book of the series, an elderly immigrant is found murdered, and suspicion falls on anti-immigrant militants. Working with an attractive young officer from the city, Bruno remembers that the victim fought for the French Army during WWII. He slowly figures out the connection between the victim and the war, which was a dark chapter in the history of France. Neither Mr. Walker nor Bruno shy away from difficult or sensitive subjects, and each of the Bruno tales include some kind of societal issues that require Bruno’s sensitivity and finesse. I hope you will continue writing these books, Mr. Walker – they are just delicious. Previous Next

Christopher Fowler: Bryant and May Mysteries < Back Christopher Fowler Author of The Bryant and May Mysteries March 9, 2021 “Do you enjoy reading?” “I enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey.” Bryant quailed at the thought. “That’s not really reading, is it? More like staring at an assortment of words.” “It’s very popular.” “So is taking photographs of your dinner for Facebook, but that doesn’t mean it adds to the total sum of human knowledge.” This is the kind of passage that makes me question those reviewers who claim that Christopher Fowler’s writing is just a jumble of words. His stories, his characters, and his murders are all complex and nuanced. His writing is sometimes abstruse, and one is occasionally reminded that Brits tend to have much more refined vocabularies than, say, Americans. I can understand some readers being stymied by Fowler’s clever dialogue, snappy retorts, and sly Briticisms, but I coasted along in a (London) fog of pleasure. I don’t enjoy horrendous murders, and usually dislike blood and gore. But I also dislike when murders are described as if the victims are only cartoon versions of humans so as not to disturb our sense of decorum. Sometimes it feels like we’re being spared the icky details of what death looks like. Fowler doesn’t let the reader get away with any kind of laziness – he makes it clear when a victim suffers and when it happens too quickly for suffering to occur. He also dumps a number of characters on us and we’d better just follow along if we expect to understand London’s irritating police administration, the professional rivalries between departments, and the lack of esteem in which the Peculiar Crimes Unit is held by everyone not in it. We also need to get past our confusion about why someone as old and dotty as Bryant is still employed as a public servant – although the brilliance of his deductions is made clear again and again. Those of us who approached the millennium as fully formed adults are probably all cheering him on against that most universally accepted prejudice: Ageism. Not even a bout of unexplained dementia stops him from figuring out who did it. Previous Next

It’s 1946, and a young army intelligence officer is awakened early by a gruff priest who needs another tenor for his church service. < Back Meeting Mozart Howard Jay Smith August 23, 2022 Today I talked to Howard Jay Smith about his new novel Meeting Mozart (Sager Group, 2020). It’s 1946, and a young army intelligence officer is awakened early by a gruff priest who needs another tenor for his church service. But Corporal Jake Conegliano has been invited to see a performance of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, and his ride is leaving soon. The Abbe Luigi Hudal won’t take no for an answer, and threatens eternal damnation, until Jake says that he’s Jewish, but will be happy to sing in the choir the following week. The priest tells him that having a Jewish heathen in his church would be like bringing Satan himself to his door. As luck would have it, that’s the day Jake meets the love of his love and sets in motion a journey to discover both his own history and the history of a famous ancestor, known to history as the librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte. He was a Catholic priest who wrote the librettos for three of Mozart’s most beloved operas, and he was also Emmanuel Conegliano, a converso from a Jewish community in Italy. In rich detail, Smith weaves stories from different centuries and countries into the saga of a family that continued to be proud of its Jewishness despite expulsions, antisemitism, royal maneuvering, political intrigue, and wars. And even as the centuries progressed, their love of Mozart’s music is a binding force. Howard Jay Smith is an award-winning writer who recently won a John E. Profant Foundation for the Arts, Literature Division Scholarship, The James Buckley Excellence in Writing Award. Smith is a former Bread Loaf Scholar and Washington, D.C. Commission for the Arts Fellow, who taught for many years in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and has lectured nationally. His articles and photographs have appeared in the Washington Post, the Beethoven Journal, Horizon, the Journal of the Writers Guild of America, and the Ojai Quarterly. While an executive at ABC Television, Embassy TV, and Academy Home Entertainment, he worked on numerous film, television, radio, and commercial projects. He serves on the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Symphony and is a member of the American Beethoven Society. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Bruce Holsinger’s novel The Displacements is a gripping saga about what might happen in a world in which climate change can wreak havoc on life, even for those who have everything. < Back The Displacements Bruce Holsinger October 19, 2022 Bruce Holsinger’s novel The Displacements (Riverhead Books, 2022) is a gripping saga about what might happen in a world in which climate change can wreak havoc on life, even for those who have everything. Just before the world’s first category 6 hurricane hits the ground, Daphne, a proficient ceramicist whose pieces are selling for high prices, manages to get the kids packed and in the car. Her husband, a surgeon, is helping evacuate patients at the hospital and can’t be reached when the car runs out of gas, Daphne’s purse is missing, and they family is bussed hundreds of miles away to a FEMA mega shelter in Oklahoma. Knowing that their home is destroyed and there’s nothing to go home to, all they can do is struggle along with all the other evacuees, including the drug dealers and those who hate anyone who is different. No one knows what will happen next. Bruce Holsinger is a novelist and literary scholar based in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is the author of the USA Today and Los Angeles Times -bestselling novel The Gifted School (Riverhead Books, 2019). A Book of the Month Club main selection and described by The Wall Street Journal as "the novel that predicted the College Admissions Scandal," The Gifted School won the Colorado Book Award and was named one of the Best Books of 2019 by NPR and numerous publications. He is also the author of A Burnable Book (2014) and The Invention of Fire (2015), award-winning historical novels published by William Morrow (HarperCollins). His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times , The New York Review of Books , Vanity Fair , The Washington Post , Slate , and many other publications.). Holsinger also teaches in the English department at the University of Virginia and serves as editor of the quarterly journal New Literary History . His next nonfiction book, On Parchment: Animals, Archives, and the Making of Culture from Herodotus to the Digital Age , will appear from Yale University Press in February 2023. His previous books have won major awards from the Modern Language Association, the Medieval Academy of America, and the American Musicological Society, and his academic work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies. When he’s not teaching or writing, Holsinger plays clawhammer old-time music on his open-back banjo. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

It’s a hot August day in 1976, the sun beats down in the Mississippi Delta, and three siblings go swimming in the old, forbidden rock quarry. Everyone knows that something evil and unspeakable once happened there. The youngest child disappears, the quarry is drained, and news of the missing child spreads. < Back The Past is Never Tiffany Quay Tyson November 16, 2018 It’s a hot August day in 1976, the sun beats down in the Mississippi Delta, and three siblings go swimming in the old, forbidden rock quarry. Everyone knows that something evil and unspeakable once happened there. The youngest child disappears, the quarry is drained, and news of the missing child spreads. As the days and months pass, it becomes clear that Pansy has vanished into thin air. Then older sister Bert graduates from high school. Sure that her little sister is still alive somewhere, she convinces her brother to help find Pansy. Tiffany Quay Tyson’ s debut novel, Three Rivers , was a finalist for both the Colorado Book Award for Literary Fiction and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Fiction. Her second novel, The Past is Never (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018) is a 2018 Okra Pick. Tiffany was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi and is a graduate of Delta State University. After college she worked for a brief stint as a newspaper reporter in the Mississippi Delta, where she received the Frank Allen Award for Journalism. She is the recipient of two Heartland Emmy Awards including one for writing for a children’s public television program. She is a faculty member at Lighthouse Writers Workshop and the Lighthouse Young Writers Program in Colorado. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

The story of a family that is forced to confront both autism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). < Back The Extraordinary Brad Schaeffer August 9, 2022 The Extraordinary by Brad Schaeffer (Post Hill Press 2021) tells the story of a family that is forced to confront both autism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Fourteen-year-old Wes is unable to communicate with anyone except his father, who calls him an Ex (extraordinary). Most others are Ords (ordinary). Wes’s father is a captain in the Marine Corp and returns home broken in body and spirit after a third tour in Iraq. Wes has no idea how to adapt to this new version of his father. He needs order – his day is regimented, and he follows a timed sequence that includes watching the entire movie version of Sound of Music every morning. Wes’s relationship with his mother and two siblings is constrained and sometimes confusing – he only feels love from his father. This is a lovely and emotional tale about how a family can be easily torn and not so easily put back together. Brad Schaeffer was born in Baltimore, MD but grew up in a suburb of Chicago. After attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he lived in Chicago where he embarked on his dual career as both a commodities trader and author/novelist. He currently resides in New Jersey. His prolific and eclectic writing can be found in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, National Review, Daily Wire , and other well-read publications. His interests, as reflected in his articles, encompass a wide swath from business, to science, education, the arts, history, politics, social issues, and general day-to-day living. He is also an accomplished guitarist and pianist and can be found playing in local New Jersey clubs with one of several rock bands in which he has played over the years. He is the author of Of Another Time and Place (2018), which takes place in World War II Europe. It is a study of the conflicts that good men confront when compelled by national loyalty and indoctrination to fight for morally reprehensible causes. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Much of history has revolved around the journeys, challenges, and relationships, of men, but Serrah, daughter of Asher describes the teachings of her mother, grandmother, and all the women who shared their skills, compassion, hopes, and dreams. < Back Song of the Bluebird Esther Goldenberg March 24, 2026 Much of history has revolved around the journeys, challenges, and relationships of men, but Serrah, daughter of Asher, describes the teachings of her mother, grandmother, and all the women who shared their skills, compassion, hopes, and dreams. She’s mentioned once in passing in Genesis and again in the Book of Chronicles, but in Song of the Bluebird (Row House 2026), she’s known as Blue, who lives for generations, always a hard-working presence as the ancient Twelve Tribes of Israel grow in numbers, follow Joseph into Egypt, suffer as slaves, follow Moses across the sea, wander in the desert for forty years, and finally exult in freedom in the Land of Israel. Song of the Bluebird is a sweet and filling journey through the eyes of a wise and ageless woman. Esther Goldenberg was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where both her parents told her stories and she spent a lot of time daydreaming. As the daughter of an elementary school teacher, Esther spent more time in the classroom than the average child. She studied child development in college and went on to become a teacher. Esther spent a lot of time reading books to students and, over time, began writing books of her own. She has helped many children write stories and many adults write stories for children. She was the editor of a New York Times bestselling children's book (A Day With No Words ). Esther considers herself an educator first, even though she is also an editor and writer. Two of Goldenberg's non-fiction books, Resistant to Reading: Tricks and Tips for Parents of Reluctant Readers and A Story Every Week: Torah Wisdom for Today's World were Amazon bestsellers in their categories, and her debut adult fiction novel The Scrolls of Deborah won the 2024 Foreword Indies gold medal for Religious Adult Fiction. That book is the first installment in The Desert Songs Trilogy of novels that retell the story of the Bible. These books highlight the everyday lives of the women, the relationships between family members, and the (sometimes surprising) similarities between life in modern times and life in ancient times. When not reading, writing, or leading workshops, Esther enjoys the process of making art -- regardless of the end-product. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

An automobile accident in front of a homeless shelter causes Lola, a dog trainer/groomer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to renew her battle with the grief she previously pushed below the surface of her daily life. Ben, formerly an architect in the same city, has been abandoned by his family and is currently homeless. < Back Under the Blue Moon Joan Schweighardt June 20, 2023 Today I talked to Joan Schweighardt about her book Under the Blue Moon (Five Directions Press, 2023). An automobile accident in front of a homeless shelter causes Lola, a dog trainer/groomer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to renew her battle with the grief she previously pushed below the surface of her daily life. Ben, formerly an architect in the same city, has been abandoned by his family and is currently homeless. Lola sees him on the day of her accident, trying to smuggle something into the shelter while all the people associated with the facility are outside with her, waiting for the ambulance to arrive and watching the drama unfold at the end of the street as the guy who broadsided her runs from the scene and is pursued by police. Ben, who lives on a ledge under an overpass with his 18-year-old cat and two space-mates, wants nothing more than to find a job and get back on his feet (and thereby win back both his dignity and his daughter’s love). Lola wants a second chance for a meaningful life. Their individual pursuits put them on parallel paths that offer not only chance encounters with each other but glimpses into the mysteries of luck, love, art, compassion, and what it means to be human in these times. Joan Schweighardt has worn multiple book-world hats over the course of the last many years. She has been a publisher, an agent, a ghostwriter, an editor and more. Her own projects include Under the Blue Moon (2023), and the Rivers Trilogy—Before We Died (2018), Gifts for the Dead (2019), and River Aria (2020). The Art of Touch: A Collection of Prose and Poetry from the Pandemic and Beyond— an anthology she conceived and co-edited, containing the work of 38 contributors—will be published by the University of Georgia Press in November (2023). When not reading or writing, Joan enjoys hiking in the foothills of Albuquerque's Sandia Mountains, bike riding on the city’s numerous trails, oil painting, and hanging out with friends and family. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Cora, who works at Harlem’s 135th Street library, reads a powerful poem by the young Langston Hughes, who begins to offer advice about her own writing. She’s awakened to thoughts about society and the role of women, prejudice, and the plight of Black women. < Back Cora's Kitchen Kimberly Garrett Brown October 27, 2022 Cora’s Kitchen by Kimberly Garrett Brown (Inanna Publications 2022) is a striking novel told in letters, journal entries, and a series of stories written by an educated young Black mother, wife, and librarian. Cora, who works at Harlem’s 135th Street library, reads a powerful poem by the young Langston Hughes, who begins to offer advice about her own writing. She’s awakened to thoughts about society and the role of women, prejudice, and the plight of Black women. Cora is ambitious, but loyal, and stepping in to help a family member leads to a series of events that could destroy her life. She’s ultimately surprised to find herself longing to be back in her tiny apartment cooking for her own family, raising her kids, and working in the library stacks. The experience gives her the fortitude to plunge ahead as a writer. KIMBERLY GARRETT BROWN is Publisher and Executive Editor of Minerva Rising Press. Her work has appeared in Black Lives Have Always Mattered: A Collection of Essays, Poems and Personal Narratives, The Feminine Collective, Compass Literary Magazine, Today’s Chicago Woman, Chicago Tribune, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Her first novel, Cora’s Kitchen, was published by Inanna Publications in September 2022. It was a finalist in the 2018 William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition and the 2016 Louise Meriwether First Book Prize. She earned her MFA in creative writing at Goddard College. When she’s not writing, Brown loves taking pictures, painting, and drawing. She has three adult children and currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida, with her husband and pampered Shih Tzu. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

It's so delicious! You can use fresh dill or fresh mint for this perfect dip! < Back Zucchini Dip/Sauce September 17, 2019 Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes Serves: 30 Servings Tags: Dips and Sauces, Vegan, Vegetarian About the Recipe p.227 Battered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery The community room was the size of two full apartments, so it was a great place to take children when it was too cold or hot to play outside. Noah was already on his fourth trip around the room. She let him watch one more crack of lightening and make one more run around the room before announcing that it was time to go back home to prepare dinner. An hour later, the smell of tomato pesto soup and fresh bread filled the apartment as Quinn set the table, Noah poured the water, and Sierra placed the butter plate and a bowl of zucchini-dill dip on the table. They all sat down, and Alene was happy to get through dinner without a single argument. The kids finished quickly as usual, and Alene stayed at the table to keep her father company. It took him a long time to eat his meal. “Dad,” said Alene, “do you remember hearing anything about Gary hiding money that Joan embezzled from her company? Ingredients 1 small or medium zucchini, cut into pieces w/skin 2 or 3 cloves garlic Olive oil spray for the pan Juice of ½ small lemon (about 2 TBSPs) ¼ cup water (if you want to use this as salad dressing, use EVOO instead) 1/3 cup golden raisins (you can use honey, agave, or brown sugar – don’t use dark raisins) 2 TBSP tahini (or use 1 TBSP sesame seeds + ¼ cup water) ¼ tsp each: salt, pepper ½ tsp each: cumin, coriander, turmeric 1 tsp dried basil 1/2 oz (about a handful) of fresh mint Preparation Sauté zucchini and garlic in hot, sprayed pan until lightly browned (5-7 minutes). Add everything to blender and process until smooth. Season to taste (add more salt or if you like it sweeter, add 1 tsp of honey or agave. Makes about 1 ½ cups (serve with everything!) Previous Next