Ollie's Apple Tart... And Sheila's coming!

Before I get to Ollie's Apple Tart today, I want to share a bit of news. I *just* finished my copyedits for Buffalo West Wing (coming January 4th) and turned in my manuscript for Murder Most Civil (tentative title for the second book in the Manor House Mystery series). I'm ecstatic to have gotten these major things done and turned in on time.

As great as all that makes me feel, I can't relax yet. I have another very big deadline looming December 1st. I also have another possible project (shhh... can't say anything yet -- it's still very, very iffy) that I need to concentrate on. Because both of these projects are going to take up loads of time, I'm taking a short sabbatical from blogging. Starting tomorrow, September 1st, I'm going offline. For as long as I can.

But - here's the really exciting news: For the next six weeks, author Sheila Connolly (Orchard Mysteries, Museum Mysteries) will be taking my place here on Tuesdays. Please make her feel welcome. Sheila's doing me a huge favor by taking over here and I know she's got a lot of great recipes and stories to share.

In honor of Sheila and her Orchard books, this week I'm sharing an apple recipe from State of the Onion. It's a winner, for sure.

APPLE TART

1 pie crust (Marcel makes it from scratch at the White House, but when I make this at home, I cheat and buy the rolled, refrigerated ones)

Roughly 2 pounds of tart, sweet apples; Granny Smith or McIntosh, generally about 5 or 6, depending on size (I used 6 apples and it was far too many. I think 5 would be plenty.)

1/2 C. sugar

2 T. fresh lemon rind, grated

Juice of 1 lemon

3 T. sweet butter, cut into small pieces

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 C. clear apple jelly,br>

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place pie crust in a 10 inch pie or tart shell with a removable bottom.

Peel the apples and cut them into quarters. Cut away and discard the cores. Slice thinly.

Okay, now check out this photo to the left. Ages ago, I was a Pampered Chef home demonstrator and I got the "Apple Peeler Corer Slicer" in my starter kit. I thought it was a dumb and unnecessary piece of equipment. But I promised myself I'd keep an open mind the first time I used it. Fabulous. I love this thing. I only use it a couple of times a year but it's worth its weight in gold. I've had mine now for close to 20 years and I wouldn't part with it. Amazing how my opinion can be changed when I kept myself open. This is great. Fun too.

Place apple slices in a bowl, add lemon juice, toss until the apple slices are coated (this will keep them from browning).

Arrange the apple slices on the tart pan in a pattern like fish scales, in overlapping layers. Continue until all apples are used. ***Notice, I don't have a tart pan. I used a springform pan instead. More on this later***

Sprinkle the apple slices with the sugar and lemon rind. Dot with butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Place on a baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees F. Bake 25 minutes longer. Keep an eye on the tart for the last fifteen minutes of baking. If necessary, cover with foil to keep from browning too much.

*** This part about the baking sheet is very important! Especially when using a springform pan. I put the pan in the oven - center rack - all by itself. I bet some of you bakers out there are already giggling. All those apples... in a springform pan...with no baking sheet beneath it. You know what I'm about to admit -- my tart leaked all over the place, dripping hot sticky apple juice all over the bottom of my oven.

What a great way to test our smoke detectors!

I remedied the situation quickly, placed the pan in a *lot* of foil and returned it to the oven on a baking sheet. No problem. From that point on everything was great.

While tart is finishing baking, melt the apple jelly over low heat, stirring until liquid.

Gently brush the top of the hot tart with the melted jelly.

Serve hot or cold, as preferred. It's delicious either way.

I know you'll all have fun over the next few weeks. I'll try to pop in, but I'm determined to stay as far away from the Internet as possible. At least until I can get my head above water. Wish me luck. Happy reading! Happy baking!

And, next week -- same bat time, same bat station:

Sheila Connolly!

:::applause:::

See you later, everyone!

Julie

www.juliehyzy.com

Chicken Parmesan with a Twist

I used to cater (for a brief moment in my life).

It was a way for me to make a little cash during college. I also waited tables, managed a restaurant, and ran the kitchen at a camp. I learned how to make hordes of food for, well, hordes. When I got married, we liked to have a little holiday party. Soon the holiday party became 100 people. At my house. It wasn't a problem. I like a crowd. Expensive, but not a problem. Yes, I'm a little bit weird, I know. Please don't hold it against me. My sister gets nervous having a more than three people over. I get it.

 [My husband and I have since pared our party down to just family again. It's lovely, manageable. I'm growing increasingly sane.]

www.averyaames.com

Anyway, when I catered, one of my specialties was making fried chicken. Oh, how I love fried chicken!!! But because I now have to eat gluten-free, fried chicken is out. No ifs, ands, or buts. No regular flour. So I've learned to be creative. Sure, I could dredge the chicken in rice flour and fry away, but I still want something crunchy. I came up with making my coating out of gluten-free rice cereal.

And then I decided to add cheese. [I know, I know. I'm a little cheese-happy this past year.] I thought if I added cheese to the

mix, it might make the fried crust chewy.

Well, it did!

Here's my experimental recipe.

By the way, it's not just for people who need to eat gluten-free. It's delicious, if I do say so myself.

CHICKEN PARMESAN WITH A TWIST
GLUTEN-FREE 
BUT YOU CAN'T TELL!

Ingredients:

4 breasts of chicken

½ cup rice cereal

½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg whites

Directions:

Mix rice cereal, spices and cheese. Spread evenly on 9x13 pan that has ben covered with foil.

Rub chicken breasts with egg whites. Press skin side down on the rice mixture.

Seal the foil and bake chicken in oven for 1 hour at 300 degrees F.

Remove from oven. Turn oven to broil. Open foil and turn the chicken, meat side up. Return to oven for 10 minutes on broil.

Serve warm.

* * *

If you would like a DOWNLOADABLE version of this recipe,

click this LINK.

Visit Avery at her website.

Welcome Gayle Trent!

Today I'd like to give a big
Mystery Lover's Kitchen welcome to
Gayle Trent, author of the Daphne Martin
cake decorating series.
Like most of us cozy mystery
writers, Gayle also writes an embroidery
series under the pen name Amanda Lee.

Gayle was nice enough to let me pepper her
with questions about her multiple series
and she has a recipe for us!

Welcome, Gayle!!!


-What inspired you to become a cozy mystery author?

I've always been a mystery fan. I went from Nancy
Drew to Victoria Holt to Mary Higgins Clark.

-You have two series that you're writing - one is the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating
series under the name Gayle Trent and the other is the Embroidery Mystery
series under the name Amanda Lee - what are the differences in writing food based
mysteries and craft based mysteries? What are the similarities?

I guess the main difference is the amount of calories
involved in my research! ;) Seriously, I'm passable
but not adept at either of my heroines' chosen
professions, so I do have to do a lot of research with
both books. The research makes me wish I was a
better cake decorator and embroiderer, and it
makes me want to experiment with new techniques
and designs. So that's fun. They're similar in that
you can't fool the real pros. That makes it all the
more important to get your facts straight.

- Do you have any advice for writers looking to be published?

I always advise writers to go to conferences.
ShawGuides (http://writing.shawguides.com/)
has conferences listed by location and date so
you can find one that suits your needs. Conferences
are terrific opportunities for networking, for learning,
and often for pitching your book to editors and agents.

- What would your protagonists consider the perfect meal?

Daphne would consider the perfect meal filet mignon,
steak fries, and rolls. Marcy would prefer a pasta dish
--maybe chicken Parmesan.

- Do you have a recipe you want to share with our readers?

Sure. Here's a delicious (and oh, so easy) recipe
from the May 2010 issue of Family Circle. It has
become my favorite go-to cake when I have to
make one for some type of function.

Tiramisu Bundt Cake

1 box white cake mix (I used golden vanilla)

1 pint coffee ice cream,
such as Haagen-Dazs, melted

3 eggs

1 container whipped vanilla frosting

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Cinnamon sugar for dusting, optional

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 10-cup bundt pan
with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat cake mix, melted ice cream and eggs on low speed for
1 minute. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center of
cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Invert onto wire rack
to cool completely.

In large bowl, beat together frosting and instant coffee mixture.

Place cake on stand and spread with frosting. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Dust with cinnamon sugar, if desired.

The magazine includes nutritional information along with this do-ahead tip:
cake may be baked up to 2 weeks in advance. Cool completely on wire rack.
Wrap unfrosted and freeze. Remove from freezer the day of the event and
thaw for 3 hours before frosting.


I can't wait to try this recipe. Thanks so much for joining us today, Gayle!
For more information about Gayle or Amanda, check out her website:
http://www.gayletrent.com/

Eat Pesto -- Scare Dracula

The kids are back in school, or they'll be going back soon. Next weekend will be your last trip to the beach or the lake or mountains.


Halloween decorations are beginning to show up in stores, which means I won't seem so weird for having them up in my house already! For those who don't know, I'm working on a Halloween book, which means I've got witches and vampires on the mind.

Your garden is uttering the last gasps of summer. The zucchini is spent. The red pepper plants have withered. The cucumbers dried up, and there are only a couple of pathetic lone tomatoes left on the vine.

But in the middle of the garden, planted last spring when you were full of hope and energy, there sits a gigantic plant, the leaves still bright in the sun. It's basil's turn to shine -- which can only mean one thing -- it's time for pesto.

I have to admit that I was not a fan of pesto until I made my own. I suspect pesto is one of those recipes that is better if you tinker with it a little bit to emphasize the flavors you prefer.

The ingredients are fairly basic. Lots of basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil. I would recommend using a mild olive oil.

A few years ago, I searched high and low for pine nuts. I found them, too. $12.99 for less than a fistful. Consequently, I am officially a believer in substituting walnuts in pesto. They're every bit as good -- maybe better.

I'm a big fan of garlic, so I'm likely to toss in an extra clove or two. Beware! This is fresh, uncooked garlic, so it has a bite. If you think you might like to use extra garlic, add it gradually. Excellent for warding off the vampires in your life, though. One little poof of air in their direction, and I promise they'll flee!

Pesto

1/4 cup walnuts
2 medium size garlic cloves
2 cups packed basil leaves (washed and dried)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup olive oil

Combine the walnuts and garlic cloves in a food processor with a few leaves of basil. Pulse until the walnuts and garlic are fine. Mash in the rest of the basil leaves and spin. With the food processor running, add the olive oil in a slow drizzle. Add salt and pepper to taste and whirl one more time.

Toss with pasta, use on pizza or bruschetta, add a dollop to grilled fish, or just spread on a slice of toast for lunch! Enjoy!

WINNER! CLEO'S LATTE CUP WINNER IS...

Congrats to the winner of my Gimme Coffee Latte Cup: Erin McNary Hampton! (Erin posted her comment or my Facebook page.) Cheers, Erin. I hope you enjoy the cup!

If you didn't win Friday, I have great news. You will have more chances to win fun prizes from all of us crime-writing cooks very soon. Starting Monday, September 6th, we're going to have a Blog Party with special recipes, daily giveaways, and a grand prize!

So if you're not following us, you should be. Or just come on back often to see what crimes... recipes...we're cooking up for you next!

And finally, be sure to stop by my own website, Coffeehouse Mystery.com where you can sign up for my site's contests, including my weekly Free Coffee Drawing in which I give away a free package of my latest coffee pick to one of my newseltter subscribers. Subscribing is free. Just send an e-mail that says "Sign me up" to VillageBlend@aol.com

Congrats again to Erin.
And thanks again to everyone for commenting.

May you...
Drink with joy!
~ Cleo

Cleo Coyle's Drunken Peaches with fresh Ginger-Infused Whipped Cream

Cleo Coyle is author of the
bestselling Coffeehouse Mysteries
and Haunted Bookshop Mysteries
Learn more by clicking here.

As a little girl, growing up in a large Italian-American family, I remember aunts and uncles making good use of peaches that came in during the last days of summer. Whether perfectly sun-kissed or overripe and bruised, all were welcomed at their tables.

They would peel the skins and cut the flesh into bite-sized pieces, taking care to remove any darkened or rotted areas from the imperfect fruits. Then they would place the pieces in a bowl, cover them with red wine, and chill the bowl for a few hours or even overnight. After dinner, they would serve the fruit in a pretty wine glass or dessert cup with whipped cream, ice cream, or (even better) a dollop of sweetened mascarpone cheese. And that should be that: an extremely easy end-of-summer recipe—except for one thing...

Although I absolutely love this dessert, my husband, who is not a big wine drinker, does not. So while I’m getting my peaches good and drunk, I treat my honey’s peaches with…well, honey. Orange blossom honey to be exact. And that’s my alternate recipe suggestion for you today. Toss those bite-sized peach pieces with a bit of honey, spoon them into a wine goblet, chill and serve with ginger-infused whipped cream.

Both of these simple but delicious recipes are below if you’d like them while the sun is still warm and the peaches are still cheap. La dolce vita!

Just one final, strawberry-flavored note for you. The other day, one of the many supportive followers of this blog (Nicole), let me know (via Facebook) that she tried my homemade Strawberry Syrup recipe. If you missed that recipe, just click here to download it.

At the stage where nothing is left in the strainer but strawberry pulp, Nicole had a Eureka! moment. "Why throw out the pulp?" she wondered. Instead, to quote her: "I let it cool and then folded it into softened vanilla ice cream. I was very surprised at how well it turned out. All of the juice was out of the strawberries so the ice cream set up nicely." Nicole re-froze the ice cream and sampled it. How did it taste? Good. So there you have it. Waste not! Instead of throwing out the pulp, fold it into your ice cream. Thanks, Nicole. And now...


Cleo Coyle’s
Drunken Peaches

Serves 4

4 ripe yellow peaches

1 cup red wine * (see my note)

Peel the peaches and cut the flesh into bite-sized pieces. Place in a shallow bowl or plastic container and cover with wine. Toss to coat. Chill for several hours or overnight. Loosely strain the peaches of excess wine, and serve in glass goblets with a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of ice cream, or a generous helping of sweetened mascarpone cheese.

*Note on the wine. My pop used to cover his peaches with a fairly dry, red table wine, one he made himself. I don’t make my own wine. For this recipe, I like a nice (cherry, oaky) Merlot. You should choose a red wine that you’d enjoy drinking.

Cleo Coyle's
Honey-Kissed Peaches
with Ginger-infused Whipped Cream

Serves 4

4 ripe yellow peaches

4 tablespoons honey (I use orange blossom)
1 cup heavy cream
3-4 tablespoons granulated sugar (to your taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Peel the peaches and cut the flesh into bite-sized pieces. Toss with honey to coat. Spoon into glass goblets and chill for 30 minutes to an hour (no more). Serve with a dollop of ginger-infused whipped cream. To make the whipped cream, simply place the heavy cream, sugar, and ginger into a well-chilled bowl (*see my note) and beat with an electric hand-mixer. The cream will thicken as you beat it. When it forms stiff peaks, you're done. (Do not over-beat. You'll either begin breaking it down again or you'll make butter!)

*Note: Using a chilled bowl will speed up the process of whipping your cream. I use a metal bowl that's been in the refrigerator for at least 30 mintues. I'll also put my hand-mixer's beaters into the freezer for 15 minutes.

Honey-Kissed Peaches
with Ginger-Infused Whipped Cream

* * * *

If you like this recipe, check out my
Honey-Glazed Peach Crostata!
To see that recipe, click here and...

Eat with joy!



~ Cleo Coyle, author of 

The Coffeehouse Mysteries 

The Coffeehouse Mysteries are national bestselling
culinary mysteries set in a landmark Greenwich Village
coffeehouse, and each of the ten titles includes the
added bonus of recipes.

To get more of my recipes,
enter to win free coffee, or

learn about my books,
including my bestselling
Haunted Bookshop series,
visit my online coffeehouse:

CoffeehouseMystery.com

Murder by Mocha

Now a national bestseller
from Penguin Books

For a peek at this culinary mystery's bonus chocolate recipes, click here!

"...a tasty espresso-dark tale of
multigenerational crime and
punishment lightened by the Blend's
frothy cast of lovable eccentrics."

~ Publishers Weekly

To order from Amazon, click here.

To order from Barnes and Noble click here.

 

 

 Roast Mortem

Includes firehouse recipes!
To see some of this culinary mystery's featured recipes, click here.


A Reviewer’s Pick 

Favorite Book of the Year ~ 2010

Bookreporter.com

 

Now a national bestseller
in paperback from Penguin!

 To order from Amazon click here.

To order from Barnes and Noble, click here.

Cleo's Haunted Bookshop

The Ghost and
Mrs. McClure


Book #1 of The Haunted Bookshop
Mysteries, which
Cleo writes under the name
Alice Kimberly


To learn more, click here.

Bacon and Tomato Party Dip

I usually cook a little bit ahead for Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen. Especially when I’m doing some traveling, as I was with Krista and Avery and our friend Ellery Adams on the Killer Cozies tour.

After we got back home, I went right back out the door again for a family vacation before school started back for my children. Sort of a last gasp of summer thing.

Now I’m finally back home and school has started up and I’m all ready to get back into my groove!

I looked at my recipes that I’d fixed and photographed—and wouldn’t you know it, they all had bacon in them!

I’ve been on a bacon kick lately. Maybe it’s not the best thing in the world for you, but adding bacon to just about any recipe makes it that much better.

Right before I went out of town, I was at a summer get-together and fixed a dip that everyone was raving over. Best thing? It was whipped up in just a few minutes. It tastes a lot like a BLT—and the tomatoes are still really, really good right now. I used Romas, just because they’re a little less-messy to work with, but you could use regular tomatoes and just scrape out the seeds.

Bacon and Tomato Party Dip

6-8 slices cooked, crumbled bacon
1 (8 oz.) pkg. softened cream cheese
2 tsp. mustard
1/2 tsp. celery salt
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped and seeded.

Combine the softened cream cheese, mustard and celery salt. Stir in the crumbled bacon and chopped tomato. Cover and chill. Serve with crackers. Makes 2 cups.

Easy, tasty, and fun to share. :)

Riley/Elizabeth
Delicious and Suspicious (July 6 2010) Riley Adams
Pretty is as Pretty Dies –Elizabeth Spann Craig
http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/

Cooking up a book trailer and some Moonlight Madness!

Okay, so I caught the book trailer bug.
Mostly, because my friend Cathy posted a picture
on facebook of her stint as the white witch from the
play version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
and every time I saw it, it made me laugh -- out
loud! She must have done a good job, because a
little girl saw her after the play and came up
and kicked her. Okay, I'm laughing again!


Anyhoo, when I was kicking around the idea of a book trailer
for SPRINKLE WITH MURDER, I knew I had to use that
photo of Cathy as my bridezilla. For those of you who
have already read SPRINKLE, you know who I'm talking
about. For those of you who haven't, check out the
trailer, if Cathy doesn't sell you on this character,
nothing will!


So without further ado, sit back and enjoy the first You Tube posting
by cpcksrmrdr (cupcakes are murder). That's my You Tube handle, dig it?





Is she perfect or what? Now you probably noticed the opening shot of the cupcake
in the video. This is one of my favorites. It is Mel's Moonlight Madness Cupcake
and it's mentioned in SPRINKLE WITH MURDER, but I didn't include
a recipe in that book. It will be in the upcoming BUTTERCREAM BUMP OFF
(January 2011), but for those of you who can't wait, I'm giving a sneak preview here.

Moonlight Madness Cupcakes:

A chocolate cupcake with vanilla

buttercream frosting rolled in shredded

coconut and topped with an unwrapped

Hersey’s Kiss.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

2 eggs, room temperature

¾ cup milk

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup water, warm

1 bag shredded coconut, sweetened

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar,

baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, extract and water.

Beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth, scraping the sides of

the bowl as needed. Scoop into paper lined cupcake pans and bake for 20 minutes,

until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 18.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 tspn vanilla extract

4 cups confectioner's sugar

2-3 tbspns milk, or whipping cream

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream butter and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl often. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. For best results, keep icing in refrigerator when not in use. This icing can be stored up to 2 weeks. Rewhip before using. Makes 3 cups of icing.

To finish the Moonlight Madness Cupcakes, spread a generous amount of the vanilla

buttercream frosting on top of the cupcake with a rubber spatula, then roll the top of

the cupcake in a bowl of shredded coconut before the frosting dries so the coconut

will adhere to the frosting. Top with an unwrapped Hersey’s Kiss.

www.jennmckinlay.com

Jenn McKinlay ~
Sprinkle With Murder ~ Buttercream Bump Off

also writing as:

Lucy Lawrence ~ Stuck on Murder ~ Cut to the Corpse

Banana Bread

I know it's still hot. I know you don't want to crank up your oven, but this banana bread is worth it!

For years I loved my mom's banana bread. It was a staple in my house growing up and here too, every time we had bananas that started to get a little overripe.

Until my eldest daughter brought a brand new recipe into our family. After she made this the first time, we started picking up bananas on every shopping trip. Lucky for us, she enjoys making this recipe and we've been treated to banana bread just about every week for the past few months. If you know how hot it's been in Chicago, you know we must really love this bread to suffer through the added heat.

I learned something new from watching her prepare it. Maybe this is a secret you already knew, but it was an eye-opener for me. We used to wait for bananas to get extra brown before making our bread. Our daughter pops them in the oven and ripens them on the spot. I never knew you could do that!

This is the most delicious banana bread I've ever tasted. We don't add nuts because my daughter doesn't like them, but I think it would be a great way to make this your own. What makes this recipe unique too, I think, is the addition of yogurt. The added moisture makes this more cakelike... yum!

Enjoy!

BANANA BREAD

Preheat oven to 350 and put four bananas in right away. Let them brown as you gather your other ingredients and put them together. Turn the bananas over after about 5 minutes, then turn them again. Get them really, really brown and soft. Careful - they will be HOT.

Spray a loaf pan with Pam (or similar)

Now, while the bananas are baking, you'll need two bowls.

Bowl #1 - combine:

2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Bowl #2 - combine:

6 Tbsp butter melted and cooled

2 large eggs

1/4 cup vanilla yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

4 ripened bananas from the oven. The insides will be almost liquid at this point.

Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture but don't over mix. The combination will be thick and slightly chunky.

Bake for 55 minutes

Cool in pan for 10 minutes

Remove from pan and allow to cool for an hour.

Serve. It will still be a little warm... and so delicious. Try this one next time you have a few bananas to spare. You'll be glad you did!

Yum...now to go enjoy a slice myself...

Julie

www.juliehyzy.com

http://juliehyzy.blogspot.com/

The Beauty of Friendship

Oh, the beauty of friendship.

I just went on the most fabulous trip to North Carolina with fellow MLK authors Krista Davis, Riley Adams, and another pal Ellery Adams. We became such sweet friends...talking about mystery, writing, family.

I wanted to share a little tidbit of our trip. We were hosted by the fabulous Molly

Weston. Check out her blog: Meritorious Mysteries.

On Saturday between events at the Apex Library and the Page-Walker Arts and History Center , Molly, like the perfect hostess, invited us to her home. She didn't prepare a lavish meal. She didn't have to. She served a cheese platter (my favorite, as you know), and a delightful salad, all of which we could put together as we wished. Perfect.We were hungry, but not starved, and the two made a delicious dinner.

Thank you, Molly.

[Photo to right is Molly with Riley at Barnes and Noble.]

On to food!

There's nothing better than a beautiful salad to whet my appetite. An appetizer portion is so much fun, and putting one together might just satisfy the artist in you. And a wedge of blue cheese, a voila, it can taste extraordinary!

ARTICHOKE AND BLUE CHEESE SALAD

Ingredients:

{Serves 4}

4 small artichokes, boiled to tender, halved

4 mushrooms, sliced

4 ounces blue cheese

8 slices cucumber

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

8 slices radicchio

4 green onions, tails shredded

Directions:

Remove crusty leaves from artichokes and snip off the bottom.

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Drop in the small artichokes. Boil for about 5-10 minutes. Prick with a fork. If fork slides out easily, they’re done. Rinse and slice.

Next, heat the olive oil in a sauce pan. Saute the artichokes and the sliced mushrooms until browned but still firm.

Arrange plates with pieces of raddichio. Rest the artichokes on the raddichio. Arrange the plate with mushrooms, cucumbers, and green onions. Dot the artichokes with blue cheese, and add a wedge to each plate.

Serve with a saucy Sauvignon Blanc and enjoy!

By the way...

If you want to get my quarterly newsletter and be a fan

of A Cheese Shop Mystery series, click this CONTACT LINK and sign up. There are newsy bits, cheese of the month, recipes, contests and more.

And if you haven't read The Long Quiche Goodbye and want to purchase a copy, click this booksellers link.

Say Cheese!