@AuthorDarciHannah, Mom’s Chicken Divan Casserole

Hi, DARCI HANNAH, here! 

Chicken Divan!

I don’t know about you, but after a cold, snowy winter, those first glimmers of springtime fill me with hope of warmer, sunny days ahead. It makes me so excite. While I l do love a snowy winter, by March I’m ready for it to be over. That’s when I start daydreaming about late spring. There’s nothing like the smell of fresh springtime air filled with the scent of fresh blossoms, green grass, and flowering trees. I try to garden, but my best efforts are often thwarted by weeds and dogs!

For now, it’s just a dream. March in Michigan is pure wackiness, sprinkling nice 60 degree days into weeks filled with freezing rain and snow! This is the weather where a nice casserole fits the bill for dinner at the Hannah house. One of our favorite casseroles is an old family recipe from my mother, who was a fabulous cook and entertainer. She would make this Chicken Divan for our family, and even for guests when a more informal dinner was in order. It’s one of my treasured recipes, and every time I make it I think of my mother, Jan Hilgers. Unlike recipes today, I love that this recipe requires not one, but two cans of Campbells cream of chicken soup. It’s so 1970s! When I shared the recipe with my daughter-in-law, she balked at it, because this style of family dinners has fallen out of favor, replaced by sushi, stir fry, and healthy organic salads. That’s all well and good, but every now and then a good old fashion casserole is in order, and this simple recipe for Chicken Divan is hard to beat.

 Are you ready? Here we go!

Mom’s Chicken Divan Casserole

Serves 8-10

Here's what you're going to need.

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

2 heads of fresh broccoli spears, cooked

2 cans Campbells Cream of Chicken soup

1 cup Mayonnaise

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese 

1 teaspoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon curry powder

1 cup buttered breadcrumbs, or 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese for top of casserole

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 °F.

Steam broccoli and arrange on the bottom of a large, buttered baking dish. Top with the cooked and cubed chicken, making sure it’s evenly distributed. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix the soup, mayonnaise, 1 cup of shredded cheese, lemon juice, and curry powder. Spread over chicken. 

Sprinkle with either buttered breadcrumbs or shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. 

Serve over rice.

Enjoy!

Question:

Do you ever make casseroles? If so, do you have a favorite?

Please answer in the comments below.

Darci Hannah is the bestselling author of the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series, the Food & Spirits Mystery Series, the Very Cherry Mystery Series, and two works of historical fiction, The Exile of Sara Stevenson, and The Angel of Blythe Hall. Darci grew up in the Midwest and currently lives in a small town in Michigan with her husband and two dogs. Darci is a lifelong lover of the Great Lakes, a natural wonder that inspires many of her stories. Passionate about family, dogs, food, baking, history, books, lighthouses, laughter, good conversations, coffee, and the paranormal, Darci feels especially blessed to have found a way to combine her interests in the stories she writes. It brings her great joy to be able to share them with you. 

Connect with Darci at www.darcihannah.com

Instagram: @authordarcihannah

Facebook: @Author Darci Hannah

 Just Released!

A Spirited Supper at Dundoon Castle

By Darci Hannah

Book #2 in the Food & Spirits Mystery Series

Purchase link

When chef Bridget “Bunny” MacBride got a role on the reality show Food & Spirits, she thought “spirits” meant cocktails. Instead, she’s cooking up dinners meant to tempt the departed to appear. And to her surprise, she’s discovered abilities to connect with the beyond—and crack murder cases . . .

Now that Bunny’s entrées come with a side of the Other Side, it comes in handy to have a grandma who’s friendly with the elderly owners of a haunted Scottish castle. During Bunny’s childhood she heard all about Dundoon’s bloody history and the “ghostly piper” who roamed the grounds—and soon she’ll be visiting the ancient place with her ghost hunter and psychic co-stars. The annual bagpipe competition in the late piper’s honor will make for some good footage as well. 

After Bunny serves a feast fit for a 17th century king, including lamb chops with plenty of fresh herbs, she heads outdoors for the ghost hunt. But in the dark, dense fog, someone fatally plunges from the clifftop over the loch. The sound that follows is a mournful, otherworldly bagpipe . . . and once the body of another perished piper is retrieved, Bunny is determined to solve this Highlands homicide—and prevent a killer from getting off scot-free . . .

Trade Paperback Release!

A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor

By Darci Hannah

Book #1 in the Food & Spirits Mystery Series

 Purchase Link

While filming at a haunted English manor, chef Bunny MacBride’s big break on her first reality TV show may be cut short by an unscripted murder in Darci Hannah’s new Food & Spirits cozy mystery series . . .

It isn’t how chef Bridget “Bunny” MacBride imagined her own cooking show unfolding. But, if preparing historic meals with a modern flair is what it takes to get her cooking on the air, she can deliver, even if her dinner guest is a ghost. That’s the premise of the new reality TV show Food & Spirits, where Chef Bunny teams up with ghost hunter Brett Bloom and psychic medium Giff McGrady to visit haunted locales around the world and tempt lingering spirits back to the table with a beloved meal. For their first episode, the Food & Spirits team sets off to investigate Bramsford Manor, a historic house turned famously haunted hotel, in picturesque Hampshire, England. The sprawling estate is said to be home to the Mistletoe Bride, a young woman who died in the 18th century, the victim of a tragic accident on her Christmas wedding night.

Bunny leaves the spectral search to the pros and focuses on the feast, creating a traditional English holiday wedding dinner, complete with a gorgeous prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, and rustic apple tarts. But Bunny’s task is made more difficult when someone steals a boning knife from her custom kit. Alas, when the blade finally turns up again—in the chest of an all-too-human dinner guest—Bunny’s woes only grow as she is named a lead suspect in the case! Now, with a haunted house full of living residents, staff, and crew, Bunny will need the help of Brett, Giff, and her clairvoyant Grandma Mac, to solve this murder before the manor gains another ghost!

Coming this July!

Murder at the Campfire Cookout

By Darci Hannah

Book #7 in the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series

 

Preorder today!

When Lindsey Bakewell leaves behind her lighthouse bakeshop, her boyfriend, Rory, and her Newfoundland dog, Wellington, for a glamping trip with her mother in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the bears leave them alone—but a killer doesn’t. . .

Converting the old Beacon Point lighthouse into a bakery is as adventurous as Lindsey cares to get. Her mother, Ellie, a former 80s fashion model, likes her creature comforts even more—until she sees a business opportunity for her Beacon Harbor fashion boutique when she’s invited by the Mitten Kittens Glamping Club on a woodsy getaway.

Far from roughing it, the ladies will be warm and cozy in chic vintage campers. Ellie insists Lindsey come along to win the campfire cookout contest. Campfire cooking has come a long way from bacon and beans. Soon Lindsey is making pizza, berry cobbler, and gooey Carmelita camping bars.

But the festive spirit is soon dampened when a body is found in Ellie’s camper. It seems like an accidental death until everyone’s tires are slashed and it’s clear the glampsite has become a crime scene. With no cell service to call for help, it’s up to Lindsey to smoke out the killer around the campfire . . .

Because no one is out of the woods yet.

A St. Patrick's Day Birthday -- #recipes and a #giveaway from Leslie Budewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Even experienced cooks and bakers have the occasional fail, and I had one this weekend. A few years back, a quirky little cafe on the other side of the valley offered green tea cookies. Tasty and well, quirky. Alas, it closed before I'd had my fill. So when I saw a recipe, and knew we had a bag of matcha (green tea) powder, I decided to try making them. It was a slice-and-bake recipe -- easy-peasy -- and the green sounded fun for St. Patrick's Day. Alas, the dough was crumbly and wouldn't hold its shape, no matter how I rolled and chilled. I HATE throwing away food, but I also hate struggling with something that obviously does not want to behave, so out it went.

Which left me with nothing to share with you today. I like celebrating St. Patrick's Day here on the blog, because it's fun -- and it's the birthday of Erin Murphy, the main character in my Food Lovers' Village Mysteries. Erin runs the Merc, a local foods market in her family's 100+ year old grocery building in the heart of the village of Jewel Bay, Montana, a lakeside town on the road to Glacier National Park, and solves crime. She's a younger version of me in some ways -- a Montana girl who left and came home at 32, only to discover that both she and town had changed -- and it was great fun to explore that story through the eyes of a much younger woman. 

Erin is half Italian, as you can tell from her name, and comes from a close family. She comes home at her mother's request to take over the struggling Merc. A family business, mother-daughter tensions -- what could go wrong? Find out in her first venture, Death al Dente, winner of the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Erin's father was killed in a hit-and-run accident her senior year of high school, a case unsolved until Butter Off Dead, third in the series, when Erin finally puts together enough clues to solve the case. There are five novels in the series, plus a short story collection, Carried to the Grave and Other Stories. The collection includes a novella, "An Unholy Death," set in 1910, the year Erin's great-grandparents got married, settled in Jewel Bay, and opened the Merc. Turns out Erin's sleuthing skills may well be inherited.  (You can read the novella in the collection, in pb, ebook, and audio, or as a standalone, in pb and ebook.)  

Butter, by the way, is the title that always got the most laughs -- until To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop book, named by a reader! 

My first thought was to reprise a pair of St. Patrick's Day recipes -- Guinness Stew and Irish Soda Bread. And they are yummy, but Edith shared her version of the stew last week, so I'll just give you the link and move on! So to celebrate my girl's birthday, I'm reprising my favorite birthday cakes -- Erin and I are both March babies, after all!

Any March babies in your circle will love this Glazed Chocolate Bundt Cake. So will anyone born in January, February, April -- you get the idea.

A classic carrot cake is always cause for celebration, birthday or no. This Carrot Graham Layer Cake is a fun variation on the theme. Vintage cake plate optional.

I've been celebrating with that cake plate a LONG time!

You might prefer an angel food cake. This Angel Food Cake with Fresh Strawberries was my mother's favorite, and I hope you'll click on the link to read the sweet story of the angel who helped me recreate that treat for her last birthday. 

And to return to our theme, I offer these Guinness Brownies -- a bit of a misnomer, as it's really more of a cake than brownies. The beer cooks off, leaving a rich, deep flavor, much as adding a bit of coffee to chocolate does. 

Got a kitchen fail story to share? Two lucky readers will win a signed paperback of Death al Dente, Erin's first adventure in crime! Leave your email address to enter. US mailing addresses only, please. Winners will be chosen Friday, March 20. 

At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .  

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills. 

Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket. 

Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. 

As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine. 

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.

A Community Cookbook, an Odd Recipe, and a Pretzel Salad by Ang Pompano — Plus a book givaway!

Ang Pompano: I love community cookbooks. We’ve all got them. You probably bought yours at a church fundraiser, a school bake sale, or maybe from a coworker’s kid who was raising money for a club.

I was looking through a few of them while working on a new writing project, and I realized these things don’t get nearly enough credit. We’re not talking about those glossy, $40 (or more) hardcover books with celebrity chefs on the cover. These are usually spiral bound, maybe even photocopied.

But what they lack in fancy photography, they make up for by being tried and true. These are the meals people actually cooked. If a recipe made it into the church cookbook, chances are someone served it, someone tasted it, and someone said, “You have to give me that recipe!”

It’s the personal touch that gets me. You don’t see a famous name at the top of the page; you see "Aunt Carmel," "Mrs. Robertson" who you know from down the street, or "Coach Shaw." I love the little notes, too. One might say "Great for snow days," or my favorite, "Bake until done."

These books are local history you can eat. If you find one from Key West, like the Key West Woman's Club Cookbook edited by our own Lucy Burdette, you’re getting conch fritters. Down in Texas, it’s all about the chili and brisket. And here in New England you’re guaranteed a masterclass in real-deal chowders, baked beans, as well as some delicious ethnic meals.

I pulled a few community cookbooks from the shelf and opened one at random to see what I might find. I could have chosen from sections on Meats, Fish, or Vegetables, but being me, I went straight to Desserts and found this recipe on Pretzel Salad that I had to give a try.

Pretzel Salad

From the kitchen of Karen B. in the Village Street School Cookbook, It Takes a Village

Pretzel Salad Ingredients:

• 2 cups coarsely chopped pretzels (no salt)

• 1 ½ sticks melted butter (I changed this from the original ¾ cup)

• 4 tbsp sugar (for the crust)

• 8 oz cream cheese

• 1 cup sugar (for the filling)

• 8 oz Cool Whip, (the original recipe calls for thawed but mine wasn’t frozen)

• 6 oz strawberry Jell-O

• 2 cups boiling water

• 20 oz frozen sliced strawberries

Instructions:

Prepare the Crust: Mix the chopped pretzels, melted butter, and 4 tablespoons of sugar to form a crumb crust. Gently press the mixture into a greased 13x9 baking dish. (I used a 12x8 dish) Make the mixture go up the sides a little and make sure there are no holes in the bottom or the mixture will go below the crust.)

Bake & Cool: Bake the crust for 6 minutes at 400°F. (I found it was better to set the oven at 350° F. Watch it carefully because it can burn.) Set aside to cool completely.

Prepare the Topping: Dissolve the strawberry Jell-O in 2 cups of boiling water. Add the partially thawed strawberries and allow them to finish thawing in the hot mixture.

Make the Filling: Cream together the cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar until smooth. 

Gently fold in the thawed Cool Whip. 

Pro Tip: Don’t take too long making the filling because the cold strawberries will make the Jell-O start to set.

Layer: Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the cooled pretzel crust. 

Then pour the strawberry/Jell-O mixture carefully over the top of the cheese layer.

Pro-tip: When spreading the cream cheese layer, make sure to spread it all the way to the edges of the pan to create a "seal." This prevents the Jell-O from seeping down and making the pretzel crust soggy.

Chill: Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. 

Serve: I think you're going to like, make that love, this. If you try it, let me know if you agree.

What about you? Do you like recipes from community cookbooks, or do you prefer those from well known cooks like Julia, Lidia, or Jacques? Let me know in the comments to be entered in a drawing for Snakeberry: Best New England Crime Stories.

Ang Pompano is a mystery author, editor, publisher and blogger. He writes the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency, and the Reluctant Food Columnist series, both published by Level Best Books. In addition to his writing, Ang is a co-founder of Crime Spell Books and serves as co-editor of the Best New England Crime Stories anthology. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Annette, an artist, and their two rescue dogs, Dexter and Alfie.

Just Released!

Diet of Death

by Ang Pompano

The first in the Reluctant Food Columnist series.

Buy Link

Betty Ann Green is a beloved culinary icon…who doesn’t exist. She is the brilliant, beautiful illusion created by two unlikely collaborators. Behind the façade is Quincy Lazzaro, a culinarily challenged writer whose witty, sharp prose is the public face of Betty, while those flawless, genius recipes are all thanks to his octogenarian neighbor, Mary Ticarelli.
When the arrogant diet guru, Dr. Alan Tolzer, inventor of the Westport Diet, demands a face-to-face interview, Quincy reluctantly steps in as Betty’s frontman, only for Tolzer to drop dead. The police call it natural causes, but Quincy knows better. He sees it as the investigative break he’s been waiting for.
Now, caught between a crime-solving grandma, a no-nonsense detective girlfriend, and a killer who may be one step ahead, Quincy must unravel the mystery before the killer strikes again.

When It’s Time for Leaving

by Ang Pompano

Buy Link

Al DeLucia walked away from the police—and his past. But when his long-lost father leaves him a detective agency in Savannah, Al finds himself trapped between family secrets and a murder on the agency’s dock. Partnered with Maxine Brophy, a fierce detective who doesn’t trust him, Al is pulled into a deadly search through Savannah and the Okefenokee Swamp—where the truth about the case, and his father, may cost him everything.

Blood Ties and Deadly Lies

by Ang Pompano

Buy Link

Al DeLucia returns to Sachem Creek expecting a kayak race and a chance to confront his childhood bully, Abe Cromwell. Instead, he finds a dead lawyer, a web of deceit, and Abe claiming they’re brothers by DNA. Reluctantly joined by Maxine Brophy, his formidable partner and girlfriend, Al dives into a murder investigation that exposes land swindles, hidden maps, and buried family secrets. In a town where the past won’t stay buried, Al must face truths that could upend everything.

Snakeberry: Best New England Crime Stories 2025

Edited by

Christine Bagley, Susan Oleksiw, Ang Pompano, 

and Leslie Wheeler

BUY LINK

Every year the anthology brings welcome surprises and satisfactions, and this year is no different, featuring stories by 21 of New England’s best crime writers.
Includes “Minnie the Air Raid Warden” by Ang Pompano.