Celebrate our 5th Anniversary with photo contest & book giveaway & recipes!

From Daryl aka Avery:

YUMMY RECIPE FOR PLUM COBBLER BELOW!!!

But do you know we've been celebrating our 5th anniversary on this blog for about a week!?? That's right, 5 years!!  Yipes. Lots of recipes.

In honor of our anniversary, we're throwing two contests!

We're giving away a book every day from today until July 25th. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here and tell us with whom you shared the news of our contests or our anniversary. Help us celebrate by spreading the word! Did you tell your neighbor? Did you email your sister? Did you post on Facebook or tweet? TODAY??? Be sure to leave a comment each day because there will be twelve total drawings. Leave a comment before midnight because after midnight, the next drawing starts!

REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS so we can contact you if you won!

THAT PLUM COBBLER RECIPE IS COMING...keep reading.

Today: I'm giving away a book by former member , WENDY LYN WATSON, aka ANNIE KNOX. Annie writes THE PET BOUTIQUE mystery series for NAL about a woman who runs a pet boutique in northern Minnesota.  The first, PAWS FOR MURDER, came out in January, and the second, GROOMED FOR MURDER, will be out in September.  She has also signed a contract for another series, written as Wendy Lyn Watson, called the BOOK MAGIC MYSTERIES.

Annie will give you your choice of the first in her  PET BOUTIQUE series or an ARC (advanced review copy) of the book coming out in September. Do you love to offer reviews? Mention that in your comment.

Our second contest is a photo contest!  You can find our photo contest here and at our Facebook page! Five lucky winners will receive a Mystery Lovers' Kitchen tote bag and seven paperback mysteries! Since we can't all get away on vacation, we hope our books are having fun this summer. Take a picture of one of our books having fun! You can enter up to five times, once in each of these categories:

1) One of our books with a cat

2) One of our books with a dog

3) One of our books having summer fun

4) One of our books in a library

5) One of our books in a bookstore.

CELEBRATE!

And now, today's recipe is:

Plum Cobbler

Plums are in season. Why not use them to their best advantage? And have you heard about a Plumcot? Or Pluot, depending where you get it? It's a plum apricot hybrid. Possibly the most delicious plum I've ever had. 

Pluot is the speckled one on the right.

My husband won't appreciate this, but when he travels, that seems to be when I like to make sweet things. Is it because I miss my sweet honey or is it because I'm trying to spare him the calories because I love him so much and he loves my sweets so much???  Or is it possibly because, this time, I was in edit "hell" doing my best to finish up the next Cookbook Nook mystery and I needed sugar!!!! Don't you love the organization on top of my kitchen table?

 LOL!!!!

"Am I too adorable for words?"

Anyway, I made this cobbler and finished it all by myself. Oops! Extra time on the treadmill and walking Sparky is in order now. Sparky doesn't seem to mind the walks, so that's a good thing. Though I have to admit, he doesn't like me putting that harness thing over his head.

Enjoy this delicious of-the-season dessert!

Plum Cobbler

Ingredients:

7 large plums, pitted and quartered

½ cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons plus 1 cup flour (gluten-free option below)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½  teaspoon nutmeg

1 egg lightly beaten

½ cup butter, melted

whipped cream, if desired

(If you need to eat gluten-free, substitute the flour with GF flour and add ½ teaspoon xanthan gum as noted below.)

Directions:

Grease a 2 quart to 2 ½ quart baking dish.

In a large bowl, combine the plums, brown sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon. Spoon into the baking dish.

Pluot is the red-pulp fruit.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and remaining flour. (If you need to eat gluten-free, substitute the 1 cup flour with GF flour and add ½ teaspoon xanthan gum HERE.) Add egg and stir with a fork. This will become crumbly. Sprinkle the mixture over the plum mixture.

Melt the butter and drizzle the butter over the flour mixture.

Bake at 375° for 40 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool for 20 minutes before serving. This is hot coming out of the oven! Serve warm or at room temperature. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Note: insides are loose. It will scoop out of the baking dish and won’t come out in perfect sections.

Final note: If I were to make this again, I might use a 13 x 9 pan for the insides and double the crumb topping to spread over the entire thing. The topping is that good!!  In fact, hmmm, think I'll have to try that this weekend!! Is my hubby out of town? :)

* * *

For STIRRING THE PLOT, which comes out September 30th, I'm going to be doing a number of giveaways, starting in August. Books, mugs, stuffed kittens!  Make sure you're signed up for my newsletter and "like" me on Facebook, where information about the giveaways will appear.  Look for pictures of Tigger, the ginger cat in the series, celebrating ala Halloween!

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Days of Wine and Roquefort 
is out!
order here

Inherit the Word
  is out!
                                    order here

STIRRING THE PLOT is available for preorder: order here.

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