Today we welcome to the Kitchen the fab Joyce Tremel, whose new Cider House Mystery series releases this Tuesday with the first in the series, Deadly to the Core. Be sure to comment below to be entered in a GIVEAWAY of her brand new book! Take it away, Joyce:
Thanks to Leslie Karst and everyone here for letting me post! It’s been awhile since I’ve had a book containing recipes. My last two books were historical mysteries—lots of headlines but no recipes!
One of the recipes in DEADLY TO THE CORE is for pasta sauce. I serve this all the time and I made it up (pretty much like everything I cook) so the hardest part was writing an actual recipe. In the book I call it Kate’s Homemade Pasta Sauce and here’s the recipe:
Kate's Homemade Pasta Sauce
(serves 4-6)
Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped or pressed (I used the stuff in a jar)
2 large cans crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1–2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Directions
Brown beef in skillet.
While mixture is cooking, place other ingredients into a slow cooker.
When beef mixture is brown, add to slow cooker.
Cook on high for four hours, or low for eight hours. Serve with your favorite pasta. (I like the penne with protein from Barilla.)
Serve the pasta with a tossed salad and some garlic bread. Yum!
Don't hesitate to improvise--I do it all the time! Try the sauce with ground sausage, ground turkey or chicken, or with no meat at all. Add your favorite vegetables instead.
Readers: Do you have a go-to recipe you always make? Do you make recipes as is,
or do you improvise? Comment below to be entered in a giveaway of Deadly to the Core (US residents only).
About Deadly to the Core:
After losing her husband in a terrible car crash, thirty-five-year-old Kate is left to pick up the pieces of her life alone. Although she has physically recovered, she worries her spirit never will. But when she learns that she has inherited a fruit orchard in a small town just outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from her great uncle Stan, she takes this as an opportunity ripe for the picking. Kate knew immediately what to do with it: open a cider house. Her hopeful plans fall far from the tree when she finds the body of the orchard manager, Carl Randolph, leaving her to figure out who is at the core of this murder.
She had been in correspondence with Carl, who had agreed with her brilliant idea of opening a cider house. But not everyone is so quick to buy what she was selling—Uncle Stan’s lawyer, Robert Larabee, paints a less rosy financial outlook of the orchard’s past, present, and future.
Kate discovers that Carl had large, unexplained deposits to his bank account and it becomes clear that either he was blackmailing someone, or someone was paying him to keep quiet. Meanwhile, Kate and her neighbors receive offers to buy their property from a mysterious buyer. And there’s more than meets the eye with the neighboring orchard owner, Daniel Martinez, although Kate can’t quite put her finger on if it’s sweet or sour.
Will she be able to pick out the bad apple among the bunch before it’s too late?
About Joyce:
Joyce Tremel was a police secretary for ten years and more than once envisioned the demise of certain co-workers, but settled on writing as a way to keep herself out of jail. She is the author of the award winning Brewing Trouble mystery series. She also writes the Homefront News Mysteries under the pen name Joyce St. Anthony.
As a history buff, she’s made many visits to the Gettysburg area and discovered the wonderful hard cider made with fruit from the local Adams County orchards. After a brainstorming session wondering “what if,” the Cider House mysteries were born.
i don't have any go to recipe's - just go w/ what is on hand.
ReplyDeletefruitcrmble AT comcast DOT net
That works for me too!
DeleteMost recipes I follow as is except if it calls for garlic. Garlic makes me very sick. I've made a lot of pasta sauce over the years and never had any complaints. Thank you for the chance at your giveaway. pgenest57 at aol dot com
ReplyDeleteYou could definitely leave out the garlic. One reason I improvise so much with recipes is that I'm kind of a picky eater. There are a lot of foods/ingredients I don't like, so I just leave them out, or substitute something I do like.
DeleteThanks for giving me the opportunity to post! I'm going to be away from my computer until tomorrow afternoon--going to visit the grandkids (yay!) but I'll be sure to check all your comments when I get home.
ReplyDeleteI have lots of go-to recipes. Casseroles, pizza, and spaghetti are always favorites. When trying a new recipe I usually make it as written the first time, then add or subtract from there (unless there's an easily omitted optional ingredient I know no one will eat.)
ReplyDeleteI'm excited for the new series. I loved the Brewing Trouble books and was so disappointed it ended.
kozo8989(at)hotmail(dot)com
I'm glad you liked the Brewing Trouble books. I was also disappointed it ended. I'd still love to write more of them.
DeleteOne of my go to recipes that we love, as well as the company that I've shared it with, is my mom's recipe for lasagna. As a military family, we had lived by many nationalities, which gave mom a chance to learn recipes from woman of that country. Lasagna was always a family favorite. Like you, she'd never had many written recipes. It wasn't until after the death of our daughter and needing something to occupy my time that I decided to make a tried and true family recipe cookbook. The only way to do that was to stand by mom as she fixed a dish, taking the spices she measured in her hand and measuring them with standard measuring spoons and cups and writing them down. Then I would fix a recipe according to what I had written down for mom to check out. She would alter spices to her taste of years experience and I would try it again the next time. When, and only when, mom was satisfied that I had it right, did the recipe go into my cookbook. I also did the same with my Granny's recipes that had been passed down to mom. Now years later, I'm so happy that I did what I did when I did it since Alzheimer years later took mom's memories of even knowing how to cook. It's one my most prized possessions and my go to cookbook for fixing family meals, special occasion dishes and fixing great dishes for company. Lasagna is still my favorite go to dish to fix and I think of Mom, the lovely Italian neighbor that taught it to her when I was a wee child, and all the wonderful times we shared the table with loved ones and friends through the years.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the fabulous chance to win a copy of "Deadly to the Core", which is already on my TBR list. Excited to start a new series and to read this first book in it. Shared and hoping to be the very fortunate one selected.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
What a beautiful story, Kay! How wonderful that you made that book!
DeleteI love the idea of a family cookbook. I should try and do that someday.
DeleteNo go to recipes just whatever is in the fridge and cabinets. cheetahthecat1982ATgmailDOTcom
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with that. That's probably one of the reasons I improvise so much. I don't always have the right ingredients.
DeleteWhen I cook, I almost always improvise, based on what I have on hand and years of experience!
ReplyDeleteNancy
allibrary (at) aol (dot) com
Soups are my favorite go to recipes. I can use whatever I have around. I have an extensive spice collection, so improvise at will. Congrats on the new series, sounds like a fun one. makennedyinaz at hotmail dot com
ReplyDeleteI made a huge batch of vegetable soup last week. We're still eating it!
DeleteI have to follow a recipe. I’m not good at winging it.
ReplyDeleteWskwared(at)yahoo(dot)com
Nothing wrong with that!
DeleteThanks for stopping by the kitchen today, Joyce!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to be here! Thanks!
DeleteI have several favorites. Orzo with chopped veggies. Easy and yummy. Roast chicken with baby potatoes. Delish. Roasted salmon with kale. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteThose sound so yummy! (Is it dinner time yet...?)
DeleteYum! Although I'd have to improvise and substitute something for the kale, lol.
DeleteWelcome Joyce. Thanks for joining us at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me!
DeleteRecipes are great places to start. Then I add and subtract at will.
ReplyDeletelibbydodd at comcast dot net
Exactly!
DeleteCongratulations on the new series, Joyce! My go-to sauce is from roasting ripe August and September tomatoes with olive oil, garlice, and salt. I food-process it and freeze it to enjoy a taste of summer in the winter.
ReplyDeleteThanks! That sounds delicious!
DeleteI'm an improviser--whatever happens to look good at the grocery story (or is on sale!) combined with what's in my fridge and pantry, and that's often dinner that week. Definitely pantser when it comes to cooking...
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much what I do. Sometimes I don't know what I'm making for dinner an hour before I want to put it on the table, lol. My older son and his wife plan out a weeks worth of dinners and shop accordingly. I try, but I can't do that. What if you don't feel like eating what you planned that day?
DeleteWelcome, Joyce, and congratulations on the new series! I'm with Libby -- recipes are just a place to start!
ReplyDeleteI start with a recipe then start improvising as I don't have all the ingredients. Substitute like mad. When asked what I made, I start out with it's supposed to be such and so, but I didn't have this and that so I put in whatever instead. Seems to work. Usually. patdupuy@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new book! It sounds so good. I pretty much follow the recipe especially the first time I try it. carol (at) gmail (dot) com
ReplyDeleteOops! Wrong email. It's ckmbeg (at) gmail (dot) com
DeleteSounds delicious I love homemade pasta sauce Thank you deborahortega229@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteI don't have any special recipes. When I do cook, I usually make the recipe as it's written unless I feel a substitute would be more to my taste.
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
My favorite recipe to make is chicken cavatappi. I usually add more garlic and pepper to the recipe. Same goes for any recipe I make. I always end up adding more spices to the dish.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chance!
jarjm1980(at)hotmail(dot)com
I have quite a few recipes that I have made through the years that have become part of my cooking routine. I am always trying new recipes and I try to tweak them to match my family's taste. cherierj(at)yahoo(dot)com
ReplyDeleteI think my go to would be Mac and Cheese. I use my mother's recipie although she always used colby cheese and I sometimes subsitute other cheese. Pepper jack mac is a favorite.
ReplyDeleteMy usual go to recipe is some sort of pas-drieedta dish, with ingredients I have on hand. A favorite is gemelli with tuna in olive oil, anchovies and tomatoes (grape or sun-dried).
ReplyDeleteMy latest go to recipes are pasta dishes in the instant pot. Pasta cooks in 4 min of pressure and the flavor add ins are endless.
ReplyDeleteI've actually made this in the Instant Pot. Brown the meat, add a little water and scrape the bottom of the pot, two cups of pasta, a cup or so of water, then the tomatoes, etc. on top. It comes out great!
Deletethank you for sharing the recipe. Yum I love using my crock pot. I make (to me) a wonderful Parmesan Tomato Soup. It is so perfect in cold weather. I just made a bunch of Parmesan Tomato Soup and froze it in single meals. I also love to make Chili and freeze it. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
ReplyDeleteI'm back from seeing the grandkids! For dinner last night, my son made a pot roast with roasted potatoes and broccoli. Unlike me, he followed a recipe.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Joyce! I can’t wait to read DEADLY TO THE CORE. Your recipe looks and sounds delicious and easy. I will try making it, since I have all the ingredients, and I need my pasta fix😁 Happy and prolific 2024, and Happy Birthday to your new book. Luis at ole dot travel
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention that I follow recipes, but mostly make what I fancy at the moment and have available. Easy peasy…well, most of the time… Luis at ole dot travel
DeleteI am not a good cook so I pretty much follow recipes. lindaherold999(at)gmail(dot)com
ReplyDelete