The Long Quiche Goodbye Debuts July 6

Hi!

My "You be the sleuth" contest ends tonight at midnight EDT. The winner will be announced tomorrow in my newsletter. You can find the news on my website.

Congratulations to all! I'll be contacting you.

While you're there looking to see if you won, check out the Virtual Tour for my Launch Party. There will be an "Order the book" contest. {If you've already ordered it, don't despair. You can enter, too.} And I'm starting a blog tour as well as a book tour and some radio chats. Those events are all posted on the site as well. It'll be a whirlwind of activity, but I hope you'll each be able to join me for one of the events, whether online, via the radio, or in person.

If you hadn't guessed after all this furor, The Long Quiche Goodbye debuts tomorrow. The reviews have been great so far--lucky me! The book will be available not only online but in bookstores. I'm so excited!!! The others on our blog have all been published, but this is my first!

Can you remember your very first date? The sweaty palms, the double-check in the mirror to make sure you didn't have spinach in your teeth (even if you didn't eat spinach), breathing into your hand to make sure your breath was okay??? Was the outfit right? Too wrinkled? Just wrinkled enough? Well, I'm feeling all of those things and more. Yes, even about a book. I've written for a long time. This was not a lucky first book story. I'm hoping it will be a hit. So buy it and enjoy the read.

By the way, Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams also debuts tomorrow. We're a pair, aren't we? With food perfect for the summer!

Speaking of food...

In The Long Quiche Goodbye, as you have probably figured out by now, there is mention of cheese! And there are recipes at the end of the book. Well, one of the recipes I didn't include is the barbecue sauce that Charlotte's adorable grandfather {Pepere} makes. He loves to cook. For a potluck dinner in the book, he makes his special ribs. I'd like to share his seasoning recipe with you now.

Pepere's Barbecue Seasoning

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon orange rind

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons lemonade (do not add until ready to use)

Directions:

Mix all the seasonings until blended. {This may be stored for quite a while.}

**Do NOT add the lemonade until ready to use that day.

For Ribs:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Set your choice of meat (I use 1.5 to 2 pounds of baby back ribs, but chicken or pork chops will do) on large sheet of foil. Set on top of a long flat baking pan.

Mix the dry seasoning with the lemonade. Rub the wet seasoning on the top of the meat and wrap the foil tightly around it.

Set the baking pan in the oven for 2 hours and bake slowly.

Remove from the oven.

Then...the ribs can be grilled on the barbecue to add extra flavor, broiled to crisp up, or served hot from the foil.

The meat will pull apart with your fingers.

Enjoy! And say cheese!

"You Be The Sleuth" Contest!

This is the last day to enter!!! Track down the recipe on my website that includes eggs, Edam, and white pepper. Enter your answer by clicking on this link: CONTEST ENTRY FORM.

One of you will win a $25 gift certificate at your favorite bookstore. Two of you will win signed copies of The Long Quiche Goodbye. Three of you will win a Long Quiche Goodbye magnet. You can ask friends for help. Spread the word and share the fun. And while you're there, consider pre-ordering a book on my booksellers page.

Here is the link to my website to help get you started. Good luck!

Oh no, not them again!

Good morning (or evening, or whenever it is you're reading)!

No, my title doesn't have anything to do with uninvited guests showing up at my door. Nope, today's blog is about something far more dreadful (not!).

But first, I want to remind you of a couple of cool things:

First, this is the perfect time to sign up for Avery Aames' newsletter and to get "in the know" about her first Cheese Shop Mystery, The Long Quiche Goodbye (I *adore* that title!) which Lorna Barrett called "A lovely tour de fromage..."

Avery's book debuts July 6, 2010. Follow the link below to keep updated:

If you want to know more about A Cheese Shop Mystery series and even become a "fan", check out my website by clicking this link: Avery Aames.

And we can't forget Elizabeth's April Contest. If you haven't entered yet, don't delay. The contest ends this week and you won't want to miss your chance to win that great grilling rub collection from Williams-Sonoma!

The first book in the Memphis Barbeque series, Delicious and Suspicious, will be released July 6. To celebrate its upcoming release, I’m throwing a giveaway! :)Are you interested in winning Williams-Sonoma’s Ultimate Grilling Rub Collection? It’s easy to enter! Just send an emailto MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com with

“Contest” in the subject line.

Really, really want to up your chances?You’ll get one extra entry if you follow us on Twitter, one extra if you subscribe to our posts (in the right hand sidebar under “Subscribe”), and one extra for becoming a follower (by clicking the “follow” button in the right hand column under our book covers and blog roll.) Just send us an extra email at MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com and let us know what you’ve signed up for. If you’re already a follower or subscriber, let us know that, too!

Now, onto today's recipe.

I titled this "Oh no, not them again!" for good reason. Whenever we at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen blog about Brussels Sprouts, we get fewer comments and fewer hits. But the poor maligned vegetable deserves better treatment (I'm talking to you, Dave!)

I'm including a super easy recipe that makes those itty bitty cabbages taste great! Trust me. I blogged once about a Brussels Sprouts appetizer. This one is a side dish. One that's gotten rave reviews from family members who claim to hate the little green sprouts.

So, with a little trepidation and hoping I haven't lost all our readers for the day, here goes:

(adapted from Vegetarian Cooking)

2/3 cup whipping cream

2/3 cup milk

1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

1 1/2 lbs Brussels Sprouts, sliced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a shallow baking dish (I used a 10 x 14 Pyrex glass dish). Blend cream, milk, cheese, and seasonings in a bowl.

Place a single layer of Brussels Sprouts slices in the dish. Add half the garlic. Pour about a quarter of the liquid over the sprouts. Then add another layer of sprouts and pour more of the cream over them. Continue until all sprouts are layered and all liquid has been used.

Cover and bake for about an hour. Check on them and push any uncovered sprouts back into the mixture. Bake until bubbling and until the edges of exposed sprouts begin to brown. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Mmm!! Delicious!

I hope you give this recipe a try. Next week I have something completely different to talk about. Please tune in. No Brussels Sprouts. I promise!

Have fun!

Julie

Please sign up for my newsletter at my blog here. A new version will be going out very soon! Lots of updates. Contest coming too!