Tasty Green Beans & Bacon from Riley Adams

We are just about ready for Christmas at our house. The stockings are hanging. We’ve already done a little holiday visiting since the kids’ break started after school on Friday. And I’ve done some baking, too (and am looking forward to doing some more and trying out more of the Christmas cookie recipes we got from y’all!)

I might have to do a little more last-minute scrambling. There always seems to be something I forgot to wrap…or some gift that I’ve hidden that I can’t find. (Please tell me I’m not the only person who can’t find gifts that they’ve hidden away!)

Last week I mentioned that I try a little harder than usual around the holidays to put some vegetables on our family’s table. We definitely want to stay healthy for Christmas, and we’re usually eating a lot more snack food than balanced meals.

I promised last week to share one more green bean recipe—since there are only a couple of ways that my husband enjoys eating them! It has to be a pretty tasty dish to get him excited about eating green beans. I think the bacon in this recipe helps. :)

Tasty Green Beans and Bacon

3 cans of green beans, drained and rinsed well
1 chopped onion
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1 t. dry mustard
1/2 t. seasoned salt
4 slices uncooked bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the green beans into a 9x13 casserole dish and top with the chopped onion. In a small bowl mix the brown sugar, vinegar, dry mustard, and seasoned salt. Pour the mixture over the top of the beans and onion. Cut each of the bacon slices in half and place on top of the beans. Bake covered at 350 degrees, then uncover and bake for 30 more minutes.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!
Riley/Elizabeth Hickory Smoked Homicide
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)

Corn and Green Bean Casserole from Riley Adams

Is everyone getting into the holiday spirit? Lately I’ve been taking a few minutes each day to try to sit still and really enjoy some of the little things. I love looking at the Christmas cards from friends, the generations-old Christmas decorations, and the smiles on my children’s faces.

I really have to remind myself to take that time out because life is so busy in December!

And when life starts getting really busy at our house sometimes I feel like we’re not always eating the most balanced of meals.

We might have some yummy munchies out while we’re trimming the tree and putting out our decorations.

We’ll have some great hors d’oeuvres out when family and friends come visiting.

And sometimes we just grab something really quick while we’re running out the door.

It’s always really tasty food, but we usually eat a lot more snacks than we do vegetables.

Vegetables, of course, are not usually high up on the favorite food list of most kids. And my husband has an odd reluctance to eat green beans!

Keeping those things in mind, I’ve got a couple of different ways of preparing green beans that ensure that my husband will eat them. :) This week I’ll share Corn and Green Bean Casserole with y’all and next week it’s Tasty Green Beans and Bacon. Cooks have ways of sneaking in foods that are good for us! And this is an easy standby that can be thrown together quickly.

Corn and Green Bean Casserole

1 can drained French-style green beans
1 drained can of whole kernel corn
8 oz. sour cream (I used light)
3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 sleeve of crushed buttery crackers
1 cup sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the vegetables, sour cream, cheese, onions, and soup. Top with the buttery crackers and almonds. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Hope everyone is having a happy December so far! Such a busy month, but such a fun one, too!

Riley/Elizabeth Hickory Smoked Homicide
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)

Fudge Pie—Riley Adams

Hope everyone is enjoying cookie week here at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen. I know I’ve got a whole bunch of new recipes for the family! I’m looking forward to finding out the winning recipe, too.

I hope y’all don’t mind a mid-week break from cookies. I’m doing something a little different today—still on the sweet theme, though. It’s a fudge pie. Very rich, very moist, and super easy to make. It’s really like a big brownie in a pie shell. :)

I was lucky to be able to snap a couple of pictures of the finished product before that teenager of mine came down the stairs. When he follows his nose into the kitchen, it’s always bad for my photography efforts!

Fudge Pie

2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 stick margarine, melted
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1/4 c. flour
prepared pie shell, unbaked

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix melted margarine with the sugar. Beat eggs and vanilla into the margarine mixture. Add the vanilla. Mix in the cocoa. Mix in the flour. Pour mixture into pie shell and bake at 300 until set (about 45 minutes).

This is great with ice cream or a whipped cream on the top. Hope everyone has a sweet week…and don’t forget the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen cookie week!

To enter, send your favorite recipe to Krista (KristaDavis at KristaDavis dot com).
We'll choose 10 finalists, recipes that we'll bake and post here on the blog.
Then you, our readers, will choose the overall winner who will win a fabulous collection of cookie decorating supplies!

Riley/Elizabeth Hickory Smoked Homicide (now available!)
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)Progressive Dinner Deadly

Sherried Chicken--Riley Adams

Penzeys is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2011. Congratulations! At Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, we’re celebrating by featuring a week of Penzeys-inspired recipes.

Even if there’s not a Penzeys store in your town (click here to see where their brick-and-mortar stores are located), their spices are easy to stock up on—just order online, like I do. They have over 250 spices and seasonings, so you’re sure to find something fun to liven up your cooking. Actually, just browsing through their catalog can really help you brainstorm new recipes.recipes on the blog.
The recipe I’m sharing this week is a sort of special-occasion meal for me. Usually it’s something I’ll make when I’ve got company over. But it’s so easy that I really should cook it more often. The longest part of the preparation is the cooking time. And clean-up is a snap.

The Penzeys spice is Bouquet Garni which is a combination of savory, rosemary, thyme, Turkish oregano, basil, dill weed, marjoram, sage and tarragon.

Penzeys Sherried Chicken

4 T butter (divided)
1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 teaspoon Penzeys Bouquet Garni
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Melt 2 T of the butter in a frying pan. Add the sliced mushrooms and green onions and sauté until the mushrooms are tender. Set the mushroom mixture aside. Add the remaining 2 T of the butter to melt, then add the chicken breasts. Sprinkle the chicken with Penzeys Bouquet Garni while browning the chicken (about 3-5 minutes). Pour the sherry into the pan. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes, or until tender. Blend the water and cornstarch and add to the chicken. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens (about 5-7 minutes). Add the mushrooms and green onions to the pan. Serve (also good over rice or pasta).

What’s your favorite spice to cook with?
Riley/Elizabeth Hickory Smoked Homicide (now available!)
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)Progressive Dinner Deadly

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE MYSTERY LOVERS’ KITCHEN CHRISTMAS COOKIE CONTEST!

To enter, send your favorite recipe to Krista (KristaDavis at KristaDavis dot com).
We'll choose 10 finalists, recipes that we'll bake and post here on the blog.
Then you, our readers, will choose the overall winner who will win a fabulous collection of cookie decorating supplies!

Supper in a Snap--Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

I don’t know about y’all, but sometimes when it gets really close to Thanksgiving (or other big holidays), I tend to forget about every meal but Thanksgiving dinner.

This isn’t good! The family still has to eat in the meantime.

This week I pulled out an old standby. I’m sure y’all have them, too. Unfortunately, I’ve also been stricken with bronchitis this week (‘tis the season!) so I’ve been sort of lackluster in terms of energy. This easy chicken casserole came in very handy. You just throw in the ingredients and you’re done. I even used one of those microwavable/steamed veggie packs for the broccoli, which made the whole process extra easy.

My son is not a broccoli fan, but when it’s cooked in with the other ingredients like this, he’ll even give it a go. Especially since it’s got bacon in the casserole. :) In this household, that pretty much ensures a recipe will be eaten.

Simple Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

3 cooked, chopped chicken breasts
1 pound cooked broccoli florets(I used microwave-steamed frozen broccoli)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped, cooked bacon
1 cup crushed buttery crackers
1 stick melted margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl mix together the soup, milk, and cooked bacon. In a 9x13 inch baking dish layer the chicken, broccoli, soup mixture, and cheese. Mix the melted margarine and the buttery cracker crumbs together and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350.

Hope you’ll all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! --Riley/Elizabeth
Hickory Smoked Homicide (now available!)
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)
Progressive Dinner Deadly

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE MYSTERY LOVERS’ KITCHEN CHRISTMAS COOKIE CONTEST!

To enter, send your favorite recipe to Krista (KristaDavis at KristaDavis dot com).
We'll choose 10 finalists, recipes that we'll bake and post here on the blog.
Then you, our readers, will choose the overall winner who will win a fabulous collection of cookie decorating supplies!

Easy Cornbread for Thanksgiving from Riley Adams

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year and Thanksgiving is one of the main reasons. It’s such a great time to reconnect with friends and family.

And the food is pretty amazing, too! Although getting everything cooked and ready at once can be a challenge for me. Sometimes I forget where I left off with a recipe or what I should be stirring or checking on!

Bread is usually what gets forgotten while I’m focusing attention on the turkey and sides. With this easy cornbread, though, I have a harder time forgetting about it. Maybe that’s because it’s in a casserole dish and needs longer to cook than just warm-and-serve rolls. At any rate, it’s a tasty addition to the Thanksgiving table. And a very moist cornbread.

One caveat—if you’re feeding a crowd, you may want to double this recipe.

Easy, Corny Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
2 beaten eggs
1 cup milk
1 large can of cream-style corn
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 finely-chopped medium onion
8 oz. shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a casserole dish. Combine all ingredients except the cheese. Pour half the batter into the greased dish, then sprinkle cheese on the top of the batter. Add the remaining batter on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Hope you’ll all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! --Riley/Elizabeth
Hickory Smoked Homicide (now available!)
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)
Progressive Dinner Deadly

Don’t forget to enter the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen Christmas cookie contest!

To enter, send your favorite recipe to Krista (KristaDavis at KristaDavis dot com).

We'll choose 10 finalists, recipes that we'll bake and post here on the blog.

Then you, our readers, will choose the overall winner who will win a fabulous collection of cookie decorating supplies!

Hickory Smoked Homicide Release Day Party with Favorite Southern Recipes!

Publication Day is always an exciting one around here and today we can share that excitement with our own Riley Adams/Elizabeth Spann Craig. Her 3rd Memphis BBQ Mystery officially releases today. Please join me in toasting her on the pub day of HICKORY SMOKED HOMICIDE! Woot!

Be sure to check out Riley's comment-to-win contest at Dru's Book Musings blog, where you can enter to win her new mystery. Click here to jump there.

In the Kitchen
with Riley... 


For two years now, Riley/Elizabeth has been my co-blogging buddy, and my husband and I have enjoyed so many of her recipes. Because today is such a special one for her, I'm making her my "guest of honor" in the kitchen by sharing five wonderful Riley recipes with you. (And, let me tell you, there were many more I wanted to include. This was a difficult list to narrow down!) 


Riley's affection for her Southern roots shines through in her posts as well as her books, and it's irresistible. Click on each photo below. A new window will open up and Riley/Elizabeth will share her ingredients and directions. 


TIP: Now that we have a "print friendly" button at the end of each post, you will find that it is much easier to print or save (to PDF) some of Riley's earlier posts. With our blog's Recipe Index now LIVE, you can easily locate more of Riley's past recipes. To visit our Index, click here or on the "Recipe Index" icon in the upper left column.



Lowcountry Boil

A true keeper of a recipe! "This dish first originated in South Carolina’s coastal regions," Riley informed us, "where it was called ‘Frogmore Stew,’ after the town of Frogmore, SC, (which no longer exists)."


According to Riley, this recipe can be easily adjusted to feed a crowd; and in the South, it’s frequently served on newspapers laid out on picnic tables for easy clean-up. To see Riley's recipe, click here.

Smoked Salmon 

Shirred Eggs 

“Down in the small but pretty town of Saylors Crossroads, South Carolina, there’s a little restaurant that’s starting to make quite a name for itself,” Riley wrote. “And, with a name like Grits and Groceries, it’s only natural. It’s in an old country store in an historic building. The building itself might be old, but the interior is full of fresh ideas from owners…” One of those ideas was an incredible recipe for Smoked Salmon Shirred Eggs. To see Riley's post on this recipe, click here. 

Lulu's Special 

Asparagus with bacon and walnuts

My husband now eats asparagus. 
'Nuf said. :-) .... To see Riley's tasty recipe, click here.

Pimento Cheese

This favorite Southern treat brought very happy memories back to my husband, Marc. His mother made this often when he was a little boy. Until Riley's post, he had forgotten. Thanks to Riley, we both now enjoy this (on crackers, bread, or with chips) a few times a month! To see Riley's recipe, click here.

Apple Cobbler 

"There’s something about a small-town festival that’s really appealing," Riley wrote after she attended a local apple festival. According Riley, "North Carolina is the 7th largest apple producer in America." With apple season upon us once again, Riley's Apple Cobbler is a welcome treat in our house. To make it one in yours, too, see her recipe here.

Thank you, Riley/Elizabeth
for sharing your warmth, wit, and recipes with all of us!

~ Cleo Coyle, author of

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

 CoffeehouseMystery.com

Full yet? 

Just in case you have a little room left for chocolate, I have a quick reminder for my readers. Tonight at 12 midnight is the cutoff to enter the "Favorite Coffeehouse Mystery Character" contest.

CLICK HERE
FOR CONTEST INFO

My first Newsletter in a very long time went out last week with 3 Recipes, 3 Contests, 1 New Review and more... 

TO SEE MY NEWSLETTER

IN YOUR BROWSER 

CLICK HERE.

If you didn't receive my newsletter and you'd like to subscribe, simply
send an e-mail to CoffeehouseMystery@gmail.com that says "sign me up" and you will also be entered in my weekly Free Coffee Drawings.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

HAPPY 

RELEASE DAY, RILEY!

To purchase 

HICKORY SMOKED HOMICIDE, 

click here.

To learn more about Riley/Elizabeth
and the books she writes, visit her
official author page by clicking here.

And don't forget about her
comment-to-win contest
at Dru's blog!

Apple Salad from Riley Adams

It’s apple season! And my family couldn’t be happier. We love going to the store or the farmers’ market and seeing so many varieties of apples.

For a while I can get away with just putting an apple in my kids’ lunchboxes, but it doesn’t take long for them to want something a little different. The recipe below keeps well for days and is good in a lunchbox next to some blue ice or a frozen juice box.

I’m sharing a recipe for what the old Southern cookbooks call “apple salad,” which is very similar to Waldorf, but uses vanilla yogurt instead of mayonnaise.

This variety is super-easy, but you could play with it a variety of different ways. Many of the cookbooks I’ve got from the 1970s would add miniature marshmallows and vanilla pudding to it. You could use walnuts instead of pecans, use different types of apples, use dried cranberries instead of raisins, etc.

If you’ve got little ones eating this salad, I’d probably cut up the grapes and apples pretty well to keep the risk of choking down (says a mom who knows!)

Apple Salad

6 medium Granny Smith apples, diced
Small bunch of seedless grapes, halved
3/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 8-oz. carton of vanilla yogurt

Mix all the ingredients together, being sure to coat the fruit with the yogurt. Keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge.

Enjoy apple season! And just a quick note—the third book in the Memphis Barbeque series releases November 1! Hope you’ll pick up a copy if you enjoy mysteries. :)

Riley/Elizabeth
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)
Hickory Smoked Homicide (preorder book 3!)
Progressive Dinner Deadly

Cheese Monkey—by Riley Adams

Growing up, my mother and grandmother would serve me a dish called cheese monkey. None of the adults ever really explained to me why it was called cheese monkey, and I think I ate it with some degree of suspicion the first time I put it in my mouth. That suspicion was quickly dispelled when I realized it was basically a cheese soufflé.

Now, this isn’t the same as monkey bread, which y’all have probably eaten. Not the same, but it does share some similarities. Monkey bread is made with balls of dough that give the treat a bumpy appearance and is meant to be pulled apart (with, I guess, the same approach a monkey might take to eat it!) Cheese monkey is made with slices of bread that give it the same bumpy, easy to pull-apart appearance. But monkey bread is sweet and cinnamon-y and meant for dessert or a sweet breakfast. Cheese monkey is definitely more of a side or main dish.

Again, this recipe is easy, easy, easy. The longer part of the prep is the time it spends in the oven. Best part? It’s even better the next day. :)

My old recipe uses whole milk and heavy cream. I make it with 1% milk and half and half. I have a feeling you could also use egg substitute, if you wanted. Of course, the bread and cheese still make this a high-calorie treat, but you can cut down on some of it. I like a lot of cheese, but you could also reduce the amount and it would still be yummy.

Cheese Monkey

1 1/2- 2 cups cubed Swiss cheese
Slightly less than 1 loaf sliced French or Sourdough bread
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup half and half
5 well-beaten eggs
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 t salt
1/2 t dry mustard

Preheat oven to 375. Spray the bottom of a rectangular Pyrex dish. Layer bread, then cheese for 2 layers. Combine milk, half and half, eggs, wine, salt, and dry mustard and pour over the bread and cheese mixture. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until most of the liquid is cooked away.

Hope you’ll enjoy a little Southern comfort in the form of cheese monkey!

Riley/Elizabeth
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)
Hickory Smoked Homicide (preorder book 3!)
Progressive Dinner Deadly ($2.99 on Kindle—Elizabeth Craig)

Sherry Cheese Pâté

As I mentioned last week, I’ve recently been invited to several different parties and drop-ins. Fall is a really busy time.

Since I’ve needed to bring hors d’oeuvres with me to these events, I’ve had to dig around in my recipe box a bit. After all, some of the same people are at each of these events. (Which is very tacky of them. If there were different people at each event, I could just make a huge batch of cheese olivettes, freeze them, and use them at each party!) :)

So here’s a recipe from deep in my recipe box. It’s an old crowd-pleaser, sherry cheese pâté.

Even its name is mysterious, which makes preparing it very fitting for a mystery writer. This is not pâté. Not even close! But it is good. Oh, and quick and easy. A must for me right now. The taste of sherry in this spread seems to go over well at parties.

Sherry Cheese Pâté

2 3-oz packages softened cream cheese
1 C grated sharp cheddar
1 T dry sherry
1/2 t curry powder
1/4 t salt
1 8oz jar mango chutney
2 green onions, chopped

Mix cream cheese, cheddar, sherry, curry, and salt together, thoroughly. Spread the mixture on a serving plate. Chill. Spread the chutney on the top of the mixture and sprinkle green onions on the top. Serve with crackers.

Enjoy! And hope you’ve all got some fun fall events on your calendar.

Riley/Elizabeth
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)
Progressive Dinner Deadly ($2.99 on Kindle—Elizabeth Craig)

Cheese Olivettes

Any olive lovers out there?

As it is now, I’m the only olive-loving person in my household. :) This means they don’t factor a lot into my cooking (big sigh.)

Recently, though, I’ve been invited to a couple of drop-ins and a book club meeting, and other events where I needed to bring food along with me. At one of the events, I brought an olive hors d’oeuvres.

This recipe for olive balls (called cheese olivettes in most of the old-timey Southern cookbooks I’ve got) has been around for a long time. I remember going to parties as a child and having this exact, same appetizer. As a child, though, I didn’t appreciate it…all I wanted was the cheesy breading. If you serve it at a party, you might want to let guests know there’s an olive at the center so they won’t be surprised!

Cheese Olivettes

2 C sharp cheddar
1 stick melted margarine
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 t paprika
garlic salt, to taste
1 1/4 C flour
36 stuffed green olives

Mix the cheese, flour, paprika, and garlic salt together. Mix in the margarine to the cheese mixture. Add Worcestershire. Break off bits of dough and wrap around each olive, rolling in your hand to completely cover the olive with dough.

Refrigerate 1 hour before cooking.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Are there any foods that you love that your family doesn’t? Will you cook it just for yourself? :)

Riley/Elizabeth
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)
Hickory Smoked Homicide (Riley Adams)
Progressive Dinner Deadly ($2.99 on Kindle—Elizabeth Craig)

Chicken and Prosciutto Skewers

First off, congratulations to our very own Krista Davis on the launch of the next Domestic Diva mystery:

The Diva Haunts the House!

Labor Day weekend has traditionally meant the end of various things.

For many children, it means the end of summer vacation (not down here in the South, though—we start school early.)

It’s supposed to mean the end of wearing white shoes (I tend to ignore this and wear white sandals as long as I possibly can. :) )

The outdoor pools usually close after Labor Day until Memorial Day the next year.

And…some believe it’s time to put away the grill after Labor Day is over.

But we don’t have to! We can keep on grilling while wearing our white sandals, poolside.

With that in mind, here is a fun recipe for the grill that’s great for entertaining.

Chicken and Prosciutto Skewers

Ingredients
Chicken breast (cut into thirds, lengthwise—or use already sliced tenderloins)
Balsamic dressing for marinade
Dates or figs
Prosciutto (enough to wrap each chicken strip)
Skewers

Preheat your grill to medium heat. Marinate the chicken in balsamic dressing for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. Cut the dates or figs in half (pit the date first, if using dates). Wrap the Prosciutto around the marinated chicken breast and date/fig and thread onto skewer. Grill until the chicken is cooked, turning frequently (about 5 minutes for each side, or until juices run clear and chicken is no longer pink).

Fight back against the end of summer! :)

Riley/Elizabeth
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)
Progressive Dinner Deadly ($2.99 on Kindle—Elizabeth Craig)