PLEASE WELCOME OUR GUEST LINDA REILLY #GIVEAWAY

I'm excited to have my counterpart in cheese as our guest today! Linda Reilly is the author of several cozy mystery series, her current being the delectably delightful Grilled Cheese Mysteries.

Thank you, Korina Moss, for inviting me to do a guest post on Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen. Your Cheese Shop mysteries are such a delight, and they’ve taught me more than I ever knew about one of my favorite foods—cheese!

In my Grilled Cheese Mystery series, Carly Hale has opened her dream restaurant—a grilled cheese eatery tucked in the heart of Balsam Dell, Vermont. Now that summer has arrived, fresh-picked local raspberries are available at nearly every farm stand, along with locally made raspberry jam. Carly’s grill cook and future chef, Grant Robinson, loves to experiment with cheese and bread combos when creating a new sandwich. He tried this one with Brie, but ultimately it was the cream cheese that worked best. The blend of smooth cream cheese and sweet raspberry jam makes this the perfect choice for jam lovers. And, as Grant says . . . it’s so simple, it’s sinful. This recipe is for one sandwich.

Grant’s Raspberry Sizzle

Ingredients

• 2 slices whole grain bread (sourdough works well, too)

• Salted butter (preferably softened)

• 1 to 2 tablespoons cream cheese (depending on your preference and the size of the bread)

• 2 tablespoons raspberry jam

Directions:

• Butter one side of each slice of bread evenly with the salted butter. (Try not to skimp on butter, as you want the sandwich to have that crispy, crunchy outside)

• On the un-buttered side of one slice, spread the cream cheese, then evenly spoon the jam over that.

• Place the other slice on top, butter side facing out. Press down gently so that the two slices stick together.

• Place in a skillet over medium or medium-low heat. Grill each side until browned to perfection and the cream cheese and jam are warm.

Enjoy this treat with a cup of your favorite tea, hot or iced, or any other beverage that makes you smile!

And since today is Father’s Day, I’d like to give a shoutout to my own dad, who passed away at the age of 91 in 2017. In his heyday, he was the best gardener in his small Massachusetts town. As he aged, he gave up planting pumpkins and corn, but he continued growing tomatoes, sweet onions, garlic, carrots, and a few other veggies I can’t remember. At the edge of his garden was a long row of raspberries that grew on their own every year. Dad spent a lot of time trimming them and fussing with them. Neighbors and friends knew they were always welcome to stop by for raspberries or anything else in his garden—so long as they were willing to pick their own. This photo of him in his garden is circa 1985.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads and father figures out there, and to my own wonderful dad. Do you like to garden? What’s your favorite thing to plant?

Raised in a sleepy town in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Linda Reilly is a dyed-in-the-wool New Englander and a lover of all things cheese. In addition to the Grilled Cheese mysteries, she is the author of the Deep Fried Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime) and the Cat Lady Mysteries (Kensington Lyrical). She currently lives in southern New Hampshire with her two feline assistants, who frequently assist with editing by prancing over her laptop. When she’s not pounding away at her keyboard, she can usually be found prowling the shelves of a local bookstore or standing over the stove making a melty grilled cheese.

Linda Reilly - Web page and social media links:

https://www.lindareillyauthor.com

https://www.facebook.com/Lindasreillyauthor

https://www.instagram.com/lindasreillyauthor/

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/linda-reilly

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6588314.Linda_S_Reilly

Teaser for BRIE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR:

With the summer heat sizzling, grilled cheese restaurant owner Carly Hale is thrilled to have Ross Baxter delivering her sandwiches to local seniors. She’s never met a more polite or hardworking young man, and she brushes it off when one of her more difficult customers complains about him. But when Ross returns to the woman’s home to make another delivery and finds her dead body, the police immediately peg him as the prime suspect. Carly soon learns that the victim had an estranged stepson and stepdaughter, both of whom needed money to get their lives back on track. Worse still, in her younger days the dead woman had a reputation for preying on other women’s husbands, leaving broken marriages in her wake—and a list of suspects a mile long. But Ross’s fingerprints were found on the murder weapon, leaving Carly hungry for any clue she can dig up. Until she comes face-to-face with the killer, and realizes this time she may have bitten off more than she can chew . . .

GIVEAWAY!

 Linda is giving away a signed, printed copy of BRIE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR to one lucky person who comments below. (U.S. only) 

                              

Guest Linda Reilly with Grilled Cheese Donut #Giveaway

Please welcome our guest today--author Linda Reilly. She's sharing an intriguing recipe today--a grilled cheese donut!  What's not to love, right? Two of my favorite things combined? Yes, please!  

Thank you, Peg Cochran, for inviting me to do a guest post on Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen! In my Grilled Cheese mystery series, Carly Hale has opened her dream restaurant—a grilled cheese eatery tucked in the heart of Balsam Dell, Vermont. Her motto has always been: We prepare our sandwiches to please our customers. There’s no wrong way to make a grilled cheese. But even Carly was flummoxed when she was asked to cater a former classmate’s wedding shower with grilled cheese donuts as the main course!

Staying true to her motto, Carly and her grill cook, Grant Robinson, experimented with recipes until they found the perfect one. This simple, three-ingredient twist on a traditional grilled cheese blends the sweetness of the sugary glaze and the tartness of the sharp cheddar. While it’s not for every palate, it was the hit of the wedding shower! That is, until the groom-to-be turned up dead at the foot of the elegant staircase…

 

This recipe for a Grilled Cheese Donut was inspired by the nationally well-known eatery Tom & Chee.

 

Ingredients:

 

Softened butter

One glazed donut

Shredded, sharp cheddar cheese (as much as you can pile on!)

 

 

 

Directions:

Using a serrated knife, slice the donut in half lengthwise. I refrigerated mine first for about an  hour to make it easier to work with, but this is optional. Spread softened butter on both unglazed sides.  

 

 

 

Set one half of the donut in a non-stick skillet or cast-iron pan, butter side down. Pile the shredded cheese on top of the glazed side. I love the look of orange cheese, so I topped the shredded cheddar with a bit of Mexican blend cheese. (Don’t worry about bits of spillage into the pan—they make nice crusty edges!) 

 

 

 

Top the cheese with the other half of the donut, butter side up. Grill over low to medium heat, pressing down lightly with a spatula. I suggest not using a grill press, as the weight will squish the sandwich too flat. I covered the pan for a few minutes to hasten the melting.  

 

Grill on one side until golden brown, then carefully flip over the sandwich and grill the other side. After you flip, use the spatula to gather the stray bits of cheese in the pan toward the sandwich to get those lovely, crispy brown edges! Grill until golden brown. 

 

 

 

 

Don’t hesitate to add a slice of tomato or any other accompaniment you’d like. And if you don’t like using shredded cheese, substitute with a thick slice of your favorite sharp cheddar or any other cheese that tickles your tastebuds!

 

How about you? Would you try a grilled cheese made with a glazed donut?

 

 

Winter in Balsam Dell is a snowy affair, and to add in some cheer after the holidays Carly's former classmate Klarissa Taddeo is hosting her extravagant bridal shower at the historic Balsam Dell inn. But when a double-booking throws some mold in the cheese, Klarissa is left scrambling. Dawn, the maid of honor and wedding planner, saves the day by moving the shower to her family's mansion and books Carly to cater the party. It seems the group is going to pull off the shower without a hitch.

That is, until Klarissa's fiancé crashes the event. She's furious with her groom-to-be and when a loud argument ensues, everyone is shocked by what they hear. When the groom is later found dead at the bottom of the stairs, his drink spiked with a hefty dose of poison, Carly must put her nose to the rind and save Klarissa from being suspect #1. Because you know what they say: it's always the (almost) wife.

Purchase links:

Amazon : BN : Kobo : Apple Books

 

 GIVEAWAY!!

 

You could win a signed copy of Cheddar Off Dead!

 

Leave a comment below--Would you try a grilled cheese made with a glazed donut? (US only, please.)

 

Raised in a sleepy town in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Linda Reilly is a dyed-in-the-wool New Englander and a lover of all things cheese. In addition to the Grilled Cheese mysteries, she is the author of the Deep Fried Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime) and the Cat Lady Mysteries (Kensington Lyrical). She currently lives in southern New Hampshire with her two feline assistants, Panda and Flora. When she’s not pounding away at her keyboard, she can usually be found prowling the shelves of a local bookstore or library—or standing over the stove making a melty grilled cheese.

 

Linda Reilly - Web page and social media links:

 

https://www.lindasreilly.com

https://www.facebook.com/Lindasreillyauthor

https://www.instagram.com/lindasreillyauthor/

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/linda-reilly

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6588314.Linda_S_Reilly

 

Please welcome our guest Linda Reilly! #Recipe Fried Pickles & #Giveaway

I'm very pleased to welcome author Linda Reilly to our blog today.  Her series, the Deep Fried Mysteries, features fried food recipes.  Today she is sharing her recipe for fried pickles!  Take it away, Linda!

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A big thank you to Peg Cochran and all the culinary geniuses of Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen! I am thrilled to be invited once again to do a guest post. This recipe is for all the pickle lovers out there.

Preparing deep fried recipes at home can be challenging. Truth be told, the sizzling hot oil scares me. A good policy is to keep children and pets a safe distance from the hot oil while you’re in the preparation stage.

When I first began experimenting with deep fried concoctions, I invested in a deep fryer. Setting it up was fairly easy—one checkmark in the plus column. But the fryer came with so many safety features that I found it hard to work with. Not only is the cord extremely short, but the fryer itself doesn’t hold much oil. For purposes of this recipe, I decided to use a regular, heavy-bottomed pan. This particular version of deep-fried pickles was made with dill spears, but you can always experiment with pickle chips or any other pickle versions.

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil for frying

½ cup all-purpose flour (I favor King Arthur)

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup cornmeal

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Pinch of salt

16-ounce jar of kosher spear pickles (quartered)

Place the flour in one bowl and the beaten eggs in a second bowl. In the third bowl blend the cornmeal, cayenne pepper, and salt.

Blot each pickle quarter with a paper towel to absorb excess liquid. Coat them in the flour and shake off the excess. Swish each one through the beaten egg, covering all sides. Lastly, dredge the pickle spears through the cornmeal mixture until thoroughly covered. (For a thicker coating you can repeat the egg/cornmeal process, but I did it only once.) Do this for each of the pickles that you are preparing to fry.

  Coat pickle spears with flour

Dip spears in egg

Dredge spears in cornmeal

Heat approximately two inches of vegetable oil in your heavy-bottomed pot until it reaches 350 degrees, using a candy thermometer to test the temperature. If you don’t already have a candy/deep fry thermometer, they can be purchased fairly inexpensively at one of the big craft stores.

CAUTION: The first time I made these, I heated my oil over a flame that was too high, and then had to let it cool until it reached the correct temperature. Best to heat it slowly and test as you go along.

Heat oil to 350 degrees

  Lower each pickle carefully into the hot oil. Fry in small batches, no more than three or so at a time. The oil will sizzle as you place each pickle into the pan. Allow them to fry until golden brown, approximately two minutes. Lift each one carefully from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

 

Fry spears until golden

For best results serve fresh out of the fryer, but wait at least a minute so that you don’t burn your tongue. You’ll find that the cayenne pepper gives the pickles a tangy burst of flavor.

Enjoy!

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Linda Reilly is the author of Fillet of Murder, the first book in the Deep Fried mystery series (Berkley Prime Crime, May 2015). To learn more about Linda, please visit her web site at www.lindasreilly.com. You can also follow her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Lindasreillyauthor.

Linda is giving away one signed copy of Fillet of Murder and, as a bonus, an embroidered Deep Fried Mysteries tote bag. Be sure to leave your contact info when posting so that she can contact you if you’re the winner!

Welcome Linda Reilly!

 

We are delighted to welcome Linda Reilly to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen today. I'm hearing great things about her new Deep Fried Mystery series. It just debuted on Tuesday with FILLET OF MURDER!

I'm also particularly partial to her "impossible pie recipe." You know how I love recipes that seem like they wouldn't work but do. A pie that makes its own crust? Count me in!

Linda is very generously giving away a copy of FILLET OF MURDER today. Leave a comment with your contact information to enter. Good luck!

And heeeere's Linda ~

Thank you, Krista Davis, for inviting me to post on Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen today! I have to confess that I agonized over choosing a recipe. My upcoming Deep Fried series is, of course, about an eatery that serves deep fried foods. But for some reason, Mother’s Day always puts me in mind of brunch food, and that puts me in mind of one of my all-time brunch favorites – Quiche Lorraine.

I first tried this delectably cheesy dish during the 1970s, when I was visiting England. I’d honestly never heard of it before that, but once I sampled it I was hooked. But as much as I love eating it and preparing it, I always struggle when it comes to making the crust. My pie crusts just do not have that flaky, buttery tenderness that my mother’s crusts seem to have. Then a few months ago, I landed on a Cook’s Country program on television, and they were preparing an “impossible ham and cheese pie.” It was much like a quiche, but the crust made itself. I decided to try it. And since I always prefer bacon over ham in my quiche, I made the substitution. I also plunked in some minced shallot instead of scallions, and omitted the overly strong (for me) Dijon mustard. Here is my version of this crustless delight:

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

8 ounces shredded Gruyere cheese (I think you could substitute Swiss)

10 (more or less) slices of well-cooked bacon, broken into pieces

1 large shallot, minced

½ cup flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup half-and-half

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 350°. Grease a pie-plate with one tablespoon of butter, then sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over the entire plate. This will help form the “crust.”

Combine the Gruyere, bacon, and shallots in a bowl. Spread that mixture evenly over the prepared pie plate. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in the now-empty bowl. Whisk into that the half-and-half, the eggs, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, the dry mustard, and the nutmeg. Pour this batter slowly and evenly over the cheese/bacon mixture in the pie dish.

Bake at 350° until golden brown, between 30 and 40 minutes. I do the “knife inserted in center” test by slipping a butter knife into the center. If it comes out clean, the pie is done. Let it cool slightly. Slice into wedges and serve warm.

Ingredients

Line pie plate with butter and sprinkle parmesan.

Blend Gruyere, bacon, and shallots.

Add cheese mixture to pie plate.

Blend flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in now-empty bowl.

 

And since today is Mother’s Day, I would like to pay a tribute to my own fabulous mom. Gorgeous, funny, talented, and one of the best cooks on the planet. Mom, your unwavering love made me the person I am today. I owe you the world and more. And don’t kill me for posting this pic of you in 1945 at eighteen years old.

Linda's Mom at 18 - 1945

~

 

Linda Reilly is the author of Fillet of Murder, the first book in the Deep Fried mystery series (Berkley Prime Crime, May 2015). To learn more about Linda, please visit her web site at www.lindasreilly.com. You can also follow her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Lindasreillyauthor.

Linda is giving away one signed copy of Fillet of Murder. Be sure to leave your contact info when posting so that she can contact you if you’re the winner!