Welcome, guest author Cate Conte aka Liz Mugavero with a #Thanksgiving Pupcake #recipe + book #giveaway

 

Please welcome our guest Cate Conte!    

Cate  writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries and the new Full Moon Mysteries. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She lives in Connecticut with her rescue pals.

 

Take it away, Cate!

 *

 

 Who says dogs can’t enjoy the holidays too?

 

I love Thanksgiving. Which is odd because I don’t eat meat, right? But it really has nothing to do with the meal. It’s all about the feeling the holiday brings, the gratitude it inspires, and yes, the vegan meals I’ve been ordering from Whole Foods the past few years (they are SO good!)

 

I like to think that Thanksgiving is especially poignant for all the rescue pups and kitties out there. Even though they may not know that the day is a holiday specifically, I’m sure they feel the vibes that come from a safe, warm home with people in it who are equally thankful for them, as they are for their humans.

 

And what better way to show our thanks for their constant love, companionship and comfort than baking them some homemade treats?

 

I have to admit that I’m not a big cook or baker. I just can’t seem to find the time to devote to it. But while I’m not always keen on taking the time for myself, I’ll make an exception to give the pups something special. And since they don’t get leftover turkey (because I don’t eat it), I usually feel guilty enough that it will send me to the kitchen.

So this Thanksgiving, their holiday table will include apple and cheddar pupcakes - a healthy, human-consumable treat that can be made either gluten free, or with regular flour. My babies love this one - I hope yours will too!

 

And because it’s Thanksgiving and a time for thanks, I’m giving away one copy of my new book, Claws for Alarm, to a commenter here. Tell me what you like to give your favorite furries as a special holiday treat!

 

With gratitude for all the readers out there,

 

Cate/Liz

 

Apple & Cheddar Pupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour ( 1-1 gluten-free flour)

1/4 cup Traditional Rolled Oats

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 cup Applesauce

1/2 cup Water

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

2 tbsp Honey

2 Eggs

1 Apple - peeled, cored and minced

1 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

 

2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the applesauce, water, oil, honey and eggs, then stir in the apple and cheese. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until just barely blended.

 

3. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling almost full (you may have a couple spoonfuls of batter leftover). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the tins for a few minutes and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

 

Yields: 8-10

Cate's Giveaway

 

I’m giving away one copy of Whisker of a Doubt

#4 in the series 

to one commenter here. 

Tell me what you like to give your favorite furries as a special holiday treat!  

Remember to leave your email so I can contact you.

Social links:

www.cateconte.com 

Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Visit the Wicked Authors blog

 

Welcome guest author Liz Mugavero + book #giveaway

Liz Mugavero is the author of the Agatha-nominated Pawsitively Organic Gourmet Pet Food Mysteries: Kneading to Die, A Biscuit, A Casket, The Icing on the Corpse, Murder Most Finicky, and Custom Baked Murder. As you can imagine, her canine and feline rescues demand the best organic food and treats around. She serves on the Sisters in Crime New England board and is a member of Sisters in Crime National, Mystery Writers of America, and the Cat Writers’ Association. She currently lives in Connecticut.

FYI - there's a giveaway at the end! Don't miss it!

Take it away, Liz! 

* 

It’s so nice to be back in the Kitchen! Big thanks to Daryl for inviting me. It’s a lovely way to end the summer season.

So, it’s nearly fall again. Which means the holidays are right around the corner.  Scary, right?

But I’m kind of excited this year. I’m celebrating the upcoming release later this month of Purring Around the Christmas Tree, and I think it’ll get me in the holiday spirit early. This is my first Christmas book in the series, and it was a ton of fun to write. And it’s always fun to think about all the holiday food for both people and furries. Which—aside from all the yummy chocolate—can share a lot of the same ingredients.

Like, pumpkin everything. Pumpkin pandemonium starts in the fall, and continues through Christmas, which is awesome. Who doesn’t love pumpkin everything? And pumpkin is a staple in doggie treats too. They love it, and it’s really good for them.

And then there’s apple. Fresh apple pie from the oven or apple crisp for the humans. Can’t you just smell it? And for the dogs, apple cinnamon drop cookies.

Apples are as good for furry friends as they are for people, which might not be surprising. But you may not know that cinnamon can do a world of good for them too. It has anti-inflammatory properties that can soothe a lot of problems, and can also help pre-diabetic pups by regulating blood sugar.

So these cookies can be done in two different ways - as plain cookies, or frosted with peanut butter for a festive holiday party. Your pups will love them!

Apple Cinnamon Drop Cookies 

(recipe courtesy of Big Biscuit Bakery and Pet Supply)

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (you can use wheat flour, or gluten free. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-1 is a good one!)

1 whole apple

1 egg

1 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 dashes cinnamon

1 cup water

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Slice apple into small bite size pieces

-Mix all ingredients in stand mixer (or by hand)

-Scoop dough with cookie scoop and place on cookie sheet

-Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Option #2:

-Cut into apple shaped cookies with a cookie cutter and coat with melted peanut butter chips and/or melted yogurt chips.

Treats may also be dehydrated (approx. 8 hours) to extend shelf life.

GIVEAWAY

I am giving away a copy of Purring Around the Christmas Tree today to one lucky winner. Leave a comment (and your email in case you win, so I can contact you) and tell me what you're looking forward to this fall?

Keep in touch with Liz:

www.lizmugavero.com
Facebook
Twitter

Instagram

Wicked Cozy Authors

When the Weather Outside is Frightful #recipe #giveaway

Liz, Barb, and Lucy in Key West

A big warm welcome to guest authors Barbara Ross and Liz Mugavero! Be sure to read all the way down for their double giveaway!

BARB AND LIZ: For those of us who live in the northern half of the U.S., we’re coming into the season of cold and snow, ice storms, and howling winds. Some days, it’s better for both man and beast to stay tucked up indoors. Here are two recipes from our latest books, designed to bring comfort to you and to your four-footed friends during the three-dog nights to come.

For the humans—

Jacqueline’s Meat Loaf by Barbara Ross

In the Maine Clambake Mysteries, my protagonist’s mother, Jacqueline Snowden, isn’t much of a cook, but she can manage this simple meat loaf. In Iced Under she cooks it in hopes of enticing her daughter to stay over on a stormy night. In reality, this is the meatloaf my mother made and that I made for my kids a lot when they were growing up, so it feels like home to me.

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

1 1/2 cups dried Italian bread crumbs

1 egg

½ cup ketchup

2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and work with your hands until thoroughly mixed. (It’s a cold, messy job, but somebody’s got to do it!) Form the mixture into a loaf. Cook in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Serves 6-8.

For the canines—

Vegetable Beef Crackers

Ingredients

2 cups wheat flour

1 & 1/2 cups white flour

1 Tablespoon chopped parsley

1/2 cup shredded carrots

2 ounces of vegetable beef (or beef only) baby food

1 egg

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

3/4 cup water

Instructions

-Combine all ingredients in bowl, adding flours last. Mix until well blended.

-On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for about 3 minutes.

-Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness and cut out shapes using mini cookie cutters of your choice.

-Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

-Cookies maybe left in oven after baking (while oven cools down) to harden for a more crunchy bite.

Yields about 35 cracker size cookies.

A tasty feast for man and beast!

Barb and Liz will be giving away signed copies of both new books, Iced Under and Custom Baked Murder. Leave a comment with your name and email to be entered in the drawing!

Liz Mugavero is the author of the Agatha Award-nominated Pawsitively Organic Mysteries Kneading to Die, A Biscuit, A Casket, The Icing on the Corpse and Murder Most Finicky. Custom-Baked Murder, the fifth in the series, will be released in December 2016. As you can imagine, her canine and feline rescues demand the best organic food and treats around. She is a member of Sisters in Crime National, Sisters in Crime New England, Mystery Writers of America, and the Cat Writers’ Association. She currently lives in Connecticut.

Barbara Ross is the author of the Maine Clambake Mysteries, including the Agatha-nominated Best Contemporary Novel Clammed Up, as well as Boiled Over, Musseled Out, Fogged Inn, and Iced Under. Her story “Nogged Off” appears in the holiday novella collection Eggnog Murder along with stories by Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis. Barbara blogs with the Wicked Cozy Authors and Maine Crime Writers. In the summer, she writes on her big front porch overlooking the water in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. You can visit her website at http://www.maineclambakemysteries.com