Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells from Vicki Delany

Happy New Year to Everyone. Here’s to good cooking and good eating, and lots of good books, in 2026! 

At this time of year, those of us who live in wintery climes want something piping hot and filling for dinner, and this dish fits perfectly.  It’s vegetarian, so suitable for those trying to cut down on their meat consumption. Although, it is most definitely not cheese free!

I used canned spaghetti sauce as a short cut, but of course you can make your own.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells

Ingredients

32 jumbo pasta shells

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 pkg spinach, chopped

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons fennel seed

1 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

3 ½ cups spaghetti sauce

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Gently place pasta shells in boiling water; return water to a boil. Cook until shells are just tender; drain well.

Squeeze spinach dry and place in a large mixing bowl. Add ricotta, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, fennel, basil, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper; mix well.

Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish.

Fill each pasta shell with spinach-cheese mixture. Arrange shells, filling-side up, in the baking dish. Spoon remaining spaghetti sauce over shells. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan cheese on top of shells.

Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven until heated through, about 30 minutes.

Follow Vicki at www.vickidelany.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor. You can sign up to receive Vicki’s quarterly newsletter at Vicki Delany – Canadian Author of Mystery Novels and Suspense Novels » Contact. She’s on Bluesky at @vickidelany.bsky.social

Now available for pre-order, THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS, the 11^th Sherlock Holmes Bookshop book.

 

 

Monday Pot Luck: On the Farm with Vicki Delany

The first Monday of the month is the day one of us gets to talk about anything food-related she likes.  And, as I like talking about food, it’s a great day for me.

We all know the importance of trying to eat locally. The closer to home our food is grown and produced the less it has to travel, resulting in less fossil fuel expenditure, more jobs for people who live near us, and the food is likely to be fresher as well.

It’s not always easy, and particularly not for us Canadians in the depths of winter, when the farmers’ fields look like this (The tracks are mine, returning from a walk): 

 

The rest of the year, I’m lucky enough to live in a farming district.  Many of the farms around here are small-scale, not industrial. My little house is surrounded by farms.  I get produce from my immediate neighbours when they’re feeling generous, and I have no more than a couple of kilometers to travel to buy directly from the people who grew it. I try to stock up in the fall, with lots of root vegetables that will store over the winter, and to freeze sauces and soups for those cold winter nights.  

This picture shows a basket my local farmer gave me:  

This winter my immediate neighbours have gone away for several months and I’m helping to feed the pigs.  Talk about composting! Here they are enjoying the fruits of my kitchen.

 

All of which has me dreaming of my favourite time of the year. Tomato season. How’s this for tomatoes, locally grown and delicious.(Although not grown by me!) 

In the fourth Sherlock Holmes bookshop mystery, A SCANDAL IN SCARLET, Gemma and Jayne venture far outside of their comfort zone to a recreation-17^th century farm.

“Baby pigs remain with their mother until they’re... uh, one year old,” said Jayne, who knew as much about farming as I did. For all I knew baby pigs stayed with their mothers until they graduated from high school.

                                                                                  A Scandal in Scarlet by Vicki Delany

I’d love to hear your stories of local eating (or maybe not!).  I’ll give a copy of A Scandal in Scarlet to one reader. Please leave a comment here, with your email address so I can contact the winner  

 

Key Lime Pie from Vicki Delany

Everyone’s favourite! I know other cooks have given you recipes for key lime pie in the past, but this is the one I particularly like. 

And you can never have too many recipes for a good thing!

Ingredients

Crust 

1 1/4 cups (310 ml) graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup (60 ml) unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons (30 ml) sugar

Filling

1 cup (250 ml) lime or key lime juice *

2 tablespoons (30 ml) cornstach

1 can 300 ml sweetened condensed milk  

Grated zest of 1 lime or Grated zest of 6 key limes

2 tablespoons (30 ml) 35% cream

2 eggs

*  I find one cup of lime juice too hard to squeeze out of real limes, so I used the bottled stuff

Whipped Cream

1 3/4 cups (430 ml) 35% cream

1/4 cup (60 ml) icing sugar 

Grated zest of 1 lime (optional)

Bottom of Form

Preparation

Crust

With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F).

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients. Press into a 23-cm (9-inch) pie plate. Bake for about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Filling

In a saucepan, off the heat, mix lime juice and cornstarch with a whisk. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until it thickens. Pour filling into crust. Refrigerate for about three hours or until completely cooled.

Whipped Cream

In a bowl, beat all the ingredients with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.

Garnish the pie with the whipped cream. 

Now Available: There’s a Murder Afoot, the fifth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery.  For contests, giveaways, up-to-date book news, and other fun tidbits, follow Vicki on Facebook at www.facebook.com/evagatesauhor or drop her a line to be put on the newsletter list. Vicki at vickidelany dot com

RELEASE DAY NEWS: There's A Murder Afoot by Vicki Delany

Congratulations to our own... 

VICKI DELANY

On the release of her new 
Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery

THERE'S A MURDER AFOOT

Just in time for Sherlock Holmes's 166th birthday, the fifth installment in national bestselling author Vicki Delany's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery takes Sherlockania to the max with a Holmes convention and historic 221 Baker Street.

Gemma Doyle and her friends travel to London for a Sherlock Holmes convention--but will Gemma's father take the fall for a felonious forger's fatality? 

The 6th of January is Sherlock Holmes's birthday, and lucky for Gemma Doyle, January is also the slowest time of the year at both the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, and Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room. It's a good time for Gemma and her friends to travel to England for a Holmes Convention. For Gemma, the trip provides an opportunity to visit her parents, Jayne Wilson is excited about seeing all the sites London has to offer, and Ryan Ashburton just wants to spend some time with Gemma. But the trip is immediately derailed when Gemma's father Henry recognizes his brother-in-law Randolph Denhaugh, who disappeared more than thirty years ago on the night he stole a valuable painting from his own parents. 

Henry, a retired detective with Scotland Yard, has been keeping tabs on the man's career as a forger of Old Masters and he warns Randy to stay away from his family. Randy is at the conference selling his own art, a series of sketches inspired by the Holmes Canon. The ever-observant Gemma notes that he isn't exactly popular with some of the other conference attendees, but when Randy is found dead after the banquet with a dazed and confused Henry Doyle standing over him, the police leap to assume his guilt. It's up to Gemma, with the help of her friends, to plunge into the "lowest and vilest alleys" of London to save her father from prison.

THERE'S A MURDER AFOOT

To learn more or buy,

CLICK HERE

📖

Click to see more of our
upcoming releases.

👓

Christmas Morning Coffee Cake from Vicki Delany #ChristmasWeek

Christmas Morning. Presents under the tree, excited children, maybe excited old folks too.  The turkey in the oven, perhaps a special indulgence (spiked egg nog or hot chocolate, Mimosas). It’s not a time you want to be stuck in the kitchen.  This coffee cake is perfect as it can be made ahead and freezes well.

Christmas Morning Coffee Cake

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules

4 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup sour cream, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together sugar, coffee, and cocoa powder in a small bowl; set aside.

Butter a 10-inch Bundt pan. Dust with flour, and tap out excess.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with sour cream. Add vanilla, and mix 1 minute.

Spread 1/3 of the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with half the filling. Spread another third of the batter on top, followed by the remaining filling. Spread remaining batter over top. Run a thin knife through batter to marbleize.

Bake until a cake tester inserted into centre comes out clean, 35 to 38 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes. Invert onto a plate.

Freezes well, wrapped in aluminum foil.

The Game is once again Afoot! Now available for pre-order, THERE'S A MURDER AFOOT, the fifth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery. Coming January 7. 

Just in time for Sherlock Holmes's 166th birthday, the fifth installment in national bestselling author Vicki Delany's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery takes Sherlockania to the max with a Holmes convention and historic 221 Baker Street.

Gemma Doyle and her friends travel to London for a Sherlock Holmes convention--but will Gemma's father take the fall for a felonious forger's fatality? 

RELEASE DAY NEWS: A Scandal in Scarlet (New Paperback Edition) by Vicki Delany

Congratulations to our own... 

VICKI DELANY

On the release of the 
*New Paperback Edition* of her
Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery

A SCANDAL IN SCARLET

Sherlockians will delight at the latest charming installment of national bestselling author Vicki Delany’s fourth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery. 

Gemma and Jayne donate their time to raise money for the rebuilding of a burned out museum―but a killer wants a piece of the auction.

Walking her dog Violet late one night, Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop, acts quickly when she smells smoke outside Scarlet House, the West London Museum. Damage to the historic house is extensive, and Baker Street’s shop owners organize an afternoon auction tea to raise funds to rebuild.

Excitement fills the air (along with the aromas of Jayne Wilson’s delightful scones) in Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, but before the gavel can fall, museum board chair Kathy Lamb is found dead in the back room with a long rope of decorative knotted tea cups wrapped tightly around her neck.

The suspect list is long, and the case far from elementary. Does Kathy’s killing have any relation to a mysterious death of seven years ago? Gemma has no intention of getting involved in the investigation, but when fellow shopkeeper Maureen finds herself the prime suspect she begs Gemma for her help. Detective Ryan Ashburton knows Gemma’s methods and he isn’t happy when she gets entangled in another mystery. But with so many suspects and so few clues, her deductive prowess will prove invaluable in A Scandal in Scarlet, Vicki Delany’s shrewdly plotted fourth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery.

A SCANDAL IN SCARLET

To learn more or buy,

CLICK HERE

📖

Click to see more of our
upcoming releases.

👓

Crock Pot Port Tenderloin from Vicki Delany

I love my crock pot. I use it a lot. What I particularly like about it to make a big meal and then put all the extra servings into the freezer for another time.  Such as this quick and easy recipe.

Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

2 lbs pork tenderloin

½ cup soy sauce

3 tbsp yellow mustard

4 tbsp olive oil

6 tbsp maple syrup

1 medium onion, sliced

2 gloves garlic, minced

Instructions

In bowl or measuring cup add soy sauce, mustard, oil, and syrup and mix well

Place tenderloin into crock pot and pour onions, garlic and marinade over

Cook on low for about 5 – 6 hours.  If possible turn pork over once or twice

Vicki Delany’s latest book is There’s a Murder Afoot, A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery, now available for pre-order. It will be released on January 7, 2020 by Crooked Lane Books. 

Just in time for Sherlock Holmes's 166th birthday, the fifth installment in national bestselling author Vicki Delany's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery takes Sherlockania to the max with a Holmes convention and historic 221 Baker Street.

Gemma Doyle and her friends travel to London for a Sherlock Holmes convention--but will Gemma's father take the fall for a felonious forger's fatality?

Orange and Chocolate Cookies from Vicki Delany

Anyone who lives in Ontario is no doubt familiar with Food + Drink magazine, the one given out at the LCBO.  This recipe was in their 2019 holiday edition, and I had to try it for an event I was bringing cookies too. Sooooo good. Note: The unbaked cookies need 4 – 24 hours in the fridge before baking, so plan your time accordingly.

Orange and Chocolate Cookies

3/4 cup (175 mL) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup (175 mL) sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) vanilla extract
2 tsp (10 mL) finely grated orange rind
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
10.5 oz (300 g) dark chocolate, chopped

1. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer; using the flat beater, beat until uniform. Add egg and beat until well combined. Add salt, vanilla and orange rind and beat until uniform. Add flour and beat until just combined.

2. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on the counter. Scrape dough onto it and form into a uniform log about 1½ inches (4 cm) wide. Roll up paper and twist ends to enclose dough. Chill for 4 hours to overnight or until log is very firm.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Slice log into slices about 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick, giving log a quarter turn as you go to keep it round.

5. Lay cookies out on baking sheets at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. Bake one sheet at a time (keeping the other sheet in the fridge until ready to bake) for 14 to 15 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden at the edges. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

6. Bring a pot with 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water in the bottom to a boil. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl on top of pot and let melt, stirring as needed, until chocolate is liquid. Let cool slightly.

7. Dip half of the top of each cookie in chocolate and lay on parchment to set.. Let stand until chocolate is firm.

Now available for Pre-Order: There's a Murder Afoot, the fifth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery from Vicki Delany. Coming January 7.  Just in time for Sherlock Holmes's 166th birthday, the fifth installment in national bestselling author Vicki Delany's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery takes Sherlockania to the max with a Holmes convention and historic 221 Baker Street.

Gemma Doyle and her friends travel to London for a Sherlock Holmes convention--but will Gemma's father take the fall for a felonious forger's fatality?

Let's give a hearty welcome to our new MLK'er, Vicki Delany!! Woot, woot!

Please welcome Vicki Delany, a new member of our MLK team!  

She will be posting every other Friday, alternating with Sheila.

Vicki has been a regular guest on our site, so we're thrilled to have her become one of us.  Vicki is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Year Round Christmas mysteries for Penguin Random House, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane Books, and the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington. 

Vicki lives and writes in bucolic Prince Edward County, Ontario. She is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada.  Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. 

Photo: Iden Ford

Visit Vicki at www.vickidelany.com. On Facebook at www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor. Twitter @vickidelany

Take it away Vicki!!

Thank you so much Daryl for that nice introduction.

I am such a fan of Mystery Lovers Kitchen and I was so excited when the gang asked me if I’d like to be an actual member of the blog group.  What an honour!  I’ve posted before as a guest, but now I’m going to be a regular contributor. I hope you’ll stop by the 1^st 3^rd and 5^th Fridays and see what’s cooking at my house.

I'm a good baker and I like to bake, but I don't get much of a chance as I live alone. But when company comes or I've been asked to bring a dish, you'll find me elbow deep in the flour and sugar.  I am, if I do say so myself, quite a good cook.  I make a lot of dishes in the crock pot, because that makes a big batch and I can then freeze several meals. So I intend to show you some of those dishes as well.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to my Strawberry Rhubarb Bars. These are absolutely perfect for this time of year when fresh locally grown strawberries and rhubarb are available in abundance at your local farm stand.

Vicki Delany’s Strawberry Rhubarb Bars

Crumble Mixture for base and topping

1 cup 3 plus tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled from the fridge

2 ½ cups (390 g) all-purpose flour

¾ cup (95 g) graham cracker crumbs

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (62 g) large flake oats

½ cup (105 g) sugar

¾ cup (144 g) brown sugar, packed

1/8 teaspoon salt

 Zest of one lemon

 1 egg; 1 egg white

Filling

3 cups rhubarb sliced into 1-cm pieces

3 cups strawberries halved and then sliced

½ cup (105 g) sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons corn starch

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9 x 13 tray. Use a cheese grater to grate the butter onto a plate and then place the grated butter in the freezer while you mix the rest of the ingredients. This works best with butter from the fridge, not room temperature or frozen butter.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, ½ cup oats (do not add the 2 tablespoons yet), brown sugar, white sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Add the egg and egg white and mix them into the dry ingredients with a fork.

Get the grated butter from the freezer and add it to the crumble mixture. Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles crumbs the size of peas. Remove two cups of the crumble mixture to use as the topping and stir the 2 tablespoons of oats into this mixture.

Press the remaining crumble mixture into the greased pan into an even layer.

In a different bowl stir together the chopped rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, vanilla and corn starch. Spread on top of the layer of pressed crumble. Top with the reserved two cups of crumble mixture.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

My newest book is SOMETHING READ SOMETHING DEAD written by me as EVA GATES.  This is the fifth in the Lighthouse Library series set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. SOMETHING READ SOMETHING DEAD is now available in ebook and hardcover and will be out in mass market format in September.