Thai Yellow Curry Coconut Soup #Recipe @Peg Cochran

This is supposed to be yellow curry soup from a site called Two Sleeves only I couldn't find yellow curry paste in my grocery store BUT I already had green curry paste.  So technically you would have to call this Thai Green Curry Coconut Soup.  It was delicious!  If you like coconut, you'll love this.  I made it in my Instant Pot but the recipe included directions for making it in your slow cooker as well.  It's a sort of "dump and go" type of recipe, which is perfect for busy cooks who want something easy but delicious.

      

Thai Yellow Curry Coconut Soup

4 chicken thighs skinless boneless (I used bone in, took the skin off and shredded the chicken when the soup was done.
14.5 oz unsweetened full fat coconut milk   
2 teaspoons Thai yellow or green curry paste   
3 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon honey or agave
2 green onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced 
2 inch piece of ginger, chopped (I used the stuff in the jar)
1 can straw mushrooms
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
3 green onions chopped
1 lime, juiced

For the Instant Pot 

Place the soup ingredients (chicken through ginger) into an Instant Pot and seal. 

Using the SOUP button, cook under pressure for 12 minutes.  Quick release the pressure and remove and shred chicken. Put chicken back in pot.

Add the straw mushrooms, cilantro, green onions and tomatoes to heat in the hot broth briefly.

Aren't they cute? They look just like little...umbrellas

Add lime juice and serve.

For the Slow Cooker

Place main soup ingredients (chicken through ginger) into a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. 

Add straw mushrooms, cilantro, tomatoes and green onions for the last half hour. Remove and shred chicken. Put back into the soup.

Add lime juice and serve.

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Cranberry Apple Cake #ChristmasWeek #Recipe @PegCochran

It's late afternoon but it's already nearly dark out.  Snow is lazily drifting down--big, fat flakes--and you can see twinkling Christmas lights through your window.  Suddenly, there's a knock on the door!  It's too early for Santa--who could it be?  Just then you hear voices raised in song and when you fling open your door, carolers are standing on your front walk.  They have brightly colored scarves tied around their necks, and their faces are ruddy from the cold.

They finish their song and you invite them inside for some cake and hot cocoa topped with whipped cream.  Fortunately, you baked this cranberry apple cake earlier that day!  It's still warm and glistens with the dark red of the cranberries.


Cranberry Apple Cake

This cake isn't terribly sweet and is perfect for afternoon tea. 

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 cup sweetened apple sauce
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
3/4 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
Powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs and continue to cream.

Add apple sauce and mix well.  (Batter will look slightly curdled)

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

Add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Stir in oatmeal and cranberry sauce.

Bake in a greased and floured 9" square pan for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.   Dust with powdered sugar.

OUT NOW!

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The USA Today bestselling author of Unholy Matrimony is back with a new Lucille Mystery! This time Lucille must track down the killer of a diet guru who had a lot more to lose than just a few extra pounds.

With her best friend Flo’s wedding approaching, Lucille is desperate to trim down and joins Weigh to Lose, a weight-loss program led by a clipboard-wielding harridan who’s as unattractively thin as she is shrill. When the bossy woman turns up dead with her throat slashed and a tasty-looking cannoli stuffed in her mouth, Lucille figures she got her just desserts.

But when the local police come up empty-handed, Lucille sinks her teeth into the mystery and narrows the list of suspects to a husband with a wandering eye, a sexy young Swedish au pair, and a gambler deep in debt to the wrong people. Until one of the suspects becomes the victim of another gruesome murder.

Afraid she’s bitten off more than she can chew and worried that she might be next on the killer’s list, Lucille puts her own neck on the line with a wild plan to trap the culprit and tip the scales of justice.

“If you want a very funny murder mystery, then this book is for you. I’ve never laughed so hard while reading before.” —Goodreads, on Unholy Matrimony, Book 2 in the USA Today bestselling Lucille Mystery Series

COMING JULY 31!

NYC 1938.  Featuring Elizabeth "Biz" Adams, debutante turned crime photographer! 

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Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Mystery Lovers Kitchen! #HappyThanksgiving #Thanksgiving

From Daryl aka Avery:  This year, I am grateful for the love of my family and the support of my friends. As much as writing means to me, my family and friends will always mean more. Thanksgiving - and, let's face it, all year long - is a time to reflect on the good in our lives, on the important. The little things vanish. The big picture matters.  Wishing all of you a happy, blessed Thanksgiving season and rest of the year!  And here's a sweet recipe, one of my favorites, to thank all of you for being our fans.  HOLIDAY CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

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From Lucy: I'm so grateful for family and friends and pets and a wonderfully interesting job! As you've probably heard, we had some losses in our family this year, plus a health crisis--all of this made bearable by the support of people I love and who love me. And I include readers and online friends of course! So thank you--and hope you have a wonderful celebration this year. Here is my favorite appetizer, HOT PEPPER JELLY CHEESE PUFFS. They are not hard to make and once you put them out, they'll get snatched off the plate!



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From Sheila: I'm grateful for a job, if writing can be called a job rather than an avocation, that lets me meet so many wonderful people and find friends (such as those at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen), and travel to interesting places, and eat a lot of good food (research, you know). I live only a few miles from Plymouth, where it all began, and after a few New England winters you have to appreciate the hardships those Pilgrims faced and overcame. How strong they must have been! We honor them each year through our Thanksgiving feast, surrounded by family and friends. Since it's a hectic time of year, here's my new favorite quick and easy appetizer, Parmesan Shortbread.

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From Leslie: I'm a firm believer in practicing gratitude every day. The simple habit of thinking, even writing down, three to five things that I'm grateful for in the day---from a yummy breakfast to a sweet conversation with my elderly mother---calms me, and helps me keep life's challenges in perspective. (The habit isn't just for mornings. On the occasional sleepless night, I try to think of everything I'm grateful for during the day just passed, starting at the very beginning. Nothing is too minor. I rarely get past breakfast. If I get to the end of the day, still awake, I get up!)



But as the newest member of the Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, I would be remiss not to say "thank you" to my lovely blog sisters for including me in the fun, and for all of you readers, who give us the gift of your time and attention when you read our books and when you visit with us here. My thank you is a snack that will be a hit at any party you throw or attend, and makes a great gift, tied up in a holiday-themed bag and tied with a ribbon: Spiced Glazed Nuts and Pretzel Mix.

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From Cleo: Life is like a cup of coffee. Take time to refill! The holiday season is a beautiful time of year, but it can also be stressful and even painful for those of us who have suffered losses. Some of us may be vexed by financial or work-related worries, by family strife or health problems. That's why Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, because it reminds us all to stop and take time, no matter our burdens, no matter our worries, stop and take time to give thanks for the blessings we do have, but also to enjoy a feast from our labors, to sip that cup of coffee that we so diligently brewed. 

Marc and I sincerely wish you all a beautiful holiday season. We hope you will take the time you deserve to slow down and truly feel peace and joy in your hearts, starting with today, a day of Thanksgiving, a day to count our blessings...and eat with joy.

May you drink with joy, too. And I'm happy to help with this Pumpkin Spice Latte. This drink is absolutely delicious and better than many coffeehouses will make for you because this recipe includes real pumpkin and pumpkin pie spices instead of the artificial flavoring in pumpkin syrup that's often used in coffee shop lattes. So, after all your feasting and Black Friday shopping, when you're quiet and cozy inside your warm house, whip this up, put you feet up, and savor a sip of the season!

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From Krista: I heard recently that every day brings something good. Of course, that's true. It's the terrible things that sometimes overshadow them. I am so very blessed to still have my elderly mother. I'm grateful that my dogs, cats, and I made it through four (count them, four!) surgeries and one near death experience in the last 12 months. I've had enough of surgeries to do me for years, thank you! I'm also so very grateful for my readers. They bring me such joy and always inspire me.

And every single day I'm grateful that I was born in a country that values freedom and allows us to follow our dreams.

My thank you recipe is a recent one that we liked so much we're eating it again as you read this, my Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie with Caramel Sauce.

From all of us at 

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Welcome our guest Isabella Alan aka Amanda Flower

Amish Breakfast Casserole

By Isabella Alan/ Amanda Flower

In Murder, Served Simply, the third book in the Amish Quilt Shop Mystery Series, the story opens in the middle of a progressive dinner. A progressive dinner is an old Christmas tradition where each house serves a different course and the diners move from house to house for their meal. In my Amish novel, the Amish community of Rolling Brook is having a progressive dinner to bring more attention and business to the small town. One of the dishes found at the dinner is Amish Breakfast Casserole. It’s one of the most popular Amish dishes and is served at breakfast as a main dish or as side dish at dinner. Vegetarian readers can leave out the sausage, and it’s still delicious.

I’m pretty sure both Angie and her Frenchie Oliver would approve of this recipe. I hope you will too! Merry Christmas!

Anna Graber’s Amish Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pound sausage

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

6 eggs, lightly beaten

4 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

1-1/2 cups (12 ounces) 4% cottage cheese

1-1/4 cups shredded Swiss cheese

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brown onions and sausage in a skillet until cooked through. 
 Combine other ingredients in a large bowl and add the onions and sausage. 

Pour mixture into a greased 13x9 baking dish. Bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes. Let cool for five minutes and enjoy!

Today, Isabella is having a giveaway. Leave a comment to win a copy of Murder, Simply Served. Remember to leave your email address so she can contact you!

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National Bestselling Author Isabella Alan is the pseudonym for Amanda Flower. Amanda Flower, a two time Agatha-nominated mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making

people laugh with her words. Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland.

Order Isabella Latest release Murder, Served Simply Amazon | B&N |Books-A-Million | CBD

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Brown Sugar Banana Coffee Cake

By: Daryl Wood Gerber aka Avery Aames

I was lucky enough to have a vacation last week. My husband and I had planned it for quite a while. It was great. I sat by the ocean (with lots of sunblock and under an umbrella...so much for the days when we didn't know better than to roast in the sun). I listened to the roar of the water, the twitter of birds, and island music. I read. I walked, I swam, I breathed. You remember how to do that, right?

In/out, repeat...

Sometimes in this busy world we forget. 

Fabulous cheese & wine shop 

Hawaiian Goose - Nene, very tame

The view on a morning walk

Anyway, I'm not back two days and I'm already having to remind myself to breathe. Why? I have deadlines...the second of A COOKBOOK NOOK MYSTERY is due at the end of the week. Title: INHERIT THE WORD. For those of you trying to follow how publishing works schedule-wise, that means the book is turned in a year in advance. This book won't come out until next March. The moment I turn that in, I'll get the final-final edits for the first in the series, FINAL SENTENCE.

Breathe...

When those are turned in, I'll be working on another book and the outline for the third in the Cookbook Nook series.

Breathe...

I don't know about you, but when work and deadlines come at me fast and furious, I need sweets. There's just something about a good coffee cake and a cup of coffee that puts me at ease. I know, I should probably be focusing on fruit, and I do. I have that for breakfast and an afternoon snack, but the mid-morning pick-me-up I crave is coffee cake. I hope you'll enjoy this version. It's something I dreamed up because it has all the basics I love in a coffee cake, mixed together.

Today, take a mini-vacation. Find the time. To breathe. To laugh. To listen to the wind and the birds (if there are any around).

BANANA BROWN SUGAR & CREAM CHEESE COFFEE CAKE

Regular or gluten-free

Ingredients:

2 cups regular or Gluten-Free Baking and Pancake Mix {I used Bisquick}

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla or vanillin

2/3 cup butter, melted

2 eggs, large

1 cup cream cheese

1 tsp. cider vinegar

Filling:

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 bananas, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup raisins

1 tsp. cinnamon

Topping:

Brown sugar

Cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the filling ingredients and set aside.

For the batter:  Mix melted butter and sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs and beat on low.  Still beating on low, add cream cheese and vinegar.  Then add the baking mix until thoroughly mixed.

Spoon half of the batter into a greased 8” or 9” square pan.  Layer all of the filling on top of that.  Spread the rest of the batter over the filling.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. When inserted, a toothpick should come out clean. 

When cool, remove the cake from the pan and sprinkle with a generous amount of brown sugar. 

Serve warm or room temperature, plain or with whipped cream.

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You can learn more about me, Daryl by clicking this LINK. "Like" my page on Facebook and "follow" me on Twitter. And if you haven't done so, sign up for the mailing list

 so you can learn about upcoming events, releases, and contests! Also, you probably know by now about my alter ego, Avery Aames. Chat with Avery on Facebook and Twitter.