Please welcome guest Paula Charles! Chunky Spaghetti Meat Sauce #recipe and #givewaway

 

KIM DAVIS: Please give a warm welcome to our guest, Paula Charles (who also writes as Janna Rollins)! I had the opportunity to meet Paula in person at the Left Coast Crime conference in San Francisco earlier this year. I enjoyed getting to know her and I can attest that her books are just as delightful and charming as she is! And a huge congratulations to Paula on her brand new release, Awl Shook Up. Be sure to read all the way through to find out how you can win a copy. 

🍝   🍝   🍝

PAULA CHARLES: Thank you so much to Kim Davis for inviting me to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, and to the rest of the gang for hosting me. I’m delighted to be here!

Several times throughout the summer, our kids, grandkids, and granddogs turn our house into rowdy, laughing central. My chunky spaghetti meat sauce feeds a crowd, and is easily doubled when a few of my siblings show up, too.

In the newest book in my Hometown Hardware Mysteries, Awl Shook Up, the townsfolk of Pine Bluff, Oregon are ready to shake off the February chill at the high school’s Winter Carnival and Spaghetti Feed, so I thought this recipe was a fun tie-in.  

Just a note before we tie on our aprons: you’ll probably notice that my recipe doesn’t include any garlic. I used to cook with garlic by the truckloads, but a few years ago found out it is one of the things I’m allergic to. Feel free to throw as much diced garlic as you want in along with the other aromatics!

 

Chunky Spaghetti Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb. Ground Beef
½ lb. fresh Mushrooms, sliced
1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
4 Green Onions, chopped
2 TBSP Olive Oil
2 cans Tomato Sauce (15 oz. each)
1 can Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes (15 oz.)
1 bunch fresh Basil, chopped
½ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Crushed Rosemary
½ tsp. dried Oregano
Spaghetti Noodles of choice
Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Rinse and chop the mushrooms, bell pepper, green onions, and basil, keeping the basil separate from the aromatics.

In a Dutch oven or other heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.

Once oil is hot, add the aromatics – mushrooms, bell pepper, and green onions. Here is where you would add garlic if you are going to use it. Sauté until mushrooms have cooked down a bit. About 5 minutes.

Add hamburger to aromatics, breaking up and cooking until burger is browned.

Drain in a colander, and then toss back into the Dutch oven. 

Stir in the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.

Add in the chopped basil, salt, rosemary, and oregano. Stir well to combine.

Bring to a bubbling boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.

Prepare your favorite spaghetti noodles, and serve your yummy sauce over the noodles with a heaping handful of parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

 

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF of the recipe!💕

Murder has hardware store owner Dawna Carpenter all shook up.

Pine Bluff, Oregon’s annual Winter Carnival is the perfect remedy for the cabin fever that has hit the town hard. Dawna pulls on her bobby socks for this year’s 50s-themed event, ready to relax and mingle after a long winter.

But with the angry high school French teacher spitting nails at half the town, the social event of the winter is anything but relaxing. What should have been a fun evening ends in disaster when Dawna’s daughter, April, finds the teacher sitting behind his desk, dead as a doornail. To make matters worse, his ghost is still in the classroom, unaware he’s just been murdered. With an ice storm in the forecast, Dawna must chisel out the clues to find the killer before there’s another nail in a coffin.

Purchase Link: AWL SHOOK UP

About the author: When Paula Charles isn’t writing, you can find her reading and baking in her 125-year-old house by the sea. She is the author of the Hometown Hardware Mysteries, as well as the Zen Goat Mysteries written as Janna Rollins, both cozy mysteries. She has six grown children, and a gaggle of grandkids. Paula lives on the Washington coast with her extremely patient husband, and maybe a ghost or two.

Places to find Paula:

Website/Newsletter: https://www.paulacharles.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/profilephp?id=61556817479811
 
Facebook Murder, They Write Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/451857037689554
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/paulacharlesbooks/
BookBub:  Paula Charles Books - BookBub
 
Buy Link:  https://www.paulacharles.com/services-6

 

 

G I V E A W A Y 

Readers, what is your go-to meal when you have a large crowd to feed? 

To enter, comment below for a chance to win a signed copy of Awl Shook Up! Be sure to Include your email (yourname at yourserver dot com) in the comment.  (I’m so sorry to have to limit it to U.S. residents only. That international shipping is no joke!) Contest open through August 18, 2026.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

 

It seems as if it's pasta month on Mystery Lovers Kitchen! Here is another recipe to enjoy--old-fashioned spaghetti and meatballs. I've made plenty of meatballs before--Swedish meatballs, Greek meatballs, meatballs Stroganoff, but I don't recall ever making meatballs and spaghetti! This recipe is adapted from the Damn Delicious web site. I cut the recipe in half because there were only two of us and even then I had plenty leftover for another meal. I made a few alterations out of necessity--I only had ground beef so that is what I used. I didn't have any parsley or fresh basil either but I forged ahead and it was delicious! Don't be tempted to leave out the fennel seeds--you'd be surprised at how much flavor they impart. And you can add more or less red pepper flakes according to your taste. It was a bit spicy (hubby can't tolerate too much heat) so next time I might dial it back a bit although I enjoyed it the way it was. 

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

⅓ cup Panko

⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

½ cup milk

1 large egg

1 small shallot, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 pound lean ground beef

1 pound ground pork

for the sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

⅓ cup dry red wine

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (I used whole tomatoes and crushed them with my hands. Try to find San Marzano tomatoes if you can.)

1 (15-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon sugar

½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1 pound spaghetti

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Prepare your baking sheet by lining with foil or parchment paper and spraying with cooking spray.  Set aside while the you make the meatballs and the oven preheats.

Combine Parmesan, Panko, parsley, milk, egg, shallot and garlic and season with 1 tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper (or to taste.) Let sit for 10 minutes.

Add beef and ground pork to bowl and mix thoroughly.  

 

Form into meatballs, approximately 1 inch to 1 ½ inches.  Place on prepared baking sheet. Bake until browned, about 12 to 15 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, make the sauce:

Heat olive oil and sauté onions until translucent.  Add garlic, Italian seasonings, fennel and crushed red pepper.  Sauté until fragrant—about one minute. 

Stir in wine and deglaze pan, scraping up any browned bits.  Add tomatoes, sugar and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for approximately 20 minutes until sauce thickens.

 

Stir in meatballs, cover and simmer approximately 30 minutes.  Stir in basil and salt and pepper to taste.

 

Serve over cooked pasta.

 

** Remember the sauce waits for the pasta, not the other way around. Begin to cook pasta when sauce is very nearly done.

 The Open Book Series

When murder taints writer-in-residence Penelope Parish’s charming British bookshop, she must follow the clues to catch a killer before tempers boil over.

AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE

 Family fireworks lead to murder in the new Cranberry Cove Mystery from USA Today bestselling author Peg Cochran!

The Fourth of July always means endless celebrations in Cranberry Cove, and this year Monica and Greg have the added pleasure of spending it with Monica’s college roommate, Kelly Cargill. When they join Kelly and her family to watch the fireworks, it’s all very exciting—until the elderly matriarch of the family dies on the spot. Then evidence comes to light that she was poisoned, and Monica promises to do what she can to catch the culprit.

Just about everyone in Kelly’s family wanted to get their hands on what was sure to be a sizable inheritance. But Monica also discovers that one of them was trying to hide a messy love affair the older woman had discovered, and that the victim’s caretaker may have wanted revenge for enduring years of mistreatment. And just as more secrets surface and the clues begin to fall into place, Monica realizes that as she’s closing in on the killer, the killer is closing in on her . . .

Includes a mouthwatering cookie recipe!

Cranberry Cove #10 coming Summer 2024!

AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE

 

My article on the Enduring Appeal of Cozy Mysteries  

Find me on:

Facebook
My web site

 

 

Weekday Bolognese Sauce #Recipe @PegCochran

This recipe comes from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything FAST.  It's a great cookbook with recipes that are fast but not boring and are still full of real ingredients. Many of the recipes are variations on a theme--you start with a base recipe and alter it this way or that way to produce different dishes.

While this bolognese did not have the incredible depth of Marcella Hazan's recipe which cooks for hours, it did have fantastic flavor and it's great to know you can pull it together on a weeknight!

Ingredients:

2 TBL olive oil
1 lb. ground beef, pork or veal or a combination of all 3 (I used beef)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup red or white wine
1/4 cup cream
1 lb. spaghetti or pasta of your choice
Parmesan cheese, grated

Heat 2 TBL oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Add the meat, chopped onion, celery, carrot and onion. 

Brown meat

Add veggies to browning meat

When the meat is browned add 1/4 cup tomato paste and cook, stirring, about a minute.  Add wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.   Add diced tomatoes and let simmer until wine reduces by half.  Stir in cream and turn the heat as low as possible.

Add tomato paste, wine and cream

Boil pasta and drain, saving some of the pasta water.

Add some of the pasta water to the sauce if you want it saucier.  Pour over spaghetti, add grated Paremesan and enjoy!

As a variation, add 1 pound finely chopped mushrooms, or use half the meat and twice the amount of veggies, or omit the can of diced tomatoes.

These instructions are not exactly as Bittman wrote them--he gives a step-by-step timeline of what to do when.  I prefer having my chopping all done before I start, but that's up to you.

Barnes and Noble

Amazon 

The entire town of Cranberry Cove is popping with excitement. Monica Albertson is baking cranberry goodies by the dozen and shopkeepers are decking out their storefronts for the first annual Winter Walk—an event dreamed up by the mayor to bring visitors to the town during a normally dead time of year.

But it’s the mayor who turns up dead during the grand opening ceremony, his lifeless body making its entrance in a horse-drawn sleigh. Monica’s mother and stepmother quickly become the prime suspects when it’s discovered that the mayor was dating both of them, and to make things worse, her half brother Jeff uncovers a clue buried near one of the bogs on Sassamanash Farm. Now it’s up to Monica to find out who really put the mayor on ice.

Spaghetti alla carbonara

by Sheila Connolly

Eat your hearts out:  I'm in Italy.  If all goes as scheduled (she says, checking the itinerary that somebody else put together) today I'll be in a villa somewhere north of Florence, touring the Chini pottery museum and listening to lectures on Renaissance Humanism and Italian Villas of the Renaissance, or "chilling out" or taking a siesta (both items included on the schedule).  And eating a lot.

When I was growing up my mother did not cook anything ethnic.  It's a wonder she cooked at all, since her mother never learned.  She did well with meat/starch/veg, but there were seldom sauces involved.  I don't think I saw her make a basic spaghetti sauce until I was well into my twenties.

She and my father ate out (now and then we kiddies would be included, on our best behavior), but mainly in "Continental" restaurants in New York.  When we children were included we'd go to Trader Vic's (pupu platter!) or occasionally Mama Leone's (where Ed Sullivan was said to dine, not that we ever saw him).  For lunch it was The Women's Exchange or Robert Day Dean's or Rumplemayer's.  On a couple of memorable occasions, we were taken to Peacock Alley at the Waldorf Hotel. Apart from the pupu platter I can't remember anything I ate at any of them.

Isn't it a wonder I grew up loving to cook?  I'll be the first to admit that I didn't "get" it until my first trip to Europe, the year I was 21.  I didn't visit Italy until the following year, but I'd broken the ice by then.  One seminal moment that I remember well:  stopping at a street vendor for an ice cream, on my first day in Florence.  I had no clue what half the flavors were, so I boldly said, "nocciola."  One taste and I knew immediately:  hazelnut.  In fact, incredible hazelnut.  It was amazing, and I've never forgotten the Italian word. In fact, about the half of my Italian vocabulary comes from food terms (the other half is from art history, although one is seldom called upon to use terms such as chiaroscuro or sfumato in ordinary conversation). 

Most of the Italian cooking I've done comes from only one or two well-used cookbooks:  the Sunset Italian Cook Book (1972), which I bought first, and Marcella Hazan's The Classic Italian Cookbook (1973).  I'll admit I haven't been very adventurous, and the recipes I've used most often have been for pasta sauces (I gave you one for a vegetable cream sauce in an earlier post here) or simple pasta dishes.  Once my household discovered pesto, we've eaten it once or twice a month.  Spaghetti alla carbonara is another favorite.  (Guess what:  my husband makes both!)  They're quick and simple dishes, as long as you have the ingredients (fresh basil is a must for pesto!).

Spaghetti alla carbonara is a handy recipe because you can use up all the bits and pieces of sausage, bacon, ham, etc., that you have on hand.  If you want to be authentic, you can use prosciutto or pancetta, both more widely available in American markets than it was back when I started making this.  One more note:  this dish involves raw eggs.  Ideally the heat of the cooked spaghetti will cook the eggs.  There have been concerns about the safety of undercooked eggs, but I think these have been addressed by people who raise chickens.  If you have any issues, you might want to avoid this dish, but if you're an "over-easy" egg eater, go for it!

Spaghetti alla carbonara

¼ pound mild pork sausage

¼ pound prosciutto/pancetta/ham, diced

4 Tblsp butter

½ pound spaghetti (half a box, usually), cooked and drained

½ cup parsley, minced

3 well-beaten eggs

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Black pepper

Dice the meat and sauté it in half the butter over medium-low heat (you don't want it to be crisp).

Cook your spaghetti according to your taste.  Drain it and return it to the cooking pot, then immediately add the cooked meats, the rest of the butter, and the parsley.  Mix to blend.

Quickly pour in the beaten eggs and lift and toss to coat the spaghetti evenly.  Sprinkle on the cheese, add pepper, and toss again.  Serve immediately.  Mangia!

I am informed that on my trip I will have the opportunity to sample regional Italian delicacies such as farinata, garganelli, trofie and sgabei.  I have no clue what they are, but I'll find out!

Spaghetti with Blue Cheese

by Sheila Connolly

In case you haven't noticed, I love to cook (and eat), and there are occasions when I really enjoy making something complicated or time-consuming, both real luxuries in our busy lives.

But there are also times when inspiration deserts me, and I want something easy and fast.  And I don't want something from the local fast-food place.  Don't get me wrong—I enjoy a pizza now and then, or the occasional stop at Burger King, but I really do like to know what ingredients I'm putting in my mouth, and to limit the number of chemicals I can't pronounce.

Enter this dish.  I won't try to tell you that this is low calorie or low fat, although you could use margarine (is it called non-dairy spread these days?) or change the sour cream for the low-fat variety (but I don't think swapping yogurt in would work).  But it tastes good, if you're a fan of blue cheese.  This is a modified version of a recipe I found in a pasta cookbook that I think I received many years ago as a thank-you for contributing to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The publication date is 1996, which puts it in those halcyon days before we learned of the evils of cholesterol—and it shows. I've referred to the cookbook now and then over the years in the quest for the perfect Mac and Cheese recipe (still haven't found it, but at least there are several alternatives in this book).

Spaghetti with Sour Cream and Blue Cheese

½ cup butter

8-10 green onions, chopped

4 oz. blue cheese (Roquefort or Gorgonzola)

8 oz. sour cream

Salt and pepper

1 lb. spaghetti

Crumble the blue cheese. Melt the butter in a large skillet.  Add the green onions and cook slowly, stirring, until they are soft. Sprinkle the crumbled blue cheese over the onion mixture and stir over medium heat until the cheese is melted.  Remove from the heat, and stir in the sour cream.

Add the pepper, then taste before adding the salt—how much you need will depend on how salty your cheese is.

Boil the spaghetti in salted water (add a little vegetable oil to the water to keep the pieces from clumping).  Drain well, then stir the noodles into the sauce.  Don't add it all at once—you can decide what spaghetti-to-sauce ratio you prefer. And remember, the pasta will soak up the sauce as it cools.

You can serve this with a simple green salad.

Add garlic when you're sautéing the green onions, if you want a stronger flavor.  You can also try different pastas.

Cleo Coyle Shares a Recipe for Italian Stew from a Reality TV Guest

Cleo Coyle, pasta eater,
is author of The Coffeehouse
Mysteries.

After coming home from a trip to Italy, Kerry Milliron, a longtime friend of mine, told me about a traditional Italian dish called spiedina. I asked him if he would share the recipe, and he was happy to provide the details. (I was equally happy to make the stew, take digital photos, and go into a food trance of enjoyment as I ate it.)

This old school Italian stew is a very simple one to make. It also brings me right back to my childhood when my Italian-born mother and aunt would make a long-simmering meat sauce for Sunday’s pasta. If you make it, may you and your loved ones eat with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle

Watch Kerry on
the Discovery Channel!

You can see my friend Kerry Milliron as a guest in an episode of the new reality show Cash Cab, airing tomorrow (Wednesday), March 14, at 9:30 AM. If you're curious and you have the Discovery Channel in your cable mix, check out the show and have fun. :) 

I don't have a picture of Ker (just his lovely wife, Julie, in the photo below), but if you forced me to give you a celeb lookalike, it would have to be Jason Statham of the Transporter movies. In other words, if you see a man who looks like this...tell him Cleo Coyle says buon appetito!

(Kerry is a true Renaissance man, IMO. He's been an actor, dancer, poet, author. He's a devoted husband who cooks with passion and lives with joie de vivre. He also happens to be a publishing exec at Random House, and none of the above ever stopped him from having fun on the streets of NYC or Italy.)

Kerry's Spiedina: 

An Italian Stew

Text below courtesy of Kerry Milliron 

Spiedina is a simple stew that I first tasted in Ortona, on the Adriatic coast of Italy. The root of spiedina, in Italian, literally means skewered, and the nearby mountain town of Guardiagrele is famous for their skewered grilled meats. 

The Ortonians--whose more temperate clime allows them nearly year-round access to fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, etc.--probably found the spitted meats of Guardiagrele tasty but dry, and used them to add gusto to some of their local recipes. Their version of spiedina combines chunks of meat with a thick tomato base, for a rich ragout that's as quick and simple as bakery pizza.

~ Kerry

Kerry Milliron lives with his wife,
Julie, in New York's East village  

Julia Milliron in an ancient kitchen of Herculaneum, Italy, a
Roman town destroyed  in 79 AD, along with Pompeii, by the volcanic  eruption of Mount Vesuvius. (Photo by Kerry Milliron.)

Kerry's Spiedina: 
An Italian Stew

Ingredients: 


Salt & pepper
1 Pound of cubed beef tenderloin*
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons chopped onion
1 clove chopped garlic
6 inches of dry (hard) Italian sausage (If you can't find dry sausage, try pepperoni instead.)*
1 28-ounce can of crushed Italian tomatoes

Step 1: Grill (or saute) your beef cubes until nicely browned, and set aside. 

Step 2: In a large saucepan over med-low flame, heat olive oil, and saute chopped onion, garlic, and your chunks of dry, hard Italian sausage for about 5 minutes. (If sausage begins to smoke or burn, temporarily remove it.)

Step 3: Stir in can of crushed Italian tomatoes, add browned beef cubes, and simmer, partially covered, over low flame for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally (about every 15 minutes). NOTE: If the stew boils over your pot, lower the flame and take off the lid completely. If the stew appears to be cooking down too quickly (if it becomes too thick or dry too soon) just add a bit of water and continue cooking. Don't try to rush the process, the stew should slow-cook 90 minutes to 2 hours for the most flavorful results.

Serve with crusty bread and a robust beverage. Store leftover stew in refrigerator.

Final Notes from Cleo...

* When I made Kerry's recipe, I upped the beef cube amount to 1-1/2 pounds. 

* If you can't find dry (hard) Italian sausage, ask the folks in your grocery store's deli section to help you locate it or try substituting pepperoni. 

* As with all stews, this one tastes even better the second day. Spices continue to blend, offering an even more flavorful experience. On Day 1, I ate the dish as a stew with crusty bread and red wine. On Day 2, I ladled the reheated stew over a big bowl of spaghetti because it makes a delicious meat sauce for pasta. 

Thanks again to Kerry for sharing his recipe. ~ Cleo

Perito, Italy  (Photo by Kerry Milliron)

                

Eat with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle, author of

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

To get more recipes, enter to win
free coffee, or learn about my books, including
my bestselling Haunted Bookshop series, visit my online coffeehouse: CoffeehouseMystery.com

The Coffeehouse Mysteries are national bestselling

culinary mysteries set in a landmark Greenwich Village 

coffeehouse, and each of the ten titles includes the 

added bonus of recipes. 

 

The Ghost and
Mrs. McClure

Book #1 of 
The Haunted Bookshop
Mysteries, which Cleo writes
under the name Alice Kimberly
To learn more, click here.