Libby's Summer Pasta Salad #Recipe by @LibbyKlein

  Libby Klein I wrote you the loveliest post about this Pasta salad and somehow lost the entire thing. This is a pared-down version of the original - which was a delight - because I'm busy throwing a fit over the lost hour I spent. Try to enjoy it in the spirit it was intended. Pasta Salad can be whatever you want it to be. All it takes is three things. 1. Pasta - any kind you like. I used this gluten-free rotini I found at Whole Foods and it was amazing. 2. Fresh Veggies or Fruits. 3. Dressing - vinaigrette is traditional but you can make it whatever you want. One of these days I'll make a dessert Pasta Salad. What would you put in your pasta salad? Let me know in the comments.

Libby's Summer Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

12 oz cooked Pasta
1 cup chopped colorful cherry tomatoes
1 chopped yellow pepper
1 chopped orange pepper
1 sliced scallions
1/3 cup sliced kalamata olives
1 ear fresh corn, steamed and de-cobbed (is de-cobbed a word?)

 

Dressing:

1 cup of good quality olive oil - if it doesn't get thick in the fridge be very afraid
1/3 cup of nice vinegar - I used orange blossom vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pink salt
Sweeten to taste - I used 1 tsp liquid stevia
1 Tbsp herbs - I went with an Italian blend

Directions:

Cook Pasta according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water, set aside. A word about gluten-free pasta - In my opinion, a blend of rice with other grains like corn or quinoa will always have a better texture than rice pasta alone. Gluten-free pasta has come a long way. It used to feel like you were eating a rubber hose. This brand from Whole Foods held it's texture even after tossing it with the veggies and dressing.

Chop all vegetables and toss them together in your mixing bowl. Add the pasta on top. Gently combine.

 

Put all dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight lid or a single-cup blender. Mix together and pour over the pasta salad. Toss gently to combine. Salt and Pepper to taste. 

Serve chilled, but remove the pasta salad from the fridge a few minutes before serving so the olive oil has time to melt down. If your olive oil stays liquidy in the fridge you need to be very afraid. Gently toss again to re-dress the pasta.

 Poppy McAllister discovers that gluten-free Halloweens can scare up another case of murder in the latest installment of this delightful culinary B&B mystery series! - Kirkus Reviews

Poppy is none too pleased when her B&B is coerced into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour during Halloween season. Though her knack for finding dead bodies has given the place a spooky reputation, the Murder House is a completely undeserved nickname. At least it used to be . . .
 
While Poppy wrangles with some guests who can’t stop squabbling with each other—including a paranormal researcher, a very quirky pet psychic who freaks out her portly Persian, and an undercover tabloid reporter eager to catch her staff in a lie—one of them winds up facedown in a plate of tiramisu. And now she has bigger worries than getting her house TP’d . . .
 
Includes Recipes from Poppy’s Kitchen!
 

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Spicy black bean salad with lime and cilantro #recipe #mystery #giveaway @AbbottMysteries

What is more refreshing than lime and cilantro? And they both go so well with black beans. If you know us, you know that we love our bean salads. They are especially good if you are trying to bring down the carbs and also great if you’re going gluten-free.  If you just want to increase the proportion of veggies to ‘other’ then they are for you. Plus, like the gift that keeps on giving, they are better the next day. Most of our bean or lentil salads are savory, but the lime and cilantro give this one an exotic taste, that is ramped up by the seasonings.   

I wanted it as a side for our annual writers get together at Lake of Bays, Ontario. I tested it at home and DH and I both loved it. At the writers’ get together, Linda and I were a team for dinner. Because of the lime and cilantro, this went well with the chicken skewers and peanut sauce.  I’ll post the chicken skewers and peanut sauce recipe in two weeks! Wait for it.  

 This black bean salad is very pretty and everyone liked it, although I did forget the avocado on day one.  I added that the second day for lunch and and one more ingredient.   It was a hit both days.

All in all, we find this recipe to be a keeper. I think you can mix and match veggies as long as you keep to the essential lime and cilantro ingredients.  Giveaway alert:  we’ll have a draw for a copy of The Hammett Hex (or substitute). All you have to do is spot the new ingredient in the second version and mention in a comment.  Get your detective chefs hats on and good luck!

All you need for Spicy Black Bean Salad with Lime and Cilantro

      1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed well

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 medium cloves garlic, minced

      1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

      2 green onions, sliced (white and green)

1 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon Sriracha

2 tablespoons sugar ( I usually use Splenda)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon lime zest

Juice from 3 1/2 limes

3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro plus some for garnish

1 ripe avocado chopped

All you do is:

Rinse and drain beans.

Dice peppers, We're just showing the yellow here.

Seed and chop tomato.

Slice green onions.

Chop cilantro.  Not sure where that photo went!

Combine all veggies except for avocado in a large bowl and mix well. 

In a pitcher, combine oil, limes zest and juice, salt, sugar and Sriracha.  

 Please notice the size of Sriracha I had to buy to get the one tsp.  The avocado will give you a sense of proportion.  Have since found smaller containers, but you can expect to find Sriracha as an ingredient in many recipes to come.

Mix dressing into salad.  Cover and chill at least 30 minutes or even overnight. Right before serving, chop avocado, add to salad and fold gently, being careful not to squish the avocado..  Serve the salad at room temperature.

With the chicken and Linda's great veggie dish (coming soon!), it was a hit.  

Any suggestions for how to change this up (as they say).  You can see what I did, but what would you add or subtract from it?  

Here it is on day two, with an addition and the avocado.

 

Happy eating everyone!

Mystery Lovers Kitchen is celebrating it’s

7th anniversary!

7 years of recipes, books, and loads of fun.

As we begin our 8th year of the blog,

help us celebrate by entering our photo contest.

5 people will win a Mystery Lovers' Kitchen tote bag

and the 9 mysteries shown below - one from each of us!

Don't delay, enter today!

Here's how it goes:

1. Take a picture of any one OR MORE of our books (does not have to be one shown above) in the following categories:

a) with a cat

b) with a dog

c) having summer fun

d) in a library

e) in a bookstore

Whose books?

Why the 9 Mystery Lovers Kitchen authors, of course.

Krista Davis * Cleo Coyle *  Leslie Budewitz  

Daryl Wood Gerber * Lucy Burdette * Linda Wiken  

Sheila Connolly * Peg Cochran* Victoria Abbott

...do what you gotta do! There's a sweet prize at stake.

2. Submit your picture below.

Submission period ends midnight July 25th.

3. Share your entry (on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or else-wise,

we'll be flexible). 

We'll choose one winner in each category!

5 chances to win! Good luck!

In case you don't know, Victoria Abbott is a collaboration between  me, Mary Jane Maffini, and my daughter Victoria. Together we write the book collector mysteries.   We think that reading them is like taking a lovely trip to a mysterious place where books are everything and, yes, murder happens and great meals are served and some relatives are not to be trusted. Of course, justice prevails in the end and books are loved.

 

We like to think our book collector mysteries are fun, easy to read and surprising too. All five titles are available in print, e-book and audio format. Don't miss out.  You can get to meet Peachy (posing below) aka Walter the Pug.  Watch out for the Siamese cats - one is good and one will get you!

Mango and avocado chicken salad

By Victoria Abbott 

We were looking to change up our chicken salad recipe and we came across mangoes and avocados in the grocery store.  We remembered seeing a recipe for mango chicken salad with lime in the dressing in the paper, but where was that paper?  We could not find it anywhere. “Hmm”, we said. “Our old standby mango salsa might make a good base for that. So let’s see what happens.”

We never found the original but we are grateful to the cook who inspired our version, because we were very happy with the result.  We think you will be too!

Mango Chicken Salad

You will need:

 

Two large chicken breasts, skin on.

1 mango

1 avocado

3 green onions, white and green parts, sliced fine

½ red pepper, seeded and chopped

Shredded lettuce: we used green leaf lettuce this time

And for the dressing:

2 tablespoons olive oil

Juice of one lime

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 teaspoon Sriracha or ¼ tsp hot sauce

½ tsp sea salt

All you need to do is:

Bake chicken at 350 for about fifty minutes and cool.  You can do this well in advance. Or you could use a leftover chicken or even faster: rotisserie chicken. Your secret would be safe with us.  Cool and dice your chicken. 

Dice mango.  The little mister has a trick for dicing a mango and it’s like a miracle. Cut your mango in half. Score it like this. 

 

Push out the sections and cut off the skin

Cut through any that are still attached.  Does this make sense? It's easier than it sounds!

Dice avocado

Shred some lovely fresh lettuce. 

Combine mango, avocado, red pepper, shredded lettuce and chicken in a bowl.  Sorry! Our red pepper was an afterthought, but it adds some punch to the finished product.

Combine dressing in a jar and shake until well blended.   

Toss salad with vinaigrette and serve.

Enjoy!  We hope you can eat this outside to cool off after a warm day.  

AND NOW ....

That shadowy body known as Victoria Abbott is actually artist and photographer Victoria Maffini and her mother Mary Jane.  Together they write the book collector mysteries.  They are very happy to announce that THE MARSH MADNESS, the fourth in the series, is now available for pre-order by clicking the links below or through your favorite source of books!

 

 Pre-order paperback

Or  Pre-order Kindle

They'd love it if you would friend them on Facebook where there's a lot going on.
 

Friend Mary Jane

Friend Victoria Abbott

Check us out on Pinterest: 

http://www.pinterest.com/jbinghamkelly/

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE!

Panic Cupcakes

  Happy 4th of July!

Let freedom ring!

If you're like me and you had a very busy week, you're drinking your morning coffee or tea and wishing you had planned better.  Where did the weekend go?  And now you're supposed to bring a dish to a cookout or at least do something more than order in pizza.  

So today I'm offering some links to great barbecue recipes, sides, a luscious ice cream dessert, and a cupcake recipe that you can make with items you probably have in your fridge and pantry.  

Kale Salad
from Wendy Watson














Southern-Style Potato Salad
from Riley Adams













Barley, Red Pepper, & Corn Salad, from Krista Davis














Barbecue and Blue, an entire barbecue dinner menu from Avery Aames









 

Coffee-Marinated Steak and menu suggestions from
Cleo Coyle

Spatchcocked Chicken from Sheila Connolly













Luscious Mocha Ice Cream Torte from Mary Jane Maffini









Woohoo!  What a selection!  But let's say you're missing ingredients for most of those recipes.  Your family will go for hot dogs and burgers, but a quick dessert would be helpful.


You know those interviews where they say "name three things that are in your refrigerator right now?"  I love those!  Chances are that not everyone has cream cheese, or heavy cream, or lemons.  Maybe you do!  But I went with basics, hoping to offer a recipe that wouldn't force you to take a trip to the grocery store.  These are easy cupcakes to make and they are as vanilla as they come -- in the hope you'll have the ingredients on hand.  You can use any kind of milk.  I used nonfat because that's what I had.  Sugar, butter, flour, vanilla -- is it beginning to sound do-able?  This makes 12 yellow cupcakes with a cake type crumb. 

Vanilla Cupcakes

8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Optional: blueberries and/or strawberries


Preheat oven to 350.  Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.  If you don't have liners, butter and flour the cupcake pan.

Cream the butter with the sugar.  Add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the salt and baking powder and mix well.  Add the flour and milk, alternating them.  Add the vanilla.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full.

IF you have blueberries, poke one blueberry in the middle of each cupcake for fun.

Bake 18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

4 tablespoons butter
2 cups powdered sugar
8 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix together the butter, sugar, 4 teaspoons milk, and vanilla.  Add remaining milk one teaspoon at a time until you have reached a nice spreading consistency.  Frost the cooled cupcakes.

IF you have blueberries and/or strawberries and/or raspberries, use them to achieve a July 4th red, white, and blue look.  If you don't have berries, that's okay, too.  Place them on a blue and white plate, or line a plate or a basket with a red or blue napkin.  If you only have a couple of berries, that's okay, too.  Mix them up, some with berries, some without.  They'll look festive no matter what you do!

What's in your refrigerator today?