We're glad to have you all join us again at Mustard Seed Botanicals Blog. We have another guest author today, Chris Redding. She's sharing from her own family cookbook.
I like to cook. I love to eat. I married a man who loves to cook and likes to eat. We have two sons, so you can guess that there is a lot of food consumed in my house
And cooked. I’m kind of amused by this “clean eating” movement. It’s a great idea, but for me it’s just called eating. When the kids were younger I used the occasional packaged rice or a can of soup in something. Most of the time they didn’t like it. My older son loves steamed rice. The kind you get from the Chinese restaurant. He’d eat a bowl of that all by itself.
A few years ago, I decided to cut out all of those products completely. I make things of my own like enchilada sauce or even taco seasoning.
The upshot of this is we have started our own binder of recipes. Our family cookbook you might want to call it. When each son moves out, he will get a copy of it. And, yes, both boys can cook basic stuff. Neither has taken to it, but I wasn’t a fan of cooking at that age either. In college I lived on boxed mac and cheese, Hamburger Helper and pizza from where I worked.
I didn’t really start cooking until I got married.
I find cooking to be a lot like writing.
You have ingredients which are your character and your plot. You have to cook them, or in the case of a book, make those ingredients do what you want for the story. I usually finish a draft, then let it sit. This is the meat resting after it’s cooked and before you cut it. The revision process is the putting more salt or pepper if the dish needs it.
Now, that I have you all hungry, I’m going to share a recipe. This is an appetizer, great for a party. Any person whose house I have brought this too, asks for me to bring it the next time.
Cheese Puff Appetizers
Ingredients:
2C shredded cheddar cheese
2C shredded low fat cheese
1 cup butter melted
2 C all purpose flour
2 dashes any hot sauce, any heat level
1 jar pitted green olives
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet
In a small bowl, mix together cheeses, butter, flour, and Worcestershire sauce. Knead the dough. Pinch the dough into small balls, flatten them in the palm of your hand, then wrap an olive in the dough. Arrange the wrapped olives on the cookie sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes or slightly brown.
You can use all regular fat cheese, but the texture is better with some lower fat cheese because of the moisture content. I found the olives from the olive bar stay too wet to use for this. A substitute if you don’t like olives would be a jalapeno pepper, but I’d cut down on the hot sauce then.
Sounds delicious. My husband loves olives and jalapenos, so it's definitely a recipe I will try making both ways. I love your comparison of cooking to writing and how you let the draft sit for a bit after you've finished. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe from your family cookbook.
I like to cook. I love to eat. I married a man who loves to cook and likes to eat. We have two sons, so you can guess that there is a lot of food consumed in my house
And cooked. I’m kind of amused by this “clean eating” movement. It’s a great idea, but for me it’s just called eating. When the kids were younger I used the occasional packaged rice or a can of soup in something. Most of the time they didn’t like it. My older son loves steamed rice. The kind you get from the Chinese restaurant. He’d eat a bowl of that all by itself.
A few years ago, I decided to cut out all of those products completely. I make things of my own like enchilada sauce or even taco seasoning.
The upshot of this is we have started our own binder of recipes. Our family cookbook you might want to call it. When each son moves out, he will get a copy of it. And, yes, both boys can cook basic stuff. Neither has taken to it, but I wasn’t a fan of cooking at that age either. In college I lived on boxed mac and cheese, Hamburger Helper and pizza from where I worked.
I didn’t really start cooking until I got married.
I find cooking to be a lot like writing.
You have ingredients which are your character and your plot. You have to cook them, or in the case of a book, make those ingredients do what you want for the story. I usually finish a draft, then let it sit. This is the meat resting after it’s cooked and before you cut it. The revision process is the putting more salt or pepper if the dish needs it.
Now, that I have you all hungry, I’m going to share a recipe. This is an appetizer, great for a party. Any person whose house I have brought this too, asks for me to bring it the next time.
Cheese Puff Appetizers
Ingredients:
2C shredded cheddar cheese
2C shredded low fat cheese
1 cup butter melted
2 C all purpose flour
2 dashes any hot sauce, any heat level
1 jar pitted green olives
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet
In a small bowl, mix together cheeses, butter, flour, and Worcestershire sauce. Knead the dough. Pinch the dough into small balls, flatten them in the palm of your hand, then wrap an olive in the dough. Arrange the wrapped olives on the cookie sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes or slightly brown.
You can use all regular fat cheese, but the texture is better with some lower fat cheese because of the moisture content. I found the olives from the olive bar stay too wet to use for this. A substitute if you don’t like olives would be a jalapeno pepper, but I’d cut down on the hot sauce then.
Sounds delicious. My husband loves olives and jalapenos, so it's definitely a recipe I will try making both ways. I love your comparison of cooking to writing and how you let the draft sit for a bit after you've finished. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe from your family cookbook.
Let's find out more about the author.
Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and one show rabbit. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in Journalism and is still a diehard Nittany Lions fan. Her books are filled with romance, suspense and thrills. You can connect with Chris online through the following avenues:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
Pinterest
Skype: Chris.Redding.Author
Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and one show rabbit. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in Journalism and is still a diehard Nittany Lions fan. Her books are filled with romance, suspense and thrills. You can connect with Chris online through the following avenues:
Website
Google+
Skype: Chris.Redding.Author
Learn more about Blonde Demolition by Chris Redding.
YOU JUST CAN'T HIDE FROM THE PAST...
Mallory Sage lives in a small, idyllic town where nothing ever happens. Just the kind of life she has always wanted. No one, not even her fellow volunteer firefighters, knows about her past life as an agent for Homeland Security.
Former partner and lover, Trey McCrane, comes back into Mallory's life. He believes they made a great team once, and that they can do so again. Besides, they don't have much choice. Paul Stanley, a twisted killer and their old nemesis, is back.
Framed for a bombing and drawn together by necessity, Mallory and Trey go on the run and must learn to trust each other again―if they hope to survive. But Mallory has been hiding another secret, one that could destroy their relationship. And time is running out.
Find Blonde Demolition on Amazon
Great cover art. Sounds like an interesting read. Definitely one to add to my Kindle in my TBR list! Thank you again for guesting today at Mustard Seed Botanicals Blog.
Hope you all can stay for a bit to chat with Chris. She will also be a guest at our Jan. 22nd Healthy Living Blog Party. We'd love to see you all back for that date as well.
YOU JUST CAN'T HIDE FROM THE PAST...
Mallory Sage lives in a small, idyllic town where nothing ever happens. Just the kind of life she has always wanted. No one, not even her fellow volunteer firefighters, knows about her past life as an agent for Homeland Security.
Former partner and lover, Trey McCrane, comes back into Mallory's life. He believes they made a great team once, and that they can do so again. Besides, they don't have much choice. Paul Stanley, a twisted killer and their old nemesis, is back.
Framed for a bombing and drawn together by necessity, Mallory and Trey go on the run and must learn to trust each other again―if they hope to survive. But Mallory has been hiding another secret, one that could destroy their relationship. And time is running out.
Find Blonde Demolition on Amazon
Great cover art. Sounds like an interesting read. Definitely one to add to my Kindle in my TBR list! Thank you again for guesting today at Mustard Seed Botanicals Blog.
Hope you all can stay for a bit to chat with Chris. She will also be a guest at our Jan. 22nd Healthy Living Blog Party. We'd love to see you all back for that date as well.