Archive for 2014

Get Toastie with Lizzie T. Leaf

May 21, 2014 | Author Friend Promo, Cooking

My talented author friend Lizzie T. Leaf is in the kitchen with a marvelous recipe I think you’ll enjoy. Take it away, Lizzie!

I received the instructions for this sandwich several years ago on a trip to Borough Market in London. The lady on the grill at the Kappacasein stand talked with me as she grilled up morsels of yum and told me how to make the gooey delights. When we returned home and I attempted to duplicate the sandwich that has us all drooling, including the two granddarlings who were with us on the trip, the first efforts weren’t so great. But time and patience has worked. The secret is slow and easy cooking. You want the cheese to melt and ooze out and the bread to become brown and crispy before you’re ready to indulge. It’s probably a good thing I don’t live in London because I could see this becoming a weekly addiction for me.

As for the making of the sandwich, it’s about the bread and the cheddar. Start with sourdough bread cut into sandwich slices. They used shredded Montgomery cheddar and say the complexities are one of the reasons the sandwiches are so good. Montgomery is hard to come by here (and expensive). Check your grocery store for an aged farmhouse cheddar cheese that has a nutty taste and is sold by the block or wedge.

They also had a container of finely chopped white onion, red onion, leeks, and crushed garlic at the ready.

To make the American version of the Borough Market Cheese Toastie do the following:

Place a thick layer of shredded cheddar on a slice of sourdough bread. Add a teaspoon or two of the chopped mixture per sandwich, then slap on the top slice of sourdough. Grill according to the directions below.

Electric Grill: Lightly oil and heat. Place sandwich on the grill and cover. Cook for about three minutes or so. You want the cheese melted and gooey, the bread nice and toasted.

Panini Pan: Same as above. The best is the best method to make this delicious sandwich.

Grill Pan: Same as above but place a frying pan with several cans in it (for added weight) on top of the sandwich.

Remove and enjoy!!!

Here are the original directions for this dynamite sandwich:

Borough Market Cheese Toastie
80g montgomery’s cheddar, grated
10g comté cheese, grated
10g ogleshield cheese, grated
2 slices of Poilâne sourdough bread
2 tsp mixed chopped white and red onions, leek, and crushed garlic

Assemble the sandwich and place it in a hot, lightly greased griddle pan (assuming you don’t have a Panini toaster. Place a frying pan on top of the sandwich and weigh it down with a couple of cans.

Cook it for about 3 minutes until the crust starts to brown and the cheese melts through the pores of the bread. Flip it a couple of times so it cooks evenly, but make sure you don’t overcook it, or you won’t be able to taste all the flavours.

Kappacasein’s owner Bill Oglethorpe developed Ogleshield cheese in collaboration with Somerset dairy farmer Jamie Montgomery, whose 150 Jersey cows produce the rich, unpasteurised, full-fat milk that gives the mature cheese its distinctive flavour.

The result is one the finest aromas your nostrils could ever hope to savour, emanating from Kappacasein’s Swiss raclette – a generous helping of melted Ogleshield on a pile of new potatoes, baby gherkins and pickled onions – and its toasted cheese sandwiches, made with Montgomery cheddar, onions, leeks and garlic on Poilâne sourdough.

Now that you’re done cooking, sit back with your favorite beverage and your sandwich and check out a lively read from my DEAD series, DEAD Hot.

Will family secrets let her find love with a guy that cats around?

Sharla Gomez’s dream encounter with the man she’s lusted over for months turned into rain-soaked nightmare. Her hopes of love and passion have gone to the dogs. Being a shifter is hell, especially when you’re a Pug/Chihuahua mix, or as some call the breed, a Chug. Even dogs don’t want to be told they’re so ugly they’re cute?

Dorsey Smith wants to get to know the exotic number-cruncher in charge of the strip club’s books. Just his luck she disappeared before he could ask her out for coffee. Instead of taking home the woman he lusts for, he takes home the small, drenched dog shivering in the rain. When he discovers the animal missing the next morning and he senses magic in the air. Has his safe haven been discovered and will his secrets be revealed?

Can two people with deep secrets discover the truth about each other and still find love. Or will the secrets and the evil lurking drive them apart?

To read an excerpt please click here.

Learn more about Lizzie T. Leaf on her website and blog. Connect with Lizzie on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

Celebrating with Vonnie Hughes

May 12, 2014 | Author Friend New Releases

I’m really excited to bring you multi-published Vonnie Hughes and her new Aurora Regency romance Sisters in Jeopardy. This is Book 3 of the Sisters series, and the prize for two winners in my Members Only newsletter contest.

A kidnapper makes a grave mistake and faces a revenge he never expected.

Annis’s new husband investigates crimes, and Caroline’s new husband is a capable ex-Army officer. When their ladies are kidnapped in an effort to suppress the evidence of pilfering and murder, Giles and Fort fight their way through all the lies and subterfuge to not only rescue them, but also to avenge them.

EXCERPT:
Fort approached the person on the seat. “Mr. Young, we’ve been looking for you.”

If that was Mr. Young, why was he listing to one side like a ship at sea?

“Is he injured? Has John hurt him?” She hurried towards them.

“Stop!”

Fort’s peremptory order stopped her in her tracks. She watched as Fort examined Mr. Young’s head and neck. He lifted Mr. Young’s hand. It dropped laxly.

“He’s dead,” Fort said, turning towards Caroline. “Sweetheart, do you know your way out of the maze? I must stay here with the body. There’s been enough moving of evidence already.”

“How—?”

Fort gesticulated with a finger across his throat.

“Oh! I’ll fetch Giles. Sir William Harding will have to be notified too.” Caroline cast her husband an anxious look. “Please be careful, Giles, in case John comes back.”

“You be careful too, my love. Walk slowly and listen for footsteps on the other side of the hedge. And if you meet anyone—anyone at all, man or woman—scream. Scream loudly.”

Caroline nodded and plunged back along the gravel paths surrounded by greenery. To her great relief she met nobody, although she was so rattled by events that she took a wrong turning and had to retrace her steps. “Hurry,” she told herself. “Fort is alone there and John is on the loose.”

BUY LINK

All of Vonnie’s books are available on Musa Publishing and Amazon.

Vonnie Hughes is a multi-published author in both Regency books and contemporary suspense. She loves the intricacies of the social rules of the Regency period and the far-ranging consequences of the Napoleonic Code. And with suspense she has free rein to explore forensic matters and the strong convolutions of the human mind. Like many writers, some days she hates the whole process, but somehow she just cannot let it go.

Vonnie was born in New Zealand, but she and her husband now live happily in Australia. If you visit Hamilton Gardens in New Zealand be sure to stroll through the Japanese Garden. These is a bronze plaque engraved with a haiku describing the peacefulness of that environment. The poem was written by Vonnie.

Learn more about Vonnie Hughes on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Goodreads.

I’ll be back Wednesday with a new recipe. Until then…

Happy Reading!

Sloane

MOTHER’S DAY CONTEST

May 7, 2014 | Contests

Baiting the Hook by Mary S. Palmer and David Wilton
3.99 by Richard Satterlie
Amanda’s Return by June Kramin
Buried Biker by KM Rockwood
Enter to Win by Kirsten Janey

ICE blue by Susan Rae
Lies in Wait by Donna Del Oro

Love Lies Bleeding by Lainie Giles
More Tomasewski by Del Staecker
Random Survival by Ray Wenck
Runt Wade by Robert G. Rogers

Steeled for Murder by KM Rockwood
Tales of Tomasewski by Del Staecker
Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem by Vera Jane Cook
2012: The Rising by Joanne Hirase
Crazy Greta by David Hardy
The Dominus Runes by Peter Lukes
The Grimm Legacy by Addie J. King
Reunion by Joanna Fay

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winners who reside outside the Continental United States will receive their prize in e-book format.

All must be claimed by May 15, 2014 or they are forfeited. Prizes will be shipped May 17, 2014.

Giveaway begins May 1, 2014 and ends midnight CST May 10, 2014

Vastine Bondurant + Great Giveaways = Bliss

May 5, 2014 | Author Friend Promo

Please welcome Vastine Bondurant and her new release Glory Lands. This soul-searching novel is A Texas Piney Woods Story. Be sure to enter Vastine’s terrific contest at the bottom of the post.

Rural East Texas, 1931. Preacher’s son Emory Joe Logan and a fiddler from Shreveport, Glory Lands, meet and form a tender bond. When they are caught and arrested for homosexual acts by Sheriff Elihu Bishop, the lawman’s sanctimonious bigotry threatens to rip the young men from their families.

Emory Joe’s father, Pastor Charles Logan, is brought to his knees in terror, confusion, and anger. He still regrets not standing up against Bishop when the lawman murdered a youth in cold blood nine years ago.

Now there’s no longer a choice for the preacher to stand up to the lawman. Cold-blooded justice, bigotry-disguised-as-religion, and hatred take on a whole new meaning when they’re standing on his doorstep, ready to take the son he loves.

EXCERPT:
I’D been scared lots of times in my nineteen years, but never as scared as I was as I sat with Daddy in the church.

He’d begged me to go home, to pack, and to head for the bus station while he met with the sheriff alone—how simple he made it sound, as though inviting Bishop to tea and cake.

No, I told him. I wasn’t leaving without some last words to Bishop. So if I insisted on facing the sheriff, Daddy begged me to wait it out with him at the church. He assured me Bishop would show up, as sure as night and day, and somehow he felt safer there in the sanctuary.

Tears threatened to make their way from the well in my belly to my eyes to see Daddy sitting—just sitting, still and silent, with his Bible in his lap—in his usual seat at the side of the pulpit.

He’d never in a million years have showed up at God’s house dressed in trousers, a sleeveless undershirt, and suspenders. Sweaty. Unshaven. I wondered if he even realized how much like a hobo he looked.

Who was to know how this day would end? It didn’t matter any longer.

All I did know was I’d never realized how much I loved my father until sharing that awful but somehow beautiful silence in that empty church while we waited for whatever was going to happen.

Did he know how proud Mama would have been of him? I hoped his heart knew that Mama was right beside him in that seat, holding his hand.

Looking back, I reckon my mother had always seen my true self. She’d always seemed to know there’d been something different about me. Although I knew without a doubt she would have been standing beside us right then, I was glad that she didn’t have to be.

“Daddy.” My own voice startled me when it broke the oddly peaceful tension inside the sanctuary.

Daddy, as though he’d been in a deep trance, glanced to me from whatever world he’d been lost in. “Son?”

“You know why I’m doing this?”

He crossed his legs, shifted in the seat, and shrugged. “I think so, Emory Joe.”

“If it had been just me, I’d have hightailed it out of here, not made a peep, so as to not embarrass you anymore.”

He just nodded.

I continued, “But you know I can’t, after what they’ve done to Glory.”

“I understand.”

“And, Daddy….”

“Yes?”

“I’m not really afraid, if you’re worried about that.”

“I know, son.”

“Daddy?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

With his brow furrowed, he stared at me with some words perched on his lips. He said nothing, though, just smiled and nodded. But his smile had hugged me and held me hard, and I felt his I love you stronger than any spoken words. The affection piercing me through his unsaid sentiment was the sort a fellow would give his life to have.

The purr of a car’s engine and the crunch of tires on gravel outside the open doors of the church shouldn’t have surprised me, but my body jolted anyway. And I didn’t even have to look to see who’d driven up. I knew.

Daddy drew a shaky breath, closed his eyes, and softly chanted a Psalm. “They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me….”

Icy water pulsed through my veins with my spiked heartbeat.

Car doors opened and, after a pause, closed.

This was it.

BUY LINKS
Dreamspinner Press
Amazon
All Romance

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Vastine Bondurant is Texas born and raised, an old fashioned, bling-loving girly girl who loves to read and write stories of men and women and the sizzling chemistry that draws them together. Her heart is bound to romance of a time long gone—gritty, sexy stories of men in fedoras and overcoats. Clandestine whispers on Bakelite telephones from the shadows of cheesy restaurant phone booths. Stories of a time when sex was all the more sexy because it wasn’t plastered on every billboard—no naked Joes and dames in every ad in every magazine. Lovemaking—hot, sweet-and-naughty, a secret between lovers. Her stories are sex and danger, wrapped up in a deceptive package—gals with soft skin, pretty lace slips, seamed stockings, satin peignoirs, and Chanel No. 5. The tough guys wear dress shirts and suspenders and they lust to get their hands on the garters that tease just beneath those kick pleats. Vastine is a goner for the dynamics of testosterone meets sugar and spice.

Learn more about Vastine Bondurant on her blog, Amazon Author Page, and her Goodreads Author Page. Stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, and Pintrest.

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo

April 30, 2014 | Cooking, Friends

Kerry Mand, Musa Publishing Financial Director, has swapped her desk for the stove to share her delicious recipe for enchiladas.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas
4 medium chicken breasts
1 box chicken broth
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 can green chile enchilada sauce
1 small can diced green chiles
¾ cup sour cream
½ tsp. ground cumin
Handful fresh cilantro, chopped
Cooking spray
1 pound pepper jack cheese shredded
10 flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Pour the chicken stock into a medium saucepan. Add chicken. Top off with tap water to cover. Bring to a boil. Partially cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Allow chicken to cool uncovered in stock.

Shred chicken into a large bowl. Add ½ cup enchilada sauce, small handful of cheese, half the diced chiles, sour cream, cumin, and cilantro. Combine well.

Coat a 13×9 glass casserole dish with cooking spray.

Lay ¼ cup or so of mixture onto one end of a tortilla, then roll-up. Place in casserole rolled end down. Continue until you have filled all the tortillas.

Evenly pour remaining enchilada sauce over tortillas. Bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese across the top and bake 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with a side of sour cream.

Salud!

Kerry

A New Look for Eva Scott

April 28, 2014 | Author Friend Promo

Australia has produced some fine writers. One of them is Eva Scott who is here today with her two latest release. So without further delay take a gander at these gorgeous covers and read a little about these wonderful contemporary romance books!

Talia’s marriage to Nick becomes her ultimate renovation project.

Nick and Talia Carmichael were childhood sweethearts. Grief over the death of their baby daughter from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome crushed their marriage. Talia moved to a new city, with a new career and life. Now it’s time to close the door on the past and ask Nick for a divorce.

Nick has other ideas. Once his wife, always his wife. He has no intention of letting Talia off so lightly and proposes terms and conditions to his agreement. It will mean moving back into their marital home, and force her to face long buried grief. Can she do as he asks?

Being with Nick causes her to question everything she thought was true. Has she made a mistake thinking her love for Nick is dead? Can he still love her? More importantly, can he again trust after everything they’ve been through?

To read an excerpt from The Marriage Makeover please click here.

Not only flowers bloom…
Dr Camden James is a rural vet, not a wedding planner, so he quickly feels out of his depth when, in a fit of generosity, he offers to glam up his sister’s budget wedding in a secret move designed to surprise her. With only six weeks to make this the wedding of his sister’s dreams he needs to move fast.
Stumbling around in the largely female world of weddings he gets a lead on the go-to girl for wedding flowers – Georgiana Mac Intyre. Georgi, reeling from a very public breakup, is not interested in men in anyway shape or form. Not even super-cute vets – even when they are clearly interested in her.
Cam shamelessly uses his story to get her to help. It has all the elements; romance against the odds, true love, orphans (you can’t have good story without an orphan or two), and a bride.

To read an excerpt from The Reluctant Wedding Planner please click here.

Eva Scott lives on the Sunshine Coast, in Queensland Australia with her fabulous husband and gorgeous little boy. When she’s not writing romance, you can find her on the water kayaking, fishing or swimming. When on dry land its all about the shoes and the coffee.

Learn more about Eva Scott on her website. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

Sinfully Delicious

April 16, 2014 | Author Friend Promo, Cooking

I’m delighted to have my good friend author Sharon Ledwith back to share another of her amazing recipes. The kitchen and blog are all yours, Sharon.

Make any day special with my dynamite dessert Legend(dairy) Chocolate-Banana Split Dream. Here’s how the ymness came to be. In my book, Legend of the Timekeepers—the prequel to The Last Timekeepers series—my adolescent characters Lilith, her BFF She-Aba, and an annoying goat-herder named Tau are transported from the Black Land through the seventh Arch of Atlantis, and travel back in time to Atlantis one hundred years before its final destruction. There, Tau finds that he has an insatiable taste for a strange, long yellow fruit he’s never seen before. Fortunately for us, this long yellow fruit—a.k.a. bananas—are readily available at our local markets, and used in some wicked-awesome recipes. The following recipe is easy to make, and is a great pick for families to create together on those cool or rainy weekend afternoons or family celebrations:

Legend(dairy) Chocolate-Banana Split Dream

30 Oreo Cookies (or generic brand), finely crushed (about 2¼ cups)
6 tbsp. butter, melted
1 pkg. (250 g) your favorite brand of Cream Cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
2 tbsp. cold milk
3 cups thawed your favorite brand of whipped topping, divided
4 bananas, sliced
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) of your favorite brand chocolate instant pudding
3¼ cups cold milk
1 third cup maraschino cherries, halved
¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts
2 tbsp. chocolate syrup

MIX cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13×9-inch dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and 2 tbsp. milk in medium bowl with whisk until well blended. Stir in 1 cup whipped topping; spread over crust. Top with bananas.

Beat pudding mixes and milk with whisk for two minutes; spread over bananas. Let stand five minutes or until thickened; cover with remaining whipped topping. Refrigerate four hours.

Top with cherries, nuts, and syrup just before serving.

Did I forget to mention that this fantastic dessert serves twenty-four of your closest friends? That’s a good thing, seeing as Tau has a big family! Now, while you’re waiting for this dessert to set, why not partake in an afternoon of cozying up on the couch with a good book?

There is no moving forward without first going back.

Lilith was a young girl with dreams and a family before the final destruction of Atlantis shattered those dreams and tore her family apart. Now refugees, Lilith and her father make their home in the Black Land. This strange, new country has no place in Lilith’s heart until a beloved high priestess introduces Lilith to her life purpose—to be a Timekeeper and keep time safe.

Summoned through the seventh arch of Atlantis by the Children of the Law of One, Lilith and her newfound friends are sent into Atlantis’s past, and given a task that will ultimately test their courage and try their faith in each other. Can the Timekeepers stop the dark magus Belial before he changes the seers’ prophecy? If they fail, then their future and the earth’s fate will be altered forever.

To read an excerpt from Legend of the Timekeepers please click here.

Legend of the Timekeepers Buy Links:
MUSA PUBLISHING ׀ AMAZON ׀ BARNES & NOBLE ׀ SMASHWORDS ׀ APPLE

Check out The Last Timekeepers series Facebook Page.

Sharon Ledwith is the author of the middle-grade/YA time travel series, THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS, available through Musa Publishing, and is represented by Walden House (Books & Stuff) for her teen psychic series, MYSTERIOUS TALES FROM FAIRY FALLS. When not writing, researching, or revising, she enjoys reading, yoga, anything arcane, and an occasional dram of scotch. Sharon lives a serene, yet busy life in a tourist region of Ontario, Canada, with her hubby, one spoiled yellow Labrador and a moody calico cat.

Learn more about Sharon Ledwith on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

I’ll be back Monday. Until then…

Happy Dessert!

Sloane

HAPPY PASSOVER

April 14, 2014 | Holidays

The Taylor family

 

wishes you all
a Joyous Festival!

Vonnie Hughes and Captivating Regency

March 31, 2014 | Author Friend Promo

Please welcome back Vonnie Hughes and her delightful Regency romance Captive.

When Alexandra Tallis sets free the attractive man her sister stupidly tried to hold captive, her actions lead not only to a love she never thought to find, but also to a horrific family secret that threatens that love.

BLURB:
When Alexandra Tallis discovers that her witless sister has imprisoned their father’s nemesis, Theo Crombie in their attic, she quickly frees him, fighting an unladylike impulse to keep him as her own special captive. Despite the brutal beating she receives from her father for her actions, Alexandra continues to yearn for the delicious Mr. Crombie even though she knows that nothing will ever come of her dreams.

Injured and shackled in a stranger’s attic, Theo unexpectedly discovers the woman of his dreams. But how can he pursue those dreams when her bizarre family’s complex relationships threaten the very foundation of his existence? Somehow Theo must find a way through this maze to claim his lady.

EXCERPT:
“Oh, no, Emmaline! Please untie him. Let him go.”

Whatever would her sister do next? At seventeen, she was an eligible man’s worst nightmare. And this latest escapade—

“Don’t be such a bore, Lexie. ’Tis a great joke! For once, Papa will thank us. Especially when he finds out who it is we’ve trussed up.” Emmaline laughed her silvery, seductive laugh that drove men wild and irritated women.

“Thank us? He is more like to beat us. You cannot capture someone and bring him here and…and just tie him up!”

“Of course I can. I already have. I shall lock the two of you in here together and then raise an outcry. Papa and the servants will come running and—,” she waved her pretty hands in the air, “—the rest will take care of itself. Papa’s investment problem will be solved, and with a bit of luck, you might even be married by next week, sister.”

“Are you out of your mind?” rasped an angry voice from the darkest corner of the garret.

“Ah, you’re awake!” trilled Emmaline.

Alexandra Tallis gulped. She was doing her best not to look at the near-naked man half-hidden in the shadows. But her eyes refused to behave. Stripped to the waist he was a wondrous sight, all muscle and taut sinew. His arms tensed and strained as he struggled to escape.

“Get me out of here,” he snarled.

Alexandra blinked and looked more closely, but her eyesight was not the best. She lifted a candle from the wall sconce and took a step forward. And another.

“You’re bleeding!”

He swiveled his head to look in her direction. “Sense at last. Yes, I’m bleeding. I’d be obliged if you’d free me from these bl—these ridiculous bonds.” There was a clank and rattle as he tried to move.

Gracious! Emmaline hadn’t just tied the man up—she had chained him. Alexandra closed her eyes for a few seconds.

“Emmaline! How on earth did you manage—?”

“Davy did it for me. Well, he would fight, so Davy had to subdue him.”

“What did that witless boy do? Shoot the poor man?”

“Yes, actually. He did,” the man muttered.

BUY LINK

Vonnie Hughes is a New Zealander living in Australia. She loves animals and jogging. Vonnie writes Regencies and romantic suspense novels along with short stories. She is presently working on a romantic suspense, working title: Innocent Hostage and a Regency novella, working title: A Tale of Two Sisters.

Her earlier book Coming Home is about a soldier and a nurse, thrown together during the Napoleonic wars, who find more danger on their return to England than they ever did on the Iberian Peninsula.

The Second Son is actually a prequel to Coming Home. A second son, filled with angst, stands to inherit a title and property through the death of a brother he has always loathed and mistrusted. A young disabled woman teaches him how to find his self-respect and how to love.

Another Regency Historical, Mr. Monfort’s Marriage, has businessman Matthew Monfort inveigled into marrying an earl’s daughter. With good reason he loathes the ton, so his new wife needn’t think she’s going to win him over, even though she’s quite delightful…and intelligent…and sweet…However Verity shows him that not all members of the ton are idle layabouts and that he can do much good with his largesse and with—shock, horror—the unexpected and embarrassing title conferred on him by Prinny.

All of Vonnie’s books are available on Amazon and Musa Publishing.

Learn more about Vonnie Hughes on her website and blog.
Stay connected on Facebook and Goodreads.

I’ll be back Wednesday with a new menu. Until then…

Happy Reading!

Sloane Taylor
Twitter
Amazon Author Page

Tips for Easy Cooking

March 26, 2014 | Cooking

Cooking Tips
• Always cook with a sink of hot soapy water at the ready. It makes for easier cleanup.
• Write the date and your opinion along with any adjustments on your recipes. I also make a note in the index i.e. VG (very good), etc. for future reference.

Meats
• Don’t flour roasts before you brown them. All you’re browning is the flour and the meat is not sealed to hold in its juices.
• Always allow roasts, steaks, etc. to sit on a cutting board for 10 minutes, with a foil tent over, before you carve it. This allows the juices to sink back into the meat.

Fruits
Bananas
• To unpeel bananas the easiest way, start from the bottom.

Tomatoes
• Place unripe tomatoes in a brown paper bag. Store in a cool dark spot. This is also great for all the green tomatoes you rescue from your garden at the end of summer.
• Don’t store tomatoes in the refrigerator. They lose their flavor.

Vegetables
• Steam vegetables to retain bright color and crispness. Place a metal steamer in your saucepan. Add chicken stock, white wine, and water to below the bottom holes. The stock and wine add a little extra flavor and the alcohol cooks away.

Dried and Canned Beans
• When cooking beans for soup, stews, and the like, add a teaspoon or so of baking soda to the mixture. This cuts the negative intestinal reactions to beans and does not affect the flavor or cooking.

Fresh Green Beans
• Add a paper towel to the plastic bag when you store green beans in the refrigerator. It absorbs the excess moisture so the beans stay fresh for a longer period of time.

Celery
• What to do with those extra stalks that you don’t need, but don’t want to throw out at today’s prices? Chop and sauté in a mix of olive oil and butter. Store in small containers, and freeze until needed.

Garlic
• Use a garlic press instead of chopping. The press brings out more flavor and you’ll use less garlic.

Lettuce

• All types need moisture to stay fresh. When buying head lettuce, look for the longest stem. Scratch the nub with your nail and place a damp paper towel over the end. Store in the fridge, preferably the crisper drawer.
• Leaf lettuces should be rinsed in cool water, wrapped in a dish towel or other cloth, and store in the crisper drawer of your fridge.
• Remoisten the lettuce after each use to retain freshness.

Mushrooms
• Clean mushrooms just before using. Wipe with a dry paper towel to remove the growing soil.
• Loose mushrooms keep reasonably well in a paper bag and stored in the refrigerator.

Onions
• Cut the root end off onions first. This allows the crying gas to escape.
• When cleaning green onions use a piece of paper towel to pull off the slippery end and not have your fingers smell.
• When the recipe calls for a small amount go ahead and sauté the entire chopped onion. Divide out what you need at that time. Freeze the remainder in small containers until needed.

Salads
• Make your salad early in the day and never worry about it turning brown or mushy. Use a good size plastic bag to toss your salad without the dressing. Gently shake the bag until well mixed. Store the bagged salad upside in the serving bowl. Pop it into the fridge until you’re ready to serve. Pull the bag from the bowl, add dressing, and you’re good to go.
• Add your salad ingredients to a large bowl. Gently toss until well mixed. Cover with a damp paper towel and store in fridge until you’re ready to add dressing and serve.

Dairy
Cheese
• Spray your cheese grater with a little Pam. The cheese won’t stick and cleanup is a breeze.
• Grate your own Parmesan, Asiago, Swiss, etc. fresh when you need it. The blocks will keep in your fridge for months if you cover tightly with cling wrap or aluminum foil, then store in a plastic bag.

Eggs
• Peeling hard boiled eggs is easy. Crack the shells gently against your sink, then place them back in the cooking pot filled with cold water for a few minutes, then peel.
• Store peeled hard boiled eggs for up to five days in a glass container. Be sure to cover the eggs with water. Change the water every few days.

Milk
• Children of any age should not drink expired milk, but adults can without a problem.

Additional Tips
Bread
• Don’t store bread in the refrigerator. This dries out the bread.
• Bread freezes well for up to one month.

Brown Sugar
• When light or dark brown sugar hardens place it into a plastic bag. Add a slice of white bread and seal. Within hours the sugar is back to a usable state.

Cooking Oil

• Test if the oil for deep frying is hot enough by adding a small piece of white bread to the heated pan. When the bread quickly toasts golden the oil is ready.
 
Herbs
• Chop fresh herb leaves easily. Place the whole leaves into a cup and snip with scissors.

Pasta
• Don’t add oil or salt to the cooking water. Those additions make it difficult for the sauce to cling to the pasta.

I’ll be back Monday with Vonnie Hughes. Until then…

Happy cooking!

Sloane Taylor
Twitter
Amazon Author Page