Hitting the (BBQ) Sauce for the Holidays by Author Helen Carpenter...

My hubby and I like to hit the sauce at lunchtime—no, wait! That didn't sound right! What I meant to say is we like barbeque sauce for lunch! At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

While we're not sauciers or even a saucier's apprentice, we do enjoy experimenting with flavors, because we are well aware that what's sauce for the goose may not be sauce for the chicken.

However, in the case of our Simply Saucy Crockpot Barbeque Chicken, we seldom think outside the box—the box being the carton brick of fresh, sun-ripened Italian tomatoes that is the base of this delicious recipe.

Tomatoes in a box? Yep. We highly recommend that you give your can the boot. Switching to the box will turn you into a superb saucy chef, and the effect on your condiments will be awesome sauce. Pretty soon you'll be hitting the sauce too! (The barbeque sauce, of course!)

Simply Saucy Crockpot Barbeque Chicken

1 box (26.4 oz) finely chopped tomatoes
⅓ cup Parmesan cheese
3 tbsp. sugar or honey
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
½ tsp black pepper
2-3 cups shredded cooked chicken

Put tomatoes, cheese, sugar, garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and black pepper in crockpot. Stir to mix.

Add chicken.

Cook on high setting for 2-3 hours; or low setting for 4-6 hours.

Serve on rolls, or eat as a main dish with a side of chips.

Once upon a time there was a mother/daughter author duo named Helen and Lorri, who wrote as HL Carpenter. the Carpenters worked from their studio in Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like their stories was unreal but not untrue. Then one day Lorri left her studio to explore the land of What-If, and like others who have lost a loved one the magical place lost much of its magic. But thanks to family, plus an amazing group of wordsmiths named Authors Moving Forward (AMF), the magic is slowly returning.

Helen Carpenter loves liking and sharing blog posts from other authors. She lives in Florida with her husband of many years  and appreciates everyday, especially those without hurricanes.

Stay connected on her blog and Facebook.

Finding Mr. Right by YA Author Leigh Goff...

How do you know he’s the one? I’m a firm believer in one’s intuition. It’s the hidden sense that isn’t based on logic, but comes to us in rare moments of need. Call it a gut-feeling that many of us have had. It’s an understanding that comes from within and there’s no need to question it. I’m speaking from experience so when your inner voice says he’s a good guy, it might be worth listening.

In my latest novel, Koush Hollow, Jenna fall for the local bad boy, but he isn’t so bad once she gets to see him more clearly. He’s passionate about the bayou, he cares about Jenna because he see beyond her troubling environment, and he’s honest in how he speaks. Ultimately, he makes Jenna want to be a better person and to strive to be more than a Pearl in her mom’s superficial social club.

Here are my top five signs that he’s the one for you and if these signs aren’t obvious and your intuition isn’t talking, I’ll try to explain.

1- He’s interested. He makes romantic gestures to let you know he’s into you. He sends you a bouquet of your favorite flowers. He leaves notes on your car windshield to cheer you up. He holds your hand when he senses you’re nervous. This means he isn’t afraid to show you that he wants more time with you. 

2- He makes you laugh. Laughter is one of life’s simple pleasures. It could be a funny comment he makes when you wake up, or a silly joke he tells your friends over pizza. He’s a funny guy and he looks at life with a great sense of humor. He makes you want to spend time with him. It’s another sign that he’s interested in you. What’s not to like about that?

3- He remembers what you like. This is a gimme. You mentioned your favorite flavor of ice cream months ago at a Christmas party, surrounded by friends and loud music. You didn’t even know he heard you. Then, when you least expect it and you’re hiding at home with a terrible sore throat, he shows up with a pint of blueberry cheesecake gelato and you know this guy is something special.

4- He’s a good communicator. He makes good eye contact, he listens, and he asks questions. He doesn’t let you walk away from an argument without resolution. He knows it’s healthy to have different opinions, but it’s really healthy to talk them through and meet somewhere in the middle, and if that’s not possible, he’s okay to agree to disagree. Life gets tough and you need someone with good communication skills.

5- He makes you want to be a better person. You watch how he interacts with children, animals, and waiters and his kindness inspires you to be a bit more patient, smile more, or give a bigger tip, if you can afford it. He makes the world a better place to live in and you want to be by his side doing the same thing. 

Here is my Hope Chest Recipe just so you're ready when the right he walks into your life.

Mr. Right’s Chicken Dinner

1 Whole chicken plus 2 chicken breasts

1 Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Classic Stuffing

1 stick of butter

1 can of Campbell’s Cream of Chicken

1 can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom

2 cans of chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Boil chicken and breasts for 20-30 minutes. Shred meat from the bone. 

Melt butter in a pot, then add stuffing mix. 

In a separate pot, add soups and broth and heat. 

Use a 9 x 13 dish to layer half the stuffing on bottom, shredded chicken, soup and finally the remaining stuffing. 

Cover dish with foil and then bake 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes.

As Koush Hollow is set outside of New Orleans in a place where bayou magic abounds, dreams are frightening, and beauty masks the real monsters, it’s a well-suited title. Here's a little to intrigue you.

Koush Hollow

Where bayou magic abounds and all that glitters... is deadly.

After her father’s untimely death, Jenna Ashby moves to Koush Hollow, a bayou town outside of New Orleans, dreading life with her wealthy mother.

As the sixteen-year-old eco-warrior is introduced to the Diamonds & Pearls, her mother’s exclusive social club, she comes to the troubling realization that secrets are a way of life in Koush Hollow.

 How do the Diamonds & Pearls look so young, where does their money come from, and why is life along the bayou disappearing?

As Jenna is drawn into their seductive world, her curiosity and concerns beg her to uncover the truth. However, in this town where mysticism abounds and secrets are deadly, the truth is not what Jenna could have ever imagined.

BUY LINKS Amazon - The Parliament House

Leigh Goff is a young adult author with type 1 diabetes who is inspired by caffeine, enchanted spells, and unforgettable, star-crossed fates.

 Although she’s terrible at casting any magic of her own, she is descended from the accused witch, Elizabeth Duncan of Virginia, who went to trial in 1695 for charges including bewitching livestock and causing birds to fall from the sky. 

Learn more about Leigh Goff on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

Start the New Year off on the Light Side with Sloane Taylor's Easy Baked Chicken Breasts...

Every cook in this busy world needs a fast yet tasty dinner ready in minutes, not hours. Here is just the recipe you are looking for. You may want to increase the proportions for this mouthwatering dish since it freezes well.

 

Photo by Vitchakorn Koonyosying on Unsplash

Easy Baked Chicken Breasts 

Non-stick cooking spray

3 boneless chicken breasts

½ cup mayonnaise

5 tsp. Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs

½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 425° F.

Spray a light coating of cooking spray into an ovenproof dish that will hold the chicken comfortably.

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Set on a plate.

Mix mayo and bread crumbs together in a small bowl. Spread onto both sides of chicken.

Lay chicken in prepared dish. Sprinkle Parmesan over the top of coated chicken.

Bake 20 minutes or until the juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a sharp knife.

Easy Baked Chicken Breasts, Baked Sweet Potatoes, and Steamed Asparagus are just three of the easy and delicious recipes you will enjoy from my fun cookbook. Here's a little more info for you.

Ready to ignite that old flame? Or perhaps spark a new one? Take your partner by the hand and turn on your stove. A true romantic, award-winning author Sloane Taylor brings her creativity to the kitchen with easy-to-make meals sure to spark the intimacy and quality time you want with your special someone. Cooking together is only the start of the fun!

Create 45 complete dinners for two and flavor your evenings with a new dish. These 80 recipes use everyday foods already on most kitchen shelves. The recipes are easily increased for those fun times friends or family join your table.

Date Night Dinners, Meals to Make Together for a Romantic Evening, is an ideal gift for engagements, bridal showers, anniversaries, or for anyone who wants to spice things up.

 

What People are Saying About Date Night Dinners

Bring your date nights back home! Sloane Taylor's delicious meals are the perfect prelude to romance. Helen Hardt,#1 New York Times, #1 USA Today, and #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author   

These recipes are sure to please the palate and make your romantic night a perfect memory. Enjoy! Jan Springer, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Romance Author

With Date Night Dinners Sloane Taylor reminds us that our relationships should be savored like a fine meal. Chris Pavesic, Award-Winning Sci-Fi/Fantasy Author

Any recipe is a perfect date night dinner because it can quietly simmer away while the diners are doing umm…other things. Vonnie Hughes, Romantic Suspense Author

BUY LINKS

AMAZON KINDLE - AMAZON PAPERBACK - SMASHWORDS - KOBO

May you enjoy all the days of your life filled with good friends, laughter, and seated around a well-laden table! Sloane

Sloane Taylor is an Award-Winning romance author with a passion that consumes her day and night. She is an avid cook and posts new recipes on her blog every Wednesday.

The recipes are user friendly, meaning easy. Learn more about Taylor's cookbooks, Date Night Dinners and Recipes to Create Holidays Extraordinaire on Amazon.

Excerpts from her romance books and free reads can be found on her website, blog, and her Amazon Author Page. Connect with Taylor on Facebook and Twitter.

Our 2020 Lifestyle Reboot…

Being an author has its perks. You can work in whatever clothes (or none) you desire, get up at whatever time you wish, and the travel time from your bedroom to office is practically nil. Unless, of course, you decide to go write at your local coffee shop. However, sitting in a chair for a good portion of the day has its drawbacks. Our bodies were meant to move. Period. So I try to get up every so often, stretch and walk around. I get in a workout early in the morning at least five days a week, and have done so for many years. Yes, some days are harder than others and the recent December holidays added a little more to my frame than I’d like, but it never bothered me much. Until hubby was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at the end of January.

That was our wake-up call.

Enter our lifestyle reboot. Thankfully, we had already started making healthier food choices just after New Year’s Day, using our son’s wedding in May 2020 as our incentive. Trust me, weddings are great motivators! More vegetables (raw and cooked), fruits, whole grains, protein like skinless-boneless chicken breasts, fish (salmon, sole, cod, and haddock) were our go-tos. I used the Mediterranean Diet as the basis for our meals, and created a two week rotating menu to use as a guide, adding different recipes from health-centered websites and cookbooks to keep our meals from getting…well, boring.

We met with a dietitian the beginning of February who helped us understand the Glycemic Index food guide to make better choices when grocery shopping. She also pressed that the portion size is important when you fill your plate. I always told hubby that size mattered! Wink. Exercise was discussed, and she gave us both a thumbs up for being proactive with our morning workouts. Hubby was prescribed a blood glucose monitor, and faithfully checks his blood sugar every day. We are both well on our way to investing in our health and wellbeing in this new decade, and so far, I’m happy to report that as of writing this post (mid-March), hubby has lost almost twenty pounds. I’ve lost almost five pounds, but in truth, was going for losing more inches, and toning those…um sagging bits, which I’m pleased to say have noticeably shrunk. Woohoo!

I’m including a couple of recipes with images from Sloane Taylor’s Date Night Dinners cookbook, because these meals were part of the menu I created in January, and they were just too darned delicious not to share!

Baked Salmon

Non-stick cooking spray

3 salmon fillets, no more than 1 inch (2.5cm) thick

¼ cup (30g) brown sugar

¼ cup Dijon mustard

½ tbsp. (10ml) white wine

2 tbsp. (30ml) butter

1 tbsp. pine nuts

3 scallions/green onions, sliced, be sure to include much of the green

PREHEAT oven to 425° F (220°C).

SPRAY aluminum foil and lay it on a cookie sheet. Place fish on foil.

COMBINE sugar, mustard, and wine in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth.

SPREAD mixture evenly over salmon to cover it. Bake 15 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork.

MEANWHILE, prepare green onion topping while salmon bakes. Melt butter in small fry pan. Add nuts, they give the dish extra crunch. Stir in onion. Saute until onion is soft and lightly colored. Set aside.

TURN oven to broil. Move fish to 4 inches from heat. Broil 2 minutes or until golden.

ADD a dollop of green onion mixture on top of each salmon steak and serve.

Easy Baked Chicken Breast

Non-stick cooking spray

3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

½ cup (60g) mayonnaise

5 tsp. (25ml) Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs

½ cup (60g) Parmesan cheese, grated

PREHEAT oven to 425°F (220°C).

SPRAY a baking dish lightly with cooking spray. Rinse chicken and pat dry.

MIX mayo and bread crumbs together in a small bowl. Spread onto both sides of chicken.

LAY chicken in prepared dish. Sprinkle the top of coated chicken with Parmesan cheese.

BAKE for 20 minutes or until the juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a sharp knife.

So, that’s just a sampling of what we’ve been eating since the beginning of 2020. What recipe appeals to you? Or would you rather indulge in a vegetarian dish? What have you done to reboot your health in this new decade? Would love to read your comments. Cheers, and thank you for reading my blog.