It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

Today I'm featuring two recipes from

THE COZY COOKBOOK

MORE THAN 100 RECIPES FROM
AVERY AAMES/DARYL WOOD GERBER
ELLERY ADAMS
CONNIE ARCHER
LESLIE BUDEWITZ
LAURA CHILDS
CLEO COYLE
VICTORIA HAMILTON
B. B. HAYWOOD
JULIE HYZY
JENN McKINLAY
PAIGE SHELTON

Great meals don’t have to be a mystery—but they can come from a mystery. Selecting the most delicious recipes from some of the most popular names in crime solving, The Cozy Cookbookserves up mouth-watering appetizers, entrèes, and desserts that will leave your family or book club group asking, “Whodunit?”

In addition to recipes, choose a sleuth du jour from our menu of mystery series and get a taste of each of our authors’ bread and butter—page-turning puzzles and stay-up-all-night suspense in excerpts from their bestselling works.

Whether you like your meals sautéed, roasted, baked, or served cold like revenge, The Cozy Cookbook has something to satisfy every mystery fan.
This book contains previously published material.

This recipe is from author

Connie Archer

featured in her book

A BROTH OF BETRAYAL

Book 2 in the Soup Lovers Mystery series

Even a town called Snowflake, Vermont, has a summer season. In August, Lucky Jamieson’s By the Spoonful serves chilled soups—celery and green onion, cream of asparagus—and salads. The shop also serves as a gathering place to talk about cold-blooded murder…A protest to stop the construction of an ugly car wash in the middle of the town’s picturesque Village Green is interrupted by the discovery of a skeleton that may date back to the Revolutionary War. While the remains pose a historical mystery, a present-day murder shakes the town to its core when local auto mechanic Harry Hodges is found dead in his shop. 

Straining the patience of Chief of Police Nate Edgerton, Lucky soon finds herself in the soup again when her dear friend Elizabeth, the Mayor of Snowflake, goes missing. No matter how much trouble she has to stir up, Lucky is determined to use her noodle to uncover a killer and recover her friend… 

Recipes included!

Today's recipe is perfect for these last hot days of summer. 

WATERMELON, BASIL, AND FETA SALAD

Ingredients 

2 cups chopped watermelon cubes 

1/2 cup chopped red onion 

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

8 leaves romaine lettuce, washed and chopped 

Balsamic vinegar, for serving

Directions 

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl 

Serve with a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar 

All photos courtesy of Google Images. Your dish may look different in appearance. 

Oh my goodness. 

How simple, yet elegant is this dish?

This would be wonderful to take on a picnic 

or a trip to the beach.  

It would also be perfect on a brunch, lunch or dinner table.

Please keep reading and check out my 

installments of 

Book Beginnings on Fridays

and

The Friday 56

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Book Beginnings and Friday 56

 for this week from are from 

MURDER BY THE SPOONFUL

Book 1  in the Antique Hunters Mystery series 

by Vicki Vass

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted by Rose City Reader

Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading

My Book Beginnings...

"Sybil!" Anne called out, feeling the crunch of breaking glass under her feet. Family photos lay silent on the entryway tile floor looking back up at her. "Sybil!" she called again, with increasing urgency. There was no reply. Faded imprints of where the images had hung lined the narrow hallway walls. With every step Anne took, the ghostly remnants dabbed at the painting that was forming in her mind. 

When she reached the living room, the painting was complete. Screaming, she took a step back, stumbled and fell to the floor, landing face to face with Great-Aunt Sybil.   

The Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's okay.) *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you. *Post it.

My Friday 56...

She rang the buzzer to enter the pawnshop, keeping watch around her. The buzzer sounded and she pushed open the heavy door. Inside, was a small narrow aisle with glass display cases on each side, overflowing with broken dreams. 

MY REVIEWS

THE COZY COOKBOOK

THE COZY COOKBOOK is a must have for every cozy mystery fan. You will see so many of your favorite authors included. And cookbook collectors will want to add this book to their collection as well. The mouthwatering recipes by these talented authors are simply amazing!

When I first heard this book was going to be published, I knew I had to have a copy. When I got my happy hands on it, I read it through, cover to cover in less than two days.

The chapters cover a wide range of recipes including Breakfast, Breads, Soups, Drinks, Appetizers, Main Courses, Desserts, and more! From super easy to a bit more work, but they all sound so fantastic!

Interspersed among the recipes are many excerpts from books by the contributing authors. I enjoyed getting to read these shared pieces. They helped me learn more about the series they were taken from and the characters involved.

I profoundly hope the publisher will do The Cozy Cookbook Part II!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A BROTH OF BETRAYAL

It was so good to be back in Snowflake, Vermont. A BROTH OF BETRAYAL reconnected me with all the delightful characters that I got to meet in A SPOONFUL OF MURDER. Lucky Jamieson and her grandfather Jack, as well as the rest of the characters from the first book, were as I remembered them, but even more fleshed out.

I enjoyed the storyline of the skeleton from Revolutionary War days and the connection it had to someone in present day Snowflake. The mystery of who killed auto mechanic Harry Hodges was well written and not an easy one to solve. And if two mysteries aren't enough for you, the Mayor of Snowflake, Elizabeth Dove, goes missing! As the readers we get to know where she is, but her friends and co-workers have no idea. My only problem with this part of the story...for Elizabeth to be Mayor, it took too long for anyone to notice she was missing and do something about it. Putting that aside though, it was interesting to see all the storylines play out and to finally get to the reveal(s).

I liked A BROTH OF BETRAYAL and the characters enough to read the next book in the series, A ROUX OF REVENGE. You can find my review for it and the first book in the series, A SPOONFUL OF MURDER on their home pages on Amazon, B&N or Goodreads. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MURDER BY THE SPOONFUL 

Author Vicki Vass hit the ground running in this wonderful first installment of the Antique Hunters Mystery series.

With a pleasant, flowing way with words, Ms. Vass made each scene and chapter of MURDER BY THE SPOONFUL a joy to delve in to.

I immediately liked Anne Hillstrom and her friend CC Muller. I enjoyed their dynamic together. And when a scene didn’t contain both of them, it didn’t always just follow Anne. There were times where the reader gets to follow CC as well. I liked being able to see what each of them were up to. Garage and estate sale fans are going to love this book. I had a lot of fun following the ladies around to different sales.

There are two mysteries going on in this story. Who killed Anne’s Great Aunt Sybil and why? And what happened to recent lottery winner and newly recently deceased Tom Whitmore? With twists, turns, and intrigue everywhere, MURDER BY  THE SPOONFUL was an awesome mystery and a great start to what is sure to be a hit series. Author Vicki Vass is an author to keep your eye on for sure.

I’m eagerly awaiting the second book in the Antique Hunters Mystery series!  

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

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