Saturday, October 31, 2020
Friday, October 30, 2020
It's
Cozy Food Friday!
That means it's time to share a recipe from
another great cozy mystery!
This week's recipe is from
CAKE POPPED OFF
Book 2 in the Cupcake Catering Mysteries
by Kim Davis
Cupcake caterer Emory Martinez is hosting a Halloween bash alongside her octogenarian employer, Tillie. With guests dressed in elaborate costumes, the band is rocking, the cocktails are flowing, and tempers are flaring when the hired Bavarian Barmaid tries to hook a rich, hapless husband. Except one of her targets happens to be Emory’s brother-in-law, which bodes ill for his pregnant wife. When Emory tracks down the distraught barmaid, instead of finding the young woman in tears, she finds her dead. Can she explain to the new detective on the scene why the Bavarian Barmaid was murdered in Emory’s bathtub with Emory’s Poison Apple Cake Pops stuffed into her mouth?
With an angry pregnant sister to contend with, she promises to clear her brother-in-law’s name. As Emory starts asking questions and tracking down the identity of the costumed guests, she finds reasons to suspect her brother-in-law has been hiding a guilty secret. Her search leads her to a web of blackmail and betrayal amongst the posh setting of the local country club crowd. Can Emory sift through the lies she’s being told and find the killer? She’ll need to step up her investigation before another victim is sent to the great pumpkin patch in the sky.
Includes spooky Halloween recipes!
With an angry pregnant sister to contend with, she promises to clear her brother-in-law’s name. As Emory starts asking questions and tracking down the identity of the costumed guests, she finds reasons to suspect her brother-in-law has been hiding a guilty secret. Her search leads her to a web of blackmail and betrayal amongst the posh setting of the local country club crowd. Can Emory sift through the lies she’s being told and find the killer? She’ll need to step up her investigation before another victim is sent to the great pumpkin patch in the sky.
Includes spooky Halloween recipes!
📚🕮📚🕮📚
!!!GIVEAWAY!!!
1 lucky reader will win a print copy of
CAKE POPPED OFF
Enter using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post.
USA only
🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽
BLACK CAT
CHOCOLATE HALLOWEEN COOKIES
Makes 15 – 20 cookies,
depending on size
A yummy and fun
Halloween decorating project for kids!
Ingredients
Cookies
1 (15.25 ounce) package devil’s
food cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
Frosting (Feel free to use your
favorite ready-made chocolate frosting)
1/4 cup unsalted butter,
room temperature
1/4 cup cocoa powder
(either natural or Dutch will work)
2-1/2 cups confectioners’
sugar
3–4 tablespoons milk or
half-and-half
Decorating Garnishes
Chocolate jimmies for
fur (plus rainbow jimmies if your kids like to experiment with designs)
Mini M&M’s for eyes
Candy corns for ears
Licorice shoestring
laces, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces for whiskers (or fondant tinted black and
rolled into strands for the whiskers)
Candy-hearts (or red
mini M&M’s or mini jelly beans) for nose
Or use your favorite
sprinkles
Instructions
Cookies
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
2. Add the cake mix, vegetable oil, and eggs to a
large bowl and stir until well combined.
3. Roll the dough into 2-inch balls and place on a
parchment-lined baking sheet at least 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 7–9 minutes.
5. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5
minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and allow to completely cool before
frosting and decorating.
Frosting
1. Using an electric mixer, whip the butter until
smooth (1–2 minutes).
2. Add the cocoa powder and beat for an additional
2 minutes.
3. On low speed, add one-third of the
confectioners’ sugar to the butter mixture and beat until smooth. Beat in 2
tablespoons milk, then add the remaining confectioners’ sugar and beat.
4. Add in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time
until a spreadable consistency is acquired. You don’t want it too thin, but
frosting shouldn’t be so thick it won’t spread on cookie. Once desired consistency
is reached, beat the frosting for 1 minute.
Assembling the cookies
1. Working with 1 cookie at a time, spread
chocolate frosting over the top of a cookie. Immediately sprinkle an outline of
jimmies along the outside edge of the cookie to represent fur.
2. Position 2 upside-down candy corns near the top
of the cookie for the ears. Position 2 mini M&M’s for the eyes and place a
dab of chocolate frosting in the center of the M&M’s for the pupils.
3. Place either a red candy heart, a red M&M,
or a mini jelly bean in the lower center of the cookie for the nose and add 3
short licorice shoestring laces (or fondant strands) to each side of the nose
to represent whiskers.
4. Allow the frosting to set. Position cookies in a
single layer on a serving platter.
5. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
If necessary to stack cookies for storing, place a sheet of waxed paper between
each layer.
How adorable are these?
GOOD LUCK!
As always, please leave a comment and
let me know what you think!
Follow my blog by submitting your email in
upper right hand corner of this page (on the side bar).
Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click"View web version". Then follow the above directions.
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
I'm enjoying my birthday week so much! I've been reading, thrift shopping, and falling asleep, a lot, in my recliner.
This looks like the perfect birthday cozy!
The whole town of Tinker's Cove is looking forward to the celebration marking former librarian Julia Ward Howe Tilley's ninetieth birthday. Lucy Stone, Miss Tilley's closest friend, dreamed up the party idea--at about the same time she decided she's not getting old without a fight. Noticing crow's feet and a potential jelly belly, she's resolved to exercise more and purchase some heavy-duty wrinkle cream, asap!
That sounds like a plan--until Lucy realizes her daughter's fourteenth birthday bash, a coed sleepover, may turn her hair white overnight. What was she thinking when she agreed to let Sara have the party? Obviously she wasn't thinking about the hormonal rampages of young teens. On her mind, instead, was the shocking death of Sherman Cobb, the town's oldest attorney, an apparent suicide. His law partner, however, thinks Sherman was murdered.
Poking about in Sherman's papers, Lucy turns up an intriguing tie between the dead man and Miss Tilley. Meanwhile Miss Tilley's own past has come back to haunt her in the form of a mysterious niece named Shirley and a biker great nephew named Snake. Soon no one can get to see the elderly librarian because the brash, bossy Shirley says she's "failing." Is Miss Tilley in grave danger? Will Sara's party turn out to be a scandal? Now, as a killer's ruthless plan rushes toward a conclusion, Lucy needs answers fast--or else she and Miss Tilley won't live long enough to make a wish and blow out the candles on this year's birthday cake. . .
That sounds like a plan--until Lucy realizes her daughter's fourteenth birthday bash, a coed sleepover, may turn her hair white overnight. What was she thinking when she agreed to let Sara have the party? Obviously she wasn't thinking about the hormonal rampages of young teens. On her mind, instead, was the shocking death of Sherman Cobb, the town's oldest attorney, an apparent suicide. His law partner, however, thinks Sherman was murdered.
Poking about in Sherman's papers, Lucy turns up an intriguing tie between the dead man and Miss Tilley. Meanwhile Miss Tilley's own past has come back to haunt her in the form of a mysterious niece named Shirley and a biker great nephew named Snake. Soon no one can get to see the elderly librarian because the brash, bossy Shirley says she's "failing." Is Miss Tilley in grave danger? Will Sara's party turn out to be a scandal? Now, as a killer's ruthless plan rushes toward a conclusion, Lucy needs answers fast--or else she and Miss Tilley won't live long enough to make a wish and blow out the candles on this year's birthday cake. . .
Have fun fabulous day everyone!
Stay safe. Stay strong. Stay fabulous you!
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Monday, October 19, 2020
While I'm away celebrating my birthday month, I thought you might like this birthday read!
From cakes to stakes, a celebration of everyone's favorite bloodsucking subculture by a baker's dozen of favorite authors. Each of these thirteen original stories offers a fresh and unique take on what birthdays mean to the undead. From Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse attending a birthday party for Dracula to Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden battling bloodsucking party crashers, these suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous stories will ensure paranormal fans will never think of vampires or birthdays quite the same again.
Have an amazing Monday!!!!!
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Hello all over you wonderful yous!
It's that time of year again
for me to act like my birthday is more than just October 23
I'll be back here on October 30th with another great Cozy Food Friday
and over on Facebook I'll be co-hosting
I hope to see you all there!
I won't forget while I'm gone.
There will be a little something on the blog every day just so you won't forget about me. 😉
For now, have a most beautiful day!
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Another great group of
Halloween cozies!
The southern Delta has never been more exhilarating, evocative, and wickedly funny than in the mysteries of Carolyn Haines. Now she takes readers on another rollicking ride across the Mississippi cotton fields and into the glamour of New Orleans…as P.I. Sarah Booth Delaney follows a winding trail of murder and deception into a world where ghosts make fashion statements—and where one person’s miracle is another person’s mayhem.
The leaves of the calendar may be shedding faster than the sycamores on her family’s decaying Mississippi plantation, but thirty-something southern belle Sarah Booth Delaney isn’t ready to sing the blues. Not when she’s got a thriving detective agency and the outspoken, outrageously attired ghost of her great-great-grandmother’s nanny to keep her on her toes. But the matchmaking phantom may have the last word on motherhood when Sarah Booth takes on the controversial case of an accused baby killer.
Although Doreen Mallory’s been arrested for feeding sleeping pills to her ten-week-old daughter, no one could accuse her of lacking faith. A healer who, tragically, couldn’t save her own baby girl, born with multiple birth defects, Doreen has her own crosses to bear. While the local law seems convinced of Doreen’s guilt, Sarah Booth isn’t so sure. But why is Doreen reluctant to talk about the men in her life? Like the televangelist who stands to lose a lot more than his flock. Or the married politician with family ties to the Mob. Either of them could be little Rebekah’s father; either of them could also be her killer.
With Halloween approaching and her own personal life up for grabs, Sarah Booth could use a little faith healing herself. Torn between a married sheriff and an old flame who’s literally sweeping her off her feet, she’d better be prepared for the fallout of her most
unpopular case yet. Justice may not stand a ghost of a chance as a decades-old secret explodes, unleashing a storm of fury on Sarah Booth and all those she loves.
Witty, suspenseful, and featuring a cast of memorable characters, Hallowed Bones is a riveting tale of faith, murder, and maternal love. It is Carolyn Haines’s most accomplished novel yet.
Sarah Booth Delaney is heartbroken: her fiancé Graf Milieu has decided to move to Hollywood permanently, leaving their relationship in shambles. Sarah Booth has a perfect distraction, however, in the form of the Black and Orange Halloween ball her best friends are throwing in New Orleans. Sarah Booth plans to dance the night away to the swinging tunes of her old flame Scott Hampton's blues band. But just as the party gets going, Scott receives a mysterious message that threatens his life and the lives of his bandmates. Sarah Booth knows that a new case is just what she needs to take her mind off her failed relationship with Graf, and she's ready to help Scott investigate. And then the message turns from threat to reality when the bartender from Scott's club is gunned down in a drive-by. Enlisting Sheriff Coleman Peters and the rest of her friends from Zinnia, Mississippi, Sarah Booth is caught in a race against the clock as she tries to stop a killer from striking again.
With a twist around every corner, Sarah Booth's zany adventures will delight readers in Carolyn Haines's latest Southern cozy, Bone to Be Wild.
Halloween is fast approaching, and preparations for the Pumpkin Bash, Cape Willington’s annual autumn festival, are well underway. Candy is running this year’s haunted hayride, in the hopes of making some extra cash. But when she discovers a real dead body near some fake tombstones, Candy’s side job becomes a full-blown investigation to find out who turned a holiday attraction into a real horror show.
Will Candy’s keen eye for detail unearth buried town secrets? As her search leads her through old graveyards and a haunted house, Candy will discover that not all of the skeletons hidden in this small town’s closets are Halloween decorations…
INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES!
For Hayley Powell, food and cocktails columnist for the Island Times, Halloween is all about costume parties and holiday treats—until a killer crashes the party...
This Halloween, Hayley can’t imagine a worse trick than her ex-husband Danny returning to Bar Harbor. Her kids may be happy to see their dad, but Hayley’s determined not to be taken in by his charms, and suspects he’s in financial trouble—again.
Still, the haunted holiday is about to get a whole lot scarier after Danny’s moonshine-making uncle is found lying dead next to a tombstone in a cemetery—and Danny quickly becomes the prime suspect. To prove her ex is innocent, Hayley will have to dig deep into her own bag of tricks to unmask the real culprit . . . before anyone else—including her—ends up in the graveyard...
Includes seven delectable recipes from Hayley’s kitchen!
This Halloween, Hayley can’t imagine a worse trick than her ex-husband Danny returning to Bar Harbor. Her kids may be happy to see their dad, but Hayley’s determined not to be taken in by his charms, and suspects he’s in financial trouble—again.
Still, the haunted holiday is about to get a whole lot scarier after Danny’s moonshine-making uncle is found lying dead next to a tombstone in a cemetery—and Danny quickly becomes the prime suspect. To prove her ex is innocent, Hayley will have to dig deep into her own bag of tricks to unmask the real culprit . . . before anyone else—including her—ends up in the graveyard...
Includes seven delectable recipes from Hayley’s kitchen!
Bubble. . . bubble. . . Whispering Falls is abuzz with the new housing development and new shops popping up all over the magical village.Cures and trouble. . .A Magical Cure’s owner, June Heal’s intuition is on high alert and she just can’t shake that something bad is about to happen. Magic stirs . . .It must be the upcoming All Hallow’s Eve celebration that has love in the air. Or maybe it’s because there are several more citizens in Whispering Falls.And trouble doubles . . .June’s intuition is far from wrong after she stumbles upon new town resident Patch Burr who is lying dead in the middle of his pumpkin patch.
Sadie Hoffmiller is looking forward to spending her favorite baking season of the year making delicious New England recipes in Boston, Massachusetts, with her favorite leading man, Pete Cunningham, as they babysit his three young grandsons. But when the boys insist that Mrs. Wapple, the woman who lives across the street, is a witch, Sadie and Pete are anxious to distract the boys from such Halloween-induced ideas. However, it gets harder and harder to explain the strange things that keep happening, particularly after Sadie learns the eccentric Mrs. Wapple has been attacked in her home. As the unexplained occurrences escalate, Sadie finds herself embroiled in yet another mystery with life-or-death consequences. Can Sadie discover whoever or whatever is behind the mystery before anyone else gets hurt? Or will this be Sadie s last case?
In the latest mystery from the bestselling author of Wicked Stitch, the future of Marcy Singer’s embroidery shop is dangling by a thread…
Marcy’s shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, is one year old this October so it’s time to party in little Tallulah Falls, Oregon. Aside from the Halloween decorations and festive stitching kits and patterns, Marcy’s got all sorts of celebratory swag, including Seven-Year Stitch key rings and goodie bags.
Unfortunately, her new neighbors might spoil the revelry. An eccentric couple has opened a haunted house next door, and all that screaming will certainly scare off customers. But there’s even more to be frightened of after a local waitress is found dead on the sidewalk with mysterious markings on her neck—and one of Marcy’s key rings beneath her. With no time to hem and haw, Marcy must act fast if she hopes to restore the peace to Tallulah Falls…
Marcy’s shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, is one year old this October so it’s time to party in little Tallulah Falls, Oregon. Aside from the Halloween decorations and festive stitching kits and patterns, Marcy’s got all sorts of celebratory swag, including Seven-Year Stitch key rings and goodie bags.
Unfortunately, her new neighbors might spoil the revelry. An eccentric couple has opened a haunted house next door, and all that screaming will certainly scare off customers. But there’s even more to be frightened of after a local waitress is found dead on the sidewalk with mysterious markings on her neck—and one of Marcy’s key rings beneath her. With no time to hem and haw, Marcy must act fast if she hopes to restore the peace to Tallulah Falls…
When Cryptessa Muldoon, a Hollywood has-been who spends her days making enemies with everyone on the street, is found murdered on Halloween night, Jaine Austen, to prove her own innocence, must unmask a killer among a neighborhood filled with suspects.
It takes more than a lurid legend to scare off the League of Literary Ladies in the third novel in this charming cozy mystery series...
For Halloween, the Literary Ladies have chosen to read Washington Irving’s spooky classic, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with its infamous headless horseman. But South Bass Island has its own headless legend—of a Prohibition bootlegger named Charlie “Sleepy” Harlow. Decapitated by rival rumrunners, Harlow appears once a year in spectral form to search for his noggin.
This October, the Elkhart Ghost Getters (EGG) have returned to the island. The group claims that they have film footage of Harlow’s ghost, and are determined to get more. They’re staying at Bea Cartwright’s B & B, but it’s Kate Wilder who isn’t happy to see them after they trashed her winery last year. When the EGG leader turns up dead, Kate becomes the prime suspect, and the other League members need to scramble to crack the case.
For Halloween, the Literary Ladies have chosen to read Washington Irving’s spooky classic, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with its infamous headless horseman. But South Bass Island has its own headless legend—of a Prohibition bootlegger named Charlie “Sleepy” Harlow. Decapitated by rival rumrunners, Harlow appears once a year in spectral form to search for his noggin.
This October, the Elkhart Ghost Getters (EGG) have returned to the island. The group claims that they have film footage of Harlow’s ghost, and are determined to get more. They’re staying at Bea Cartwright’s B & B, but it’s Kate Wilder who isn’t happy to see them after they trashed her winery last year. When the EGG leader turns up dead, Kate becomes the prime suspect, and the other League members need to scramble to crack the case.
🎃👻🎃💀🎃👻🎃
As always, please leave a comment and
let me know what you think!
Follow my blog by submitting your email in
upper right hand corner of this page (on the side bar).
Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click "View web version". Then follow the above directions.
Friday, October 16, 2020
It's
Cozy Food Friday!
That means it's time to share a recipe from
another great cozy mystery!
This week's recipe is from
CAKE POPPED OFF
Book 2 in the Cupcake Catering Mysteries
by Kim Davis
Cupcake caterer Emory Martinez is hosting a Halloween bash alongside her octogenarian employer, Tillie. With guests dressed in elaborate costumes, the band is rocking, the cocktails are flowing, and tempers are flaring when the hired Bavarian Barmaid tries to hook a rich, hapless husband. Except one of her targets happens to be Emory’s brother-in-law, which bodes ill for his pregnant wife. When Emory tracks down the distraught barmaid, instead of finding the young woman in tears, she finds her dead. Can she explain to the new detective on the scene why the Bavarian Barmaid was murdered in Emory’s bathtub with Emory’s Poison Apple Cake Pops stuffed into her mouth?
With an angry pregnant sister to contend with, she promises to clear her brother-in-law’s name. As Emory starts asking questions and tracking down the identity of the costumed guests, she finds reasons to suspect her brother-in-law has been hiding a guilty secret. Her search leads her to a web of blackmail and betrayal amongst the posh setting of the local country club crowd. Can Emory sift through the lies she’s being told and find the killer? She’ll need to step up her investigation before another victim is sent to the great pumpkin patch in the sky.
Includes spooky Halloween recipes!
With an angry pregnant sister to contend with, she promises to clear her brother-in-law’s name. As Emory starts asking questions and tracking down the identity of the costumed guests, she finds reasons to suspect her brother-in-law has been hiding a guilty secret. Her search leads her to a web of blackmail and betrayal amongst the posh setting of the local country club crowd. Can Emory sift through the lies she’s being told and find the killer? She’ll need to step up her investigation before another victim is sent to the great pumpkin patch in the sky.
Includes spooky Halloween recipes!
📚🕮📚🕮📚
!!!GIVEAWAY!!!
1 lucky reader will win a print copy of
CAKE POPPED OFF
Enter using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post.
USA only
🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽
BLOODSHOT DEVILED-EGG EYES
All food photos are property of Kim Davis
Ingredients
6 large eggs
1/3 cup mayonnaise, divided
2 teaspoons mustard (regular or
Dijon)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ketchup
4 pimento-stuffed green olives
Instructions
1. Insert a steamer basket into a
saucepan and add enough water to fill the pan to just below the basket.
2. Heat water to boiling then carefully
add cold eggs to the steamer and cover pan with a lid. Reduce heat to medium
and steam the eggs for 13 minutes.
3.
While the eggs cook, prepare the
bloodshot sauce by mixing 2 tablespoons mayonnaise with the hot sauce, chili
powder, and ketchup. Place in a piping bag fitted with a size 1 or size 2
piping tip. Refrigerate until needed.
4.
Carefully remove eggs from steamer
basket and soak in an iced water bath until cooled.
5.
Remove the shells from the eggs and
dry the eggs.
6.
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and
separate the yolks from the whites.
7.
Mix the egg yolks with the remaining
mayonnaise, mustard, garlic powder, and vinegar until smooth. I like doing this
with my handheld immersion blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
8.
Place the mixture in a piping bag
fitted with a large round tip and pipe into the reserved egg whites.
9.
Dry and then cut the olives into
slices and place on top of the egg-yolk mixture for the pupils.
10. Pipe the bloodshot sauce in squiggly lines on the egg
whites.
11. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Note:
Recipe can be doubled, but be sure the steamer basket and cooking pot are large enough to cook the eggs in a single layer. Don’t stack the eggs, or they won’t cook evenly.
SPOOKY SPIDER DEVILED EGGS
Ingredients
6 large eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons mustard (regular or
Dijon)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
18 - 20 black olives
Instructions
1.
Insert a steamer basket into a
saucepan and add enough water to fill the pan to just below the basket.
2.
Heat water to boiling then carefully
add cold eggs to the steamer and cover pan with a lid. Reduce heat to medium
and steam the eggs for 13 minutes.
3.
Carefully remove eggs from steamer
basket and soak in an iced water bath until cooled.
4.
Remove the shells from the eggs and
dry the eggs.
5.
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and
separate the yolks from the whites.
6.
Mix the egg yolks with the remaining
mayonnaise, mustard, garlic powder, and vinegar until smooth. I like doing this
with my handheld immersion blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7.
Place the mixture in a piping bag
fitted with a large round tip and pipe into the reserved egg whites.
8.
Dry and then cut olives into halves,
lengthwise, and place 12 of the halves on top of the egg-yolk stuffed eggs for
the spider body. Use the remaining halves to slice thin crosswise pieces to
create “legs” for the spider. Position 3 “legs” on each side of the spider’s
body, using the yolk mixture to anchor them.
9.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Note:
Recipe can be doubled, but be sure the steamer basket and cooking pot are large enough to cook the eggs in a single layer. Don’t stack the eggs, or they won’t cook evenly.
How fun are these?
Perfect for a Halloween party!
GOOD LUCK!
As always, please leave a comment and
let me know what you think!
Follow my blog by submitting your email in
upper right hand corner of this page (on the side bar).
Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click"View web version". Then follow the above directions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)