Christmas is coming quickly! That means a lot of things to so many people. One thing most of us have in common about the holiday? Food!

Here's a post from 5 years ago today that is perfect if you're looking for Christmas sweetness!

November 30, 2018 

It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

This week it's recipe is from

PREMEDITATED PEPPERMINT

by Amanda Flower

Someone’s sweet on revenge . . .
 Christmas is Bailey King’s favorite time of year. For her first Yuletide in Harvest, Ohio, the former big-city chocolatier is recreating a cherished holiday treat: peppermint combined with molten white chocolate. But her sugar high plummets when her former boyfriend walks into the candy shop she now runs with her Amish grandmother. New York celebrity chef Eric Sharp and his TV crew have arrived to film an authentic Amish Christmas. Bailey’s not about to let her beloved town—and Swissmen Sweets—be turned into a sound bite. Unfortunately, she gets more publicity than she bargained for when Eric’s executive producer is found strangled to death—and Eric’s the prime suspect. 
 
With Bailey’s sheriff deputy boyfriend out to prove Eric’s guilt, her bad-boy ex tries to sweet-talk her into helping him clear his name . . . and rekindle their romance to boost ratings for his show. Now, between a surplus of suspects and a victim who wasn’t who she seemed, Bailey’s edging dangerously close to a killer who isn’t looking to bring joy to the world—or to Bailey—this deadly Noel . . .

🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄

BAILEY'S PEPPERMINT BARK

Photo property of lovestoeat.com

Photos  found via Google Images and or Pintrest, and their contributors, with many thanks. Your finished dish will vary in appearance.

Ingredients

½ pound of bitter dark chocolate, rough chopped

½ pound of semisweet dark chocolate, rough chopped

 1 pound of white chocolate, rough chopped

1 teaspoon peppermint extract, or to taste

20 hard peppermint candies, crushed

Photo property of dontsweattherecipe.com

Directions

1. Using parchment paper, line a 9 x 13 baking pan.

2. Using a sauce pan of steaming water and a glass bowl, create a double boiler. Don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water in the pan. Stir both types of dark chocolate together continuously in the glass bowl until the chocolate is completely melted.

3. Pour the melted dark chocolate into the baking pan. Let cool for ten to fifteen minutes.

4. Following the second step, make a second double boiler and melt the white chocolate. As the chocolate melts, add the peppermint extract. 

5. Pour the melted white chocolate and extract mixture over the top of the dark chocolate.

6. Using a hammer, crush the peppermint candies. Liberally sprinkle them over the top of the white chocolate while the chocolate is still warm. 

7. Stick in the refrigerator to cool for twenty minutes.

8. Remove the peppermint bark and parchment paper from the pan. Cut or break the bark into pieces.

Photo property of spendwithpennies.com

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Never give up!

Never surrender!

Keep entering those Goodreads giveaways!

Other than a lit bit of time, what else do we have to lose?

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Slim pickings during my searches friends.

Let me know if you find something we all may like!

Make sure to check out Goodreads giveaway in other genres.

Again, I know Goodreads giveaways can be hard to win because of the volume of people who enter them. But stick with it. I have won a few titles, and you can too.

And, since it can be hard to win, I'm still entering each giveaway as well!

If I win, one of you will win it!

I have entered each giveaway I have posted today. If I win a book, I will have a giveaway here and one of you will have another chance to win the book . . . from me! I like knowing that your my friends will have that second chance to win.

So, GOOD LUCK to you!

And wish a GOOD LUCK to me (for you)!

 

As always, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

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DECEMBER 6

Blackmail in the Big Easy turns to cold-blooded murder in this debut cozy mystery perfect for fans of Jane K. Cleland.

When the mysterious letter arrives by courier, Valerie Cooper doesn’t know what to make of it. She’s become the beneficiary of her late husband’s estranged uncle’s will—a man she never knew—and inherited a majority partnership in the family’s company, New Orleans Fine Antiques. Valerie knows nothing about antiques, but she decides to learn the business and become an active partner. She’s also got her hands full fending off Collette, a woman who wants to sell the huge old house in the Irish Channel neighborhood Valerie and her husband painstakingly renovated.

Valerie isn’t interested in selling—but when her best friend Lauren, drags her to a costume party for the women’s Mardi Gras club, the Krewe of Athena, she stumbles over Collette’s body, a jeweled dagger sticking out of her chest. In a rush of panic, Valerie recognizes the dagger from her shop—and before she knows it, she’s become murder suspect number one.

Egged on by Lauren, she starts digging into Collette’s business dealings, and the deeper she digs, the dirtier it gets. Now all fingers are pointing at Valerie. In a desperate bid to clear her name, Valerie frantically tries to find who could have gotten hold of the dagger. But among a cadre of guests in full costume, it could be impossible to find the thief—and unmask the real killer.

The theater is no place for murder—but a case of backstage betrayal drags library director Amy Webber into a case that could mean curtains in critically acclaimed author Victoria Gilbert’s Blue Ridge Library mystery.

It’s early summer, and while Richard Muir and his dance partner, Karla, are preparing their new choreographic piece, Richard’s wife, Amy, is gathering the dance’s source materials. Based on folktales and the music of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the production is set to premiere at an old cinema that has been converted to a theater. But when dancer Meredith Fox—Richard’s former fiancé—is found dead backstage, Amy is once again propelled into a murder case that threatens the careers and lives of those she loves.
 
After Amy teams up with Chief Deputy Brad Tucker and the sheriff’s department to discover the killer, they find that there’s no shortage of suspects: Meredith’s wealthy ex-husband, several fellow dancers, a romantically spurned accompanist, and others whom the talented but haughty dancer dismissed or betrayed over the years.
 
With Richard and Karla's help, and information gleaned from locals who know a wealth of small-town secrets, Amy desperately tries to unveil the killer before the premiere. But she’s pursuing a ruthless murderer who’s willing to kill again—and who might just be waiting for Amy in the wings.

Murder on the ski slopes.
The weapon? A bow and arrow.
The suspects? Every guest at the villa.

Intrigue, a fake relationship, and humor come together in a Knives Out-style cozy mystery from bestselling author Amanda Flower and Hallmark Publishing.

A wealthy doctor invites many of his associates to spend a week at a giant, luxurious ski villa. Darby Piper, a seasoned private eye, and Tate Porter, her new partner at the detective agency, are among the guests, going undercover as a romantic couple. They were hired by the doctor’s much-younger wife to investigate anonymous threats against her husband’s life. But before long, Darby and Tate are investigating a murder instead.

As they dig up buried grudges, Darby’s jealous ex-boyfriend on the police force thinks they’re wasting their time. Will Darby and Tate figure out who the killer is…or will it become another cold case?

This cozy mystery contains a free Hallmark original recipe for Goat Cheese Phyllo Puffs

It will take the Ninth Street Knitters all the sleuthing skills they have to untangle the threads of a dyed-in-the-wool killer.

For once things seem to be running smoothly for knitting enthusiast Lia Geiger. Her daughter is living on her own and happy with her new job on the alpaca farm. Plus, Lia and her Ninth Street Knitters have been knitting for the Civil War reenactment being held on the grounds next to the Crandalsburg Craft Fair. It’s all fun and battle games until one of the “injured soldiers” turns out to be the very real victim of a murder, and Lia’s friend and neighbor falls under deep suspicion.
 
Suddenly, the good folks of Crandalsburg are spinning all kinds of yarns and pointing fingers at one another. Lucky for Lia, she has the combined wits of the Ninth Street Knitters to help her ply the truth from this crafty killer.

DECEMBER 13

Beloved New York Times bestseller M.C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin—the star of her own hit T.V. series—is back on the case again in Devil's Delight.

Agatha and her assistant, Toni, are driving to their friend Bill Wong’s long-awaited wedding, thinking of nothing more than what the beautiful bride will be wearing when a terrified young man comes running down the country lane towards them wearing…nothing at all.

The encounter leads them to become embroiled with a naturist group, a disappearing corpse, fantasy games, witchcraft, an ice cream empire, intrigue and murder. In the meantime, Agatha’s hectic life swirls along at dizzying pace, her private detective agency as busy as ever and her private affairs in turmoil, with old loves to contend with and a new suitor on the scene.

But when she begins to close in on a suspected murderer, she finds herself in deadly peril, as the sinister nature of the ice cream business leads her to a chilling conclusion…

DECEMBER 20

BOOK SEVEN in the bestselling BARKS & BEANS CAFE cozy mystery series!!

Welcome to the Barks & Beans Cafe, a quaint place where folks pet shelter dogs while enjoying a cup of java...and where murder sometimes pays a visit.

After much cajoling, Macy gives in to her neighbor, Vera, and agrees to come to her book club's Christmas party so she can share about the cafe. While public speaking isn't Macy's thing, she wants to brighten Vera's lonely holiday season...and she can sell a little house blend on the side.

When a lively book discussion spirals into a public roast of the mayor—who happens to be sitting in their midst—things get uncomfortable. Soon afterward, the mayor shows up dead in Vera's bathroom, and no amount of gingerbread cookies or eggnog can restore Vera to the club's good graces. 'Tis the season for Macy to find the murderer, or else Vera might be taking a long winter's nap in a jail cell.

Join siblings Macy and Bo Hatfield as they sniff out crimes in their hometown...with plenty of dogs along for the ride! The Barks & Beans Cafe cozy mystery series features a small town, an amateur sleuth, and no swearing or graphic scenes.

A heartwarming cozy mystery series about losing everything, taking a chance, and starting again.

After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a huge old seaside mansion she has never even seen, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal. What she ended up with was, an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat she couldn't seem to convince to leave, and a new family she'd never be able to live without.

In book 21 in the series, it's Christmas in Holiday Bay and the whole town has pitched in to ensure that this Christmas is the best one yet. Meanwhile Colt has a series of thefts to deal with, Abby is busy preparing for the arrival of her sister and brother-in-law, Georgia has some tough decisions to make, Mylie is busy with her annual list, Annabelle is participating in a holiday pageant, and a whole new group of guests have checked in. Amongst the new guests are, a tree lot Santa with a secret, a social worker with an orphan on her way to foster care, an elderly woman dealing with her first Christmas after the death of her husband, and a scrooge of a travel writer assigned a heartfelt Christmas story in spite of the fact that she'd just as soon skip the whole thing.

DECEMBER 27

Set in the fan favorite Amish village of Harvest, Ohio, the latest novel in USA Today bestselling author Amanda Flower's Amish Matchmaker series brings back the unlikely sleuthing duo of an Amish widow and her zany, thrice divorced best friend. Will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries, small-town mysteries, wholesome romance, inspirational fiction, and readers of Jennifer Beckstrand, Charlotte Hubbard, Rachel J. Good, and other authors of Amish fiction.

Millie’s decidedly not Amish best friend, Lois Henry, is outspoken, colorful, and so hopelessly romantic, she’s had four husbands. Millie doesn’t judge, and she also doesn’t expect to run into Lois’s most recent ex, gambler Gerome Moorhead, in small-town Harvest, Ohio. With him is the very young, new Mrs. Moorhead, aka “Honeybee.” Lois is outraged, but Millie is completely shocked to learn the next day that Gerome is already a widower . . .
 
When a large wood carving at the cozy Munich Chalet falls on “Honeybee,” all eyes turn toward Lois. Who else would want a tourist—a complete stranger—dead? And half of Harvest witnessed Lois’s enmity toward the young woman. Suddenly Millie must put aside her sewing needle and flex her sleuthing skills. She’s no stranger to a murder investigation, after all, and if she doesn’t learn who killed Honeybee, Lois could go from Millie’s boisterous best friend to her horrified prison penpal . . .

In Muffin But the Truth, Torte's pastry chef and amateur sleuth Juliet Capshaw finds herself in deep water... in another delicious installment in the Bakeshop Series from author Ellie Alexander, set in Ashland, Oregon!

Ashland is known for its Elizabethan charm and touches of Shakespeare around every corner, but the surrounding Rogue Valley draws adventure enthusiasts to its outdoor wonderland of high alpine lakes, mountain ranges, and pristine rivers. Jules Capshaw and the team at Torte have been hired to cater a weekend getaway on the mighty Rogue River. Jules is going to have to put her culinary skills to the test while baking gooey chocolate chip skillet cookies over an open flame and preparing extravagant feasts under a canopy of stars. The executive team at a big city firm will be rafting the Rogue’s rapids and gathering around the campfire for spooky stories, but their dysfunction quickly begins to show. Between constant bickering and heavy drinking, Jules wonders how the team can accomplish anything. She’s happy for a brief reprieve when they zip up their lifejackets and head out in their boats, but the serenity of the scene quickly vanishes when Jules discovers one of the execs floating face down in the water. She’s going to have to uncover the truth before she gets pulled under.

Sherry Harris gives readers a new adventure to dive into with the latest installment of her Florida-set mystery series, as local bartender Chloe Jackson’s search for treasure shores up the dead body of a contestant in the upcoming Panhandle Barback Games...

The Florida Panhandle Barback Games are coming up and Chloe’s been drafted to represent the Sea Glass Saloon—competing in various obstacle-course events that conclude with rolling an empty keg up a hill. The rivalries are so fierce that some of the participating bars even stoop to bringing in ringers.
 
Meanwhile, Chloe’s friend Ann—a descendant of the famed pirate Jean Lafitte—asks her to come along for a boat ride as Ann dives into the Gulf of Mexico. She’s found some old papers that may identify the location of sunken treasure. Instead, she finds a sunken body—of one of the ringers hired for the Barback Games.  Now that murder is in the mix, Chloe has to figure out whether one of the competitors went overboard . . .

 

As always, please leave a comment 

and let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 

the upper right hand corner of this page 

(on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of

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BLACK FRIDAY

My sisters and I are heading to Lancaster country for some fresh air, and shopping!

Are you a Black Friday shopper?

How about Cyber Monday?

Just remember, while you're buying those Christmas presents, don't forget to . . . 

Have a blessed day my friends!

Happy Thanksgiving 

my US sisters and brothers!

 

I've been pushing hard (Not near as hard as I should) to get items up on eBay in this the busiest time for selling. 

While I love being a reseller, in can get overwhelming.

Taking and editing the photos is my list favorite part of it all. I try to be a perfectionist in both areas, but then I have to settle for ones I find the least bad. 

See what I mean? Some are dark and others look pretty good. Am I being too picky? What do you think? If you saw something in the darker photos that you liked, would you have to think twice due to the darkness? Be brutely honest with me please. 

Thanks for indulging me. 

Check my eBay store out if you have a chance!

SUCH FUN SHOP

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.