by Mlissa | Nov 27, 2014 | Food, Holidays, In the kitchen with...
If you are in the United States, I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with family and friend. If you’re not in the US, I hope you’re having a wonderful Thursday!
I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen the last couple days and it doesn’t look to be ending until sometime tomorrow after I get done baking some cookies. I am in the mood for some giant molasses cookies. Or maybe some sugar cookies. Chocolate chip? See, I haven’t decided yet. And yes, even though I have 3 different pies in the house right now, I have a hankering to bake cookies. It’s kind of a transition between Thanksgiving and Christmas for me, I guess.
On the topic of Thanksgiving…
There are only 4 of us in the house so a whole turkey didn’t make sense in a lot of ways. For a few years now, I’ve done turkey breasts. Once, I roasted it in the oven, but last year and this year I cooked it overnight in the slow cooker. Oh. My. Goodness. Yum city! There are a variety of websites and blogs that have slow cooker turkey breast recipes, but the one I used this year is from Six Sisters Stuff… (more…)
by Mlissa | May 16, 2013 | In the kitchen with...
Me. Again. And Pinterest, too.
I try a lot and I do mean A LOT of recipes that I find on Pinterest. I try a lot of recipes from the 100+ food blogs I follow via RSS feeds. A few times I’ve been disappointed, and only once have I ever had to throw anything away uneaten.
I can look at a recipe and see in my head the modifications I need to make, what would work for the comfort food palate of my family. And when it comes to trying recipes found online, or even in cookbooks, I have found this intuitiveness life saving, especially since I cook from scratch more than I cook from a box.
On Mother’s Day, I tried a recipe I found that was very simple and very delicious. I wanted shrimp and I wanted pasta. So, I found a recipe for Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta.
The only modification I made was using whole grain penne pasta instead of linguine. It was delicious. You can click here for the recipe.
The internet is an invaluable tool for cooking questions, suggestions, substitutions, recipes, and general or very specific information.
There are several schools of thought when it comes to food. To fuel. To stay alive. To enjoy. I fall into the ‘to enjoy’ category. Food is a pleasure. It should taste good, whether you’re eating very healthy or not, it should still taste good and be prepared with good quality ingredients. I say this and yes, I’m one of the fat chicks. I have what I like. I expand my palate often. But some days, I go all out.
I’ve eaten health food and wanted to gag knowing that with a little hot sauce, a piece of cardboard would taste better. I’ve eaten no carb, low carb, vegetarian, sometimes vegan, full fat, no fat, diet, non-diet, sugar free, and loaded with sugar. I love trying new things, cooking new things, introducing my family to new things. I love farmer’s markets, local farms, local dairy, and gourmet.
Food is a pleasure to me. Life sometimes is full of drama and sadness. Life is also short. Everything in moderation is the key. So is changing things up. Food is also inspiration for my writing. I love foodie romances and I love writing them. One of my favorites is Amanda Usen’s Scrumptious and Luscious and I’m dying to get my hands on her next book, Into The Fire. Cooking and baking are also one of the ways I relieve stress. Getting lost in a recipe, knowing I have to focus my brain on it or I may end up blowing up my kitchen, helps clear my mind and relax me.
I hope you’ll give the recipe a try. It was truly, very very good. And check out my Pinterest boards, Deliciousness-Savory and Deliciousness-Sweet. I bet you’ll find something fun that makes your mouth water.
~lissa
by Mlissa | Feb 8, 2012 | Food, writing
Starting tomorrow, I’ll be posting the first of two new blog series’ Brandy and I have been working on. I have Ms. Kendra working on graphics for them and I don’t know if she’ll have the one done for tomorrow, but she’ll get it to me as soon as she does.
In the kitchen with… is the first series that we’re starting. If you’ve read my books, you know I have a lot of cooking going on. And I don’t just mean the sex kind 😉 ! There’s always someone who cooks. Most of the time it’s the hot, sexy men, but the hot, sexy women do, too. I’ll be posting recipes, kitchen equipment and appliances that I love/can’t live without, book covers, blurbs, etc… in these posts. I’ll be starting with Vinter.
Authors talk writing… is the second series we’re working on. It’s still in the planning stages and we hope to have it ready to go with some authors in March. This is going to be about how writers do what they do… How they write these amazing books. As a reader and a writer, I find this to be a fascinating thing and I’m hoping other readers and writers will as well.
Hope you’re all having a great week.
~lissa
by Mlissa | Nov 22, 2010 | Cover art, Loose Id
Howdy!
Now, during Snippet Saturday I promised new cover art and I am going to hold to that promise. I received it late Saturday afternoon and thought it might be a really good way to start off the week.
This is also the week when those of us here in the USA celebrate Thanksgiving and so I will be posting on Thursday the writerly/authorly things I am most thankful for.
For today, I am very very thankful for beautiful cover art from the Loose Id cover art department and artist Valerie Tibbs. So, without further ado…
This book should be available December 7th!
Now, the blurb is unofficial because it hasn’t gone through the final editing stage at Loose Id, but, it’s close enough…
Blurb:
Holiday ‘Holli’ James looks forward the week between Christmas and New Year’s. This is her one chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of the decorating business she owns and the plan this year is a trip to New York City to see the sights and the lights.
However, the original plan didn’t include a side trip to a small town jail in the middle of Pennsylvania. Nor did the plan include ‘Officer Hunky’. Talk about a sight worth seeing.
A single police officer, Michael is working the Christmas holidays again. With no local family and no interest in the pity invitations from his married friends to Christmas dinner, he’s content to work and earn extra cash. Besides, this year looks to be as uneventful as ever. Until, he pulls Holli over for speeding, only to discover she’s wanted on charges of fraud.
Sexual tension spikes as Michael begins to investigate and finds things aren’t adding up to Holli being who the computers say she is. While they await answers, Michael is granted permission to remove Holli from the jail and place her under house arrest.
Only, his idea of house arrest is much more personal than the law ever intended.
End Blurb…
I hope y’all will enjoy this story. It’s fun and rompy and yeah, contains a some naughty sex, the use of handcuffs, some light spanking, and a cop that can cook…
It’s back to writing for me… Have a great day!
~lissa
