As the name might suggest, this recipe is my grandmother's and I've been enjoying it ever since I can remember.

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Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup white sugar
3 Tablespoons cocoa
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup walnuts (you can leave this out or swap it for any nuts you like in your brownies or raisins)

 

Directions
1) Mix together butter, sugar and cocoa (for best results mix this very, very well)
2) add beaten eggs and mix until well-blended
3) add flower and mix until well-blended
4) add nuts if using

Pour into a lightly greased square baking pan and cook at 350 for 25-30 minutes. The top should be dry, the inside should be fudgey in consistency. These usually last a day and a half, if that before they're all eaten.

Four years ago, Luke walked out on Affton while he was still sleeping, leaving only a quick “I can’t do this” email behind. Affton has spent those four years focused on his career, a now-successful one at that. So when Affton encounters Luke in the graphics department of the company for which he now works, it rocks his world.

Insisting that Luke owes him a coffee at least, Affton finds his world further rocked when he learns why Luke left him in the first place. Can he convince Luke that he isn’t the man Luke believes him to be and that they deserve a second chance? Or will he be fated to watch Luke run away from him yet again?

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www.seanmichaelwrites.com

I love baked ziti.   My very favorite is rich and decadent and has no meat.  My hubby likes it, but in deference to his carnivorous nature and in an effort to lighten things up (yes, this has 2 pounds of meat and is LIGHTER than the meatless ziti I prefer–I wasn’t kidding when I said the other version is decadent), I created this extra meaty ziti (which is also loaded with veggies–that’s the light portion). 

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Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
• 1 pound turkey breakfast sausage cooked
• 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
• 4 ounces sliced black olives, drained
• 30 ounces diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup roasted red peppers,diced
• 8 ounces gluten free pasta
• 1 cup light cottage cheese
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, diced
• 3 tbs tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 4 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, less 2-3 minutes.  It’s going to cook more in the casserole itself.

3. Brown the ground beef.

4. Drain and rinse.

5. Brown the sausage.

6. As the sausage is cooking, add the chopped mushrooms and cook until softened.

7. Add the ground beef back in.

8. Turn off the heat.

9. Add the olives, both cans of tomatoes (undrained), the roasted red peppers, tomato paste, oregano, salt, red pepper flakes, and cottage cheese, and fresh mozzarella and mix thoroughly.

10. Add the pasta and mix until well incorporated.

11. Pour into greased 9×13 casserole dish and cover with foil.

12. Bake for 30 minutes.

13. Remove the foil and top with the shredded mozzarella and bake for another 15 minutes, until cheese is melty.

Paranormal beings exist among us. 

Their strictest rule: Keep the secret.

Forsaken By Shadow

A mission gone wrong.  An operative captured and disavowed.  A daughter, determined to save the only family she has left.  Out of options, Embry seeks the help of the only man she ever loved.  He has a new name, a new life, and no memory of her world.  Can Cade remember who he was before its too late?

Devil's Eye

Trouble.  That's what wolf-shifter Mick thinks when a beautiful woman appears in his New Orleans bar with a hurricane at her back.  His apprehension grows when Sophie starts asking questions about his missing waitress.  Mick will do anything to protect a member of his adopted pack--even form an alliance with a woman with a badge.

Blindsight

Isla's ability as a Seer has made her a life-long captive of a paranormal crime lord.  Fae assassin, Ransom, offers her a chance at escape, but when she touches his hand, she sees blood, horror, apocalypse.  What reason can Ransom have for wanting to rescue her?  And can she trust a man who deals in death?

Three novellas of danger and sizzling, magical attraction.

Genesis...it's only the beginning.

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http://kaitnolan.com

This is a Leonard family favorite.  It goes great with any meal that includes family, laughter, and lots of love!

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Tina Leonard's Family Favorite Chocolate Pecan Pie

Recipe:

1 cup light corn syrup

½ cup sugar

¼ cup margarine or butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 (6 oz.) pkg. (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 ½ cup pecan halves

1 Pet-Ritz frozen deep dish pie crust

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place cookie sheet in oven to pre-heat.  Combine corn syrup, sugar, margarine, vanilla, and eggs; beat well.  Place chocolate chips and pecans in bottom of pie crust.  Pour syrup mixture over pecans.

Place pie on heated cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes, or until deep golden brown, and filling is set.  Cool completely.  Store in refrigerator.

With more than one skeleton rattling in her closet, Sugar Cassevechia hopes “The Most Honest Town in Texas” will be the perfect place to start an online business. As soon as her mother remembers the family recipe that’ll get hotterthanhellnuts.com off the ground.

In the meantime, no way is Sugar letting their new landlord get away with renting them a run-down house that’s decorated like a rich widow’s orgasm. Even if he’s the biggest hunk of hot she’s ever laid eyes on.

Jake Bentley would love to do nothing but sit back and be amused as the Cassevechia women unwittingly stir up trouble in his uptight town. But something about them thaws out his frozen rescue complex. Especially Sugar’s long, chestnut hair and sassy mouth.

Right about the time Sugar figures one steamy night in Jake’s bed won’t hurt, another skeleton joins the party in the form of a dead body in the “Belle Watling” room. And Sugar must decide if her family’s reputation—and her own heart—are safe with Jake.

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www.tinaleonard.com

This recipe comes from my grandmother's kitchen, but with a bit of a modern twist. Our family has it every Christmas Eve.

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Chocolate Temptation

Ingredients

• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 quart, plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon chocolate creme liqueur
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 premade pie shell
• Chocolate chips, for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and bake pie shell in oven for 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool.

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, add chocolate chips, 3 tablespoons heavy cream and chocolate liqueur. Cook until smooth, about 1 minute. Add vanilla extract. Mix and let cool.

In a mixing bowl combine sugar and 1 quart heavy cream. Whip as if you were making whipped cream. Slowly fold the chocolate sauce into the cream.

Next pour the chocolate mixture into the pie shells. Add chocolate chips to the top of the pies. Cover and freeze for a few hours or overnight.

From the Highlands of Scotland, to the streets of Paris, to a remote castle tucked away in the mountains of Romania, travel through realms that lurk in the shadows, to worlds where wolves roam the night, where Heavenly persuasion has the power to seduce, and where one deadly kiss can make love eternal.

This captivating collection brings you three separate tales of a feral werewolf, a passionate angel, and a dangerous vampire, and when their worlds touch ours, legend becomes truth, irresistible desire takes hold, and only love can conquer the forces of darkness. Step into a forbidden world of mystery and danger, and discover what happens when two fated lovers...Embrace the Night.

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http://alyssa-morgan.com/

Ontario got hit hard this winter and I’ll be glad to see the end of the glaring white snow. In thinking of Spring, it made me think of smoothies, fruit juices and such. So I thought I’d share one of our favorite recipes that we enjoy a lot in Spring & Summer – and is a great for my son who has Type 1 Diabetes too – as it is a cool, sweet treat to celebrate the warmer weather.

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Blueberry-Almond Smoothies

1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
1/4 cup slivered almonds
2 tablespoons wheat germ
2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk or skim milk
2 teaspoons honey
1 cup ice cubes

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Purée until smooth.

Nutritional Values:
Calories: 225; Fat: 8g (0g sat fat); Protein: 11.4g; Carb: 31g; Fiber: 5.3g; Chol: 0mg; Sodium: 34mg; Calcium: 97mg

Sweetest Salvation releases this week ~ Thurs, March 21^st!

After the deaths of her husband and child, tragedies that she blames herself for, Andrea “Andy” Sheaver has shut herself off from the world. The only place she finds any relief from her shattered heart is Club Splendor, where she and her husband often frequented together.  There, Andy submits to pleasure and pain in situations so her grief is forgotten for a little while.

But Hunter Sullivan won’t stand idly by and watch Andy self-destruct. A friend of her husband, and the owner of Club Splendor, Hunter has kept his love for Andy hidden for years. He refuses to think of her at the club, cold and detached as she’s become, looking for an easy fix to take away the pain in her heart.  Hunter wants her to vibrant in life again and sets out to prove he is exactly who she needs.

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kaceyhammellkreations.blogspot.com

This dish started out as a marinade for Asian Peanut Chicken Skewers. The skewers weren’t right for me, but I’m a huge fan of peanut butter so I put together this easier version that looks less elegant, but has been a hit around my house. If you love peanut butter too, be adventurous and give it a try!

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Peanut Butter Chicken
Ingredients
1 ½ lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut to small chunks
¾ c. chunky peanut butter
¾ c. Grey Poupon Deli mustard
3 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
Optional: Jasmati Rice, cooked
Directions
Mix peanut butter, mustard, and soy sauce in a medium sized bowl. Mix well, then fold in chicken and refrigerate while you prep the rest of your meal. You can also make this ahead and leave it in the refrigerator for a few hours before you’re ready to cook, but I never plan that far ahead.
Spread the mixture in the bottom of a large non-stick skillet and cook over medium heat, turning gently every few minutes. It will look a little weird, but don’t worry it does get better. The idea is to let the peanut butter and mustard crisp but not to let it burn. Cook until chicken is done, about 20 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces.
Serving Suggestions:
I serve this over Jasmati rice. The nutty aromatic quality of the rice goes well with the peanut butter. I also serve with a vegetable and salad on the side.
Asian: You could also increase the soy sauce to 4 Tbsp., decrease the peanut butter to ½ c., use a honey mustard instead of the deli mustard, and serve with Chinese vegetables to take this recipe back to its Asian roots.

One night of giving in to temptation turns into disaster when feisty fraud investigator, Callie Roberts, discovers Taylor Powers' nice guy routine has distracted her from the truth. Taylor is a powerful New York attorney and he is way out of her league. Even worse, he’s in town to represent the man her dream client has hired her to investigate.
Winner of the 2012 Beacon Award for Excellence in Romance for short contemporary romance.

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http://www.cherylalldredge.com

I discovered this little trick to use up any ice cream that was languishing in the freezer. This is an easy recipe that’s designed to be flexible enough to deal with various amounts of left over ice cream. The result is something just a bit sweet and a bit like a scone. So I call it the Ice Cream Scone.

You’ll need

Melted ice cream. Any flavor. About a pint.

1 to 1 1/2 cups flour, preferably self-rising. (If you don’t have self-rising flour, add a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt to a cup of flour.)

If you have more than a pint of ice cream, you’ll need more flour. Less ice cream, less flour. It’s hard to mess this one up. You could even get creative by making multi-color, multi-flavor scones if you have small amounts of different ice cream flavors.

An 8 inch pie tin or cake pan. You can also use a muffin tin for this to make individual scones.

Step one – melt the ice cream. You use the microwave to speed up this process. The more melted it is, the easier it is to stir.

Step two – preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour the pie tin or cake pan.

Step three - pick up a big wooden spoon or other stirring implement and pour some of the flour into the ice cream container. Go ahead and use the same container the ice cream came in. It makes clean up easier. Start stirring.

Step four – add more flour and stir until the results looks about the consistency of a good biscuit batter.

Step five – pour the batter from the ice cream container into the baking pan.

Step six – bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Step six – let cool a bit and then enjoy. If you use a pie tin, you can cut the result into triangles, which seem more scone-like to me. If you’re feeling traditional, make a cup of tea to enjoy with your ice cream scone.

Step seven – go to the store and buy more ice cream, because you now have room in the freezer.

St. Augustine, Florida, is known for its ghosts and Lorenzo is one of them. He’s spent more than a century as a resident of Tolomato Cemetery. But he isn’t able to rest easy in his grave since Lucifer insists on resurrecting him regularly to offer him a job. While he can’t escape being condemned to Hell himself, Lorenzo refuses to help send others there.

Lucifer is irked when Lorenzo refuses him once again and turns to Tribal, an oversexed demon who has solved these types of problems before. Tribal has a solution to his Master’s problem. He plans to tempt Lorenzo with the one thing the passionate Spaniard can’t resist—a lover. Who better to catch a ghost than a ghost hunter? Tribal baits his trap with Tom, a hunky and lonely ghost hunter. When Lorenzo refuses to give into Tribal’s plan, the demon resorts to a dangerous trap that puts Tom’s soul in danger, and Lorenzo must defy Hell itself to save him.

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http://mariedees.com

I kept seeing this combination on Pinterest and couldn’t resist. I love lemon, love yogurt and had blueberries I needed to use up. This version totally worked for me.

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Muffins:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup lemon flavored Greek yogurt 
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or applesauce)
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen could probably substitute)
Lemon Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 - 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another bowl, mix together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Be careful not to overmix the batter! Very gently, mix the blueberries into the batter.
Pour the batter into the greased muffin tins and bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing. Let almost completely cool before topping with the glaze.
To make the lemon glaze, in a bowl whisk together the confectioners sugar and the lemon juice. The mixture might be thick but should be spreadable. Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice (or water) if it’s too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each muffin.
There's something inside of him, some dormant part that's been awakened. And now it wants to be set free...
Something's wrong with Sebastian Kent. Already considered an outsider in the vampire community as a half-vampire, half-something else, he’ll do everything in his power to hide his weakness. But when sickness strikes, he has no choice but to turn to a human for help—a woman whose touch provides his only relief.
Alice Bowman is hiding her own illness, one that has left her homeless. When she comes to Bast’s aid, she doesn’t expect to be thrust into the world of vampires. But he offers her refuge and a job researching his family history in the hope of finding a clue to his mysterious affliction. She can’t resist his offer of protection—and the chance to spend more time with the man who arouses her every desire.
But as Bast and Alice’s hunger for each other grows, so does the power of Bast’s unexplained half. And soon his unknown past and her uncertain future threaten to keep them apart forever….

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www.deecarney.com

twitter.com/dee_carney

pinterest.com/deecarney

Thanks for coming by to check out my romance recipe. Now, granted, this isn’t going to be something sexy, and since my main characters have all been vampires, you can guess they don’t eat this sort of thing for themselves. However, my husband and I LOVE this recipe. It originally came out of the American Heart Association Cookbook (7^thEdition).

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Vegetable oil spray

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 lb lean ground beef

1 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella (AHA calls for Monterey Jack)

14.5-ounce can tomatoes, undrained (AHA says unsalted, we don’t bother)

16 6-inch corn tortillas, halved

1/2 cup salsa (this is somewhere you can add spice)

15-ounce can navy beans, rinsed and drained (AHA says no-salt added)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 can whole-kernel corn (AHA says 1c frozen)

1 cup fat-free/low-fat ricotta cheese

7-ounce can sliced black olives (AHA says 1/4 cup)

1 teaspoon chili powder

1. Preheat oven to 375◦, lightly spraying a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray.

2. In a large nonstick skillet, cook beef for 7-8 minutes (medium-high), or until browned, stirring occasionally. You can drain/rinse the beef, but we generally don’t. If you do, return beef to skillet.

3. Stir in tomatoes, salsa and salt, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes or until warmed through, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat, but leave skillet on the stove.

4. In a small bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, chili powder, and cumin.

5. Arrange 8 tortilla halves in the baking dish (they can overlap, that’s to be expected).

6. Spread half of the beef mixture over the tortillas and sprinkle using half of your mozzarella (or Jack, if you use the Jack).

7. Arrange another 8 tortilla halves.

8. Spoon 1-tablespoon mounds of the ricotta mixture over the tortillas, then flatten each mound slightly, pouring the beans and corn on top.

9. Put on another layer of tortillas.

10. Add remaining meat, sprinkle with the last of the cheese, add the olives.

11. Put on the last set of 8 tortilla halves.

12. Cover with aluminum foil.

13. Bake for 30 minutes, or until warmed through.

14. Enjoy!

If this is too bland for you as is (it was the first time we tried it), Tabasco sauce works wonders, as does adding a jalepeno pepper and/or hot salsa rather than mild or medium.

One hundred ninety-eight seasons after the mushroom-shaped clouds first blossom to poison the humans of the Rising Sun, near the beginning of the Season of Inundation, Atlantis will return.

With those words ringing in their ears, vampires Christine Javert and Jordan MacNaught find themselves in a race against time to stop the return of Atlantis. As they hunt for the deadly Ares, they discover the true depths of his plot to incite a world-wide species war, turning the humans against all the non-humans, not just the vampires as they’d originally thought.

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www.torymichaels.com

http://torymichaels.blogspot.com