Here's a recipe sure to please, whether you share it with a small group or a big gathering. This guacamole recipe easily doubles for twice as much fun!

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Bellamy Blake's Late-Night Guacamole

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe avocados (Haas preferred)
• Freshly squeezed juice of one large lime
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• Tabasco to taste
• Roughly ½ of a medium red onion, small dice (adjust amount to taste)
• One medium tomato, seeded and diced (in a pinch, you can also use about ¾ cup of jarred salsa, but fresh is much better)
• One large clove of garlic, minced fine
• About a Tablespoon of chopped, fresh cilantro (also to taste)

Cut avocados in half and remove the seeds (one good whack with a sharp knife should help it pop right out, but be careful!). Scoop the pulp from each avocado into a large bowl (I like to use my hands for this, but a spoon works too). Discard skins. Add lime juice, salt, cumin and Tabasco. With a potato masher, work mixture to desired consistency. Note: texture is important in good guacamole. Over-mash, and you end up with baby food (eek!), but not enough, and it won't "dip" without destroying your chips. You want the chunky feel of salsa.

Add onion, tomato, garlic and cilantro. Stir gently to combine well. Let sit (for flavors to really pop) for about an hour in the fridge with light cover. Serve with tortilla chips, preferably to your friends after a late night out. Licking the bowl is optional, but encouraged.

Sharing food doesn't have to be an intimate thing between lovers—it can be what ties us together with anyone we love or care about, such as our family and friends. One of the big mantras in my house is that "Food is love", and Bellamy's guacamole in Turn Up The Heat is a prime example. As an aspiring (and closet) chef, Bellamy cooks from her heart, and in turn that makes everything she prepares into a feast for the emotions. Even late-night guacamole! Bellamy's desire to feed her friends shows how much she cares for them, and following the path of your heart is a big theme in Turn Up The Heat. Give this recipe a try, and share it with some friends (over margaritas!) to embody "food is love" in your house, too.

"It's not you."

There are only so many times a girl can hear those words before she believes that it is, in fact, very much her. Unexpectedly jilted by her locally famous boyfriend and haunted by a boss who makes Attila the Hun look like a lap dog, Bellamy Blake does what any self-respecting girl in her shoes would do. She rounds up her two best girlfriends and makes plans to get the hell out of Dodge. . .

But Bellamy's escape plan takes a nose dive on the side of rural route 164 when her transmission self-destructs, leaving her in the middle of a cell phone dead zone with nothing but her wits. Oh, and Shane Griffin, the hottest mechanic who's ever checked under her hood.

Yet this small-town man isn't all he seems. Can Shane and Bellamy prove that sometimes the most unlikely ingredients make the most deliciously sexy mix?

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www.kimberlykincaid.com

This recipe started out as a chili, but I got it a little too spicy. After blending it though, it works as a great healthy dip on carrots and celery!

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1 lb of dry black beans (soak overnight in water). Leave enough liquid over your beans so they’re under about an inch of water.	1 package of chili seasoning (tho, if you just half the package, or use enough seasoning for the amount of beans you have, you just make chili. Since I used all the seasoning for my little pot, I came out with dip. I used 2-Alarm Chili Seasoning and put in everything but the mesa flour and paprika. I meant to do the paprika…but it was left out by mistake. Poor paprika.)
1can of diced tomatoes	4 or 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1diced medium onion	Olive Oil

 

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add onions and garlic. Simmer until onions are translucent. Add to your soaked beans. Put the bean mix over medium heat, add the tomatoes and seasoning. Heat until boiling. Turn back the heat to low-medium and cover. Cook for a few hours, stirring every now and then. Eat as is, or puree to make a dip or a creamy soup!

 

It’s been a White Picket Fence life for Nicolette. Charming, but tedious. She graduated high school, raring to go. Nothing is ever as easy as it seems though. The fear of being stuck in a rut, living a dull day-to-day life keeps Nicolette from settling on a career, despite her six years of college. When the chance arrives for her to housesit, she takes opportunity by the horns for a little playtime. She would experience life and find something that would make her happy.

Drew knows exactly what he wants. To run the family construction business. Too bad his dad doesn’t think he’s ready. They make a deal. Drew will help his cousin put up a new fence and after he’s learned hard work, the construction business is his. Drew’s not sure learning how to string fence line together will see him suitable for a career of paper pushing, but he’ll do it.

When Drew meets the wanna-be-free-spirited Nicolette, his determined thoughts of what he’s always worked for begins to sway. Nicolette’s finding the fun in life. But their relationship is temporary. A week tops.

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I’m so pleased to be launching this site with a recipe I found on Cooking Light that I’d morphed into something very un-light. It goes great with wheat crackers or tortilla chips.

Ingredients:

2 tbls olive oil for sautéing	2 large onions, chopped or thinly sliced
1/2 tsp dried thyme	1/2 cup sour cream
2/3 cup grated Italian cheese blend	1/3 cup cream cheese at room temperature
1/3 cup mayonnaise	1/2 tsp hot sauce of your preference
1/4 tsp salt

 

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, swirling to coat pan. Add onion and salt to pan; caramelize on a very, very low heat setting for approx 45 min – 1 hour, or until the color is a rich brown (not burned), stirring occasionally.

2. Add thyme and cook another 5 min. Remove onion mixture from heat. Add sour cream and the remaining ingredients, stirring until blended and cheese melts.

3. Pour into oven proof dish and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Serve warm.

 

 

Keeping Pace by Dee Carney

One spark could burn her world down.

Six years after her husband’s death, Regina Pace is still just going through the motions, her only pleasure a nightly glass (or three) of wine to dull the ache. Tonight is no exception—until a sensual outdoor encounter with her neighbor’s son, freshly home from college. He’s older, wiser, more devastatingly handsome than she remembered. He’s also fifteen years her junior.

Despite her misgivings, it isn’t long before her nightly ritual includes a long, deep drink of Josh Smith. Ogling leads to touching, then the sparks flare into an erotic encounter that feels wickedly right—and deliciously forbidden.

Yet the intense heat can’t burn away the doubt pestering the back of her mind. That the gap between their ages is too large, even for the most determined leap of faith…

Warning: Features a boy-next-door who won’t take no for an answer, more than one sexual fantasy (including some outdoor self-loving!), and a burning romance that proves age is just a number.

www.deecarney.com