Much of the inspiration for the food in the Mistress of Fortune series comes from a 17^th century book by Hannah Wolley called The Queen-Like Closet or Rich Cabinet. It’s a collection of recipes, menus and household hints that 17^th century women used to run their households.

As you’ll see, baking in the 17^th century was somewhat less precise--and does that seem like a lot of sugar and flour to you? Still, I can almost smell the warm scent of freshly baked biscuits when I read this recipe!

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The Best Biscuit Cakes (as made by a 17^th century housewife)

Ingredients:

4 new laid eggs
2 spoonfuls rose-water
1 pound sugar

1 pound fine flour

Put 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks into large bowl and beat them very well. Add the rose-water and sugar and beat for one hour. Add the flour and beat them together for a good while, then put them upon plates rubbed over with butter and set them into the oven as fast as you can. Have a care not to bake them too much.

London, 1679

Isabel, Lady Wilde, mistress of King Charles II, has made a good living disguised as fortune teller Mistress Ruby, counseling London’s elite. But after the murder of one of her customers, business has taken a downturn and Isabel is on the verge of accepting the king’s offer to move into the palace.

Isabel’s plans are interrupted when a beggar girl named Susanna shows up at her home, claiming to be her niece. Isabel always believed that her older brother, Adam, died alone during the plague. When Susanna reveals that Adam was actually murdered, Isabel is compelled to take up an impossible task: discover the truth about her brother’s death, twelve years after it happened.

Isabel’s investigation leads her through the gamut of London society, from bear-bating matches and brothels to the realm of wealthy bankers. But as she uncovers her brother’s dark secrets, Isabel begins to wonder whether the past is better left buried—especially when uncovering the truth could lead to her own funeral.

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http://hollywest.com

Annie’s Soup Kitchen is known for its blueberry muffins. On a visit there many years ago, I picked up their recipe and made a few changes. These muffins aren’t overly sweet, so they’re delicious with fresh fruit or eggs (or both) for breakfast or with a bowl of vegetable soup for lunch or dinner.

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Blueberry Muffins

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Ingredients

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

A pinch of salt (⅛ teaspoon)

1 teaspoon soda

Mix dry ingredients together.

3 eggs beaten until frothy (The original recipe reads “beaten till stiff”, but I can never get mine stiff.)

½ cup sugar

1 ounce melted butter (cooled)

2 cups non-fat Greek yogurt

1 ½ cups blueberries (or more)

Add sugar to eggs gradually as you mix.

Fold butter and yogurt into egg mixture.

Fold liquid into dry (do not overmix).

Add blueberries. Fold gently. The batter will be thick!

Coat muffin pans. I use melted butter, but you can use your favorite oil or non-stick spray. I use two different sizes of muffin pans. One makes 6 large muffins and the other makes 12 regular size muffins, so I end up with 18 muffins. Fill the large muffins about halfway. Fill the medium muffins to the top.

Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes. THEN lower temperature to 300°F and bake for 15 more minutes.

Astrophysicist Meredith Burke’s professional life is perfect. Her personal life is another story. Years ago, a ménage with the man she loved and his roommate left her with a broken heart and a secret. She hasn’t trusted anyone since, but when she meets rugged hunting guide Charlie Connor she figures she doesn’t need to. He’s got “one night stand” written all over him.

After one night with Meredith, Charlie needs more. She’s intoxicating, and shockingly willing to give him total control of her body. When she agrees to spend an entire week with him at the lodge where he works, it’s more than he’d hoped for. But Blaine Bridges, Charlie’s best friend and boss, has his own secrets.

Blaine hasn’t seen Meredith since that disastrous encounter eight years ago, but he still has feelings for her. Now she's dating his best friend, the man he wants for himself. When Meredith invites him to join in their naughty play, his pleasure is all-consuming. But will the secrets they all hold close destroy a beautiful beginning or bring these three lovers closer than they ever imagined?

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http://www.samanthaannking.com/

In my book EMERALD, Caithren and Jason stop at a tavern for a meal and are served this delicious mushroom pie. It’s one of my family’s favorites—my daughter and I make it every Thanksgiving and often at other times, too. If you need to eat gluten free like I do, simply buy GF pie crust. Everything else in this recipe is naturally gluten free. For more historical recipes from my novels, visit the recipe page on my site at http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/bookshelf/recipes/. Enjoy!

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Mushroom Pie

Original Historical Recipe:

Mushrooms of one night be the best and they be little and red within and closed at the top; and they must be peeled and then washed in hot water and parboled and if you wish to put them in a pasty add oil, cheese and spice powder.

—From The Goodman of Paris (Le Ménagier de Paris), written in 1393 and translated by Eileen Power

Modern Version:

1-½ lbs. sliced button mushrooms

2 tablespoons olive oil

1-½ cups grated or shredded cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan, or a combination)

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon chopped or crushed ginger (I use the kind you buy in a jar) or dry ground ginger

¼ teaspoon pepper

9″ ready-to-bake pie crust (top crust optional)

Follow the directions on the pie crust package to pre-bake the bottom crust.

Saute the mushrooms. Drain any liquid, then place in a large bowl and add olive oil, cheese, salt, pepper, and ginger. Mix well.

Place mushroom mixture in the pie shell. Add top crust if desired, and make slits with a sharp knife.

Bake at 350° F (180° C) for 35–40 minutes, or until pastry is a golden brown.

England and Scotland, 1667

Jason Chase, the Marquess of Cainewood, is out to bring a blackguard to justice when he crosses paths with a woeful Scottish lad. When the lad turns out to be a lovely Scottish lass, he realizes she must be the notorious bounty hunter Emerald MacCallum. Convinced they're after the same man and her very life may be in danger, Jason decides he must keep Emerald close…

In Caithren Leslie's view, there couldn't be enough distance between her and the handsome but overbearing Englishman. She's searching for her wayward brother, but Jason won't let a little thing like the truth interfere with his absurd conviction that she's living under an assumed identity. Mindful of the dangerous traveling conditions, Cait grudgingly accepts his protection. Until, that is, she begins to suspect that mistrust isn't the only emotion between them…and their mission for justice just might turn out to be a quest for love...

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http://www.LaurenRoyal.com

In Problems in Paradise, the third book in my Texas Nights series, the heroine—Eden Durant—owns Paradise Garden Café. People around the small town of Shelbyville are a little suspicious of her healthy fare, but they’re slowly trying her “clean food” menu. But when three men in town get hit with food poisoning after eating at her restaurant, Eden’s future and her lover’s election chances are jeopardized.

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Serves 8

Eden’s Killer Quiche

(adapted from Rachel Ray’s Basic Quiche Recipe)

Ingredients:

· Store bought or homemade pie crust (I favor the refrigerated ones from Trader Joe’s)

· Chanterelle powder (only if you want to recreate Eden’s quiche. If not, you can omit.)

· 6 eggs

· 1 cup milk

· 2/3 cup cream

· 1/2 cup of chevré (goat cheese)

· 1 cup prosciutto, chopped

· Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

· Pinch of salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 425ºF. If your oven is anything like mine, that’ll take half an hour J.

Whisk the eggs in a decent sized bowl. Then dump in the milk and cream and whisk again. Stir in chevré, prociutto, and spices (except for the chanterelle powder, which really isn’t a spice).

Sprinkle the chanterelle powder over the crust (It’s a mushroom powder. And yeah, I have no idea if you’ll ever be able to find this so don’t get all hyped up about it because it’s the ahem…killer…ingredient in the book – LOL).

Pour your eggish mixture into the piecrust and bake for 30ish minutes. If it’s still jiggly in the middle, pop it back in for another 10 minutes or so. If you don’t like your crust too brown, consider wrapping the edges in aluminum foil after about the first 15 minutes the quiche is in the oven.

Okay, now it’s time for me to admit I’ve yet to cook this exact quiche, but if you try it, let Eden and me know what you think! Happy quiche-ing, y’all!

Eden Durant hasn't always been Eden Durant. She's made a fresh start in Shelbyville, Texas, far from her mother's notoriety. Running the Paradise Garden Café is as much excitement as Eden wants—or it was, until she meets Beck Childress. Although he's the one man who could expose her past, she's willing to open up enough to see if he might be her future.

Chief Deputy Childress is determined to get to know the real Eden, when he isn't busy cleaning up after the sheriff and running in the election to replace him. When several men fall sick after eating in Eden's café, he investigates even as her mysterious past raises both his suspicions and his protective instincts.

As their relationship heats up, so do the pressures of Beck's campaign. When Eden's secrets are revealed, jeopardizing his dream of becoming sheriff, he'll need to choose: serve and protect the town he loves or the woman who makes it home.

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Magda and Javi, the main characters of The Rain in Spain, spend a magical evening wandering Sevilla. My own trip to Sevilla left me with a love of Spanish tapas, and tortilla in particular.

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Spanish Tortilla Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 3/4lb medium potatoes

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

scant 1/2c. extra virgin olive oil

6 eggs

1) Thinly slice the potatoes. Heat 5 TBS of the oil in a frying pan and cook the potatoes, turning frequently, for 10 minutes. Add the onions and seasoning (salt & pepper, I just wing it), and continue to cook gently for a further 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

2) Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a large bowl with a little more salt & pepper. Tip the potatoes and onions into the eggs and mix gently. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.

3) Wipe out the pan and heat the remaining oil in it. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and spread it out in an even layer. Cover and cook over very gentle heat for 20 minutes, until the eggs are just set. Serve cut into wedges.

Tortilla are often made with a bunch of extra ingredients thrown in: chopped bell peppers (red or yellow), peas, corn, grated cheese. The recipe I use (which comes from a cookbook called Cooking With Just Four Ingredients) suggests Cheddar or Gruyère, but I use Manchego because it's my favorite Spanish cheese and tastes delicious. I don't have amounts for extra ingredients, but I think I use about a cup of grated Manchego. If anything, I probably throw in a little extra, because cheese!

You can eat tortilla as soon as it's done cooking, but it's also served cold, straight from the fridge. Serve with a leafy salad and crusty bread for an easy meal.

"The Rain in Spain" is a short story in the SUMMER RAIN charity anthology for RAINN.

Travel write Magda and scientist Javi are cranky with the heat--and each other--on the streets of Sevilla. They've been married for a year, after a whirlwind courtship, and Magda is questioning whether or not she made a mistake. She's not sure if her need to explore the world can ever mesh with Javi's more regimented life.

As they stroll the cobblestone streets of one of Spain's most romantic cities, Magda tries to show her husband just what it is she loves so much about her job that keeps her far from home for son long. By the time the sun rise, they'll know if there is a way forward for them together . . . or not.

All proceeds from the volume will be donated to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (www.rainn.org), the largest anti-sexual violence organization in the United States.

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http://amyjocousins.com/

The Dom in my latest release, The Stylist, His Dom, and Their Dancer, is a gourmet chef at an upscale restaurant. And I’d probably get spanked for submitting this recipe but it’s one my whole family enjoys, picky kids included. There’s lots of room for variation so it’s easy to tailor it to your own family.

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2 cans refrigerated crescent roll dough
1 lb. Ground beef
half a small onion, finely chopped (the finer the better if your picky kid doesn’t like onions)
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 tbsp prepared mustard (Dijon is nice, but again it depends on your family’s tastes)
½ cup grated cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly grease a muffin tin.
2. Separate the dough for the rolls. Form them into a rough bowl shape and press one into each muffin cup. You’ll likely have four rolls leftover because the muffin tin has 12 spaces and each can has 8 rolls. I bake them on the side.
3. In a frying pan, brown the ground beef and drain (unless you’re lazy like me in which case use extra lean ground beef and you don’t have to).
4. Sprinkle garlic salt over beef and add onions to pan. Continue frying until onions are tender.
5. Reduce heat to low. Add the mushroom soup and stir it into the beef. Heat through.
6. Add mustard and mix well.
7. Spoon a bit of the beef into each muffin cup (I find an ice cream scoop is the perfect size).
8. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over top of each “cupcake.”
9. Bake for 15 minutes, until cheese is nice and melty and the crescent rolls are golden brown (what you can see of them anyway).
Makes 12 cupcakes.
Stylist and salon owner Remy Alexander got a second chance at love when he found Seamus O’Connell, but the more time he spends with his daughter’s dance teacher, the more he wonders if there is room for another in his marriage.

As a result of a troubled past, Shay needs order and control in everything, from his work as a chef, to the bedroom he shares with his submissive husband. Remy’s idea to have a ménage relationship upsets the delicate balance Shay has created for himself, but he can’t deny his desire for the sexy dance instructor.

Nicole Collins is a good Catholic girl who pours all her energy into her work as a dance teacher. When she falls for Remy and Shay, they teach her about passion, submission, and love, but incur the wrath of her own father. Can Nicole find a way to hang on to everyone she loves, or will one relationship cost her the other?

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