Moments of Mine - Jerry M. White, Author

Taco Soup -
One of Jerry M. White's favorite recipes

3 lb. package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans whole kernel corn
2 cans tomatoes (rotel, diced, stewed)
2 cans black beans
1 package (dry) ranch salad dressing

Boil chicken breasts until done. Cut in good sized chunks and place back in water.
Add corn, tomatoes, black beans and salad dressing to chicken. (Add the liquid from the canned vegetables to stock). Bring all ingredients to a boil and then reduce heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese and flour tortillas

Moments of Mine - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

The Trouble with Trouble

The trouble with trouble
Is it takes so long
To make things right
That once were not wrong

To forget and move forward
To put out of our mind
The mischief that hounds us
We can't leave behind

The trouble with trouble
Is that it's so hard to see
It happens to others
But certainly not me

I have friends who love me
That truly love me and care
But they cannot help
If my troubles aren't bare

Please God give us strength
To ask for our needs
That those who love us
May be blessed by their deeds

Your love surrounds us
Through our friends we are sure
They fill our lives daily
With a love that is pure

I now know that you care
Your love for us all
Is shown through tough times
If we would only call

We know that sometimes
Life is certainly not fair
That You will settle our troubles
When we Truly Believe You are there

As I read the poems written by Jerry White, and the stories behind each poem, I couldn't help but feel the love and devotion flow from each word. Mr. White has a way of taking any circumstance, both happy and sad, and turning it into something beautiful. The poem above was one of my favorites and I think you too will be able to feel his love for God, family and friends as you read this piece of word art.

Pretty Poison - Joyce and Jim Lavene, Authors

Russian Tea
One of Joyce Lavene's Favorite Recipes

Here is my mom's recipe for Russian tea which she made at the beginning of each Christmas season because she said it would keep us healthy. She was a big believer in all kinds of tea as remedies for what ails you!

5 cups boiling water
5 tea bags
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cloves - embedding them in a piece of orange rind makes them easy to remove after steeping
1 quart pineapple juice
1 quart orange juice
1 cup lemon juice, fresh is best
sugar, honey or sweetener to taste

Add boiling water to tea and spices then steep for about 20 minutes. Mix all juices with tea in large pitcher. Steep again for another 10 minutes. Serve hot or cold.



Pretty Poison - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

'The man was face down in one of her attractive wicker baskets filled with anemone bulbs. It was part of the autumn scene she'd created, complete with scarecrow and pumpkins. He'd obviously fallen forward, dragging the scarecrow from its perch on the oak rocking chair. The straw figure looked forlorn, lying half under the man's weight like some bizarre teddy bear.'

Peggy Lee is the owner of the Potting Shed and when she walks into her shop to find a man face down in one of her arrangements she's beyond words. Part of her wanted to turn around and run, screaming for help. But after being a cop's wife for years as well as a researcher, she pushes her emotions aside and does the right thing. She calls the police.

To Peggy's relief, the Detective that took the call was her deceased husband's partner, Al McDonald. He had been her husband's partner for twenty years and there wasn't a man alive she trusted more. But his questions, as well as hers, was who is this man with his face hidden in the plant, how did he get in a shop that was locked up and what happened to him. It definitely wasn't an accident. There was blood on the shovel that he had been hit over the head with.

One question was answered as soon as the body was turned over. It was Mark Warner, one of the wealthiest men in Charlotte. Peggy had seen him around the shop lately with a woman and the woman wasn't his wife. Could she have killed him in a rage of jealousy? Maybe he decided to break up with his new girlfriend and she struck out in rage. Some speculated that it might be the homeless man who hung around the shop. There were as many reasons for his murder as there were suspects and Peggy was determined to find the killer.

I became hooked with the Peggy Lee series after reading A Corpus for Yew. There are a total of five books in this series and I intend to read them all, starting next with Fruit of the Poisoned Tree. The Peggy Lee series has to be one of the most light hearted murder mysteries I've ever read. The situations Peggy finds herself in will make you laugh as well as keep you on the edge of your seat as you try to solve the mystery. Joyce and Jim Lavene, I really hope you will continue the Peggy series. And please don't forget to write in Shakespeare the Great Dane rescued by Peggy.

The Whittaker Family Reunion - Shirley A. Roe, Author

Rabbit Sausage
One of Martha Whittaker's Favorite Recipes

circa late 1700's

Remove all meat from bones of cleaned rabbit; add equal amount of fresh pork chunks, and coarsely grind together. Add sausage seasoning of choice and mix well. Form into patties.
Slowly fry patties in an iron skillet until done, do not brown. Place in layers in a large crock or stoneware jar and slowly pour hot grease over them. Additional lard may be used if enough grease is not available. Cover the jar and place in the "cold cellar" or springhouse. It will keep all winter long.
To serve, simply pry as many patties out of the jar as needed. Heat thoroughly and finish browning. Sopp'en milk gravy is always made with drippings and served over hot homemade biscuits.


The Whittaker Family Reunion - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

'The boy stared straight ahead aware of the other's interest. His young mind was reeling. Can I trust this doctor? Will those men find me and possibly kill us both? Can I tell him that the men are after me an why? He watched the doctor through his peripheral vision; the doctor was handsome and older than he was. The clothes were of good quality, but appeared to be several years old; he was a puzzle.'

The Whittakers are having a family reunion for Martha Whittaker's 40th birthday. Martha and her husband Jeremy can't wait for the arrival of their sons.

Isaac, the oldest, lives nearby with his wife and family. When his father Jebediah married Martha he hated her and stood his distance inflicting as much pain through his evil deeds as possible to make her sorry she married his father. But after the death of his father he realized what a blessing Martha actually was. They were now close and he was proud to call her his mother.

Ezekiel lived in England. He took quite well to Martha as she taught him to read. Reading and learning were his passion and he later grown up to become a teacher. He couldn't wait to see his mother.

Abraham was the doctor in the family. His respect for his mother grew when his father beat him and Martha stepped in hoping to stop the brutal beating. Instead, she too was given a beating by his father. After being locked in the barn for hours, their closeness grew and he became the first one to call her mom.

Jeremy was the brother of Jebediah. He had been sent by Martha's father from England to America to rescue Martha from his evil brother. After the death of his brother, Jeremy found himself loving Martha and the boys enough to stay in America just to be with them and eventually marrying Martha. Jeremy and Martha's marriage made the family complete. And with the birth of their daughter Anna, who could ask for more.

After the abuse and beatings Jebediah inflicted on herself and her sons led her to treat her daughter Anna with a soft hand. Most agreed a too soft hand. Anna was spoiled, selfish, self-centered and held no respect for anyone other than herself. She became a constant burden to her parents. After sending her away to boarding school only to have her return unexpectedly, they agreed to give her hand in marriage to Martha's bookkeeper. For Anna, this was exactly what she needed to free her from her mother. She happily agreed to the marriage but had her own plans in mind as to how she would treat the marriage.

And then there is Red who is determined to destroy the Whittaker family. How will he do this? He will start with the women in the family which will bring the men to their knees. Then he will destroy them.

I read Of Dreams and Nightmares and thoroughly enjoyed meeting the characters, following them through their travels from England to Wyoming with death and destruction along the way and their final escape from the evil Jebediah Whittaker. I've also enjoyed The Whittaker Family Reunion which takes their lives and stories into adulthood. Now I'm looking forward to reading Back to Whittakerville in hopes that Anna will realize the hurt she has created for those that love her and straighten out her life. The story, as well as the history written into these books, make them unforgettable.

The Fall of Augustus - Sarah Wisseman, Author

MAPLE SYRUP SALAD DRESSING
One of Sarah Wisseman's Favorite Recipes

2 T olive oil
1 T lime juice
2 T maple syrup (real maple syrup works best, but is expensive)
1 T mustard (Dijon style is spicy)
salt and pepper to taste

Good with greens, especially with dried or fresh fruits and nuts and crumbled goat cheese.

The Fall of Augustus - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

'Victor stepped into the elevator shaft and looked up. "This should make a good shot," he said motioning to the video tech. The elevator light gleamed on his distinguished sweep of dark hair touched with gray. The cameraman, standing just outside the shaft for a better angle, pointed his camcorder up. Ellen moved closer and craned her neck.'

'The Emperor Augustus hurtled down, crashing against the side of the shaft as he went. Victor, Susan, and Ellen vanished in the maelstrom of smashed plaster. There was a bone-jarring thud... then an awful silence.'

'Victor's crumpled upper body was partially hidden under the wreck of the cable car and chunks of plaster. One dead museum director.'

Lisa Donahue is the Senior Curator at Wigglesworth Hall. The museum is in the process of being moved to a new facility and with the death of Museum Director Victor Fitzgerald she now finds herself in complete charge of the move. But, what Lisa and police Sergeant Bruce McEwan want to know, 'was the breaking of the cable used to lower the statue of Augustus through the elevator shaft an accident or murder?'

Lisa's problems with the move are increased when a former boss Valerie Albrecht is hired to replace Victor. Valerie is a vicious woman who steps on anyone and everyone to make herself look good. She enjoys inflicting fear in her employees and is known by those who have dealt with her in the past, to make last minute changes to exhibits knowing it will be almost impossible to accomplished. And she is happiest when she can belittle those who failed her orders, especially if there is an audience present to hear her raving.

But Valerie isn't the end of Lisa's problems. Artifacts are starting to disappear and Lisa believes they are being taken by someone in-house. But who and how are they getting them out of the museum?

I've enjoyed following Lisa as she solves the mystery of Victor's death and as she discovers the identity of the museum thief. The Fall of Augustus turned out to be a real page turner that I very much enjoyed.

And oh yeah, did I mention that Lisa is also faced with determining who has been taking bodies and attempting to turn them into mummies?

Bertha Fights Back - Fran Lewis & Jr. Author Dani Nicole Miller, Authors

Strawberries and Angle Food Cake
One of Bertha's favorite recipes

1 c. powdered sugar
1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 (8 oz.) carton dessert whip
5 c. angel food cake (broken in sm. pieces)
1 can cherry pie filling

Cream powdered sugar and cream cheese. Fold into dessert whip. Carefully add mixture to cake pieces. Spread evenly in pan, 11 x 7 inches. Spread pie filling over the top and chill several hours or overnight. Any kind of pie filling may be used. Fresh strawberries, partly mashed, may also be used.

Bertha Fights Back - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

'Walking into my homeroom class, I realized that something was definitely going on and I was beginning to think that I might not want to know what it was. One of the boys, Dan, looked at me and then at his cell phone and burst out laughing and almost fell off of his chair. Since the teacher was not there, which seemed odd, no one stopped what was going to happen next.'

'As I was just about to sit down, I turned around and saw that all of the kids in the class were using the internet on their phones. Some were sharing the information they found with other kids. Some were on Facebook, My Space or YouTube. Others were looking at pictures sent from one phone to the next. Everyone was staring at me.'

Someone had posted pictures of Bertha in the girl's bathroom changing into her gym uniform on Facebook, My Space and YouTube. Other pictures showed her throwing spitballs and wads of toilet paper all over the walls and floor of the girl's bathroom. On the door someone had written "Bertha Rules." Not a very nice thing to do to a 13 year old who has always been overweight, not very good in sports nor dancing and has definitely never been very popular with kids her own age. But she is smart and always makes her parents proud with her grades.

In Bertha Fights Back, Bertha decides to find out who put these pictures out there in cyberspace and to get her revenge. No more nice girl Bertha. But revenge doesn't come without a price. Bertha decides to join a gang but finds out that being a gang member gets her into more trouble than she expected and trouble comes with a price. In Bertha's case, community service.

When the school band room is broken into, Bertha is called upon by her principal to do a little detective work. She and a group of other students start looking into the destruction and theft of the musical instruments. Along the way the group encounters students who are upset about foreign students attending their school to the point of not only writing graffiti on the walls but also physically harm some of the students.

Bertha Fights Back brings to life what all young people need to be taught. One of the lessons Bertha learns through her experiences is that being a gang member is not the answer. She also learns that being a Bully is not the answer. I thoroughly enjoyed reading as Bertha grew up and took on the responsibility for the things she did whether they were right or wrong. To me, this is a good book for both young people as well as adults to read.

Book Tour - Lois Herr's "Dear Coach"

Sand Tarts
One of Lois Herr's Favorite Recipes

1/2 Cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg white
blanched almonds
1 tablespoon sugar

Cream butter, add sugar gradually, egg, and flour mixed and sifted with baking
powder. Chill, roll 1/8 inch thick (or as thin as possible), and shape with doughnut cutter or other cookie cutter. Brush over with egg white and sprinkle with sugar mixed with cinnamon. Split almonds and arrange 3 halves on each cookie at equal distances. Place on buttered sheet and bake 8 minutes in moderately slow oven (325 degrees F.).

Recipe used by my mother Kathryn N. Herr, taken from The Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Merritt Farmer, published by Little, Brown, and Company in 1936.

Team Talk with Lois
Herr, author of Dear Coach: Letters Home from WWII

From 1932 to 1949, my father, Elizabethtown College coach Ira Herr, was a one-man Physical Education and Athletics Department, coaching basketball for men and women, baseball, tennis, soccer, and cross-country.

Working at a small private-arts college in Pennsylvania his years of multi-sports coaching allowed him to often coach the same group of athletes from one sports season to the next. As you can imagine, he formed a very close bond to his athletes and they often looked to him for guidance, leadership and even
friendship. When many of these athletes began heading off to serve in WWII they looked to my father as a link to the life they once knew.

As their world began turning upside down, Dad wrote to them to keep them informed of what was going on with their friends, families and school. This strong connection kept many a man blindly heading into this future linked closely and comfortably with his past.

In Dear Coach: Letters Home from WWII http://loisherr.com/ I’ve compiled together a variety of the letters mom and I stumbled across in the attic written to dad, with pictures, scrapbook clippings, newspaper articles and a wide variety of historical information from the time to paint a picture of what life must have been like for these small-town college men and women as not only their country went into war, but so did their friends and family.

I hope you have as enlightening of a time reading Dear Coach as I did writing it. Follow the rest of
Lois Herr’s virtual book tour by stopping by her official blog to see where she’s headed next http://dearcoachlettershome.blogspot.com/
>

Book Tour - November 9th, 5:00 p.m. EST

Hello Readers! On November 9th, Lois Herr, author
of “Dear Coach: Letters Home from WWII” will be stopping by to share the importance that a “team relationship” played for the athletes coached by Ira Herr at Elizabethtown College.

A collection of not only letters but historical facts,
pictures and vivid commentary, “Dear Coach” features letters from WWII that were sent to Lois’s father, the famous Elizabethtown College coach Ira Herr, by various students, friends and family members who once played for the coach. The book gives an inside look at not only the impact of war to a small college community, but that of multiple heartfelt player and coach relationships.

To order your own copy, visit the author’s website: http://loisherr.com.

To learn more about the author and book please feel free
stop by her official “Dear Coach: Letters Home from WWII” virtual tour blog and read up on reviews, tour stops and so much more.

Of Dreams and Nightmares - Shirley A. Roe, Author

Colonial Innkeeper’s Pie

Circa 1800’s

One of Shirley A. Roe's favorite recipes

1 cup flour

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp. Salt

1/3 cup butter

½ cup milk

½ tsp. Vanilla

2 eggs

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the butter,

milk and vanilla and add dry ingredients to this. Beat 2 minutes, add eggs and beat

2 more minutes. Pour into pie shell.

Sauce:

2 1 ounce squares

unsweet chocolate

¾ cup boiling water

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

2 tsp. Vanilla

½ cup chopped nutmeats

Melt chocolate in boiling water, add sugar and bring to boil.

Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla. Pour sauce over pie

Batter, sprinkle nutmeats on top. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until done at

Approx. 350 ○. Serve with ice cream.

Of Dreams and Nightmares - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

"There will be no gala ball for you this year Martha, you are to be married to Jebediah Whitaker in a fortnight." John raised his voice interrupting Martha in mid sentence.

"Father, you are joking. But what kind of a silly thought has entered your head. I have no intentions of marrying anyone right now. Besides, Jebediah Whitaker has three children and is much too old for me." Martha stopped sipping her tea and stared over the rim of the cup at her father in disbelief. As an afterthought she added, "Plus, he is a pompus ass!"

Martha McGuire was the 18 year old daughter of John McGuire and the late Lillian McGuire. She, her father and their cook Emma lived in the home her grandfather had built fifty years before.. Graystone Manor. Having no mother around to guide her, Martha depended on Emma to teach her the running of the household. But she depended on her best friend Austin Wells for fun and entertainment. The two had grown up together and as children were always together getting themselves into more mischief than their parents could handle. But now, when she needed Austin the most, he was away at college and her father was demanding that she marry Jebediah Whitaker.

Jebediah's first wife had died several years before after falling down a flight of stairs leaving him to raise three sons alone. Martha would be the perfect wife. She was young, healthy and even with her high spirit, he would tame her. But there was one thing that very few people knew about Jebediah and that was the he would do anything to get and keep whatever he wanted, even if it was illegal.

After Jebediah took his sons and new wife Martha across the ocean to the Americas, John was presented with the truth of what a mistake he had made in forcing Martha to marry Jebediah. The only recourse he had was to employ Austin and Jebediah's brother Jeremy to find them and rescue her before it was too late.

Of Dreams and Nightmares is a book filled with history as well as being a wonderful story. Following Martha, Jebediah and his three sons as they cross the ocean and on to Wyoming was a wonderful adventure for me. As I read I could see the wagon trains as they proceeded west. I felt the cold as they lived in their small sod cabins. I experienced the pain as Jebediah broke Martha's spirit and will with by inflicting her with fear for not only her life but also the boys. And now I'm getting ready to continue this saga of the Whitaker family through Shirley A. Roe's next book The Whitaker Family Reunion.