Dear Sugar and Other Sorrows - Irma Fritz, Author

Irma’s Quiche Baskets

Ingredients:

1 pkg Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry
4 oz Gruyere Cheese (approx. 1 cup)
6 slices of bacon
12 thin slices of red onion, with rings cut in half
4 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
A pinch each of pepper and nutmeg
Cooking spray 

Preparation: 

Preheat oven to 400  Thaw puff pastry (2 sheets) at room temp for about 40 minutes.
Spray 12 muffin cups with cooking spray
Cook bacon until crisp, blot on paper towel, let cool and crumble
Slice onion
Grate cheese
Mix eggs with cream and spices
On floured surface roll each sheet of puff pastry into a 9x12 rectangle
(be sure to press out the “fold” lines!)
Cut each sheet into 6 squares = 12 squares total
Place each square into a muffin cup – dough will extend over top
Divide cheese, bacon & onion among the 12 cups
Fill egg mixture to no higher than ¾ from top
Fold the overlapping corners of each square to make a “basket handle”
Bake about 10 minutes, switch position of pan, and bake another 10 minutes
Lower temperature to 375, bake until pastry is golden brown and wooden toothpick comes out clean

Yield: 12 servings

I like to serve the quiche baskets as a breakfast treat with fresh fruit, as a party appetizer, or with a simple mixed green salad for lunch or dinner.

Dear Sugar and Other Sorrows - Review by Martha A. Cheves

When I first started reading Dear Sugar and Other Sorrows I was captured by the first story which was made up of letters sent back and forth between to people who were very special to each other.  I couldn't wait to get to the end just to see how things came out between them.  Then I started reading the story about Lyzzie who was a recovering drug addict.  Would the person who got her there in the 1st place take her back down the same path?  And the stories went on with more stories of sorrow and heart wrenching pain.  Each one having me turning the pages just to see exactly how they would end.  

I will have to warn you, the reader, that the stories are 'dark' and somewhat upsetting at times, but they show us just exactly what life around us can truly be.  The stories are true eye openers to a those of us who are shielded from the gates of hell that some actually live in.

Secrets and Lies (Lies Mystery Book 4) - Andrew Cunningham, Author

Los Lobos Guacamole

5 Ripe Hass Avocados, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup medium red onion, diced

3/4 cup medium tomato, cored and sliced

3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tsp chili serrano, seeded and chopped

1 tbsp jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1/8 cup fresh lime, juiced

Mix it all together and salt to taste.

Secrets and Lies ("Lies" Mystery Thriller Series Book 4) - Review by Martha A. Cheves

They crept up the stairs.  There were three apartments in the three-story building.  They wanted the one on the second floor.  It was an old building and the stairs creaked a bit.  He tried to step on the outside part of the step.  They were less likely to creak.  But it was the middle of the night and they had seen from the street that the lights were off in all three apartments.  Hopefully they were all sound sleepers.

The explosion literally knocked us out of bed.  But seconds after the explosion, we found ourselves on the floor, me on my side of the bed and Sabrina on hers.  What most likely happened was that we instinctively moved to safety at the thunderous sound.  In the couple of years we had been together, Sabrina and I had been shot at so many times, we were probably working on sheer muscle memory.  If you hear a loud noise that sounds suspiciously like a gunshot, chances are it is, so you move - fast - even when you're asleep. 

Del Honeycutt and bestselling author Sabrina Spencer have just experienced a gunshot that will open their world to more mysteries and secrets they either could have imagined.  They will learn the full story behind the grouchy guy living in the building known as Seymour and the beautiful, gay, second-grade teacher known as Mo.  That one gunshot will take them through the Everglades as they try to solve the mystery of a plane crash that happened twenty years earlier, along with solving the mystery of what everyone was searching for then and now. 

I've read all of the "Lies" Mystery books and they just keep getting better and better.  This one really took me by surprise as I learned the secrets and the reasons behind the secrets.  So... looking for a real, on the edge book, I recommend, not just book 4 but all of the "Lies" books.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.