In the St. Nick of Time - K. M. Daughters, Author

 K's Pumpkin Bread
(Heroine Kay Sullivan Lynch's recipe)

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp each nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts

GREASE pan [recipe makes enough for a Giant loaf pan 11 3/4 x 5 1/2 x 3 1/4]
MIX all ingredients together with a whisk
BAKE at 350 degrees for 1 1/4 hour
LET STAND 15 minutes before removing from pan

In the St. Nick of Time – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds

“Two sidewalk Santas died on the street recently from heart failure, according to the death certificates.  Both were St. Nicholas Society to End Hunger volunteers who annually played Santa at outdoor locations around the city.  They collected money during the organization’s Christmas fund drive.”  He consulted a paper he had placed on the lectern.  “Both were active, healthy men in their seventies with no prior history of heart disease, according to one of the deceased’s wives.  I fielded a call yesterday from one wife, Mrs. Heller.  She believes her husband was murdered and insisted that we open a criminal investigation.  She stated that Mr. Heller passed a full-body physical two weeks ago, purportedly in perfect health.  I’m not sure where this will lead, but I could use a volunteer to do some of the legwork for me.”

Hand raised, Kay Lynch holds her breath in hopes that Flynn Dowd will choose her to partner on this case.  The case has caught her interest.  So far there have been three incidences of sudden cardiac arrest.  Each victim is an elderly man posing as a Santa but each has apparently had no heart problems in the past.  It may have been passed off as a coincidence until Santa number 4 passes in the same way.  So, Kay wants this case to help prove herself but she also wants it for another reason.  For the first time since losing her husband 2 years earlier, Kay has found someone she really wants to be around and with.

Kay Sullivan Lynch, along with her brothers, were all police officers.  When she married Mike Lynch, she hung up her badge and became a mother of 4.  After Mike’s death Kay decided it was time to go back to the living world.  She requalified for her position with the department and was assigned to her brother Pat’s precedent.  Her oldest daughter Mary and the twin girls took her new life without problems.  Her son Mike was a different story.  He felt she should have continued life as it had been before his dad died.  So, when she hooked up with Flynn, Mike made it known how he really felt about the situation.

In the St. Nick of Time has it all.  It’s has love but I wouldn’t really call it a love story.  It has murder and suspense but I wouldn’t call it a mystery.  It has family affairs and problems but it’s not actually a self help book.  And there humor but it’s not a comedy.  What is it?  It’s all of these rolled into one and I simply loved it.  The trials Kay goes through as she juggles her life on the force, at home and her personal life, and her solutions and decisions for handling life, are so real.  As for the Santa Slayer, I could see the possibility of that happening in real life too.  This was a very enjoyable book.

Plymouth Colony II - Sharolyn Wells, Author

Ground Beef Casserole

(An Author Sharolyn Wells favorite.This is a recipe my brother received from the diabetic camp he went to when he was 13. Our family loved it. It's a casserole.)

1 lb. ground beef

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can whole kernal corn, drained

1 small onion, diced

1 small red pepper, diced

6 cups egg noodles, cooked and drained

Brown ground beef, onions and red pepper until no pink shows in the beef. Drain and add the two soups and corn. Set aside. Cook egg noodles until tender. Use cooking spray to coat the sides and bottom of a 6 qt. casserole dish. Add ground beef mixture and noodles and mix well. Top with Panko bread crumbs. Cook at 375* for 45 minutes or until bread are golden.

Plymouth Colony II – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds - Desserts

 

...Teris wiped her fingers across tear-streaked cheeks.  “It looks bigger than our village.”  Her fingers tightened on her brother’s arm and her voice shook.  “Do you think they’ll separate us?”  Eric leaned over and kissed his older sister’s forehead.  “You worry too much.  Just remember, out of all the billions of people on Earth, the lottery selected very few.”  His brow furrowed.  “Although, I can’t help wondering why they chose us.”

 

“I don’t think, for a society this advanced, they would need me as a doctor.  I’m sure they have doctors of their own.  And you?”  She shrugged. “I’m sure they have police officers, too.”  Her woeful gaze darted to his.  “Mother said they wanted people of breeding age.  I don’t know why but this makes me nervous.”  She began crying again as she thought about her family.  Starting from today, Eric would be the only family she had left.  Her children, if she ever had any, would never know the special people her parents had been.  “I wish Mom and Dad had the same chance as we do.”  One of Eric’s shoulders rose and fell.  He pushed his raven hair behind his ear.  “Don’t think about Mom and Dad anymore.  You know they wanted this for us.  They told us to put our names in the lottery, even though they knew they would be left behind here on earth.”...

Teris and Eric Keyes were both chosen by a lottery to be to leave earth before it’s destruction by meteors.  Scientists reported that over one hundred meteors were traveling toward earth, some as big as the ones that took out the dinosaurs.  After the discovery, a planet that virtually mirrors earth agreed to take one hundred thousand young people off Earth and to the safety of their planet Kelkan.  The one condition was that they must be young and of a breeding age.  Due to a plague that had been spread years ago by the reptilian beings from Novari, many Kelkans died or were became unable to produce children.  Unless outside life was introduced to their world, the Kelkani people would become extinct.

Imagine being chosen to leave the world you know to be taken to one you don’t.  As with Teris and Eric, they, as well as the others, want to trust these strange people who look like Earth people but can you really believe in them enough to put your life into their hands?  How can you be sure their promises are real and there aren’t other reasons for them rescuing your people?  You know nothing about their cultures.  You don’t even know what they eat.  But what if their promises are all true and they are really helping to save your world and way of life by rescuing as many as possible. 

Plymouth Colony II will make you realize that disasters are possible and hopefully rescues are too.  This was quite an interesting book that gave me food for thought.

Winds of Wildfire - Ronald P. Chavez, Author

Red Chile Sauce

(By Chef Ronald P. Chavez)

Ingredients:

½ cup red chile-fine

¼ cup red chile-coarse

1/2 cup flour

½ cup cooking oil

2 teaspoons granulated garlic

2 teaspoons salt

½  pound  pork

1 large diced onion

6 cups broth

Combine pork, onion into two 2 gal. pot filled ¾ with water.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Boil until pork is tender, usually 30 minutes.

Combine both fine and coarse chile, flour, salt and garlic.  Stir dry until well blended.  Remove pork and set aside to cool.  Pour 2 cups broth after it’s done into combined dry mix. Take care to stir broth as you dip from large pot to assure good flavor. Stir chile mix until well blended into a smooth uncooked sauce.

Remove bones if any from cooked pork.  Dice boneless pork into ½ inch squares.  Set aside.Now comes the moment of truth.  Your sensibilities come into play here.  Pour ½ cup cooking oil into 2 gal. pot.  Heat until it feels hot to the hand above the pot.  Do not allow to burn or smoke.  Once oil is hot, turn off heat.  This is a must.  You do not want to burn the chile.

Now you need all the angels you can muster.  Pour uncooked  chile mix into hot oil. Stir quickly and constantly.  Don’t worry about pouring all the chile mix.  At this point the stirring is paramount.  The remaining mix can be added after oil completely absorbs the chile mix.

Next: turn heat back on medium hot. Stir constantly, until a roasted chile aroma tantalizes your sense of smell.  Add pork and mix it into chile sauce.

Pour 2 cups of broth into the roasted chile mix.  Stir!  Stir!  Stir! Until sauce is creamy in texture.  Bring to a boil.  Stir!  Stir!  Stir!  Now simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often with last cup of broth added for desired thickness a little at a time as chile sauce simmers and thickens.

Done! Kept covered in the frig, it’ll keep for weeks.  Pour over eggs, enchiladas, potatoes, meats, beans.  Stretch your imagination and satisfy your appetite and warm your heart.  Have a chileee day!

Options:  substitute chicken, beef, fish, any kind of meat will do.  Or you can eliminate all meat for veggie sauce.  Your call.

To order New Mexico chile contact Chef Chavez at taosoiet@yahoo.com

 

Winds of Wildfire – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts.

 

‘Taos Pueblo is home to the Tiwa trib.  The first Spaniards named it pueblo, town, because they lived in a multi storied adobe complex.  The Pueblo has stood for over a thousand years on its original lands, even though it’s called a reservation or rez for short.  These ancient people have never known a forced march to a government imposed location which is the common stipulation for the word “reservation.”  Their long history has been preserved mostly by a secret oral tradition.  The tribe enjoys an autonomous form of government as well as full citizenship in the United States.  They rule themselves through elected tribal officials.  Their lands extend to Blue Lake, nestled in the pristine valley high up in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and in various sized patches in and around Taos.  No outsiders are allowed to enter the Blue Lake lands without special permission for they are held to be sacred.  The pueblo compound is open to the public for a fee.  At the approaches to the Pueblo stands a casino, where they have not lost the art of scalping.’

 

Billy Stonewofl works as a guide  for tourists that visit the pueblo.  Like most of us he’s possessed with his own personal demons.  Billy’s demons consist of drugs and alcohol and have taken him to the brink of suicide.  Through the grace of his god, this wasn’t to happen.  To live with or hopefully destroy Billy’s demons he has decided to revert back to the ways of his people.  He will go to the mountains, find a cave to call home and live off the land.  What Billy didn’t expect was to find one more demon to add to his collection.  This demon came in the form of gold.  Will this add to Billy’s depressing life or will it be the answer to his prayers?  I think the answer will surprise you.

 

Donato Atencio is Spanish American.  His demon came in the shape of losing his wife.  Her death brought him to the edge of suicide.  Even though he came close to his final destruction, he stopped and decided to take one day at a time.  In doing so he became a volunteer caretake for the 18,000 acres of land surrounding Taos.  He made a stipend of $10.00 a day, living quarters and all the fresh air he could breathe.  He owned nothing and owed no one.  But he still carried his demon with him wherever he went in his lonely world.  Would his living one day at a time finally run out and allow him to end it all?

 

Amee Brooks brought her demons all the way from Boston when she bought her small farm outside the village of Questa.  The man she had loved with all her heart had deceived her.  He had turned her away from the desire to love again and turned her into a recluse.  To add to her demon was a neighbor who cut off her weekly water supply that was the lifeline for her small garden.  Fighting him would be impossible.  He was a native and she was a white outsider.  Would her demons talk her into giving up and moving back to Boston?

 

Billy, Donato and Amee have nothing in common yet they have everything in common.  The three have to deal with their losses and move on with life but aren’t quite sure how.  Will they be able to help each other?

 

Winds of Wildfire became a book of thought for me.  It made me think about things in my own life and how I have handled them and how I might have handled them differently, making me wonder if I made the right decisions when faced with my own demons.

 

The Island Calls - Teresa Garrido Roberts

 

Salsa

(A Teresa Roberts special)

 

1 Anaheim chili

2 Jalepenos

2 Serrano chilis

1/2 bunch of cilantro

3 cloves of garlic

1 big can of diced tamatoes

handful of salt

1/2 handful of cajun

Put it all in a blender and ready to serve!  I would take out all the seeds - and enjoy!

The Island Calls - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat & Think With Your Taste Buds - Desserts

‘For a brief period, early in my life, things were wonderful.  When I was very young my family, which consisted of my mom and dad and my three sisters, lived in Northridge, California on Napa Street.  My mother, Nikki Philips, was young and beautiful – she was tall, blonde, slender, and a model at the time.  She had big beautiful blue eyes that grabbed you!  A perfect match for my father.  My father had come to the United States from Guam when he was 17 and still in the Marines, but he was 32 when meet my mom, and his dark good looks contrasted, yet complemented, our mother’s fair complexion.  My father’s name was Felix Montanona Garrido.  I felt lucky to have the parents I had.  My older sisters, Kim and Stephanie, were five and six when I was three.  They had a different father than Peggy and I, as our mother had been married before.  But we were a close family, always looking out for one another.  Peggy, the baby, was a year younger than I.  We lived in an old, two bedroom house with a very large fenced yard.  I felt safe and deeply loved by my family.’

 

Teresa Garrido’s life changed when one day her father left her mother, taking her with him.  He hoped her around from place to place until he apparently decided she would be better off with her mother.  Upon returning her, he made her promise him one thing and that was that she would always take care of her baby sister Peggy.  She made the promise and as life went on, she stepped in to rescue her sister more times than she could count. 

 

Peggy was blonde and fair skinned like her mother whereas Teresa took after her father with dark hair, skin and eyes.  This difference in looks caused problems for Teresa throughout her school years with kids calling her names and wanting to know where she came from.  Peggy was well accepted due to her beauty and trusting nature, which brought major problems when it came to men.  Even as a child, she was the target for pedophiles.  It became Teresa’s job to watch her constantly, as she had promised her dad.

 

Teresa loved her father and knew that one day he would come back for her but as the years went on and no dad she quit getting her hopes up.  Then the day came that she found out her dad was dead and had actually been murdered.  This started Teresa’s search for the truth about what really happened to her father. 

 

Searching for the truth opened doors that some would say should never have been opened, but after reading The Island Calls, I think I can understand the need for closure that Teresa Garrido Roberts may have never found otherwise.  I have to praise her for the bravery and persistence she showed throughout her life.  The Island Calls is a very involving story and knowing that it was real and not fiction made it even more so.

Zaftan Miscreants - Hank Quense, Author

Chicken Paprika
Recipe By: Hank Quense
Serving Size: 4

Summary:

Chicken cooked in a red bubbling sauce

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon flour
Black pepper to taste
1 can (8 ounces) diced tomatoes
8 ounces egg noodles
1 cup plain, non-fat yogurt

Directions:

1. In heavy skillet,saute onion in butter/margarine until soft.
Stir in paprika and flour, stir constantly for 1 minute.
Stir in pepper and tomatoes


2. Add chicken, turning to coat well. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.
Turn chicken simmer another 15 minutes or until chicken is tender.

3. Cook noodles separately, drain and place on a large serving platter

4. Remove chicken from skillet and put on the platter with the noodles


5. Spoon yogurt into bowl
Heat sauce to boiling.
Slowly stir in yogurt blending well.
Spoon over chicken and noodles


Notes:

I prefer a thick noodle for this recipe, like kluski

Hank Quense
Fantasy and Science Fiction Stories Told with Humor & Satire
http://hankquense.com 

http://strangeworldsonline.com

Tales From Gundarland

Zaftan Entrepreneurs

Zaftan Miscreants

 

 

Zaftan Miscreants – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts

Three hundred years after the conclusion of Zaftan Entrepreneurs, the gundies and the zaftans are at it again.  This time in deep space.  Both sides had known it was only a matter of time before they confronted each other.  Now two powerful fleets face each other and wait for the other to blink.

On the gundy flagship was an android named Sam.  Sam was designed to look like a human softie but unlike other droids, she had an organic brain that equipped her with feelings and emotions.  Slash 9, the flagship's main computer recognized Sam’s ability to feel because he too had created feelings for himself and after a period of time, the two fell in love. 

In the Zaftan fleet, Lt Klatze was blessed with the talent and beauty.  Klatze believed in her ability to solve problems.  She detested the Zaftan’s way of settling conflicts which was to either assassinate the problem or go to war.  Klatze’s Commodore Gongeblazn was the perfect example of all that she stood against. He was a renowned assassin that loved to provoke war and when she refused to have sex with him, he vowed to destroy her.

So what happens when Sam, Klatze, Slash 9 and Gongeblazn face off?  Who will be the victor?  Will it be Gongeblazn as he takes on a new identity?  Will Klatze be destroyed by Gongeblazn's diabolical plots?  Will Sam be the only creation of her kind or will she have the fuse pulled on her due to her extensive abilities?  And what will happen to Slash 9 when his ship, the Tiger, is retired?  You’ll have fun finding the answers to these questions plus.

Hank Quense has done it again! His addition of Slash 9 the ship’s computers who wants to control the ship and demands Sam’s allegiance brings laughter.  But his character Dot 38, an antique robot who has been floating in space for years, is absolutely hilarious. It is portrayed as a spreader of the good news waiting for the Mechanical Messiah to come and save all of the mechanical beings.  Then after a knock on the head, it decides the best solution is to form unions for all types of mechanical devices including the Council of Clocks and the Amalgamated Appliances Association.

If there was ever an author born to write satire, Hank Quense is our man.  While reading Zaftan Miscreants I couldn’t help but compare it to our own world of events.  The names and looks may have been changed to protect the innocent, but the insinuations are definitely familiar.  As with the 1^st book in this series, I have laughed hard as I pictured the scenes in my mind and as I pictured the character from the author’s description.  Hank Quense is truly a man with an imagination!

Dream Walker - Velda Brotherton, Author

Sausage Sweet Potato Loaf

(Recipe by Velda Brotherton)

1 lb sausage

1 t sage

1 c dry bread crumbs

½ c + 2 T canned milk

2 c mashed sweet potatoes

1/4 t nutmeg

½ t salt

1/4 t ginger

1 grated apple

Mix sausage with sage, bread crumbs and ½ c milk. Shape into a loaf in shallow baking dish,

bake at 350 degrees 40 minutes. Remove from oven, drain off excess fat. Mix sweet potatoes

with spices, salt and 2 T milk. Spread grated apple over meat. Cover top and sides with sweet

potato mix, bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Slice to serve.

This would be a great dish for fall cooking and eating. From my cookbook, Arkansas Meals and Memories: Lift Your Eyes to the Mountains available at goldmindspub.com  All recipes are authentic Ozark recipes. Thanks again for the review.

Dream Walker – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts

“Hear that, Injun,” Doaks snarled.  “They don’t want me to kill ye.  What do you think?”  She wanted to cry out that she was a white as she was red.  White like her father.  It would mean nothing to these men.  To them it only took a drop of her mother’s blood to make her a filthy Injun.  Instead she steeled herself to take her punishment from Doaks.  This time she had gone too far and he would probably beat her.  But not much, she knew, because he enjoyed her waiting on him hand and foot.  She would get back at him sooner or later.  The chance would come, he would have to sleep.  When he did she would cut off his privates and feed them to him for breakfast.  Fried.

Rachel ‘Winter Dawn’ Keye was indeed half white and half Cherokee.  She had been sold to the lowlife Doaks by her own half brother but the slavery she was sold into was about to come to an end.  There was a wagon train leaving for the gold fields of California and she planned to be on it.  She thought she had found her escape in Daniel Wolfe who would be traveling with the train partway and then heading north for Oregon.  It turns out that Daniel wants no part of her and ends up turning her out. 

This might have been a setback for Rachel but it wouldn’t hold her back.  She was determined to make it to California, forget her Injun side and become a white woman.  She couldn’t wait to enjoy everything that came with being white.  The fancy dresses, pretty houses and the handsome men coming to call.  She would never return to the part of her that was always looked down upon.  The part of her that was Cherokee.

I don’t normally read romance novels.  I go in for the actions of who-done-it and leave the loving to other readers.  At least that’s what I normally do but this time I agreed to read Trail to Forever and was totally surprised.  Most romance novels start with the man and woman hating each other, or at least saying they do, until the end.  Then they admit they are truly in love and have always been.  So they battle to see who is going to say it first.  Trail to Forever was different. It does provide the love story but it doesn’t over power the book. It provides tension and stress as the wagon train traveled across the country.  It provides history, which I enjoyed, as both Indian and white man as they traveled across country for the same goal – gold.  It also provides the story of a half white, half Cherokee woman that wanted to be all white.  She wanted to be accepted by other white women and this just wasn’t to be.  Winter Dawn learns to look deep inside herself to find who she really is and then to accept who she is and be proud of her heritage.  This is a lesson that a lot of us need to learn.  I have to admit that I did enjoy Trail to Forever.

 

Bullets + Bandages - Robert Saniscalchi, Author

Grilled Salmon Steaks 
(A Saniscalchi Favorite)

1) Take fresh stakes and marinate in Italian Dressing over nite in the fridge.

2) Place on Grill Medium heat.

3) Turn steaks after cooked for five minutes.

4) Grill until steaks until they flake off easily with a fork.

5) Serve with fresh salad and bread of your choice.

6( A white wine is highly recommended.

Bullets and Bandages – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts

 

“Where have you guys been?”  I said.  “We ran out of time!  My buddy here needed help, but now he’s dead!”  They tried to calm me down.  The flight medic replied, “We’re sorry about your man.  We left the base as soon as we had word.  I’ve seen this snake before.  It’s one of the most poisonous in the world.  No one can survive the venom unless they’re right outside a hospital when they are bitten.”  He was right.  It wasn’t their fault.  The choppers lifted off and banked over trees, but I just stared at the body bag, feeling so very tired.  I would never forget him.  He saved a lot of lives and lost his to a tiny snake.  I prayed for him.  I prayed for his family and for his lost soul; I prayed it wasn’t my turn next.

 

Sergeant Jakes had already survived one tour in Viet Nam. He knew the VC as well as the jungle.  He knew what to watch for and what to listen for. Now he was now successfully taking his team through yet another tour.  He had been through just about everything the VC could toss at him and lived through it.  The one thing he didn’t live through was the bite of one of the most poisonous snakes in the world.  One that made his home in the jungles of Viet Nam. 

 

That was just one of many deaths that Rob Doc Marrino would have to face while serving as a Medic in Viet Nam.  He would experience the horrors of war that only someone who lives through it can truly claim talking rights.  Those of us who have never experienced this act of greed called war can never completely understand what these men and women went through.  Some will tell us about their experiences, some just want to forget what they saw, heard and felt during their days in hell. 

 

Being a baby boomer, I knew many boys who quickly became men due to the Viet Nam War.  Most came back, some in the bowel of the plane, some in the passenger seats.  A lot came back physically damaged while others came back mentally damaged.  I have a friend who was there and luckily returned whole, at least in body.  Now 40 years later, he, as well as many others like him still have nightmares that wake the house with his screams as he re-lives the horrors that took place right before his eyes.    

 

As I read Bullets and Bandages I realized that the war horrors produced by Hollywood is nothing compared to the real experiences these men and women actually went through.  Author Saniscalchi has captured on paper the events and stories that his own brother experienced as he served in the military in Viet Nam.  He allows you to feel the bond of friendship that forms between yourself and your buddies.  You experience the strength of their will to survive and the strength of true fear.  But most importantly, their understanding of the importance of God in their survival. 

 

I can’t say that I loved Bullets and Bandages but I can say that I didn’t want to put it down, that it made me hurt as well as cry and that I was so glad when the book ended.  In the past I’ve heard men talking about their experiences in Viet Nam and actually blocked it out.  Now I listen because these men and women need to be heard.  They need to get their memories out in the open instead of allowing it to fester like a cancer until it consumes their whole body and life.  And we need to be the ones listening.

 

ISBN# 978-1-58982-247-4