Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Ever since reading Twice Loved by Lavyrle Spence, I've always loved reunion stories. So when I started writing Every Deep Desire , I was so happy when I realized that ex-Green Beret Rafe Montfort and Juliet Capel (the hero and heroine) had not only once been married but they'd grown up together on a remote sea island off the Georgia coast known as the Isle of Grace.  This fact allowed me to weave in memories of their childhood adventures and show how, despite living in rural poverty, Rafe and Juliet were able to find happiness in their isolation. They spent hours watching the constellations trail across the night sky, picnicking in the Back Meadow, fishing barefoot in the creeks, and canoeing through the tidal estuaries that snaked across Juliet's land. And every time they met, Rafe carried contraband--a napkin holding his mother's brownies he'd stolen from her trailer's kitchen.  Rafe and Juliet spent hours lying in the grass, beneath the hot su...

Visions of Sugar Plums... by  Abbie Roads What's your favorite part of the holidays?  I love all the baking!  This seems to be the only time of year when I can get away with being a crazy cookie baker!  So far this Holiday season I've made Texas sheet cake cookies, pumpkin cookies with brown butter frosting, chocolate chip/dried cranberry cookies, crushed candy cane cookies, turtle cookies, and today I baked one of my favorite family recipes...  Sugar Plum Surprise Cookies! I love these cookies for a few reasons... 1. They are simple to make. 2. You can load the whole batch on one cookie sheet to bake  (which saves a ton of time). 3. And the best part...There's a surprise inside each one! Here's the recipe: Sugar Plum Surprise Cookies (Preheat oven 325 degrees) 1c. soft butter 1/2c. powdered sugar 1 1/2t. vanilla 2c. flour 1/2t. salt 1c. oatmeal 36 candies--I use candied cherries, all f...

One inescapable sign of autumn is the appearance of pumpkin-flavored everything on the market shelves. Pumpkin cookies, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pasta, pumpkin spice coffee… the list is seemingly endless! With all due respect to fans of the currently ubiquitous orange vegetable, I’ve always associated autumn with apples: tart, sweet, and spicy. Apple cider, apple dumplings, apple and walnut dressing, and, on weekend mornings, apple pancakes. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with the baked apple pancake, sometimes called a Dutch baby, ever since trying one at a local pancake restaurant in San Diego during last summer’s RWA.   Now that fall weather is finally here—after a long and protracted summer—I’m delving into recipes, comparing and tweaking proportions and ingredients to come up with one that produces the most satisfying results: not too wet, not too dry, not too sweet, and loaded with tender spiced apples. So, straight from Casa Sherwood’s tes...

I LOVE TURKEY!! And I confess I love it so much I will make this in the middle of summer. Required Materials: Roasting Pan Aluminum Foil Turkey Baster Meat Thermometer Ingredients: 1: 15-20lb turkey (If larger may need to increase other ingredients) 1-2 stalks celery 1 large orange 1 onion (I prefer sweet) 1/2 to 1 clove of garlic 1 big carrot or 8-10 baby carrots 1 1/2 to 3/4 bottle of ginger ale (2 liter) 1 can chicken broth 1 bay leaf 2 tbs. thyme 2 tbs. parsley 2 tbs. sage 1 tbs. lemon pepper 1 tbs. Seasoned Salt (Johnny's or Lawry's is best!) (I know it's a long list, but it's totally worth it!) Okay, here we go. Preheat oven to 350 Mix thyme, sage, parsley, lemon pepper, and seasoning salt in a small bowl Chop the onion, carrot, and celery Peel the garlic and split into segments Peel the orange and split into segments Line the roasting pan with enough foil to cover the turkey. Remove the neck and giblets from turkey Rub the herb mixture inside both neck and...

When the pantry jars are full of mince-meat and the shelves are laden with sweet spices for a cake, When the butcher man sends up a turkey nice and fat to bake, When the stores are crammed with everything ingenious cooks can make, It's Thanksgiving Time! --Langston Hughes, from “Thanksgiving Time” It’s Thanksgiving Week, and for those of us who celebrate it, I’m not even going to pretend it’s not All About The Food. OK, it’s also about community, family, closeness, and finding things to be thankful for in trying times. And food! Mashed potatoes will be on a lot of menus, and, despite their being such a simple dish, there must be a million and one variations on how to prepare them! And countless debates on which way is best. Electric mixer, ricer, or hand-held potato masher? Russets, Red Roses, or Yukon Golds? Skin-on or skin-off? Milk, broth, or cooking water? Hot milk or cold? My earliest memories of making mashed potatoes involve Russets: starc...

This is not enough cheese. For some reason I tend to go crazy over cooking in the Springtime. It could be just because I don't have to walk and drive through snow and ice to get to the store.  Anyway, if you're a cheese-lover, this recipe is for you!! Ingredients: 1 package Manicotti noodles 4 cups grated mozzarella cheese 1 container Ricotta cheese 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 1 tablespoon butter 1 egg 1 1/2 jars marinara sauce garlic powder parsley basil oregano  black pepper seasoned salt Prepare pasta according to the directions on the box. While the noodles are boiling, mix 2 cups mozzarella with 1 cup Parmesan, the ricotta, butter, and egg. Season with seasoned salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, oregano and basil to taste. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Pour about 2/3 jar of marinara in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Stuff noodles with cheese mixture and place carefully in the casserole. Pour 2/3 jar of marinara over noodles and top with 2 cups mozza...

Remember that movie, Homeward Bound, when the two dogs and the cat make their way back home and the younger dog runs in the house saying, "turkey, turkey, turkey"? That's the feeling that we get around our house as Thanksgiving approaches. It's the holiday when all our kids, their friends, their in-laws or whoever they can get in the van, the truck or in the car to bring with them come home for Thanksgiving. And just like Chance, the dog in the middle in the picture, I can just hear them saying, "Turkey, turkey, turkey" as they park those vehicles and come running toward the house. Dinner, served buffet style, goes on the bar, the fold out table, the dry sinks in the dining room and the stove. Feasting begins at noon as soon as the blessing is said. Sometimes Mr. B says grace but he has been known to call upon the youngest child in the house to say the prayer before "turkey, turkey, turkey" begins. It's our holiday to the kids so they do...

Aside from being buried in several projects at once and having no exciting adventures to tell, I decided I'd herald in Spring with a good recipe. Not my picture, I still have no camera. Besides, mine have the skin peeled off 1 thin baguette 1-2 cucumbers, depending on size 4 oz cream cheese 2 Tbs cider vinegar 2 Tbs butter 2 tbs mayonnaise  a few drops Worcestershire sauce pepper  garlic salt seasoned salt dill weed Lightly toast the baguette and then slice it evenly. Lightly butter each slice. Peel cucumber and slice it in half lengthwise to scoop out the seeds. Slice cucumber halves Mix all other ingredients in a bowl and season to taste.  Spread mixture on buttered slices and add pieces of cucumber.  YUM! 

For someone who has repeatedly mentioned how much she enjoys cooking, it seems odd in retrospect that I have yet to share any recipes here.   With autumn settling in, temperatures dropping, Thanksgiving just around the corner, and people beginning to crave hearty, savory fare, now is the perfect time to remedy that. So here are three favorite, flavorful recipes that will stick to your ribs in cold autumn weather and make the house smell wonderful as they cook. (DISCLAIMER: I can't claim to have invented these recipes so much as added my own touches and innovations here and there. But I'm certainly prepared to give credit where credit is due.)     Rosemary White Bean Soup (Adapted from Ina Garten's recipe) INGREDIENTS 1/2   lb. dried white beans (Garten uses cannellini beans, but as I've always had difficulty finding those, I substitute Great Northern Beans) 2 cups thinly sliced yellow onions (I usually find half a large on...

Carbo-load the Writer's Block Away! (My Three Favorite Pasta Salad Recipes) A few days ago I was suffering from that dreaded phenomenon known as writer's block.  I knew my characters.  I knew my story arc.  But could I get from point A to point B?  Abso-friggin'-lutely not !  The page sat before me… blank.  The cursor blinked on the screen… in the most annoying fashion.  My blood pressure began to rise… to frightening levels.  And then I thought what the hell and I - gasp - gave up.  I stood from my chair and stomped into the kitchen.  And as I thumbed through my recipe books, as I gathered the ingredients for three of my favorite spring/summertime dishes, as I chopped and boiled and mixed, the story suddenly began to materialize.  The path from A to B rose from the darkness into the light and - voila - the writer's block vanished.  So, today I'm sharing with you those three dishes in the hopes you can use them to van...