SECOND HELPINGS - Recipes with a Short Story

From sweet childhood remembrances to fanciful solutions of family dramas to romantic relationships that begin--or end--during the holidays, SECOND HELPINGS is an anthology of stories and memories, but most especially of recipes. Our end-of-the-year celebrations are occasions that bring reunions with unforgettable feasts and that one special, treasured dish. At the end of each story, vignette, reminiscence, you'll find a recipe or collection of recipes that will make your next holiday memorable as well.

SECOND HELPING - A collection of short stories and recipes contains my short story, "Danny's Secret," which tells the plight of a sister whose brother died in the Gulf in 1990. Danny had a family heirloom as a good luck charm, a pearl ring, that was never returned with his personal effects. It had been carried by  his great grandfather in World War I, his grandfather in World War II, and his father in the Vietnam War. Twenty years later, Kay Holland is still searching for answers to its disappearance, especially since her mother is dying and requesting to see it.

SECOND HELPINGS has a series of tasty recipes, including my recipe for molasses cookies. Pick up a copy and read what a pearl ring and molasses cookies have in common. It's available in print and e-book formats.

Buy it now at  Second Wind Publishing
or at  Amazon.com

GIVING THANKS - A Poem

Giving Thanks - Author Unknown

For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,
For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,
For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,
For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home -
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,
For the cunning and strength of the workingman's hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought -
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the "Land of the Free" -
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

Bon Appetite - A Weekend Treat: SOUTHERN PECAN PIE

                      

Southern Pecan Pie

4 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

l cup light corn syrup

½ teaspoonsalt

3 tablesppons melted butter (or

         margarine)

2 ½ tablespoons dark rum

1 cup (about 7 ounces) shelled

         pecans

1. Prepare unbaked 9-inch pastry shell, following recipe.

2. Beat eggs lightly in a large bowl. Stir in sugar, corn syrup,
salt and butter, mixing just to blend. (Do not overbeat.) Stir
in rum and pecans. Pour into prepared pastry shell.

3.  Bake in moderate oven (375 degrees) for 40 minutes or
until filling is golden brown and firm to the light touch.
Serve at room temperature with a bowl of lightly sweetened
whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

A Salute to November

November in Pennsylvania is the month of dry leaves swirling in a brisk wind. The green landscape of summer has turned to a dull brown except for the pines and hemlock dotting the hillsides. The oaks struggle to hang onto their leaves as they await the first snowfall while the bare arms of the maples shiver under cold gray skies.

This is a time of smoke curling from chimneys, wild geese winging southward, and once fertile fields stretching out barren and vacant. The last roses still cling to their stems along with the red berries of the mountain ash. Marigolds and geraniums defy the first light frosts of the season and stand proud in the chilly wind. Along sidewalks and on porches, golden pumpkins are piled in clusters or are marching in a line, showing off their many shades, shapes, and sizes. Dried corn stalks surround the lamp posts on our main street through town, and winter wood is stacked in perfect rows along buildings, awaiting fireplaces and wood burners. Deer enter the backyards now and scour the fruit trees for the last apples and pears.

November is a time for apple and pumpkin pie, nuts, hot chocolate, a book and a cozy chair. It’s a time for reflecting on the past year and being thankful for the beauty of our world that will slowly fall to sleep under a blanket of white, yet awake again when spring’s warm breath blows across the land.

Last Chance to Win $25 Gift Certificate

This is the last chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate!

Next week, I will finish my last blog stop with Goddess Fish Promotions for my historical romance, UNDER STARRY SKIES and its Book Review Tour. 

For a chance to win a $25 amazon email gift certificate, join me on November 11th at these sites:

Journey of a Book Seller - http://bkfaerie.blogspot.com
Undercover Book Reviews - http://undercoverbookreviews.blogspot.com

                    A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED

Bon Appetite - A Weekend Treat: PUMPKIN COOKIES

This is the time of the year when everyone thinks autumn and the harvest season as leaves change from green to gold, vermillion, and orange. It's the time of pumpkins-- pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream and coffee. . .and pumpkin cookies with that distinctive cinnamon flavor. Here's a recipe for moist, sweet pumpkin cookies with a simple confectioner's sugar glaze.

PUMPKIN COOKIES

1 cup canned pumpkin                                               

1 cup sugar

½ cup shortening or salad oil

1 egg beaten

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

½ cup nuts - optional

1 cup chocolate chips – optional

Combine pumpkin, sugar, shortening and egg. Shift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together; add to pumpkin mixture alternately with soda dissolved in milk. Add vanilla—and if desired: nuts and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonful on greased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. Yield: 4 dozen

Glaze: If you desire a glaze, use a simple confectioner's sugar glaze with a dash of vanilla and enough hot milk added to make it spreadable.