Happy Halloween with THE DIS'ASTER FAMILY!

Now until Oct. 31, Halloween, my children's picture book THE DIS'ASTER FAMILY'S HALLOWEEN is being featured on NN Light Book Heaven's Scary Reads promotion. Hop over to https://substack.com/@nnlightsbookheaven/p-222509676 to check out my book and enter for a chance to win a gift card. 

Featured Romantasy: THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE

This week N. N. Light Book Heaven is celebrating their Science Fiction and Fantasy Bookish Event with a giveaway. I'm delighted to announce that my award-winning romantasy novel THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE, book one of the Crown of Tolem series, will be spotlighted on Friday, October 10th. Check out all books and enter the giveaway to win a $10 Amazon gift card: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/science-fiction-fantasy-event

#sciencefiction #scifi #fantasy #giveaway

Romantasy Audiobook Feature: BLOODSTONE

 I’m so excited to have my romantasy audiobook BLOODSTONE be a part of N. N. Light’s Book Heaven Audiobook Frenzy Bookish Event on Sept. 25. Join me there and check out all the audiobooks. Enter the giveaway to win a $25 Amazon gift card: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/audiobook-frenzy-bookish-event 

March Is for Going Green--Froggie Green, That Is

Happy March! It's the month of Spring! Trees bud, snow melts, grass awakens, winds blow kites and clouds (and all sorts of things forgotten in yards) around. Days grow longer and temperatures climb while winter coats are shed and no one worries about lost gloves. 

In celebration of this delightful seasonal greening, I'm featuring FREDERICK FLY-CATCHER in ebook for 99 cents ALL MONTH LONG. Go to https://books2read.com/u/4Ekjo0#! to select your preferred reading app.

In addition, FREDERICK FLY-CATCHER will be FREE for download March 2-8 on Smashwords READ AN EBOOK WEEK 2025! Get your copy here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1244386  

Come out of your winter cave and enjoy the green!

A Festive Alternative to Thanksgiving Pie

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, many of us are planning our holiday dinner menus. If your family is looking forward to the traditional pumpkin pie, wonderful! However, if you're looking for alternative desserts, or need an extra one if company is coming, I have a recipe for you. And it looks super festive, too! 

This family recipe for Apple Upside-down Cake is at least 70 years old, so definitely tried and true! Simple, everyday ingredients. It'll look lovely on your brunch table if that's the meal you're hosting on the big day.

Apple Upside-down Cake

Cake batter:

¼ cup butter or other fat

½ cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 ½ cups sifted flour

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

½ cup milk

2-4 firm-fleshed apples, peeled, quartered and sliced (enough to cover the bottom of a 10-inch round pan)

Topping:

1-2 tsp. cinnamon (to taste preference) mixed with ¼ cup sugar

10-inch round pan. Springform pan works best but a layer-cake pan or pie pan also will serve.

Parchment paper

Cream the fat while adding the sugar, well-beaten egg, and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients together and add alternately with the milk to the first mixture. Line the pan with parchment paper and spray or grease the lining. Pare, quarter, and slice the apples thin. Arrange the slices in an overlapping layer on the bottom of the pan, starting with the outer rim and working in circles to the center. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the apple layer. Pour the cake mixture over the apples. The batter is thick and may need to be spread with a knife to cover all the apples. Bake at 325 for 45 min. Allow to cool for a few minutes before inverting onto a plate or serving platter and removing the parchment paper. Serve warm or cool with whipped cream or hard sauce or ice cream.

Enjoy!

Got Tomatoes? Here's an Easy Sweet Sauce Recipe

If your garden is overproducing like mine, you'll want to do something with all those fresh, luscious, ripe red tomatoes. We are big fans of BLTs, but a sandwich a day only uses one of those big tomatoes. Of course, there are tacos and salads and sliced tomatoes on pizza and little tomatoes, halved and fried in butter. But even that isn't enough to keep up with the harvest. 

We used to can tomatoes, but we've moved away from that to making batches of spaghetti sauce and freezing meal-sized containers for quick access whenever we want a meal of spaghetti or ravioli. Since this is the height of tomato harvest, I'm sharing our family recipe. (Hint, we leave the skins on for a deeper red and all the nutrients.) You'll need a blender, a large saucepan, and measuring cups and spoons, plus the following ingredients. 

Enjoy!

Sweet Spaghetti Sauce (Meatless & Mild)

4 cups diced fresh tomatoes, skins on, simmered briefly (5 min.) with…

½ teaspoon salt

Cool pot in a water bath. Fill blender with cooled tomatoes and chop.

In a large saucepan (3-4 quart) add…

1/8 cup diced onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

Fry onions in oil in the saucepan until done. Pour chopped tomatoes over onions. Set to simmer. Stir in…

One 12-ounce can of tomato paste, stirring until all lumps are gone

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 packed tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons dried parsley

½ cup water

Simmer until flavors combine. If sauce seems too thick, add another 1/3 cup water. Serve over cooked spaghetti noodles.

Sauce freezes well. It also tastes great over cheese ravioli.

If you don’t have fresh tomatoes, you can use one 28 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes AND one 12 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes.

Spotlight on Susie Black's DEATH BY JELLY BEANS

My guest today is cozy mystery author Susie Black, whose latest release, Death by Jelly Beans, will be available Sept. 4. It’s #5 in the Holly Swimsuit series with these clever cartoon covers. 

Let’s dive in with the set-the-tone Blurb:

Mermaid Swimwear President Holly Schlivnik discovers the Bainbridge Department Store Easter Bunny slumped over dead and obnoxious swimwear buyer Sue Ellen Magee is arrested for the crime. Despite her differences with the nasty buyer, Holly is convinced the Queen of Mean didn’t do it. The wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to nail the real killer. But the trail has more twists than a pretzel and more turns than a rollercoaster. And nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent on revenge.

Love this delicious Tag Line: 

“Brings a whole new meaning to the rabbit died.”

Now for a sample to whet our appetites:

Death by Jelly Beans Excerpt

I dragged my eyes over to the throne. The Easter Bunny sat slumped over with his chin resting on his chest and his body listing to the right. Good grief. A double-whammy. Not only did he dip into the jellybeans again after being warned not to, but he fell asleep on the job in a booze-infused slumber.

Why should I give a flying fig about the jerk who bowled me over without an apology, let alone helping me up? Yet a stab of unexpected pity pierced my heart. I checked the time. Still a few minutes before my command performance. Maybe rouse the poor guy and give him a chance to concoct another story Sue Ellen might buy unless the security cameras sealed his fate.

I laid my messenger bag on the library table next to the throne and gently shook the rabbit’s left shoulder. Nothing doing. I shook him again. This time a bit harder. I put my lips next to his ears and implored him. “Pedro, wake up.” Zilch. Geesh, how much booze did the guy chug? Or maybe booze isn’t the culprit. Perhaps the guy had a late night before or he is just one helluva sound sleeper? Oddly, he wasn’t snoring, but I attributed it to his neck bent down and his head dangling over his body.

I shook him again and got nothing for my trouble. His chest wasn’t rising and falling. Good gravy. Was the guy breathing? I passed my hand over the costume's mouth opening, but one so small I couldn’t tell. I clasped a paw to check for a pulse, but the heavy gauge costume fabric was too thick to detect one.

I checked my watch. No more time to crap around trying to help this idiot or I’d be late for my meeting. Despite my efforts to rouse him, the guy hadn’t so much as twitched. Annoyance coupled with dread tied my stomach in knots. I panned the department. No one was around except the rabbit and me.

The Goddess short-changed me in the height department but compensated by blessing me with a deep voice and a strong set of pipes. I put my lips next to his ear and shouted loud enough to wake the dead. “PEDRO, WAKE UP!”

I grabbed the rabbit by the shoulder and shook him with all my might. The guy didn’t move an inch. I grasped his arm tightly and yanked it hard trying to right him. Good grief. The bunny was stiff as a board. I might as well try bending a steel beam.

I let go of his shoulder and the rabbit slid off the throne. He crashed headfirst into the library table. Along with my messenger bag, the jellybean jar bounced off the edge of the table and fell onto the cement floor. My messenger bag survived the ordeal, but the jellybean jar broke into a zillion pieces. Jellybeans scattered all over the place. The bunny bounced twice and flopped unceremoniously face-down into a pile of jellybeans.

The concept of shouting loud enough to wake the dead?  Trust me, it’s a pile of hot hooey. I didn’t need an MD after my name to make this diagnosis. Pedro Conejo was as dead as the proverbial doornail. When the first responders arrive, they’re gonna close the swimwear department for who knows how long. This ought to put a nice crimp into the Easter promotion. And who gets to break the good news to Sue Ellen? None other than yours truly.

She’s not gonna be a happy camper. Naturally, I burst out laughing.

Love this! Love your character’s voice. First person is a challenge, but you’ve nailed it.

The book comes out September 4^th, but you can preorder it here:

Death by Jelly Beans Buy Links:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-by-jelly-beans-susie-black/1145804565?ean=2940186124580

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212700868-death-by-jelly-beans?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=PWl56Hmfkz&rank=1

https://www.bookbub.com/books/death-by-jelly-beans-holly-swimsuit-mystery-book-5-by-susie-black

Amazon.com : Death by Jelly Beans

Want to know more about the fabulous Susie Black? Here’s her Author Bio:

Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. Susie began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries. 

She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.

Looking for more?

Contact Susie at:

Website: www.authorsusieblack.com

E-mail: mysteries_@authorsusieblack.com

Looking for that perfect swimsuit for your next beach vacation or cruise? Check out her Swimsuit Fit Guide here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7lerp4cy1al2j0l/CHOOSING%20THE%20RIGHT%20%20SWIMSUIT.pdf?dl=0

Susie Black Updated Social Media Links 8-16-23

Book Bub: www.bookbub.com/authors/susie-black

Facebook:    https://facebook.com/TheHollySwimsuitMysterySeries

Good Reads: Search results for "Susie Black" (showing 1-9 of 82 books) | Goodreads

Instagram:   Susie Black (@hollyswimsuit) • Instagram photos and videos

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/authorsusieblack-61941011

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/hollysusie1_saved/

Twitter:    http://twitter.com/@hollyswimsuit

Let’s all wish great sales for Susie Black’s latest mystery!