Highland Crossing Reviews

"I've written one novella, The Gentleman Takes a Bride, so I know how difficult it is to fit an entire story into roughly a third of my usual word count. It's a challenge that many authors take on with great success, as in the case of four talented ladies: Laurie Alice Eakes, Pamela Griffin, Jennifer Hudson Taylor, and Gina Wellborn. Add to that my love for all things Scottish, and I've found a book I'm proud to promote: Highland Crossings. Here are four stories that reached out and grabbed me because some of my own ancestors were from Scotland, and I can imagine their struggles, trials, and adventures as they came to this wild land called America to make new lives for themselves."

~Louise Gouge, The Gentleman Takes a Bride

I enjoyed reading and getting to know these personable and well developed characters. Each gifted author adds her own personal touch to four interacting progressive storylines. These can be read in one sitting or broken up into more. If I had to pick a favorite I it would be Sugarplum Hearts. I was entertained by these well written romantic and suspenseful novellas and had a hard time putting the stories down! I found the overall message inspiring and would recommend this book to others." ~kattrox

King Ranch Chicken (or Beef)

I love Pampered Chef products . . . but I don't love all of them. Some, you can get the equivalent in quality but at a lesser price at Crate & Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, or Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Earlier this year I went to BBB to buy a wedding gift for Adam Larson and Kayla Teachey. Now I'd already perused their registry so I knew they had stainless steel mixing bowls on their list. Since I love my PC mixing bowls, I figured why not get these registered ones for the happy couple.

Once I found the bowls in the store, I opene the box and examined what I was buying. Compared to my PC bowls, they were a thinner steel and didn't have the rubber bottom or a thumb hole to hold the bowl while mixing. Hmmm.

I couldn't buy them.

Sure they were only $20 compared to $85 the PC ones sell for. But if you host a show, you can get the bowls for 1/2 price. I actually got mine for  60% off.

One of the recipes my bowls come in handy to use with is King Ranch Chicken. I actually bake this in my Magic Pot, aka Deep Covered Baker, but any ol' 9x13 pan works great.

Preheat oven to 325*.

1/4 cup butter
1 chopped green pepper
1 onion
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (or about 1 lb of cooked ground bee

In a large skillet, cook pepper and onion in the butter until tender, about 5 minutes. Add meat, stirring until well blended.

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of Ro-Tel
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Mix soups, Ro-Tel, and 1 1/2 cups cheese in a mixing bowl.

12 corn tortillas

Tear tortillas into bite-sized pieces. I usually have one of my kids cut the tortillas into strips and then cut the strips into pieces. In a 9x13 baking pan, alternately layer tortillas, soup mixture, and meat mixture; repeating for 3 layers. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

~*~

QUESTION OF THE DAY:: What's your favorite kitchen tool whether a Pampered Chef one or not?

Bean Salad

Goulash.

I'm not even sure if that's the actual way to spell it, but the mere thought of the goulash makes my throat clench and my tummy turn over. Blech.

When my sisters and I were younger, Mom served goulash at least twice a month. She says "I don't know why you despised it so much. It's basically Hamburger Helper."

That's like having your hubby buy you an El Camino and him saying it's basically a corvette.

I don't think so.

Over the years as my taste buds have changed, I've learned to like foods I hated as a kid. (Not goulash, though.) One recipe from Mom that fits this category is hers for Bean Salad.

Hmm. I ought to start taking pictures of these recipes after I've fixed them. Tomorrow is another day!

1 can navy beans
1 can black beans
1 can butter beans
1 can light kidney beans

Drain beans and rinse.

2/3 cup red and/or green pepper
1 cup celery
1 medium onion
1/2 cup carrot
1 1/2 cup frozen shoe peg corn

While you are dicing veggies, microwave corn for 3 to 4 minutes. Combine beans and veggies in large bowl.

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3/4 tsp Mrs. Dash tableblend
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix the remaining ingredients  in a saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves. Pour over beans mixture. Cover and chill before serving. Keeps well for several days!

~*~
QUESTION OF THE DAY :: What recipe or food did you hate when you were a kid but now love (or at least tolerate)?

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Everything is better with butter . . . except watermelon. My mind can't wrap around the thought of the two together. Or watermelon and bacon.

I did see chocolate candy with bacon pieces at Whole Foods. No, I didn't buy it because I didn't want to waste the money. Do you really think chocolate and bacon are going to taste good together? Can you see now why I didn't want to waste my money.

Alas, I occasionally wish I had splurged.

I want to be more of risk-taker with trying different and unusual combination foods.

Which brings me to Alta Barker's recipe for Strawberry Pretzel Salad.

My mother taught me that when you're at someone's house you eat whatever food is served even if you don't like it. Well, we were at someone else's house where this was served. Salty pretzels with Jello and strawberries? I don't know.

Try it, try it and see.

Preheat oven to 400*.

2 cups crushed pretzels
2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted

Mix pretzels, sugar, and butter. Spread in a 9x13 pan (pat down) and bake for 7 minutes. Allow to cool. Feel free to turn your oven off at this point if you aren't baking something else.

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1 (8 oz) carton whipped topping
1 cup powdered sugar

Blend cream cheese, whipped topping, and powdered sugar. Spread on crust.

1 (6 oz) box strawberry Jello
1 (10-16 oz) package  frozen strawberries
1 small can crushed pineapple

Mix Jello according to directions. Place in refrigerator to congel. Before it sets (when it's the consistency of slime, isn't that appetizing?), fold in the thawed strawberries and drained pineapple. Pour this mixture over the cream cheese mixture. Chill.

If you have a larger container of whipped topping, you could add a dollop to the top of each serving. Or not. :-)

~*~

QUESTION OF THE DAY :: What foods would you never have thought would taste yummy together but you found out they did?

Jan's Peanut Butter Cookies

My oldest son often says the worst year of his life was 2nd grade. We'd moved from Oklahoma to Virginia, and he didn't have any friends in the neighborhood, in school, or at church.

I always respond with "Well, then you should be happy you've gotten the worst year of your life outta the way."

Somehow that never seems to make his memory of that year any more tolerable.

My theory is he had such a fabulous 1st grade that 2nd grade couldn't NOT disappoint no matter where we lived or how many friends he had or didn't have. See, in 1st grade, Matt had Jan Marvin for his teacher. Jan also attended the same church as us.

Needless to say, Matt was Jan's favorite student. He knew it. She knew it. That's just how it was. Of course, in Jan's defense, I will say that Matt is such a loveable boy that in his 12 years of public education, he's only had three teachers who I know didn't like him--Mrs. White, Mrs. Salvo, and Mrs. Williamson who taught him in 8th grade choir. Yes, the boy was failing choir at one point, which is as lousy as failing art, which my oldest daughter was doing at one point.

This is why I tell my kids "having a good attitude and doing your homework is 75% of your grade."

Anyhoo . . .

Jan doted on Matt. Matt idolized her.

Which is fitting because my favorite peanut butter cookie is Jan's recipe. It's circled with a heart in my cookbook.

Let's begin with pre-heating the oven to 375*.

1/2 cup butter, margarine or butter-flavored Crisco
1/2 cup low-salt, creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, and sugars until fluffy.

1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add egg and vanilla; beat well.

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Add dry ingredients to batter and mix until well combined.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Criss-cross with the tines of a fork. Then bake for about 10 minutes. Cook on wire rack, and continue process until all cookies are baked.

~*~

QUESTION OF THE DAY :: Where you ever the teacher's pet? If so, tell me all about it. Or maybe you had a teacher who utterly despised you. Time to dish.

Awful Truth about God

Excerpt from WAKING THE DEAD by John Eldredge, Thomas Nelson, 2003.

"War is not just one among many themds in the Bible. It is the backdrop for the whole Story, the context for everything else. God is at war. He is trampling out the vineyards where the grapes of wrath are stored. And what is he fighting for? Our freedom and restoration. The glory of God is man fully alive. In the meantime, Paul says, arm yourselves, and the first piece of equipment he urges us to don is the belt of truth (Eph. 6:10-18). We arm ourselves by getting a good, solid grip on our situation, by getting some clarity on the battle over our lives. . . .

Until we come to terms with war as the context of our days we will not understand life. We will misinterpret 90 percent of what is happening around us and to us. It will be very hard to believe that God's interntions toward us are life abundant; it will be even harder to not to feel that somehow we are just blowing it. Worse, we will begin to accept some really awful things about God. That four-year-old being molested by her daddy--that is "God's Will"? That ugly divorce that tore your family apart--God wanted that to happen too?" . . .

Most people get stuck at some point because God appears to have abandoned them. He's not coming through. Speaking about her life with a mixture of disappointment and cynicism, a young woman recently said to me, 'God is rather silent right now.' Yes, it's been awful. . . . But her attitude strikes me as deeply naive, on the level of someone caught in a cross fire who asks, rather shocked and with a sense of betrayal, 'God, why won't you make them stop firing at me?' I'm sorry, but that's not where we are right now. . . . That day is coming, later, when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and we'll all beat swords into plowshares. For now, it's a bloody battle. . . .

Before he promised us life, Jesus warned that a thief would try to steal, kill, and destroy it. How come we don't think that the thief then actually steals, kills, and destroys? You won't understand your life, you won't see clearly what has happened to you or how to live forward from here, unless you see it as a battle. A war against your heart. And you're going to need your whole heart for what's coming next . . .  in the life you're living."

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. ~ Psalm 27:13

Buy a copy of WAKING THE DEAD by John Eldredge at Amazon, CBD, Lifeway, and Barnes and Noble.