Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Holiday Chex Muddy Buddies Recipe









This is a fun recipe for a holiday snack, especially for the kids.


Chex Muddy Buddies Recipe


Ingredients:

9 cups Chex cereal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Pour cereal into large bowl; set aside. In 1-quart, microwave-safe bowl combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and margarine. Microwave at 100-percent power for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until smooth, stirring after 1 minute. Stir in vanilla. Pour chocolate sauce slowly over cereal, stirring to coat evenly. Pour cereal into large plastic bag. Add powdered sugar and secure; shake to coat well. Spread on waxed paper to cool.

Makes 10 cups

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Holiday Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup of raisins ~ optional
1 cup of chopped walnuts ~ optional

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray loaf pans with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Add raisins and walnuts. Pour into the prepared pans.
  3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Thursday, November 11, 2010

In a Series of Questions

Have you written a novel series? Or perhaps you have considered writing one but feel a bit overwhelmed by the idea? Have you a proposal you want to send to publishers? Perhaps you are not a writer, but you enjoy reading historical series.

Wherever you are in this journey, in the 'comments' section of the post, please send in your thoughts and questions about writing a series.

This is your chance, too, to have some promotion on my end. I will go through the comments and post back snippets in this post along with links to your websites and blogs.

I look forward to reading what you have to say.
Read the below authors' comments in full by clicking on the 'comment's link.

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From Roseanna White: I like to have a unifying theme in a series (location, social group, etc( but have a new hero and heroine for each.
Blog: http://roseannamwhite.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.roseannawhite.com/

From Loree Lough: I've written about a dozen different series ("Suddenly," "Accidental Blessings," "Turning Points," "Lone Star Legends," etc.) and in each, there's at least one "connecting thread." It could be the characters (or even secondary characters), the setting, or a time period.
Blog: http://theloughdown.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.loreelough.com/

From Marylu Tyndall: Joining with the other answers, the three things that tie them together are characters, setting, and theme.
Blog: http://crossandcutlass.blogspot.com/
Website:
http://www.mltyndall.com/

From Carrie Fancett Pagels: Overcoming trials is the theme and how immigrants must release their old lives and embrace new ones.
Website & Blog: http://cfpagels.blogspot.com/


From Golden Keys Parsons: I really enjoy series -- both writing them and reading them. I agree with all of my colleagues concerning a unifying theme.
Blog: http://goldenkeyesparsons.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.goldenkeyesparsons.com/tp40/Default.asp?ID=167731


From Laura Frantz: I'm beginning my first series of a family that spans 100 years (4 generations), so what others say here is so helpful.
Website: http://laurafrantz.blogspot.com/

From Melissa K. Norris: I have quilts as one unifying theme throughout my books. You can see a picture of my current quilt, which also ties in with my first novel of proposed trilogy, Journey of Promise, on my website. http://www.melissaknorris.com/
Blog: http://faithchats.blogspot.com/

From J M Hochstetler: I'm also developing several secondary characters into POV characters and adding their storylines as the story develops in order to broaden the series' scope. I really feel you can give a story more impact and characters more depth when you allow them to develop over time.
Website: http://www.jmhochstetler.com/
Blog: http://americanpatriotseries.blogspot.com/