Leftovers? An Easy, Money Saving, Healthy Recipe, Plus a Cookbook Free Today!

Slumgullion is one featured recipe in Starke Deadly Delicious Recipes, FREE today!

 Don't know what to do with all those lovely leftovers? Slumguillion to the rescue! 

My of-Scots-descent mom always made slumgullion for Sunday Dinner because it was always different and always delicious. What is slumgullion, you ask? Simple: mixed up leftovers. Not so simple, because if you mix up the wrong leftovers you get ... cooked garbage. Aunt Maddie does this when she makes this dish in my Starke Dead mystery series. But if you follow a few simple rules, slumgullion will become a Sunday Dinner staple in your home too!

RULES:

Think of like with like and ingredients you'd use together in dishes. In the example pictured above, I took leftover chili (steak, chili sauce, tomatoes), leftover Mexican casserole (hamburger, corn, chilis and carrots) and leftover pasta and combined. Yum!

If you have a lot of one leftover and a little of another, and not quite enough to make a meal consider another item that would combine well with your ingredients. I might add beans or some spaghetti squash to the recipe above. Or add a side dish too, a salad, perhaps.

Avoid mixing too strong of flavors, sweets and sours, for example. If Aunt Maddie was making the recipe above, she'd add apple pie! Okay, an extreme example, but Aunt Maddie is pretty extreme herself. Also avoid too many different added spices. Both these mistakes will make the food taste strange and murky.

If you have "simple" leftovers, such as cooked vegetables and chicken, consider which spices to use and try different ones for a "refreshed" dish. (I might use coriander, thyme and pepper for the vegetables and chicken, for example.)

Avoid mixing tomatoes, vinegar or lemon juice with peas, green beans and/or broccoli as the green vegetables will turn brown and bitter.

One last trick: You can always pour gravy over everything, yum! My favorite gravy recipe follows this recipe in Starke Deadly Delicious Recipes.

Sirens on Death Starke Blvd, another money saver with five authors and four books!

And my mom would be cross if I didn't mention another great deal, the first novel in my Starke Dead series, Starke Naked Dead, is in a book bundle right now! Sirens on Death Starke Blvd has five authors and four books for $1.99, for a limited time. So if you enjoy the free today Starke Deadly Delicious Recipes, head on over to get this bundle and read more of Dora Starke and her ongoing problems, one of which is named Aunt Maddie!

So dear readers, got any leftover recipes for us?

 

Great Writer's Advice, a Book Sale, and a Granola Recipe too!

Havoc overtakes a peaceful North Idaho town when feuding brothers combat a proposed safari camp. Mustard's Last Stand is the first in the Havoc in Hancock humorous suspense series.

Creating Believable Lies … and Granola

Thanks so much to Conda for inviting me to guest blog today! My post is about making fiction (and lies) seem real. I hope you will love the recipe that follows as much as I do. And that's no lie.

My novel, Mustard's Last Stand, is on sale today as part of an Amazon Countdown. Only 99 cents for a humorous suspense Kindle book that retails for $3.99. It's also available in audio format. 

In a recent conversation with my spouse, I said, "People will believe almost anything if it is told with conviction." We actually weren't discussing writing, but birding. Never an ornithologist, my dh proposed coming up with his own "life list," of birds observed, naming them whatever he chose. Today's was the Guatemalan Junko. Don't ask what it really was. Neither of us has a clue.

At any rate, the comment about belief in statements told with conviction transfers easily to writing: create a believable setting with strong characters, and readers will believe it exists. I was finishing up a mystery novel last night, set no doubt in a fictional town. The protagonist went to a café that served food so appealing that I considered trying it on my next visit to Pennsylvania. Then I remembered I was reading a story! The details made it come alive … the smell and taste of the food, the aromas abounding in the room, the personality of the server, the feel of the chair cushion beneath the character's (ample) butt. Add a sprung wire in the cushion, if you wish. Or a cranky host. Read a great sci fi novel, and soon you'll be looking for some of the inventions that made up daily life in the story world.

That is the result we're seeking when writing, and one way is to add flaws: perfection, even if it exists, doesn't seem real. 

Just this week, a reader posted a review of my novel on Amazon, and said, "What I liked most about this story was the very realistic and fascinating characters. By 'real' I mean that they did stupid things; they did wise and courageous things." 

It is cool when a reviewer makes your point for you. 

Are you a good liar, or do you stretch the truth only in fiction? What do you do in your writing to make it seem real? 

The recipe I'm including today makes a great hostess or last minute Christmas gift, and as granola goes, comes close to perfection. I tell you this in all sincerity. Believe me. Or try it and believe. With many Merry Christmas wishes, everyone.

Spiced Pumpkin and Brown Sugar Granola

Servings: Makes about 5 cups (large batch: 15 cups)

Ingredients

•           3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (large batch: 2 1/4 cups)

•           1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (large batch: 1 1/2 cups)

•           2 Tbsp. canola oil or olive oil (large batch: 6 Tbsp.)

•           1 Tbsp. vanilla extract (large batch: 3 Tbsp.)

•           2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (large batch: 6 tsp.)

•           1 tsp. ground cardamom (large batch: 3 tsp.)

•           1 tsp. kosher salt (large batch: 3 tsp.)

•           3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (large batch: 9 cups)

•           1 cup roughly chopped pecans (large batch: 3 cups)

•           1 cup pistachios (optional; large batch: 3 cups)

•           1 cup golden raisins (large batch: 3 cups)

•           1 cup dried cranberries (optional; large batch: 3 cups)

Directions

Active time: 15 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Preheat oven to 325°. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar, oil, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, cardamom, and salt. Add oats, pecans, and pistachios (if using), and toss to coat. Spread evenly on prepared baking sheet and bake 30 minutes, stirring halfway through. Stir in raisins and cranberries (if using), and continue baking until oats are just crisp, about 15 minutes more. Stir one last time, then set aside to cool completely. When hard, break into chunks and store in an airtight container.

Kathy McIntosh, a recent voluntary transplant from Boise, Idaho, to Tucson, Arizona, is enjoying the change in scenery from cottonwoods to cactus. She often sees javelinas, coyotes and roadrunners strolling through her neighborhood. She assures her concerned readers that she can still write about Havoc in Hancock, her humorous suspense series set in North Idaho, and will finish book two, Foul Wind, as soon as she rappels from the stack of moving boxes! Read more at www.KathyMcIntosh.com and visit her blog today for a delightful, easy Cinnamon Pecan recipe, just in time for the holidays!

Thank you, Kathy, for this delightful blog post and recipe! And dear readers do you have your own believable lies to tell in the comments? And/or a recipe to share?

And don't forget to pick up a copy of Mustard's Last Stand while it's on sale!

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Egg Free, Pumpkin Cake for July Fourth!

What could be more US of A than pumpkin?

Yes, it seems odd to have pumpkin cake for a Fourth of July celebration, but what is more American than pumpkin? And you'll never miss the eggs, wheat, dairy or soy, I promise! This is a recipe from my upcoming Conda's Healthy Cooking cookbook.

PUMPKIN CAKE

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Gluten Free oatmeal flour (make your own oatmeal flour using Gluten Free oatmeal--check to make sure it's GF as oatmeal is grown/processed with wheat otherwise)

2 generous teaspoons baking powder

1 generous tablespoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 generous tablespoons Ener-g Egg Replacement powder

5 generous tablespoons of vegetable oil (I use canola)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 and 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 cup of rice or coconut milk (not hemp or flax seed, it won't come out right)
1 scant teaspoon of Xanthum Gum (may be omitted)

Stir dry ingredients except for Ener-g Egg Replacement powder. In a separate bowl, combine coconut milk and pumpkin puree, heat in microwave until warm, not hot, then add the egg replacement and whisk well until dissolved. Combine the dry and wet mixtures, add the oil and mix well. Let set for 5 minutes minimum, mixing occasionally. Batter will be fairly thick, if very thick add pumpkin and or milk.

Spread batter in a greased 8x8 baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Variations:

Add nuts, walnuts and pecans work well.

Add chocolate bits (there are some that are dairy, soy and wheat free).

Add both chocolate bits and nuts.
Pictured:  I added pecans to the batter and then spread chocolate bits over the top of the cake when it was done and let them melt--instant frosting!

Any questions? Comment and I'll answer!

A "regular" version of this recipe can be found in my cookbook The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook. The new edition of this cookbook is just released with bonus recipes and short stories!

And everyone--

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!