Kitchen Guest Marie Higgins

Hello everyone! Thank you for dropping by. Today we have a guest, Author Marie Higgins, she will be giving us a recipe her characters have in one of her stories!

Greetings, food lovers! I’m going to share with you one of the food dishes in my Regency romance, The Sweetest Touch (book 2 in my series, Sons of Worthington). The recipe I’m sharing is:

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
Ingredients
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup frozen peas and carrots (I actually use the mixed veggies)
1 cup cooked, cut-up chicken
1 can (10 ¾ ounces) condensed creamy chicken soup
1 cup pancake mix
1/3 cup milk
Paprika, if desired.

Directions
Heat 1 ½ cups of milk, peas and carrots, chicken and soup in large pan. Stir frequently until boiling. Stir pancake mix and 1/3 cup milk together until doughy. Drop dough by spoonfuls into boiling chicken mixture. Sprinkle with Paprika. Turn heat to low. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, then cover with lid and cook another ten minutes.

Here’s the blurb from my story, The Sweetest Kiss.

Louisa wakes from a deep heavy fog, surrounded by strangers and horrified to discover she's been the sole victim of a terrible buggy accident. Worse... she remembers nothing.

Trevor Worthington, Duke of Kenbridge, can’t trust women. Yet after nearly killing the amnesiac Louisa, he has little choice but to open his home to her. His heart softens to the straggly woman in beggars garb as he strives to help her regain her memory. As proof of Louisa's scars, both physical and those lurking beneath the surface, come to light, Trevor finds himself more and more drawn to the mysterious woman. However he is hesitant to enter another nightmarish entanglement like his first marriage.

Louisa is all too happy to accept employment in the Duke's household though it quickly becomes apparent she doesn't fit in at all! For starters she speaks French and has no skills to speak of. Bits and pieces of conflicting memories flash through her mind, lending more confusion to the puzzle of her life. Fortunately the duke proves ever patient with her myriad of mistakes and Louisa finds herself falling in love with the kind, brooding man. As their budding relationship progresses from improper to scandalous Louisa's memory begins to return. Dare she tell Trevor the horrible truths of her past? That she belongs to an evil man known only as Macgregor.

As the heartbreaking facts of Louisa's past are exposed and decade old questions come to light, will the truth keep these lovers from happiness? Will Trevor be able to give love another chance? Or will Louisa's sweet touch prove yet another forgotten memory...

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Sunday Brunch!

Welcome! It's Sunday Brunch.

You may think breakfast is easy, and it is, but I hope I give you a few ideas of how to spruce up your everyday breakfast. I have put amounts for one to four people.

Meat - The easy part. For this brunch I used sausage links. Put them in the pan on low to slowly cook while doing the rest of the food.

Breakfast potatoes
1 tlbsp. Olive oil in the pan
1 - 4 potatoes cut in to cubes
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 - 2 Roasted chili chopped. substitute jalapeno's if you want.
1/8 cup chopped onions.
The following to taste:
Basil (fresh if possible)
Chili powder
Crushed chili's
Pepper
Salt
Stir potatoes enough to coat with the olive oil. Add all the other ingredients cook in a sauce pan on medium until done. Approx. 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Scrambled Eggs
2 to 8 eggs whipped with milk and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2 cloves garlic chopped
Shallot chopped
Small leaf of kale chopped
In a frying pan add enough oil to coat the garlic, shallot, and kale and saute, once tender add eggs and scramble.
Serve with tortilla's or toast.
Enjoy. PS -- Last Summer I redid the cabinets and walls in the kitchen, this summer we are doing the tile on the counter and floor. You will see this in the background. It will look great when it's done.

Amazing Fish Tacos

Fish Tacos:
1-3 Fillets of Tilapia
1 lemon sliced or lemon juice
Shredded cabbage 4" taco shells - corn or flour, your preference.
2-3 Jalapeno Chopped
1/2 cup red onions chopped.
4 Tomatoes - 2 seeded and finely chopped / 2 cubed.
2 cloves chopped
1 Avocado sliced
Long cooking rice
Cilantro to taste
Salt & pepper to taste
chili pepper to taste

Chop all the veggies, split the chopped peppers, garlic, and onion into two portions. Add the finely chopped tomatoes to one half of the veggie mix, add seasonings to taste and set aside for salsa garnish for tacos. Add the larger cubed tomatoes to the other half. Add seasonings to taste and set aside for rice.

Spray a fry pan with cooking oil or add some olive oil and wipe over the pan. Add fish, salt and pepper and squeeze lemon slices over fish and put slices in to cook with fish. Or use juice if you don't have lemons. Turn as needed, cook on a med to low heat until flakes with a fork.

Bring water to boil. Then add rice and seasonings. When rice is almost done, added tomatoes mixture and continued to cook until done.

Place half a fillet on each shell, add salsa, cabbage, and a slice of avocado. Rice served on the side.
Enjoy!

Sea Scallops over Spaghetti Squash

Sea Scallops over Spaghetti Squash.

Approximately 8 scallops thawed.
Medium Spaghetti Squash cut lengthwise and all the seeds scooped out.
3 Tomatoes chopped.
1/2 - 1 Jalapeno (seeds optional--spicier with).
1/4 onion chopped.
1/2 stalk celery
Fresh Basil and oregano chopped. (about 1 tsp. each)
Virgin Olive Oil
Garlic
1/8 to 1/4 cup of red wine.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place squash face down in pan with about an inch of water and cook for approximately 45 minutes. Done when you can use your finger and push the skin and leave an indent. Take out and use a fork to pull stringed squash out into a bowl, salt and pepper to taste.

Heat oil in pan and saute onion, pepper, celery. Mash fresh oregano and basil with chopped tomatoes with potato smasher. Also, if you remember blanch and peel the tomatoes before chopping and mashing. Add to the sauteed vegetables and wine and simmer for about an hour.

Heat a little more oil in a pan and salt and pepper to taste and sear sea scallops on both sides. Serve over the squash and tomato sauce and add a little grated Parmesan cheese to enhance. Serve with fresh bread or garlic bread.

Irish Sausage Rolls

Today I've made Irish Sausage Rolls ala Mary. Enjoy!

These are so easy you can almost make them in your sleep. Here are the ingredients, the amounts depend on how big of crowd you expect. Use the amounts accordingly, IE 1 lb sausage - 1 egg. 2 lb sausage - 2 eggs, etc.

Irish Sausage Rolls
1 - 2 lbs. Sausage - Your choice of mild, medium, or HOT and most of you know I go with the HOT.
1 - 2 eggs
1/2 cup - 1 cup Bread cubes crushed
1 - 2 Cloves garlic chopped
1/2 Tsp to 1 tsp Marjoram
1/2 Tsp to 1 tsp Thyme
1/2 Tsp to 1 tsp Rosemary
1/4 Tsp to 3/4 tsp Salt (or to taste)
1/4 Tsp to 3/4 tsp Pepper (or to taste)
2 - 4 cans of 8 crescent rolls

Mix Sausage, egg, seasonings, and crumbs in a bowl and mix together thoroughly. Make into 5 inch logs about 1 inch in diameter. Cook in a frying pan or skillet until done. Line cooking sheet with parchment paper. Cut each log into half and roll into a crescent roll. Place on backing sheet and bake at the temperature on the roll can. Cook about 17 minutes.
Serve warm
Enjoy!

Holiday Stuffing

Is that time of the year... The holiday's. I made up my own recipe for stuffing this year. Some people call it dressing. I thought I'd share.

1 Cup - Onion, chopped.
1 Cup - Celery, sliced.
1 Cup - Apple, chopped.
5 oz. - Dried cranberries (sweetened)
1/2 Cup - butter
2 1/2 cups - white wine
2-3 cloves - garlic minced.
1 Tbsp- fresh sage chopped.
2 Tbsps- Basil
1 Tsp - Rosemary.
1/4 tsp - Sea Salt.
1/2 tsp - pepper.
1 16 oz bag - dried bread cubes

Pour bread in to a very large bowl. Melt butter in a saucepan add onion, celery, garlic, and apple. Saute for about 10 minutes until onions and celery are firm but softening. Add the wine and mix. Add cranberries, sage, and other spices to the bread. Pour a little of the liquid mixture over and stir to moisten adding a little at a time until everything is thoroughly mixed. Bake on 325 for an hour or use stuff turkey.

Enjoy.

Lazy Day - Build a Sandwich

Yes, it's football Sunday and you do not want to be away from the action. It's a day to just build a sandwich. But you don't want to just throw a piece of meat in between two pieces of bread.

What you need - use whatever type of meat you'd like: Deli Turkey, Beef, Ham, or all of the above.
Bacon
Cheese
Hoagie bun
Lettuce, tomato, onion, jalapeno's (optional)
Mayo or Miracle Whip and mustard.
Cook the bacon until it's to your likely and put aside. Toast the bun, add cheese and melt the cheese. Then add whatever fixing you want. Starting with bacon, meats, lettuce, tomato, onions, etc. And you have a sandwich. As you can see, basically this is something you can build to your specification. Enjoy!