For Readers

Due to COVID-19, I've scaled back all book signings and personal appearances for the foreseeable future. That makes me sad on many fronts, but mostly because I look forward to meeting you at these events. Not only that, but many of you hope to pick up signed copies of my latest releases at signings and such, and I don't want you to be disappointed. However, I have a limited number of copies of most of my books on hand, which I'd be happy to personally autograph and mail to you. To take advantage of this limited time offer, simply send me a note through the Contact page. (The cost of each book varies, but I match Amazon's price plus the actual shipping costs.)

Until we all get through this, whether you're sheltering at home, on the front lines or someplace in between, I pray that you stay safe and remain healthy.

Leigh

32 ounces dry-roasted peanuts

24 ounces (2 bags) semi-sweet chocolate chips

20 ounces (2 bags) Peanut Butter chips (or 1 cup chunky peanut butter)

2 bags of white chocolate melting wafers

Spray a large crockpot with Pam.

Place the peanuts in the bottom of of the slow cooker.

Cover peanuts with peanut butter chips or peanut butter.

Add the semi-sweet chips and melting wafers.

Place the lid on the crockpot and cook on low for 1 hour.

Remove lid. Stir mixture well.

Place lid back on crockpot. Cook on low for 30 minutes.

Stir again.

Drop clusters by tablespoon on parchment paper.

Let harden for several hours.

Store in an airtight container.

Candies can also be frozen for future use.

Enjoy!

2 packages chopped broccoli, thawed (or 2 heads broccoli, trimmed and chopped)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 c grated cheddar cheese (more for topping, if desired)

2 eggs slightly beaten

½ cup mayonnaise

1 small onion, chopped

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except crackers.

Spray 9x12 casserole dish with Pam.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan.

Top with crushed crackers and additional cheese, if desired.

Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Enjoy!

The cooked casserole freezes well for use up to 3 months later.

Granny Duke's Ritz-y Chicken:

4-6 boneless chicken breasts

1 onion

3 celery stalks

1 10 3/4-ounce can of cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed

1/2 cup butter, melted

Boil chicken breast with onion and celery for 1/2 hour.

Remove chicken from liquid, reserving one cup of broth.

Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Scatter chicken in the bottom of a greased 9x13x2-inch casserole dish.

In a medium bowl, combine soup, sour cream and broth until smooth.

Pour sauce over chicken.

Top with crushed Ritz crackers and melted butter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Enjoy!

Granny Duke's Red Velvet Cake:

3 tablespoons Nestle's Quik (Nesquik) Chocolate Powder

2 ounces red food coloring (wear an apron!)

1/2 cup shortening (Crisco) or butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted 3 times

1 dash salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 recipe Red Velvet Frosting (below)

Grease 3 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper. Grease parchment paper. Lightly flour.

In a small bowl, combine drink powder with red food coloring. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar using an electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, beating well.

Stir in food coloring mixture.

Add the dash of salt and stir.

Add 1/3 cake flour and 1/3 buttermilk. Beat until well combined. Repeat twice.

Remove beaters. Continue mixing with a spoon or spatula.

Stir in vinegar and mix well.

Add baking soda and mix well. (Never add vinegar and baking soda at the same time.)

Divide batter between the three prepared pans. Spread using spatula.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan and center springs back with lightly pressed.

Cool on wire racks for 5 minutes before removing from pans. Cool completely before frosting with Red Velvet Frosting.

Granny Duke's Red Velvet Frosting:

1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

2/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, cream shortening with butter using an electric mixer.

Gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Add flour by teaspoons, beating until fully incorporated.

Continue beating while adding vanilla and milk.

Beat until light and fluffy (frosting should be the consistency of whipped cream)

Enjoy!

Batter:

1 1/2 cups apple cider

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. apple pie spice

1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. butter, melted

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup milk, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp. apple pie spice

6 Tbs. butter, melted

Stirring occasionally, simmer the apple cider in a small saucepan over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until it is reduced to approximately 1/2 cup. Cool for 10-15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray donut pan with non-stick spray.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, apple pie spice and salt together in a large bowl.

Whisk the melted butter, egg, brown sugar, granulated sugar, milk and vanilla together in a separate bowl. Pour into the dry ingredients, add the reduced apple cider, and whisk everything together until smooth and well combined. (Batter will be thick-ish.)

Pour batter into a large plastic bag or measuring cup. If using a plastic bag, cut one of one corner. Either pipe or pour the batter into the donut cups, filling about halfway.

Bake for 10-11 minutes or until edges and tops are lightly brown. Donuts are done when the top springs back if you poke it lightly. Cool in pans for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire rack.

Combine topping ingredients except butter in a wide-mouthed bowl. Pour melted butter into a separate wide-mouthed bowl.

Once the donuts are cool enough to handle, dunk both sides of each donut in melted butter, then dip generously in the apple spice topping.

Donuts are best served immediately. Cover leftovers tightly and store at room temperature for 2 days or refrigerate for up to 5 days. (Donuts may be frozen with or without sugar/spice coating.)

Brown meat and drain.

Place drained meat in large crock pot (or large soup pan).

Sauté onion and green pepper in corn oil or drippings. Add to crock pot.

Add all other ingredients except Ranch Dressing.

Cook on ‘high’ in crock pot all day, or bring to boil on top of stove and simmer slowly all day, stirring occasionally.

30 minutes before serving, stir in Ranch Dressing (if you remember – I almost always forget!).

Add salt/pepper as desired.

Serve with corn bread or tortilla chips.

We like ours topped with a little sour cream and shredded cheese.

Enjoy!

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of flour with 1 package of yeast. In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup shortening and 1 tsp. salt until shortening melts and liquid is warm, but not hot. Add liquid from saucepan to dry mixture and stir.

Add two eggs. Using an electric mixer, beat at low speed for 30 seconds. Then, beat for 3 minutes at high speed, scraping bowl frequently. By hand, stir in 1 1/2 - 2 cups additional flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Scrape bowl and pour dough onto a floured surface. Knead 5-10 minutes until dough is soft and elastic. Form dough into a ball and place in large, oiled bowl. Turn dough over so that top surface is oily. Cover with towel and let rise in warm place until doubled (45-60 minutes). Punch down. Divide dough in half. Roll each half of dough to 12x8" rectangle.

Melt 1/4 cup butter and brush each rectangle with half of the butter. Combine 1/2 tsp. sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon, and sprinkle each half of dough with half the mixture.

Sprinkle plumped raisins on each half. (To plump raisins, place in a small saucepan, cover with water. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and let sit 15 minutes. Drain.) Starting on the long side, roll each half into a cylinder. Cut each half into 6 pieces. Place 12 rolls in greased 9x12” casserole. Cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes.

While rolls are baking, make icing by combining 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar with 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1 tbs. milk. Drizzle icing over warm rolls.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray baking pan with Pam.

Mix egg and milk in shallow bowl.
Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and seasonings in a separate shallow bowl.
Dip chicken pieces into egg mixture, then roll in bread crumb mixture and place on pan.

Dribble melted butter over each piece of chicken.
If any crumb mixture is left over, divide evenly and spread over chicken.
Sprinkle with lemon juice.
If desired, top with thinly sliced lemons.

Bake at 375 degrees.
Boneless breasts: 30 minutes
Bone-in breasts: 45 minutes

Enjoy!

I recommend using a medium-weight yarn and a size H crochet hook.

Round 1: Chain 4. Slip stitch to form a circle.

Round 2: 7 single crochet (sc) in the circle. Mark the first sc with a small piece of yarn or safety pin.

Round 3: 2 sc in the marked stitch and place yarn in first sc, 1 sc in the next stitch. Repeat all the way around.

Round 4: 2 sc in the marked stitch and place yarn in first sc, 1 sc in the next 2 stitches. Repeat all the way around.

Repeat Round 4 if necessary until circle is 3" in diameter.

Round 5: 1 sc in back loops only all the way around.

Round 6: 1 sc in each stitch all the way around.

Repeat Round 6 until height of coozie reaches 4". Finish off.

Enjoy!

What to Watch

When There’s

Nothing To Watch

2020 has presented us with many challenges, including the need to entertain ourselves while staying safe/staying healthy at home. Hubby and I stay pretty busy during the day, but evening usually finds him strumming his guitar (softly) and me busily crocheting in front of the TV. Over the last six months, we’ve caught up on all our regular shows and found a few new favorites, including:

Downton Abbey

Game of Thrones

Lost in Space

Ozark

Stranger Things

The Last Kingdom

The Man in the High Castle

The Mandalorian

I realize not everyone watches the same thing on TV. We have that problem at our house. For instance, hubby is a huge fan of Sci Fi, while I could be perfectly happy watching the Hallmark Channel day in and day out.

But where do you turn after you’ve seen all your favorites so often you can recite lines of dialogue? For help, I asked people on my Facebook page, who recommended the following shows. One word of warning: I haven’t had a chance to see many of these myself. Your likes/dislikes may not be the same as theirs, or for that matter, the same as mine. So watch one or two, and let me know what you think. Who knows? You may discover a new favorite, or two.

Acorn TV

Murdoch Mysteries (Drama)

Republic of Doyle (Canadian Comedy/Drama)

Amazon

Are You Being Served (British Comedy) Available on DVD

Amazon Prime

Atlanta (Drama)

Bosch (Drama)

Fringe (Sci Fi)

Goliath (Legal Drama)

Jack Ryan series (Action Adventure Drama)

Job Guys (Comedy/Drama)

The Expanse (Sci Fi)

The Feed (Sci Fi/Drama)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Comedy/Drama)

Apple Plus

The Morning Show (Drama)

Hulu

24 (Drama)

Little Fires Everywhere (Drama)

Timeless (Sci Fi/Drama)

Netflix

Anne with an E (Historical Drama)

Away (Sci Fi/Drama)

Broadchurch (British Crime Drama)

Crash Landing On You (Drama-Subtitles)

Designated Survivor (Drama)

Dolly Parton Heartstrings (Drama)

Grace and Frankie (Comedy)

Hart of Dixie (Comedy/Drama)

Heartland (Drama)

Hell on Wheels (Western)

Last Tango in Halifax (British Comedy-Drama)

Lucifer (Drama)

Offspring (Drama)

Outer Banks (Action/Adventure)

Peaky Blinders (British Crime Drama)

Raising Dion (Sci Fi/Drama)

Schitt’s Creek (Comedy)

Supernatural (Horror)

The Crown (Historical Drama)

The Good Witch (Comedy/Drama)

The Politician (Comedy/Drama)

The West Wing (Political Drama)

Travelers (Sci Fi)

Umbrella Academy (Sci Fi/Drama)

Virgin River (Drama)

When Calls the Heart (Drama)

Young and Hungry (Sitcom)

Network TV

NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, NCIS New Orleans (CBS)

Supergirl (CBS/The CW)

The Beverly Hillbillies (Tubi TV)/YouTube

The Good Place (NBC)

Yellowstone (ParamountNetwork)

For Readers

Scroll down for Recipes, Crochet Projects, TV Recommendations and More

Recipes

LEIGH'S CHOCOLATE-COVERED PEANUTS

AUNT DORIS'S BROCCOLI CASSEROLE

GRANNY DUKE'S RITZ-Y CHICKEN

GRANNY DUKE'S RED VELVET CAKE

Apple Cider Donuts

(Many thanks to Lisa Ann for sharing this recipe!)

Aunt Doris's Taco Soup

Jason’s Favorite Cinnamon Buns

Leigh's Chicken Parm

Crochet Projects

TV 2020

What to Watch

When There’s

Nothing To Watch

FAQ's