Oh my Goodness! My heart is nearly pounding out of my chest. (Fanning my face rapidly! No swooning when the news is this good, Zula! Getting a grip. Back to earth!)
I have an announcement!
Can you imagine anything more exciting than discovering a murder? And then the murderer? Right in our neighborhood? How about taking one "for the team?" Let's not forget my major injury!
Well!!!! The book containing OUR STORY hit #1 in TWO that is TWO, not a typo. TWO CATEGORIES!
Don't go look. We aren't there any more. But for shining, GLORIOUS hours in time we were the number #1! ONE!!!!! Doesn't get better than that!!! NUMBER #1 in TWO categories of Amazon Kindle book sales. (I am most offended the author who discovered this did NOT take a picture!)
I told buyers (okay, it was a free download, but still, they had to invest!!!) that I'd give them a free Zula-extrodinaire recipe for their trouble.
I'm going to make it spectacular. It's going to be a creation. And that takes time, and tweaking. It will have to be GOLD medal, BLUE ribbon and #1 in TWO categories good.
In the meantime. A little teaser... a life hint that can make three ho-hum good-enough ingredients SHINE like a golden hued mirage on the dessert table. Take this token idea and own it. You deserve the treat. The GOLDEN MEDAL preview if you will. Ready?
Grab some ice cream. Any flavor. Place it on the counter for about 10-15 minutes. Now. If your house is as cool as a crypt you might need a bit longer. If you are in the humid, hot-as-hades region of the southerly states, a little less. You want the ice cream to soften. Not melt, soften. Take chocolate-chip or sugar cookies. Those dreadful store brand in the package if you'd like. Even the ones at the Dollar Store, those crunchy, blah, semi-cardboard sugar-bombs of meh. While your ice cream is softening scrounge around for sprinkles, chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips, crushed candy bars, toasted coconut whatever you think would be a nice touch with the flavors you've chosen. Sugar cookies with orange sherbet and toasted coconut. Chocolate chip cookies with strawberry ice cream and sprinkles or mini chocolate chips. Chocolate chip with chocolate chip cookie dough rolled in mini chocolate chips. Oh my! The sea of possibilities. Chocolate chip cookies filled with oreo cookie ice cream and rolled in crushed cookie crumbs. Cookie Delight!
Plop a scoop of ice cream onto a cookie backside. Cover with another cookie backside and squeeze just a little til ice cream comes to the edge. If too much mooshes out use your finger to remove it so you don't end up with a hump. Don't serve friends cookies with humps (you can save those for yourself!) Roll the edge with the ice cream peeking out into whatever bits you found. Place back into the freezer for a half hour or longer to let it firm back up. Then redip/reroll your cookie ice cream sandwich again, pressing a little to pick up any more goodness or to cover any bald spots! Place back into the freezer until you are ready to eat them!!!! Fake Gourmet deliciousness.
Now if you want to truly make this GOLD MEDAL worthy make your own cookies and ice cream. That'll wow them.
Stay tuned for "the" recipe. The queen mother of deliciousness. And thanks for making our story #1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel the need to share an idea that is not mine. And I am struggling mightily doing so. I'm not even going to mention the name of the person bringing this inspired treat. But suffice it to say that she is a competitor in my little world and by golly I sure don't want this to look like I'm giving her a nod. But I overheard that the idea was not hers, either. So I will share then. And give the credit to Pinterest. Where it belongs. And mention that I will make this "good idea" sing like a Diva. I will use homemade ice creams and creative twists and it will become Grand Prize winning in my hands!
I didn't take any pictures. You certainly can guess how that'd look! She would have seen me snapping away and gotten all smug and puffed up and popped a few buttons. I could not have that. Not at all. So you will need to use your imaginations. (I did include a picture of another creation of mine, lime and toasted coconut...)
The Pinterest idea was:
In a muffin tin, silicone muffin liners, or foil muffin liners place an Oreo type cookie. I highly recommend the silicone for the lower mess potential. If you are using a muffin tin or foil liners I would recommend greasing them first. (I might do half the cookie because it's frozen and I sure wouldn't want someone losing a partial or crown on my watch.)
Plog some slightly softened ice-cream on top of the cookie. Any flavor. Fill it about 2/3 of the way, so about 1/4 a cup or 2-3 TBSPs should do. (Zula change-ups would include two flavors with a ribbon of deliciousness between like raspberry sorbet, raspberry jam, chocolate ice cream or I'd use a hand crafted blizzard like ice cream.)
Cover this with chocolate sauce. Freeze until ready to serve. (Here's where I'd have so much fun!!! I'd use my signature ice cream toppings including the State Fair Blue Ribbon Fudge Sauce, my Newspaper Contest Winning Caramel Delight topping, and my Banana Split Dazzler. Then I'd top with a dusting of delicious items or perfectly placed "piece de resistances" that would compliment the ice cream such as chocolate covered half cookies or a dollop of cookie dough drizzled with chocolate or a flourish of sugar glazed nuts or lemon peel ribbons, oh, the endless possibilities here.
The ones I saw were just plain jane rather than works of art. So the potential. Oh my! I feel giddy about the possibilities!!!!!
Don't forget to enter the contest the writers are running. One day left!!!! Just one day! http://www.bookfun.org/group/kelly-klepfer-author-group/forum/topics/july-17th-giveaway-event-chance-to-be-part-of-new-novel
So full. Are you?
Goodness. I made such a feast.
For Fern and me. Bob had other plans. I'm not pouting. But I will remind him as often as I feel it is appropriate to do so that he was not with me on the glorious holiday that celebrates food. And my cooking. He loves my cooking.
I will describe in great detail the golden hue on the butter topped flaky buns and how they smelled like yeasty heaven come down when the oven released their delicious aroma. And how the stuffing I made tasted of fresh sage, celery and hickory nuts with the tiniest slivers of roasted garlic. And my pumpkin pie with the home crafted cloud of whipped cream melted in my mouth. The brown sugar glazed pecans adding just the texture needed to complete the bite.
Yes.
I will tell him.
He spent Thanksgiving in a restaurant. Have you ever?
But, on a positive note I did get Fern to read this article and agree that she doesn't want to be a cat in the Lord's kingdom. I think she is warming to Fifi, finally.
I missed the Super Moon.
I didn't miss it, miss it. But Bobbykins was out of town for a few days. And when he returned to Paradise he was laid up with back issues. Those long car trips are rough on him.
While others were gazing into each others' eyes and whispering sweet nothings including proposals of marriage while the huge moon crept out of the horizon and into the sky I was serving chicken noodle soup and changing out ice packs. I did make this recipe. You have to go to the lady's blog to get it. One of the writer sent it in and FORGOT to tell everyone that it's my recipe. Oh. They have a book giveaway, too.
Anyhoo!!!! I pointed the moon out once or five times to Bob. Even suggested we try to sit outside for a bit. He grunted. I'm sure there was love and maybe a little awe in those grunts, but that's all I got.
So I had to live vicariously through pictures.
Have you seen some of them? Ooooh baby, that was one huge moon.
While looking at pictures I found out some facts, too. (Don't worry, even though I saw it on Facebook I'm sure it's accurate. They said it came from Scientific American.)
Dogs are more likely to end up in the emergency room. I hugged Fifi extra tight after reading that fact. Shudder. I had her out and about with me, coming and going. The little thing probably has post dramatic stress issues because of the whole murder fiasco and near death of her mommies. Oh, gracious. I'm so glad I missed this fact before the moon or I would have had her on lock down, behind Fern's closed door where there is literally nothing she could hurt herself with. Fern has a desk and a bedside table and nothing on the walls. Or surfaces. It's worse than a hotel. At least hotels have colors. Not Fern. Fifi would have definitely gotten post dramatic distress from that.
One of the other facts. Plants grow better during full moons. Woot! Woot! The garden club meets in my garden the day after tomorrow. That means I'm going to be full flower. So I can still claim something wonderful from that big old moon.
Gotta go take care of the Bobbis. He's feeling better but still needs a little TLC. And I like to call it ZLC cuz with Zula on the move Loving Care is off the charts. Full super moon TLC. Now just to freshen up and sprinkle that extra cinnamon love on those muffins. The man is going to be moonstruck without the benefit of Super Moon.
The writers are quiet. One has moved off to promote another story. Her characters aren't quite up to having their own blog if that says anything. And I think it does. Granted, those characters are historical so the world webs weren't around then, but that's beside the point.
I am quite capable of stepping outside the book covers and moving and shaking. Shake what your mama gave you, folks. That's my motto.
While you are shaking you might as well be baking. Not baking per say, because these are no bake treats. But I think you get the drift.
These are totally season appropriate which is why I'm going to share them now.
Saltysweet Sensations (try singing it, very lyrical)
3 TBSP coconut oil
3 TBSP peanut butter (creamy, crunchy, whichever you have is good)
1 package marshmallows (10 ounce)
4 Cups krispy or flaky cereal
1 Cup dry roasted peanuts
1 Cup candy corn
*Optional - 1 Cup chocolate chips or candy coated chocolate pieces should you need a chocolate fix. Note that the color of your treat will change unless you wait until they are cooled. I left the chocolate out this time. Peanutty delicious. Also if you leave out the chocolate you can share with your four-legged bestie. Fifi danced and whirled for a morsel of these.
Melt coconut oil and peanut butter. Add marshmallows. When melted throw everything else in and mix. Press down into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Use wet damp hands to press or a spatula if you don't want sticky fingers. And cut them with a pizza cutter when cool. These are delicious!
No, no chicken. But it's not false advertising it's just a creative way to grab attention. And the prize was so much better than chicken. Goodness. The prize was copies of our story!!!!
But that drawing is over. New month, new pumpkin recipe ideas swirling in my mind. And apple recipes. The ciders, the spices, the holiday meals to begin preparing. Oh, I just can't wait to unleash my ideas on people!
When my darling, may he rest in peace, husband and I lived in a little town in Illinois, before Fern became my near neighbor, so she can't weigh in with any comments. There used to be a flurry over an invitation to my house. I was whipping up French Chef delicacies almost every weekend so we started inviting people over. That French food isn't always good for a working man's lunch pail the next day so we needed help to cut down on leftovers. The first time my hubby-wubby took a beautifully packed napoleon in his pail he said the guys laughed for a month. The quit laughing when he refused to share the chocolate mousse a few weeks later. That showed them. Anyhoo, our weekend dinners got so popular people were offering to buy the ingredients if only they could have a seat at the table. I still have a bit of that, especially when I make my spice cake. Or cinnamon bun muffins, or Salmon de Zula, or my chocolate and potato chip cookies.
Whew. I got a little bunny traily there for a bit.
I was writing to reveal the winners for the Goodreads giveaway. Someone named David and another one named Nancy. If you are reading this, congratulations. One of the writers will get that out to you.
But if you aren't David or Nancy there is a new chance. And an old one that's almost over...it ends today. So go here and here and enter away.
