MEET US FOR LUNCH!

Caroline Clemmons posting for Mary Adair

As Jacquie Rogers told you a few days ago, she has reversed the trail of pioneers and “Gone to Texas” from Seattle on her way to the latest Pioneer Hearts Author and Reader Meet Up at WinStar Casino’s Legends Restaurant and Grille near the Texas/Oklahoma state line. (That is, she is on her way here.) Of course, you are invited! RSVP to Kirsten Osbourne on Facebook. Although most of the authors will be western historical writers, several contemporary authors will also attend.

I’m excited about this for numerous reasons:

1.     Jacquie and I have been online friends for years and have even written a duet together, MAIL ORDER TANGLE. Her book is MAIL ORDER RUCKUS, which describes Jacquie and all of her books. J She can and does raise a ruckus! If you doubt me, join her Facebook group, Pickle Barrel Bar and Books at https://www.facebook.com/groups/JacquieRogers/. My addition to the duet is MAIL ORDER PROMISE. Hmmm, that hero and heroine raise a bit of a ruckus, too. By the way, this duet of books is available from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Mail-Order-Tangle-Caroline-Clemmons-ebook/dp/B00MZ6ZRXC/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&qid=1486505448&sr=8-23&keywords=Caroline+Clemmons

2   .    I’ll get to visit with authors I don’t often have a chance to see face-to-face, such as Callie Hutton, one of my favorite authors. As well as her historical westerns, I enjoy her Regency romances.

3.    I’ll have the opportunity to talk to readers and give out swag contributions. That’s always fun.

4.    Who doesn’t love the chance to have lunch with friends?

5.    I’ve never been to WinStar Casino and feel my education has been neglected. I don’t gamble, but don’t mind watching others indulge.

6.    This gives us me opportunity to stop at the locally famous Bucky’s on the way home. If you haven’t heard of the place, it’s a monstrously successful tourist trap on Interstate 35 near Alliance Airport selling everything from barbecue grills to fudge—and petrol. You caught that they sell fudge, didn’t you? Several flavors including maple walnut, which is my favorite.

Kirsten Osbourne organizes these events and will be at this one. If you haven’t joined her Facebook Groups, Pioneer Hearts and Contemporary Western Hearts, you’re missing interacting with authors and like-minded readers, contests, giveaways, and fun events.

PIONEER HEARTS -- https://www.facebook.com/groups/pioneerhearts/

CONTEMPORARY WESTERN HEARTS -- https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=contemporary%20western%20hearts

 Hope to see you Saturday, February 11, at Legends Restaurant and/or on Facebook!  

COWBOY COOKING WITH CALLIE HUTTON

By Guest Author Callie Hutton

Thank you for having me here today on your blog.

In my Western Historical book, A Chance to Love Again—the fourth book in my Oklahoma Lovers series—the heroine, Rachel Stevens, is a widow with a small child. She lives on a cattle ranch and works as the cook. It was fun doing the research on what life on an early 1900s cattle ranch was like, and how hard the cooks had to work to keep all those hungry cowboys fed.

During my research, I ran across some interesting recipes that the cooks used. Here is one for soda biscuits that any ranch hand cook would be making every morning:

Soda Biscuits

Take 1lb flour, and mix it with enough milk to make a stiff dough;
dissolve 1tsp carbonate of soda in a little milk;
add to dough with a teaspoon of salt.

Work it well together and roll out thin;
cut into round biscuits, and bake them in a moderate oven.
The yolk of an egg is sometimes added.

Doesn’t seem too hard, does it? Except the cook probably made three or four dozen at a clip. Think of all that kneading!  My arms get tired just thinking about it. Another favorite for the sweet tooth that the cowboys had was for Fried apples:

Fried Apples

Fry 4 slices of bacon in a Dutch oven. Remove bacon.

Peel and slice 6 to 8 Granny Smith apples.

Put apples in Dutch oven with bacon grease,
cover and cook down the apples, but not to mush.

Serve topped with butter or cream and crumbled bacon.

They're great for breakfast or dessert!

Of course, if you’re cooking for 15 or 20 hungry cowboys, 6 to 8 apples won’t cut it. So I imagine our cook was peeling and slicing an entire bushel for that crowd. And, of course, no cattle ranch cook could leave out the famous Cowboy Beans.

Cowboy Beans

1 pound dried pinto beans

1/2 yellow onion, peeled

2 cloves garlic, peeled

Water

3 ounces beef jerky, diced

1/2 cup brewed coffee

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

1 tablespoon chili powder

Salt and black pepper

Most of the recipes for Cowboy Beans that I found used some type of beef, but I liked this one because I know beef jerky was pretty plentiful on the range. This next one, however, was by far the most interesting one I discovered.

Boy in Bag

2 cups raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts (black walnuts are fine)
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup chopped suet
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup chopped dried fruit of any kind.

Chop suet into small pieces no pieces being larger than a bean.
Combine with raisins, nuts, brown sugar, and chopped dried fruit.

Then mix flour, spices, and salt with baking powder.
Add gradually to fruit mixture with milk, beating well.

Put in flour sack or tie in large square of cloth. Put in kettle of boiling water and boil 3 hours, always keeping enough boiling water, and put on cloth to drain.

After about ½ hour, untie cloth and turn pudding onto dish. Let chill.

Slice and serve with hard sauce.
This pudding will keep well and is similar to plum pudding.

This can be made in camp with molasses instead of brown sugar. Or can be made with white sugar instead of either brown sugar or molasses. 

This was a great favorite with chuck wagon cooks.

Think of the work! We are indeed spoiled today. Now it’s time for y’all to get some cowboy feeling into your next meal and try a recipe or two. But of course, drag out the crock pot, mixer, and food processor before you do.

Widow Rachel Stevens is very happy with her job as a cook for the Lazy Sunset ranch where she is raising her son. However, the new foreman, Rusty McIntyre, is turning her life upside down. She could overlook how her son has begun to idolize Rusty, but she’s having a heck of a time ignoring the flutters in her stomach every time the man smiles at her.

But Rusty has problems of his own. His previously unknown fourteen year old daughter has just arrived to live with him. Used to always being on his own, now he has a young boy following him around imitating his every move, and a surly young lady glaring at him. Throw into the mix the tug he feels toward the ranch cook—who wants no part of him—and life is no longer as easy as it once was.

Buy links: Amazon: http://amzn.to/1sV4F4j; Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1z2ulB4

I will offer a copy of any of my ebooks to one commenter, along with a $5 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice.)

Callie Hutton, Author

USA Today best selling author of The Elusive Wife, Callie Hutton writes both Western Historical and Regency romance, with “historic elements and sensory details” (The Romance Reviews). She also pens an occasional contemporary or two. Callie lives in Oklahoma with several rescue dogs, two adult children, and daughter-in-law (thankfully all not in the same house), and her top cheerleader husband of thirty-eight years. She also recently welcomed twin grandsons to her ever expanding family. Callie loves to hear from readers, and would welcome you as a “friend” on Facebook. You can contact her through her website: www.calliehutton.com.

If you would like to keep informed on sales, contests and new releases, sign up for her newsletter, Callie’s Comments here: http://bit.ly/1rsc7Ae  or join her street team, Callie’s Cohorts, where fun, gossip, contests, and general mayhem lives and flourishes. https://www.facebook.com/groups/calliescohorts/

I FEEL LUCKY!

This fall I am indeed fortunate because I have multiple releases. As an author, productivity is important. How else can an author hope readers will remember my name and look for my books? Readers are who keeps authors motivated to please. We court you and pray you'll buy and enjoy our books.

I don't write literary fiction. No angst-filled downers from the authors on this blog. I seek to entertain readers and to provide an escape from whatever problems devil readers. Books I write guarantee a happily-ever-after for everyone but the villain.

Please let me share another occasion with you. WILD WESTERN WOMEN, my latest release, is a boxed set with four other authors.  For this release, we have a gift card, free downloads, and several lovely pieces of jewelry. You can enter at the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

One of my giveaways--a black and silver-plated
Dreamcatcher "Power of Three" neclace and earrngs

The five novellas and two bonus short stories are:

USA Today Best Selling Author Kirsten Osbourne – MAIL ORDER MISUNDERSTANDING

Julia traveled West to be a schoolteacher. Thomas requested a mail order bride. When he arrives at the train station to pick up his bride, Thomas mistakenly thinks Julia is there for him. Julia sees Thomas and thinks he's there from the school board. She's married an hour later.

USA Today Best Selling Author Callie Hutton – A CHANCE TO LOVE AGAIN

Widow Rachel Stevens is very happy with her job as a cook for the Lazy Sunset ranch where she is raising her son. However, the new foreman, Rusty McIntyre, is turning her life upside down. She could overlook how her son has begun to idolize Rusty, but she’s having a heck of a time ignoring the flutters in her stomach every time the man smiles at her.

But Rusty has problems of his own. His previously unknown fourteen year old daughter has just arrived to live with him. Used to always being on his own, now he has a young boy following him around imitating his every move, and a surly young lady glaring at him. Throw into the mix the tug he feels toward the ranch cook—who wants no part of him—and life is no longer as easy as it once was.

Best Selling Author Caroline Clemmons – SAVE YOUR HEART FOR ME

After fleeing an abusive husband six years ago, Beth Jeffers wants nothing more than to protect her son Davey and to help her mother operate a Texas Hill Country boarding house. The strong women in her family have had no luck with men, and she has no intention of letting any man influence her son. Not even handsome lawman Matt Petrov, no matter how much her lonely heart urges otherwise.

Federal Marshall Matt Petrov, also known as Lone Wolf Peters, fell in love with Beth the first time he saw her. Then she was another man’s wife, so he kept his longing a secret. But he’s saved his l heart for her for six horrific years. Now, the lovely widow and he have crossed paths again. This time, he intends to risk all for a chance at happiness. First he must rescue his distant kinsman from an assassin’s clutches and protect Beth’s son Davey from the villain. Mystery, kidnapping, and twists await Matt and Beth. But will Matt’s secrets shatter the love he and Beth share?

Best Selling Author Sylvia McDaniel – DESPERATE

After the death of their father, the McKenzie sisters, Meg, Annabelle and Ruby try the normal ways for women to earn a living in a small western town. When they fail, the McKenzie sisters decide to take up their father’s profession, bounty hunting. They quickly learn they can use their feminine wiles and their Baby Dragoons to earn their way in the old west. They’re tough and resilient, badass women in this historical western novella. Kick off the adventure with the first installment of the new series, Lipstick and Lead with Desperate.

Best Selling Author Merry Farmer – THE INDOMITABLE EVE

The one thing Eve deLaurent has wished for in the two years since her sister, Amelia, was whisked away to America was to be a family again. But the tragedy that befell her once Amelia was gone has left her wounded, body and soul. Now, reunited with her sister, all Eve wants to do is run. Amelia’s new, happy life is a betrayal deeper than Eve can stand. She would leave and never look back, were it not for Mark Andrews.

As Cold Springs’s reverend, Mark is used to people confiding their darkest sins and looking to him for help. So when he sees the pain behind Eve’s mask of confidence, all he wants to do is help her. But Eve awakens a desire in him that reminds him that even a man of God is still a man. They seem to be everything the other wants and needs, but can the people of Cold Springs accept an actress in their pastor’s arms? Can they be together if bitter family betrayals keep Eve and Amelia at each other’s throats?

You’re only as strong as the loves that hold you together...

Bonus Stories

Plus bonus stories from Caroline Clemmons, "Stone Mountain Reunion," and from Merry Farmer, "A Hero's Heart"

All of this at the bargain price of 99 cents!

WILD WESTERN WOMEN Buy links are:

Amazon                AmazonUK

iTunes

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CALLIE HUTTON SHARES INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HER LATEST RELEASE--PLUS A GIVEAWAY!

Thanks for having me here today, ladies. I’m excited about my new book, THE DUKE’S QUANDARY, which released today! This story is the second book in my Marriage Mart Mayhem series. The first book, THE ELUSIVE WIFE, was the story of Jason, Earl of Coventry.

THE DUKE’S QUANDARY, for those of you who read THE ELUSIVE WIFE is about Drake, Coventry’s best friend. The story is about a shy, socially backward, somewhat clumsy botanist, who is forced by her aunt and trustee to travel to London and stay with Drake’s family for the Season. The inspiration for this story actually came from a 1971 move with Walter Matthau and Elaine Mays, entitled “A New Leaf.” Elaine Mays plays a character similar to Penelope in my story. However, the stories themselves are not similar.

An interesting facet of my research for this book was the information I got online about The Linnean Society, which is the organization my heroine, Penelope, belonged to under a man’s pseudonym. I wrote to the PR person at the society, and she gave me some interesting facts. One of which is that author Beatrix Potter offered a scientific treatise for the organization, but because she was a woman, she was unable to present it.

Since there are still another five books in the series, two of which will release this year: THE LADY’S DISGRACE (October) and THE BARON’S HOMECOMING (December), I found it necessary to keep quite an extensive list of characters. If my character in THE DUKE’S QUANDARY visited Coventry, I needed to know the name of the butler at his estate. I imagine as the series continues, my list will grow quite long.

Thank you for stopping by today and visiting. I’d like to offer an autographed copy of THE ELUSIVE WIFE to one US commenter, or an ebook copy if the winner is international. If the winner has already read THE ELUSIVE WIFE, I will offer a copy of another of my books.

Callie Hutton

www.calliehutton.com

Buy links: Amazon: http://amzn.to/1cEfS2r

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1bzDebf

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1pdjAFz

Author Callie Hutton

Callie Hutton always knew those stories she made up in her head would be written down one day. There was nowhere else for them to go. After years of writing articles and interviews for magazines and company newsletters, she decided to tackle writing a book. That was back in 2010. Now with twelve books under her belt, and seven more contracted, the relief at having somewhere to tell those stories is wonderful. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband, adult children and three dogs.

Author Social Network links:

Twitter: @calliehutton

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Callie-Hutton/206166449404454;

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5349775.Callie_Hutton

Remember to leave your email in your comment to be entered for a copy of Callie's  THE ELUSIVE WIFE.