I'm a Winner!

I just came away from the NaNoWriMo website after having validated my 2012 NaNo novel.  It came in at 50,225 words.

If you recall, I'm a NaNo Rebel this year and instead writing a new book I decided to add some real estate to the book I've been working on this year, A Trick of the Light.

A Trick of the Light is now at 87,074 words, and I'm not finished with it yet!  I'm expecting to top out at 100,000 words, easy. 

As for yesterday's Fast food for Writers, who can eat when you're writing for glory!  Get something from the frozen section, if you must.  You won't regret it!

Happy writing!

Fast Food For Writers, part 3

If you've got 20 minutes, you've got spiced pecans!

Actually, you'll need 20 minutes and some pecans, cinnamon and sugar.  Ready?

Spiced Nuts (Betty Crocker Cookbook)

1 T egg white

2 cups pecans or walnuts (I like almonds, too)

1/4 cup sugar

1 T ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 300 degrees F.  Mix egg white and pecans until pecans are coated and sticky.

Mix sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over pecans, stirring until sugar mixture completely coats pecans.  Spread on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 20 minutes.  Yield: 2 cups.

Cool on newspaper covered with parchment paper.  Be sure to set the timer, but keep your nose on duty, too.  There are few things that smell worse than burned pecans.

Enjoy!!!



NaNo News

Forging ahead!  Ten out of eighteen days I've clocked over 2,000 words.  Of course, there was that one day my magnificent total was 147.  Didn't stay in that neighborhood for long!

By the end of my writing session tonight I plan to be at 34,000+.   Better get to it!!!

Happy writing.

Fast Food for Writers, part 2

With NaNoWriMo taking up so much of my time I completely forgot to post on Monday.  I was determined to post today with the second of my fast and easy dishes for others who have their noses to the electronic grindstone, aka, their computers.

I've had this recipe for almost thirty years.  It was given to me by a friend in Bardstown, Kentucky, and it has spread throughout my family, undergoing many subtle changes.  Here's my favorite version.

Creamy Baked Chicken Breasts (also known as Chicken and Cheese, Cheezy Chicken and That Chicken Dish).  This is a great pot luck dish.  It can be multiplied with no loss of deliciousness.

Creamy Baked Chicken Breasts

4 small (or two large chicken breasts, divided into 4 portions)
4 slices swiss cheese
1 can Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can milk
1 cup Pepperidge Farm Herbed dry stuffing mix
4 T melted butter or margerine

Spray 9 inch square or other baking dish with release agent (Pam is good).  Season chicken to taste with salt and pepper and place in dish.  Put a slice of Swiss cheese on top of each chicken piece.  Mix soup and milk and pour on top of cheese.  Sprinkle with stuffing mix.  Drizzle with butter.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until chicken tests done.

Serve on rice, brown or white.  Green beans are soooo good with this dish.

Note:  My sister-in-law substitutes 3/4 cup cooking sherry for the milk and her dish turns out mighty fine.  Of course, she is one of the South's best cooks, so she could probably put swamp water in it and it would be good.  Not that I'm suggesting you put swamp water in this recipe, but, I'm just saying.

You can put this dish together in the time it takes for the oven to pre-heat, so you won't use up that much of your writing time to get it in the oven.   Be sure to set the timer, though, if you're one of those who gets lost in the story.  Like me. 

Happy writing!

Fast Food for Writers, part 1

My favorite old-timey saying is "Eat dessert first."  So, for the first edition of 2012's Fast Food for Writers I've brought you my favorite spiced pear recipe, Honey-Baked Pears.  Yummy.

Honey-Baked Pears

Prep: 12 minutes
Bake: 25 min.
Serves: 6

2 T lemon juice
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1 cup crushed graham crackers
1 T sugar
1 t apple-pie spice
4 T unsalted butter, melted
3 pears (about 2 pounds) peeled, cored and cut in quarters, or cubed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Stir lemon juice with honey and 1/2 cup water in a small bowl until blended.  In a separate bowl, blend graham cracker crumbs with sugar and apple-pie spice, then stir in melted butter.

Layer pears in a 11 x 7 inch baking dish and sprinkle with half of crumb mixture.  Pour honey mixture over pears and sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.  Bake about 25 minutes, untiil pears are tender when pierced with a knife, topping is golden brown and juices are bubbling.  Serve warm with ice cream or let cool, cover and refrigerate to serve cold.  Good luck with that...at my house they're gone before they even reach room temp.

Note:  Low-fat cinnamon graham crackers are a good substitute for the regular grahams.   If you use the  cinnamon, reduce apple-pie spice to 1/2 t.

Another note: this recipe came from the October 23, 2009 issue of AllYou magazine.  Thanks, AllYou! 

So, take a break and enjoy!  Your manuscript will be right where you left it.

Happy writing!

P.S.

While I was typing the recipe, this happened:

NaNoWriMo Update, the first

Five days, 10,387 words.  I'm flying!!!

Stop by on Wednesday for a slammin'  Spiced Pears recipe.

'Till then,

Happy writing

If This is November...

It must be NaNoWriMo.

Yes, National Novel Writing Month has come again.  This year I'm a NaNo Rebel, which means I'm continuing work on my current project instead of starting something new.  Today was a good day, even though I have a stiff neck from writing for four hours straight.  My day one word total was 2,460, well ahead of the average 1,667 words that will get me to the end of the month with a nice round 50,000 words.

The fridge is stocked with lots of wonderful Instant Black Bean Soup (you can find the recipe here).  My shopping list contains items easy and quick to cook.  How clever of my favorite supermarket to put Mac and Cheese on sale this week.  The tanker truck carrying the Diet coke is expected tomorrow.

I'm still planning to pull out some fast favorites for Wednesday "Fast Food For Writers" special editions, so I hope to see you around the blog as I write and cook.  Hopefully the writing and cooking will be equally magnifique.

Till then,

Happy Writing