Romance Weekly: Holiday Recipe

Do you like to read romance novels? Wouldn't you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all..... About our writing of course! Every week we'll answer questions and after you've enjoyed the blog on this site we'll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride! Tell your friends and feel free to ask us questions in the comment box.

This week, we were challenged to divulge a family favorite holiday dish. With the holidays right around the corner, it's the perfect time to pick up a few new recipes to try. If you just hopped on over here by way of Elaine Jeremiah: http://elainejeremiah.co.uk, welcome!

Every year the family gathers at my house for Thanksgiving dinner. Ironic, since I am terrible in the kitchen. These funny cards are very true for me.

As much as I hate cooking, this is the one time of year when I absolutely love being in the kitchen. There's just something comforting about making all my family favorites. It's like remembering or honoring all those that we have lost. And I am a huge stickler about traditions. No holiday is complete without my Grandma Nana's candied yams and my Grandpa's Napa Cabbage Salad.

Some years we wind up with 30 or more people crammed into my small house, and other years we have around 16-20. No matter what happens, someone always begs me to make my Baked Potato Salad. Hope you like it!

Baked Potato Salad
Ingredients
8 potatoes
1/2 lb Velveeta cheese, cubed
1/2 lb bacon, fried and crumbled
3/4 C sliced black olives
1 C mayonnaise
1/2 C onion (optional)
Paprika

Directions:
Peel, cube, and boil potatoes. Fry bacon until crisp, then cool and crumble. Both can be done the night before, if desired.

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with Pam or other non-stick spray. Layer potatoes in the bottom of the pan. Cover potatoes with Velvet cubes, chopped olives, and onions. Spread mayonnaise over the top. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon and paprika. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

Notes: Whatever you do, don't boil the potatoes until they turn to mush! It just won't taste the same. I usually double the recipe and use a 10 pound bag of potatoes and a large box Velvet. It's usually enough to make a 9x13 dish and a 8x8 dish. We keep the smaller dish on hand in case we run out.

What to do with the leftovers:
The next morning, fry the potato salad up in a skillet and add scrambled eggs, leftover ham, and bell peppers to the mix. It's a great way to start your day!


Next up on the blog hop is author A.S. Fenichel. Click the link to check out what recipe she's cooking up for us. http://asfenichel.net/blog/ 

Romance Weekly: #LoveWriteChat

I hope everyone had fun last week during our giveaway! If you found me by way of Jo Richardson http://jrrichardsonfics.wordpress.com/blog/, WELCOME! Enjoy your stay.

This week we're deviating a little from our normal format. Instead of our standard 3 questions, we're sharing our favorite 15 minute meal. I have to confess. I can't cook to save my life. Growing up, my family was always running from one place to another. Between roller skating lessons, piano lessons, Girl Scouts, church, and school activities, we weren't home much to say the least. Mom tried to teach me how to cook, unfortunately I was a terrible student, not very interested in learning at all. Life isn't any easier now that I'm married with two kids, work full time, and write in my spare time.

Despite all that, several years ago, I helped create a Family Cookbook, where we compiled all of our relatives' favorite recipes. It's chock-full of advice for the next generation of non-cookers, memories we want to share, and photographs to reminisce over. It was a year-long labor of love, but worth every moment I spent poring over recipes with my mom. It's time I can't get back, now that she's gone. Here's the front cover, inside front cover, and first page of our cookbook.

Ok. So now for the part you've all been waiting for. THE RECIPE! I couldn't decide which recipe to share with you, so I'm sharing two. One from my husband, and one from me. Both recipes take minimal work and use ingredients we always have on hand.

Salsa, Chicken & Rice

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts or tenderloins
Salsa (we prefer Pace)
Rice (we use microwavable rice cups)

Directions:
Place chicken in a skillet and cover with a generous amount of salsa. Cover. Cook until chicken is no longer pink. While chicken is simmering, prepare white or brown rice per directions. Top rice with chicken and salsa. Voila!

Easy and quick but it smells delicious while cooking. Tastes even better, especially when I didn't have to prepare it!

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Ingredients:
1 small can black beans - drained and rinsed
1 can diced green chiles
1 can stewed or diced tomatoes
1/2 package frozen or canned corn (with or without juice, if canned)
Frozen chicken breasts or tenderloins
1 small can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 small can green enchilada sauce
1 1/2 cup milk

Toppings:
Crushed tortilla chips
shredded cheese
sour cream
olives

Directions:
Get out your crockpot and put in a crockpot liner, if you have one. Dump the first 4 ingredients into the bottom of the crockpot. Lay frozen chicken breasts on top of the mix. In a small bowl, whisk together the cream of chicken soup and the enchilada sauce. Slowly whisk in milk. Pour over the chicken. Cover and cook 6-8 hours. In the last half hour, shred the chicken and stir the soup. Return to cooking. When done, top with toppings of your choice.

This recipe is super simple, even for a non-cooker like me. And I pretty much always have these ingredients on hand. Gotta love a recipe where you basically open a can and dump it in a pot to cook. Total prep time on my part is about 15 minutes combined. The crockpot does all the hard work. I recently served this meal to house guests of ours, and despite not being a big fan of chicken, they both loved it.

If you try either of these recipes, please drop in and let me know what you think!

Next up . . . Carolyn Spear http://www.carolynspearromance.com/blog. Head on over and see what she's cooking up!