Saturday, May 26, 2018
Italian Sausage Biscuits
½ pound of mild Italian Sausage (or hot/spicey)
2 cups organic unbleached flour
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
½ teaspoon aluminum-free baking soda
1 teaspoon mineral or sea salt
¼ cup organic butter
1 cup buttermilk
Remove meat from sausage casing and brown. Set aside.
Place dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Cut in butter until crumbly. Mix in crumbled meat.
Gently fold in the buttermilk and create a soft dough and more flour if necessary. Roll out and cut into rounds or squares. Bake for 12 minutes or until done.
450 F degree oven
Recipe referenced in "Murder at Raven's Cove Marina." One of the recipes prepared by Ramona and Samantha of Ramona's Cafe.
www.victoriavickerswrites.com
Keep Pests Out of Your Garden⎯Naturally!
Behind the scenes of Ramona's Cafe:
Surrounding the patio behind the cafe is Ramona's extensive garden. In the garden, she grows vegetables, flowers, and the herbs she and Samantha use in the food prepared in the cafe as well as the herbs used for the herbal teas.
Ramona is an herbalist and environmentalist at heart and doesn't use any chemicals whatsoever on the garden or anywhere on her property. The following are some of her tricks to keep pests away without harming the environment:
A natural pesticide and a super way to reduce waste are coffee grounds⎯the acidity of the coffee grounds is the key. Spread used coffee grounds around plants and work a little into the soil.
Slugs can be a problem but using eggshells and salt can save your tomatoes! Sprinkle crushed eggshells and a little sea salt over the soil around the plants⎯slugs don't like crawling over the prickly surface.
Ants, wasps, mites and flies hate cucumber peels. Spread your discarded cucumber peels around the plants that are attracting these pests⎯too bitter for their taste.
Aphids, Japanese beetles, ants and weevils don't like catnip. Plant this sporadically throughout the garden.
Happy Gardening!
Victoria
Copyright 2016, Victoria Vickers, Victoria Vickers Writes, All Rights Reserved
www.victoriavickerswrites.com
October Musings and A Recipe - Pumpkin Loaf
I love the Fall. Even this far south there is a change in the temperature and in the environment. My plants aren't as thirsty as they were a month ago and the mosquitoes aren't so hungry either--even the air smells fresher. We may not have the vibrant colors of Vermont or Nova Scotia, but we try. Some folks adorn the front door with wreaths wrapped in artificial maple leaves of yellow, orange and rust, and entryways are decorated with freshly harvested pumpkins and dried corncob decorations. I'm about to make my first pumpkin treat for the season - Pumpkin Loaf. I thought you might like the recipe to try. Let me know what you think. Bon Appetit!
Pumpkin Loaf
(I try to use organic ingredients when possible and available)
Preheat oven to 350F
4 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/4 C Unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 C Sugar
2 Eggs
1 C Pumpkin (can)
1 3/4 C Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt or good quality salt
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts or Pecans
Combine cream cheese, butter, and sugar in a mixing bowl - cream together. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Blend in the pumpkin.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Pour into bowl with the batter and mix well. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for an hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan and continue to cool on a rack. Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee!
(I got a little sidetracked from book 3 of the Ramona Russet Series because of other writing projects. Slowly getting back to Murder of a Sculptor.)
Copyright 2017, Victoria Vickers
Pumpkin Loaf
(I try to use organic ingredients when possible and available)
Preheat oven to 350F
4 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/4 C Unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 C Sugar
2 Eggs
1 C Pumpkin (can)
1 3/4 C Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt or good quality salt
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts or Pecans
Combine cream cheese, butter, and sugar in a mixing bowl - cream together. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Blend in the pumpkin.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Pour into bowl with the batter and mix well. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for an hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan and continue to cool on a rack. Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee!
(I got a little sidetracked from book 3 of the Ramona Russet Series because of other writing projects. Slowly getting back to Murder of a Sculptor.)
Copyright 2017, Victoria Vickers
Friday, May 25, 2018
Make Your Mother Proud With These Etiquette Tips
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Increase your confidence and improve your manners with the following tips:
Don't offer to have lunch with someone if you don't mean it. If you do then make a date.
When you are expected for a meeting or an engagement of some kind - be on time. If you have to be late call and explain the situation; it shows respect when you do this.
Something that is becoming prevalent all around us is the use of vulgar language. Sometimes it's unavoidable and a swear word rolls off our tongues. I'm not talking about that kind of swearing but the kind of swearing when people walk into a group environment and an entire mouthful of words has been spewed and every other word is a swear word. It's disrespectful and bad manners. Be mindful of the situation you are entering and act accordingly.
One last tip concerns cell phones. One should turn off one's cell phone while in a theater of any type. Even if the phone is on silent and one decides to check messages, the brightness of the phone is disruptive. Be courteous and turn the phone off. Enjoy the show. Enjoy the company you are with. Of course, there are exceptions, i.e. doctor, etc.
Until we meet again,
Victoria
Download your FREE copy of "In the Kitchen with Ramona," a collection of recipes used in the ficticious Ramona's Cafe, when you sign up for Victoria's monthly newsletter "Musings."
Copyright © 2018, Victoria Vickers, Catalina Press.
www.victoriavickerswrites.com
The Ramona Russet Mystery Series
It's Not Always Easy
It's not always easy⎯writing that is. Actually, most of the time it's hard. It used to be easy when I didn't have to worry about writing something interesting or worry about grammar and punctuation.
It was easier when I just wrote because of the urge to put words onto paper. I would pick out a fountain pen and a notebook, make a cup of tea and just write - mostly my thoughts or observations about people or places. Then came the day I wanted others to read my work and I started taking writing classes. Somehow something got lost in the process. Learning the rules of writing, which I don't necessarily follow, takes a bit away from the flow of creativity.
Through the years, I've read about other writers suffering from writer's block. I'm going through a bout of something that might be considered that - but I'm wondering if it's just that I'm worrying too much about those rules and creating a wall of fear - fear of writing any word down. This is my attempt to get back at it - putting words down.
I'm going to practice what I preach and that is, "Do what you really love and want to do because at the end of your life when you are taking that last breath, you can take it with satisfaction knowing you followed your heart - yes, it wasn't always easy - but damn it - you did it."
So as one of my favorite motivational authors used to say, "Don't die with your music still inside you!"
Until we meet again,
Victoria
Download your FREE copy of "In the Kitchen with Ramona," a collection of recipes used in the ficticious Ramona's Cafe, when you sign up for Victoria's monthly newsletter "Musings."
Copyright © 2018, Victoria Vickers, Catalina Press.
#writing #victoriavickers #write
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
