Tag: #traderjoes

On Keeping Resolutions and Those Trader Joes Bagged Salads

~ sub524 ~ Leave a comment

We are only a few days into 2023, and it feels like Christmas was a hundred years ago. My husband and I took down the tree two days after Christmas and packed everything back into storage. We were both ready to start a new year.

I mentioned before that I’ve decided on a couple of big goals for this year. One is to get my pen name (Stacey Christine) up and moving with a fun sweet sports romance trilogy. I took a nice long break after keeping my promise and getting all of the Tales of Darkwood books published in a year. Here’s the latest one, it clocked in at 107,000 words. I am very proud of it.

I started back writing on January 1st, and now ten days later, I’m nearly done with the set-up prequel, so if any of you are romance readers, let me know. I’ll need 2-3 beta readers checking my work for gaps in the story, or if something doesn’t work next week. The novella will be around 30k words, or 120 pages. I’ll also be starting a newsletter specifically for Romance next month, so let me know if you’d like to get on it. I’ll have deals for Romance books in it, a link to get this first novella, and good recommendations along with snippets from the trilogy as it progresses. Will Megs fall in love with Zach the buff triathlete, or with Jeb, her high school sweetheart, who she hasn’t spoken to in ten years because of a terrible mistake?

I have to say writing a contemporary romance is… easier than writing the dark fantasy. Mostly because I can say someone pulls up to a stoplight, and you all know what I’m talking about. As opposed to say, the rabbit holes I’d disappear down when mentioning something as innocent as a bakery in a medieval town. In order to describe it properly, so you’d feel that you were there, and wanting to be as historically accurate as possible, I’d find myself googling what the interior of a 1450s bakery really looked like, and how the oven worked, what sort of tools they used, how long did it take the bread to bake and were the ovens inside or outside, and if they sold the things on the premises, or did they have delivery boys, and did they keep their own goats and chickens or were those things purchased… you see how it can get a bit more… involved.

The other reason I’m finding the words flowing easily is that a Romance genre by definition must end happily, so it becomes rather fun to write. I mean… every one of the five books in the Darkwood series ends on a “happily for now” note. But it is medieval times, and the source material is Grimms, so really, how happy could it be?

I will say my Darkwood characters, Gert in particular, are SCREAMING at me about this. Gert wants her own story, and the quicker the better. She’s a pill, that one. And I will get back to the Darkwood after I finish the trilogy of Sweet Sports Romance. The Darkwood turned out to be a place rich with stories. I plan on twisting The Three Little Pigs, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid. Let me cut you off as you shake a finger at me and say that those are NOT Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Yes, I am aware that Little Mermaid is a Hans Christian Andersen story, and that Aladdin comes from a far older, really wild Middle Eastern tale. In fact, I just learned by reading a book for book club that it was actually the British explorer Sir Richard Burton who translated the Arabian Nights into English. As a person, Burton left much (much!) to be desired, and he never found the source of the Nile, but he did know 29 languages, and a did a great job in bringing us the Arabian Nights. He also brought us the Kama Sutra in case that’s more to your taste.

My other big goal is going into training for a half Ironman. Which, you know, involves running, which I haven’t done in a long time (roughly 30 years) and biking, which I did for a brief time about twelve years ago. In other words, yours truly has been doing things outside her comfort zone. I did a five-mile walk/run today. It went okay. I will maintain high hopes while I ignore my disgruntled feet.

I’ve also been watching what I eat now that we’ve started a new year. It is much easier to run if you weigh less, just saying. I have to put a plug in for Trader Joes’s bagged salads. There are a couple that I’ve been eating for a long time, but two new ones have recently cropped up and I cannot get enough of them. The first is the Dill-icious one, which, I kid you not, is a riff on Dill Pickles, and has potato chips for the crunch in it. I love a good dill pickle, and when my son recommended it, I had to give it a try. High marks. The other one is even better, the Elote Chopped salad. It is SO GOOD. It has little cornbread crumbles, and a little bit of Cotija cheese to go with all the chopped veggies and the tasty dressing.

I am a bit fussed about how much plastic they use to package up these salads but grab them when you can. My understanding is that they are a seasonal item.

How are your resolutions going? Let me know in the comments and let me know if you’d be willing to be a Beta reader for my initial foray into Sweet Sports Romance. I’ll be choosing those folks by the end of this week.

On Bread and Pumpkin Pie

~ sub524 ~ Leave a comment

The holidays are back! As I get older, they whirl back around again with an uncanny speed. I often forget what month I’m in. I have no idea how we are at the end of November, but here we are. This is the time of year I bake the most.

I have two easy bakes to share with you. I’ve been in the throes of finishing book 5 of 5 in my dark fantasy book. “Blood to Bind.”  (Last 5 days to save 50% on the e-book! $2.99. Click here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Blood-Bind-Tales-Darkwood-Book-ebook/dp/B0BLMB5XJF )

I use walks, swims, and bakes as my antidote to the eye-burning task of finding and removing extra words in that manuscript. I promise both of these are easy.

PUMPKIN PIE

Use the recipe on the back of a condensed milk can, and then add lots of extra cinnamon and nutmeg, so it’s a nice dark orange, not that baby puke color. That’s it.

 I buy refrigerator crust. They were out of Pillsbury ones this year, which are BY FAR the most reliable pre-made crust on the market. I used Trader Joes’ version on this one. Now you know I love TJs, but not this crust. Hard to work with, it came out of the package cracked into about 14 fiddly pieces. If that happens to you, stitch it together in the pie tin to an approximate shape, then put it in the oven at 375 for ten minutes. It softens the darn thing so you can use a spoon to smooth over the cracks.

BREAD BOULES

This recipe makes 3 small, or 2 large loaves. Even if you’ve never baked bread before, you can bake this. That is my firm Thanksgiving promise. You need a big bowl to start with, so the bread has room to grow. That one you use to serve salad in will work just fine.

1 ½ packets active dry yeast
3 cups lukewarm water
1 hefty pinch of salt.

Mix these together in your big bowl, and let it sit for 10 minutes. You’ll start to see a few bubbles as the yeast does it thing.

6 ½ cups BREAD flour. Not regular flour.

Add the flour in slowly – I do 3 cups at first, then 2, then 1, then the pesky .5. Mix it in with a spoon and your hand if you need to. You want the flour absorbed. Be gentle and zen. Think happy thoughts. You might even talk to your dough and tell it how lovely it smells.

Cover it loosely (paper towel is fine) for at least 2 hours, until it grows 2x and is flat on top. If it’s cold out it can take longer.

Prep your cookie sheet (or if you’re lucky you have one of those pizza stones) with a thin layer of cornmeal so the bread doesn’t stick.

Sprinkle the top of the dough with a bit of flour, and a bit more for your hands. Use a serrated knife to cut it in half, or thirds. It will be sticky and remind you of playdoh if you’re old enough. Use your hands to form a ball, tucking the ends under. Don’t overthink this, its bread.

Let rest for 40 minutes. It will rise again on your sheet. 20 minutes into this process, heat the oven to 450. Right before it goes into the oven, use the serrated knife again to make a crisscross slash on top of the bread so it can grow in the oven. These should be pretty deep.

Pop a pan of water on a lower rack (this makes steam and is the magic that makes for a crusty loaf). Put your bread in on the rack above it. Bake for 30 minutes. Take it out and let cool on a wire rack.

Or don’t. Hot bread is one of the great joys on this planet but do wait at least 10 minutes to cut it.

On Italian Salad and Birthday Resolutions

~ sub524 ~ Leave a comment

May is our month for multiple birthdays. My father, me, my husband, and one of my best friends all have birthdays within a week. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day get kind of rolled up in the bunch too. My mother’s is the last day of April, so we often add it in. I like baking the pies and cakes we eat to celebrate.

I don’t mind birthdays some years, others I do. I really hated the year last year’s celebrated. And yes, I am fully aware there are many people who wish they could be so old. A ridiculous number of friends died this past year that will never hit 61. I try very hard to be grateful.

I just fall short sometimes.

The theme around many of my birthdays is the desire to make big changes for the year to come—or at least a small one—on my birthday. Last year’s pit of despair led to me taking a writing class and now it looks like writing books is my 3rd act in what I hope is a lengthy lifespan. I’m giving it ten years, and my goal is to have 40-60 books on the book/library shelves by the time I’m done. And be in at least 20 anthologies. So, as bitter-tasting as that birthday was, it yielded some good stuff.

So far I’m at 1 publishing company established, and 3 complete novel-length books, 1 long novella, and 1 anthology completed this past year. On target! The hard part hasn’t been writing the words, it’s been learning the publication side of things. Next mountain is getting a handle on advertising and growing my newsletter and IG account.

This year finds me focused on health. Like many of us, Covid helped me add pounds I didn’t need, and as an *ahem* older adult, it’s proving to be harder and harder to get the pounds off. Losing our dog last July didn’t help either. All those walks not taken. I really miss her. No, we’re not ready to get another dog.

I know advertising on both IG and FB works because I occasionally cave to one. There’s a walking app called “The Conqueror Challenges” that has been dangling their medals and postcards and intriguing copy in front of me for years.

Resistance was futile when they offered not a walk along Hadrian’s wall, or a Swim across the English Channel, but Frodo and Sam’s journey to Mordor.

My inner geek squealed. My finger punched more info. I caved and signed up. I am just now through South Farthing in the Shire, 28.5 miles of walking* in my first 6 days. The moment when Sam realizes if he takes one more step, he’ll be further from home than he’s ever been before.

So, I guess joining the “group” the app provides is working for me. Are you like me? Do you make “birthday resolutions?” If so, let me know some of yours.

Next up is regulating my food choices. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes. Meanwhile, here’s the recipe I promised you last week for a most excellent Italian salad. Find someone who likes chopping or get some music going as you prep this.

The smaller the chop, the tastier the salad. I use Trader Joe’s Romano Italian dressing, just enough to coat. Any Italian dressing will do. If you’re a vegetarian, you can eat around the meat bits. Or just don’t add them. It’s an easygoing recipe.

You can make this big or little. The amount listed below fed 6 people for a main course with leftovers. We had a side of sourdough bread and rhubarb pie** for dessert.

ITALIAN SALAD

Chop:

5 Persian Cucumbers or 1 large English cucumber

1 red pepper

1 box cherry tomatoes

½ of a red onion

Half a can of black olives

Add: 10 oz cubed low-fat mozzarella cheese, half of a cubed summer sausage (I used turkey summer sausage), cubed cooked chicken breast and a can of garbanzo beans drained and rinsed. Toss lightly with dressing. You can also add baby spinach if you wish.

*the app also counts my swimming and converts it into steps.

** see my rhubarb pie post for recipe. It’s probably the best pie you’ll ever eat, and I CANNOT BELIEVE how many people don’t know what rhubarb is.