Blog

Bake and Cook

Special Dessert Recipe

Good Monday Morning!

A new week begins and the air smells of the holidays to come!

Here is a fun dessert I made for me and my hubby Jeff. It was indulgent and we loved it!!

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The recipe is so simple. Find a good recipe for Petit Chou or try mine:

One cup water

5 tablespoons of salted butter

A pinch of salt/ butter is already salted but I like a bit more, suit your own taste.

One cup of all purpose flour.

3 eggs

Bring water and butter to boil, add flour all at once and stir well until it forms a soft dough. The dough is hot so you’ll have to temper your eggs or let it cool down some. Otherwise you could end up with a little scramble egg pieces. Gross.  I did this by adding a spoonful of the dough in my eggs and mixing. Set eggs mixture aside and add the flour mixture to the kitchen-aid or a bowl to blend with hand mixer (you can do this part by hand with a wooden spoon but it takes a long time) Add your egg mixture in three parts and mix until the dough sheets off the paddle or hand mixer blades easily. If it’s too runny add just a  bit of flour and if it’s too stiff add a bit of water. Blend well again. Don’t over blend though. Your dough should have a nice sheen to it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spoon onto lightly greased baking sheet in rounds or oblong shapes. (Or any shape you like – it’s fun to see what comes out) Bake for 25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown- Turn off your heat and  poke a slit in each one and bake for another 5 minutes. It lets out the air that can make the puff soggy so make sure you do this step. It might take longer for the drying so check on them. A tap to the bottom of one should sound hollow. Take out, fill them warm or cold.

There are lots of ways to use these scrumptious delights. Here I put a small scoop of Chocolate Chip ice cream and dusted them with powdered sugar after they had cooled. For our dinner we had the long ones, still warm filled with a salmon salad – (The recipe for the salmon salad is my daughter’s creation. I’m sure she won’t mind me sharing in an upcoming post. It’s too good to keep it to ourselves!)

Don’t be afraid of Petit Chou. I’ve made these for over 40 years (oh geez, am I that old?) and most of the time they come out like this and sometimes they come out flat. ?? Even so, they are still so yummy.

Have fun and enjoy the bake!

Love and Peace,

Veronica

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Watercolor Life

Painting for the Holidays

Good Monday Morning to you all!

It’s time to start on my Christmas cards. Since I decided to paint each one, it’s not too early to begin this project. I might get through two, maybe three. My goal is six. I will be stamping the greeting inside. Yay! I get to buy a new stamp!

Here is a sample of the the first one. I’ll reveal the rest as I paint them. Painting on card stock is more difficult, but I just went for it!

What a joy it is to take a break from life and just paint 🙂

Have a wonderful day and week,

Peace and Love,

Veronica

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Excerpts from my Novels

Book read

 

Good Monday Morning!

Today is excerpt day! Here is a tid-bit from The Traveled Heart.

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Photo by Dương Nhân on Pexels.com

Peace and Love

Veronica

 

Jessica lifted her eyes as Jacob left her bed and quietly closed the door behind him. The wave she had held back for so long rose to drown her. She rolled over and wept into her pillow, heaving sobs so great her stomach hurt. She felt the cruelty of the world as her broken heart wrestled with her anger. She pounded her fist against the mattress, once, twice, over and over until her arm felt as weak as her ability to change her life. If only she could run into the hills and scream to the world to hear her heart. Finally, she wiped her face with the sheet, pulled the coverlet around her and went to the open window. The air was cool. The grey-blue world was silent but for a few chirping birds. The peaceful stillness penetrated her forlorn spirit and she returned to the bed where the heady smell of Jacob’s body surrounded her. She lay on her back, her arm covering her wet face. Then a thought rushed to her so loud and foreboding she couldn’t move.

 

Author's World

Fall Baking

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First pumpkin pie of the season! Banana bread too 🙂

June Stanford, a character from The Traveled Heart, would be proud. She loves to bake and she brings the other characters together with her cooking. The dinner table is always a great venue for conversations, and physical reactions to what was said … and not said.

Back to my bake–I like to add a little bit of cardamon to my baked goods. It gives that bakery taste to a lot of things. Lots of cinnamon, fresh ginger, nutmeg and cloves went into this as well. My kitchen smells like Fall!

Until next time,

Peace and Love

Veronica

 

 

Author's World

A Writer’s Thoughts

Happy Monday!

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Photo by Nandhu Kumar on Pexels.com

Yes I said happy Monday 🙂

Over the weekend I got to really relax, total chill. Hubby was off camping and I had the house to myself! Missed him but, you all know how we need to have some space and time to be alone. Two days was plenty for me without him.

I didn’t promote my book or write or paint. I gardened and read and looked around the internet and facebook at what other authors were doing to promote their books. ( I also binge watched “Adam Ruins Everything” on Netflix …)

So, I noticed something … people who know me would say “What else is new?” I tend to notice things a lot. What I saw was authors who had published at the time I published (late summer, early fall) had a lot of  feedback on Amazon already. Hmm… Fast readers? Preview copies? Friends and family? I got a little down. I haven’t received any reviews yet.

Now, I realize I had a very soft launch and asked friends and family not to buy my book since it  would throw my algorithms off. (more on that in another blog post) So, I know I will have to do a lot of work to get my books into the hands of all those readers out there especially those who love historical romance. But the good news is … I have a strategy!! Writing a book and self publishing is huge! Getting it noticed is a necessity!

Every Monday, I will have a blog post, and will post something on my Facebook Travel Heart Press page each day. I will take advantage of Amazon’s ad campaigns. I’m a member of the Romance Writers of America and will seek out other authors in my genre. The RWA is  a wonderful, helpful and supportive association.

It’s a start. Follow me here and on Facebook at Veronica Mahara. Get to know me and my writings. I hope to reach my target audience and readers in general and introduce another great read to their list.

Love and Peace,

Veronica

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