Many Thanks,

Tammie

Tammie

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NOSTALGIA:

I Never realized that good lacy southern cornbread like my granny made was a delicacy.  Then my cousin brought a friend one weekend and after eating some of my grandmother’s cornbread for Sunday Dinner he asked her to tell him how to make it.

On his next visit, he told her that his cornbread didn’t turn out like hers.  I’d never really thought about it, but making this special type of cornbread really isn’t  that hard, but people do have trouble making it. I’d like to share with you how I make my Granny’s Lacy Southern Cornbread so that you and your family can enjoy what my family has enjoyed for years. Maybe it will become a part of your own family tradition.

Wishing you all the best,
Tammie

Family Traditions

I can think of no better gift to share than a little bit of our family tradition.

When I think of lacy southern cornbread, I can’t help but think about my grandmother and the many Sunday meals she cooked and served us.  As a little girl I couldn’t wait to get home from church because I knew it meant going to my grandparent’s house.  They lived in the “country” as we affectionately referred to the part of rural South Georgia where their farm was.

My grandmother LOVED to cook, and she was really good at it.  If you didn’t ask for second helpings, her feelings were hurt.  She lit up when complimented, and her food was always worthy of the compliment.

Sunday Dinner was the biggest meal of the week for us.  She cooked to feed a small army and always had enough left for a delicious supper. She really knew how to lay out a spread.  I was at least nine years old before I ever ate “fast food” chicken.  Fried chicken was a staple along with peas, corn, pecan pie and ambrosia.

After we ate, we rested. It was time for a nap.  I’d get on her bed, and she’d open the window so that the breeze could come in.  There was  no central heating and air, but I always enjoyed those naps.

Friends and family would often drop by, and sometimes they’d hang around for supper 

After my grandmother suffered a stroke, my Mom took over and we began to have Sunday Dinner at her house.  She is carrying on the tradition.

Making Lacy Southern Cornbread isn’t hard to do. There’s no fancy recipe, or hidden ingredient, or at least I don’t think there is. It’s a bit of luck and  more knowing what to do and when to do it.  I hope that my simple explanation will serve you well and that my Granny’s Lacy Southern Cornbread will become a part of your family food tradition.  My grandmother would be really proud….

Click IMAGE to enlarge “WHAT YOU NEED LIST”

STEP ONE

*Fill your frying pan about 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep with oil.  Set your burner to high and let it begin to get hot while you prepare your cornbread batter.

*Next pour about a half a bowl or 2 cups of corn meal into your bowl.  Sprinkle a little salt from a salt shaker into your meal.  Then take and slowly add milk or water, stopping and stirring until you get a soupy batter consistency.

NEXT

*Drip a small bit of batter into the hot oil when it begins t turn golden brown, you’ll know the oil is ready to start frying.

 *Pour batter into the fry pan slowly until you have a small circle of batter.

THEN

*It’s time to let your cornbread fry.  The batter will begin to bubble.  With your spatula, you can swish some of the hot oil over the top of the “cake” to help it cook.  As it cooks you’ll begin t see browning around the edges.  When you do it’s time to turn your “cake” over in the pan to brown the other side.  Once you get to this point, it only takes a few seconds for the second side, and you should then lift it out and place on your plate on top of the paper towels. This helps to absorb excess oil.

*You simply repeat until you have enough cornbread for your meal.  It’s that easy and that good.  It takes a little practice, but you’ll be a pro in no time…then someone will be asking you “how do I make that Lacy Cornbread?”

Other things you should know: You can use water in the meal or you can use a half/half solution of water and milk. As with frying anything DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOT OIL UNATTENDED, USE COMMON SENSE AND BE SAFE.

Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me. While you are here I hope you will check out my books and explore my website. Wishing you the best, Tammie

ALL ABOUT MY WRITING PROCEDURE

1)     What am I working on? I’m so excited to be participating in this Blog Hop. Thanks for the opportunity to participate. I’m working on the third book in my UNDERCOVER HEROES SERIES – Morgan’s Secret is a time travel romantic suspense very much like the second book, Sworn to Secrecy. Reader’s met Morgan in book two and thought she just HAD to have her own book. To be honest she tried a few times to take over book two, but between Elizabeth, Dak and myself, we managed to rein her in with the promise of a book of her own…another exciting adventure.

I’m already about three months past my original projected release date, but I fell and hurt my tailbone the end of November and it put a royal kink in all of my plans. I currently have three beta readers that I have been feeding chapters to and they all three, from different backgrounds and different familiarities with the series have all LOVED it. The flow is going well and I hope to have it out by Summer or maybe even a little sooner. It just depends on how much life gets in the way.

2)     How does my work differ from others of its genre? That’s an interesting question. I think just like readers lend a different something to each book they read, the same applies to authors. I think each of us can write the same genre and if our voice is strong enough, we can tell a story with some familiar elements and it can come alive in a totally different way.  I write gothic, paranormal, romance all with an element of suspense interwoven. I love a book that keeps me on the edge of my seat, turning pages and trying to figure it out.. I also love being stumped until the end. When an author stumps me, I get all excited. Even when a movie throws a little twist I wasn’t expecting I’ll always say “good job”.

3)     Why do I write what I do?  I have always loved suspenseful books. Early on I fell in love with time travel and gothic romances. So, when I decided to try my hand at writing it was only natural that I blended those elements into a little something different. I write what I enjoy reading.

4)     How does your writing process work? I’m pretty busy with all of my other jobs so I can’t be too picky about my writing process. I can usually sit down most anytime and write some. I might edit more on some days than others, but for the most part I write whenever the opportunity presents itself.  The last book I wrote, Sworn to Secrecy was written over about two months, but I was writing very faithfully every day and set a specific goal for myself.  I do tend to write fairly quickly because I do most of my plotting in my head and over months prior to sitting down to write. I may be plotting several books at once. When I have that skeleton of scenes down in my head the actual scenes seem to write themselves.

Thank you so much Lori asking me to participate and showcasing my information on your blog.

I a m inviting Fran Veal  to join us on our blog hop tour.  She is the author of FINDING MY ESCAPE  and FINDING MY WAY BACK and is working on the third book in the series. I have personally read both of these books and they are excellent. Originally written for a Young Adult market, some of Fran’s biggest fans are adult readers just like me. If you enjoy reading Paranormal, Alternate Reality type books you should really check her books out.  The first book in the series is currently on SALE for .99 ….

You can check Fran out by visiting her website at http://www.franveal.com

Loads of great offers on this week’s Sunday Reading List – new releases, sales,
a giveaway and of course Reader’s Rock magazine  the full pdf with clickable book links can be found here: http://www.mediafire.com/view/8o24za00orvhwsp/07_SundayReadingList_16Feb14.pdf

My friend Charlene Raddon is Celebrating her new book release with a Cover Reveal this week. I know you’ll join me in wishing her the best of everything with her new title. She has been gracious enough to share with me (and all of you) a sneak peek as well as an excerpt. I hope that you will enjoy it!

Charlene Raddon began her fiction career in the third grade when she announced in Show & Tell that a baby sister she never had was killed by a black widow spider. She often penned stories featuring mistreated young girls whose mother accused of crimes her sister had actually committed. Her first serious attempt at writing fiction came in 1980 when she woke up from a vivid dream that compelled her to drag out a portable typewriter and begin writing. She’s been at it ever since. An early love for romance novels and the Wild West led her to choose the historical romance genre but she also writes contemporary romance. At present, she has five books published in paperback by Kensington Books (one under the pseudonym Rachel Summers), and four eBooks published by Tirgearr Publishing.

Charlene’s awards include: RWA Golden Heart Finalist, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award Nomination, Affair de Coeur Magazine Reader/Writer Poll for Best Historical of the Year. Her books have won or place in several contests.

Currently, Charlene is working on her next release.

THE WRONG MAN

Deserted by her father at the tender age of seven, Jenna Leigh-Whittington had taught herself to ride, shoot, brawl…and steer clear of the opposite sex. But now, in a lonely Utah canyon, the Pinkerton agent has drawn her gun on a rugged stranger—only to discover that, far from the dangerous outlaw she’d been tracking, he is Branch McCauley, hired gun…and the most irresistible rascal ever to tempt and torment a woman!

THE RIGHT WOMAN

If there’s one thing McCauley trusts less than a female, it’s a female who packs a six-gun. But what a woman! Vowing to bring the sensuous hellcat to heel, McCauley has no inkling that their passionate battle of wills has just begun. Taming Jenna will be the most seductive—and satisfying—job he’s ever taken on.

Check out the Video Click Here:

TAMING JENNA EXCERPT 1

Jenna scowled as she studied the man by the flickering glare of his campfire. He had the right build and appeared close to thirty, Mendoza’s age. But something didn’t fit. The Denver police chief had described her quarry as a spoiled aristocrat, too busy wooing Lady Luck and every other female to be much of a train robber, let alone a killer. But the rogue in front of Jenna looked too lean and hard to be spoiled, too wary and aloof to be a ladies’ man. To Jenna he seemed the perfect gunslinger: cold, tough, and ready to spring. Like a big yellow cougar perched on a ledge. Or a rattler, tightly coiled. Either way, his bite would be deadly. In spite of the cool night breeze, sweat oozed from her pores. She couldn’t forget that lightning draw. Why had she come here? How had she expected to take an outlaw Pinkerton’s other agents had failed to bring in? No, she refused to think that way. She was every bit as capable as any man to capture Mendoza. She had to believe that, the same way she had to do what she’d set out to do. Only one question remained: Was this Mendoza or not? “Who are you, mister?” “Who am I? Hell, who are you? ” Blast! Did no male exist in this empty wilderness who wasn’t so taken with himself that he couldn’t cooperate for a change? She took a calming breath. A body could catch more flies with honey than vinegar, old Charley Long Bow used to say. Jenna figured flies might fancy the hairy creature facing her, so she decided to try being friendly. “Listen, I smelled your coffee and hoped you might spare a cup, is all. You can understand me being a mite leery of walking into a stranger’s camp without knowing who I’m hooking up with.” Firelight glinted on the man’s straight white teeth as his whiskers parted in a cold smile. “Don’t recall inviting company, but I’ll play your game. Name’s Branch McCauley. Now it’s your turn.” His smile unnerved her. It held no humor, only a lethal sort of grimness that cannoned her stomach into her throat and made her wish she’d wired William Pinkerton for instructions instead of going off half-cocked this way. “I’m Jim…Jim White,” she lied. “All right, Jim, how about some honesty? You come here looking for me?” “I’m not looking for anyone named Branch McCauley. If that’s who you are, you’ve nothing to worry about.” The wide, innocent eyes McCauley studied held honesty. He relaxed. “In that case…be glad to pour you some coffee.” He reached for the battered graniteware pot. His visitor’s next words froze him in a half-stoop: “I’d feel more welcome if you’d set aside your gun first.” Cool as Montana sleet, McCauley straightened, hand poised above his holster. “Reckon you would. Wouldn’t do much for my sense of well-being, though.” So much for trying to be friendly, Jenna thought. What now? She clenched her knees together to still their shaking and swallowed the fear knotted in her throat. “Look.” McCauley shifted his weight to one leg. “Why don’t you put your gun away and have a sit? Could be I might know something about the hombre you’re hunting. Hombre. Sounded Spanish. Like Mendoza. It must be him. She had to get his gun away from him. Surprise seemed the best means. She squeezed the trigger of the .44 Starr. The bullet kicked dirt onto the man’s scuffed boots. He jumped and let out a yelp as though she’d set his feet afire. “Dammit, kid, going up against me won’t get you anything but a six-foot hole in the ground.” “Shut up and toss over your gun or I’ll turn them boots into sieves. ‘Course, my sights might be a bit off.” She raised the muzzle toward his groin. “You made your point,” he growled as he unbuckled his gun belt and tossed it over. Instead of the fancy weapon she had expected a gunslinger to own, an ordinary, six-gun lay at her feet. No ivory handle or engraved barrel. Only an ordinary .44 Peacemaker, crafted and worn for one reason—to kill. The thought did funny things to her innards. “All right,” she said, getting back to business. “You aren’t going to like this, mister, but I don’t know any other way to be sure who you are. Drop them trousers to your ankles.”

“Do what?”

Links:

htp://www.charleneraddon.com/

http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/CharleneRaddon http://www.twitter.com/CRaddon

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1232154.Charlene_Raddon

http://www.amazon.com/Charlene-Raddon/e/B000APG1P8/

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