by Lilly York
A couple of minutes passed and the giant wheel started turning. The two of them sat silently, watching the city, the sky, simply content in one another’s company. As the cart started to descend, Steve gripped her hand a little tighter, not wanting to lose the moment where all that existed was one another.
He brought his free hand to her face, turning her face up into his so he could place a gentle kiss on her lips.
Willow’s Broccoli Salad
1 bunch of broccoli, tops only chopped (4 cups)
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
3 oz slivered almonds, toasted
2 cups red grapes, halved
1/2 lb bacon, crumbled
8 oz grated cheddar cheese
Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Combine broccoli, green onions, and grapes. Top with dressing and refrigerate overnight. Right before serving add almonds, bacon, and cheddar cheese.
Willow’s Chicken Pot Pie
Simple ingredients, yet delicious.
2 premade pie crusts brought to room temperature (or use your favorite recipe)
4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz shredded or cubed Velveeta
16 ouz frozen mixed vegetables
4 oz 2% milk
Sauté chicken and onion in two tablespoons grapeseed oil or olive oil on medium heat. Add soup, Velveeta, milk, and frozen vegetables. Cook for five minutes, or until just starting to bubble.
Line 2 quart round glass casserole dish with pie crust. Let the crust hang over the sides. Fill with hot chicken filling. Place second pie crust over the filling. Fold the two crusts together, crimping with your thumbs until all the overhanging crust is incorporated into the top crust. Cut four lines in top crust to vent.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.
Note: The women prefer the broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mix in my family while the men prefer the corn, green beans, peas, and carrot mix. Both are delicious.
Willow’s Sausage Gravy
The key to delicious sausage gravy is bacon.
1/2-1 lb bacon
1 lb breakfast sausage
Sprinkle of flour
Milk for desired consistency
Fry bacon in large fry pan or electric skillet. Remove bacon and set aside. Add a good bulk sausage to the bacon grease. Fry until cooked thoroughly. Remove sausage from pan and set aside. Turn pan to medium heat and sprinkle flour in pan until mixed with grease in a nice roux. Let the roux bubble for 3-4 minutes so flour flavor is cooked out of mixture. Slowly add milk, stirring constantly, until gravy is desired thickness. Some like a really thick gravy, some like a thinner gravy. Adjust how much milk you add accordingly. Once the desired thickness is reached, turn off and add sausage to the gravy.
Best tasting gravy, ever.
Steve’s French Dip
4 lbs chuck roast
1 can beef consume
2 cans French onion soup
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs minced onion
3 tbs browning sauce
1 cup water
2 beef bouillon cubes
Combine ingredients in crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours or until roast is fork tender. Remove roast and fork apart, removing fat as you go.
Transfer liquid to a medium size saucepan. Reduce to about half. Serve with toasted hoagie buns and slices of both provolone and mozzarella cheese.
Willow’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1-3 oz package of vanilla instant pudding mix
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour
12 oz chocolate chips
Combine butter, sugars, vanilla, and pudding mix in large mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. Add eggs. Beat until mixed in. Sprinkle baking soda over mix and beat in. Add flour gradually, beating while you do so. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased baking sheet. Slightly flatten. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Willow’s Fried Chicken
Fryer chicken, quartered or halved
Marinade:
Mix marinade ingredients and marinate chicken no more than 3 hours.
Juice of two lemons
Equal part sparkling dry white wine
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
¼ tsp cloves
2 bay leaves
½ cup chopped green onions
Batter:
1 ½ cup flour
Cold sparkling dry white wine
3 egg yolks
1 tsp salt
Mix flour and enough wine to make a pancake like batter consistency. Add 3 egg yolks and salt. Dip chicken into batter and fry in 350 degree oil until done.
When chicken is finished, place on a cooling rack.
Fry completely dry parsley and use to garnish (very important).
This is an Old English Recipe handed down through the generations.
Please enjoy this excerpt from ‘Bobbing for One Bad Apple’, Book 5 of the Willow Crier Cozy Mystery Series
Willow walked in a slow circle. Everything in her ice cream shop had taken on the appearance of fall. Various shades of red, yellow, orange, and brown were scattered everywhere. Turtle’s(Tuttle?) fall festival was celebrated in conjunction with Halloween, and Willow wanted to be sure her store was decorated to the hilt. If she couldn’t have the real thing—fall in the north where fall really happened—she’d improvise. She had trees with fall leaves, pumpkins, gourds, bales of hay, even a scarecrow. She wanted to have bobbing for apples but Molly talked her into have a maze in the small open lot behind the ice cream store as her attraction, and thereby giving Molly the Apple Bobbing attraction.
She was looking forward to the celebration. In a few hours children dressed as ghosts and goblins would be visiting her shop for complimentary apple donuts and spiced apple cider. Of course, she would have other apple and pumpkin goodies for sale too, like her German Apple cake and her grandmother’s apple pie, as well as scrumptious pumpkin bars. A personal favorite. Her mouth watered just thinking about her favorite fall treats.
The door opened and Willow’s face fell. The jogging complainers, as she liked to call them, came calling. She stood behind the counter and waited for the barrage of instructions. As well as the complaints.
He, being the gentleman that he was, ordered first. “I’ll have a low fat milk latte, 2 shots of espresso, no foam, extra hot, with three packets of Splenda stirred in well.” No hello. No please. No thank you.
Willow looked to his wife, at least she thought she was his wife. “I’m lactose intolerant, so I’ll have the same except make mine with soy milk, oh, and Splenda seems to upset my tummy so use Agave Nectar.”
Willow tried very hard not to roll her eyes. “We still do not have Agave Nectar. I’m sorry.” She gave her the same story the day before. She told her when she made a run to the city she’d swing by Whole Foods, until then, she’d have to use one of the sweeteners she had on hand.
“Uh, sheesh, I miss home. You can’t get a decent cup of coffee in this town.” She told her husband was looking at his watch for the tenth time. “Fine. Use Splenda. I’ll suffer.”
“You could use sugar.” Willow replied.
The gasp coming from both joggers was loud enough to be heard in the far corner of the ice cream side of her shop.
“Sugar? You must be joking. Haven’t touched the stuff in years. It’s poison.” Her face pinched, as if she were in pain, when she glanced at the treats behind the glass counter. “You really shouldn’t sell that stuff. Doing so is irresponsible and advocating bad eating habits.”
“Karla, do
n’t distract her. You know these people can barely do one thing at a time, let alone multitask.” He smiled a tight smile in Willow’s direction then he lowered his voice. “She’ll probably mess the coffee up as it is.”
Karla laughed. “Good one Flynn.”
Willow mimicked their New York accent to a “T” as she turned around to grab the soy milk. “Did you hear that Janie? Can’t get a decent cup of cawhfee in dis town.”
Janie was making shakes for a group of teenage girls. “Shh, they’ll hear you.”
“I don’t give a rip. Rude, arrogant, stuck up…”
Janie placed her hand over Willow’s mouth. “Be nice. Don’t lower yourself to their level. We’ve got to keep our spirits up. The kids will be coming soon.”
Willow licked the chocolate that had transferred from Janie’s hand. “Mm, that’s good. I might have to have one of those later.”
Willow made their drinks with an attitude, not that they noticed. She doubted they considered anyone besides themselves. She handed them their drinks, collected the money, and sent them on their way. The sooner she had them out of her hair, the sooner she could manage an attitude adjustment and finish prepping for the kids. She glanced at her watch.
“Janie, I’m going to go check and see how Embry and Marshall are doing on the maze then I’m going to walk to the café and see how Molly is doing. I’ll be back in a bit.”
Everyone was hands on, including the part-timers, for the event so she wasn’t concerned about leaving Janie shorthanded. The maze was awesome. Embry and Marshall each had a chair, one at the beginning and one at the end of the maze and Walkie Talkies to keep in touch. How many in, how many out. Marshall was sitting at the exit with the big bowl of candy. He said he’d sacrifice himself. Embry had the entry. No candy for her. She was trying to lose weight before the wedding.
Willow meandered down to the café where Molly had made a giant batch of caramel to go with the apples the kids were bobbing for. A little something sweet to dip the apples in. It was a holiday, after all.
She made a sound of disgust as she walked through the front door to see Flynn and Karla arguing with poor Molly. She heard Molly’s reply to whatever they had been complaining about.
“This isn’t New York or California. This is Oklahoma. We do things a bit different. At this time of year we actually give our kids candy.” She gave Karla a look that Willow had a hard time interpreting.
Karla stuck her nose up in the air and walked out. Flynn was right behind her.
Willow held the door open for them as they flew by her without so much as a thank you. She wiped her hands together, as if there was garbage on them she had to get it off. “I see you’ve tossed the rubbish.”
“If only. He thinks the Sun comes up just to hear him crow. And she’s no better. You can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl.”
Willow stared, dumbfounded. “What on Earth are you talking about, Molly?”
“Ain’t it obvious? The man thinks he’s the authority on all things. He won’t shut up.”
“No, I got that. I’m talking about Karla. What did you mean?”
“Oh, I forget you’re not from around these parts. Karla’s about as southern as a girl can get. She was born and raised an Okie. Then off she went up north to college and she decided we’re not sophisticated enough for her, so she migrated. Claims she was born in the wrong skin.”
“You have to be kidding me?”
“Nope. Her daddy and mama live on the ranch next to mine. You’d never know it but growing up that girl was at my house more than she was her own.” Molly shook her head. “My niece has broken my sister’s heart.”
Willow’s mouth dropped. Niece? She swallowed hard and remained silent.
Molly continued. “This is the first time she’s been home since she left for college. Hardly ever calls her mama. Missy’s learned the hard way she’s got to trust God with Karla. Otherwise she’d be a worryin’ mess.”
Willow headed back to her own shop. She waved to Steve and his deputy who were letting kids sit in the front seat of the police car and passing out candy. All evening, in between the princesses and knights, Willow thought about the rude couple from New York. How could that girl be an Okie? Since moving from Wisconsin, she complained about the heat, the bugs, the snakes, her allergies, and the tornadoes. But never the people. The friendliest people on earth. She’d swear by it. What in the world happened to that girl?
The next morning, Willow woke to the sound of her chirping cell phone. “Darn. Why didn’t I turn off the ringer?” She picked it up and muttered, “This better be good.”
Janie responded. “Get down to Molly’s, now. Flynn went bobbing for apples and he never came up.”
Please enjoy this excerpt from ‘In-Laws and Out-Laws’, Book 1 of the Brother Bay Cozy Mystery Series
Millie MacDonald collapsed, exhausted, onto her and Mac’s king size bed. In fact, they both rested their heads against the fluffy down pillows at exactly the same moment.
The amount of work that goes into opening a bed and breakfast is insane. They’d been open a month but had bought the place over a year ago. Updating the old inn had been a lengthy process. Brother’s Bay, right next to the iconic Sister’s Bay in Door County, was the perfect location for finally realizing her dream. Besides, while the summer months were crazy busy, the winter months moved along at a snail’s pace. Mac could sit by the fire and write that novel he’d always talked about and they could travel and see the world, another one of their dreams, beginning with Ireland.
She sighed and before she could attempt to get comfortable, her husband started snoring. How does he do that? Does his brain go on strike? Doesn’t he think? About anything! What started as a soft, barely there sleeping wheeze, within seconds transgressed into a loud, obnoxious ground shaking snore. Great, I’ll never get to sleep now.
Millie gave her husband a light kick then quickly closed her eyes, hoping he would think he woke himself with his snoring. She lied perfectly still, waiting. He was silent for about two seconds before a loud snort erupted from his side of the bed. “Ugh!” She yelled into her pillow. Might as well get back up.
She slipped her feet into her pink fuzzy slippers, her daughter’s idea, not hers, and started for their private living quarters. She paused next to her husband and watched his chest rise and fall with each breath. Who was she kidding? She’d give up a kidney to sleep like him. Okay, maybe not a kidney. But definitely the spare tire around her midriff. She shook her head and quietly slipped out of their bedroom.
Millie loved the small part of the house she and Mac inhabited. The top floor of the white Victorian mansion was all theirs. Their master suite was luxurious. Perhaps not as much as the suites below, but certainly lovely. Besides the master, there was a small guest room, an office, sitting area, and an eat-in kitchen. Certainly enough room for the two of them.
The two floors below consisted of five guest suites, a library, a large kitchen, a sitting room, and a dining room. A small office off the kitchen served as command central for the employees she and Mac used to help make the B&B run as efficiently as possible.
The moans and creaks of the old house gave it character. She dismissed the local legend that the place was haunted. Ridiculous. Just because someone died in a residence didn’t mean it was haunted. Besides, the old woman had died of natural causes. Or so the story went. Of course, it was also common knowledge that today’s crime scene investigators would be able to run tests that weren’t available back then. If someone got away with murder there was nothing to be done for it now. Gossips—always speculating.
At the moment, all five guest suites were filled and would be for the next three days. Which meant her in-laws last minute decision to visit put them in her and Mac’s small guest bedroom. They were to arrive the next day. No wonder she couldn’t sleep.
She put the tea kettle on and gathered up some loose leaf chamomile. Perhaps that will help. Her n
ewfangled electric tea pot turned off and she poured the boiling water over her tea ball then inhaled deeply of the fragrant tea. She added a touch of honey then blew the hot liquid for a few seconds before taking a sip. “Mm…this is good.”
She heard the bed groan under the weight of her husband as he turned. She leaned back and closed her eyes.
Millie woke with a start and looked around, confused. The sun was already peeking through the blanket of darkness. She jumped and startled the still nearly full cup of tea she’d made the night before. “Goodness. I’m going to be late with breakfast.” She mumbled as she rubbed her sore neck.
Regardless of running a little late, she took an extra few minutes under the hot shower, hoping that would loosen her neck up. The smell of coffee assaulted her nostrils. “Thank you, Mac.” She said out loud as she lathered up. A cup would be waiting for her when she descended the top floor.
She dressed in a late summer outfit, one that still offered her a reasonable amount of air flow. She hated to wear sleeveless shirts, her arms certainly weren’t sculptured, but the least she could reasonably get away with wearing, the better. Especially when the summer sun was still causing the black top to radiate heat waves.
She entered the kitchen at full speed.
Mac was at the table with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. “Woah. Slow down. Take time to smell the roses.” He pushed her coffee toward her place at the kitchen table.
“Mac, I don’t have time to smell the roses. Besides, there aren’t any.” She turned the oven on then turned back to him. “Okay, remind me again why we opened this business. We both hate mornings. Are we gluttons for punishment or what?” She took a big swig of coffee then put her hands on her hips. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
She removed the breakfast casserole and the muffin mix from the refrigerator as she waited for his answer.
“I thought you could use the extra rest. I noticed you went missing after lights out.”