I include recipes in most of my series. I like to include a sampling of both recipes I have developed over the years as well as recipes contributed by readers. Two years ago I took some of the recipes and created this cozy cookbook which also includes graphics and a short story, and I am toying with creating another one if I can find the time.

If you like to cook I have two opportunities for you. First of all I have a Facebook group which is really a recipe exchange. Here is the link if you want to share recipes, either original or those you found online or in a cookbook, with other readers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/752806778126428/ I do not print recipes shared on this page, as it is for the enjoyment of group members only.

I also accept submissions of original recipes from readers for consideration in self published books. The recipes must be original recipes or recipes modified from a printed recipe to the point that it becomes original. If your recipe is chosen you receive a signed copy of the book, your name in the acknowledgements section of the book, and a $25 Amazon Gift Card. It’s a fun and easy way to see your name in print. Simply email me at recipe@kathidaley.com. The recipe should be typed out on a Word document with standard font (New Times Roman or similar.) If you have questions about format just email me.

I’m including a fun fall recipe from the cookbook for you to try and enjoy.

Pumpkin Patch Muffins

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 16 oz. can pumpkin (2 cups)

½ cup water

3½ cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 tbs. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. ground cloves

½ tsp. all spice

4 cups walnuts, chopped

Combine sugar, oil, and eggs. Add pumpkin and water and mix well.

Combine dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture. Add nuts.

Spoon into greased cupcake pans (or use papers). Bake at 350 degrees for 28–30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting (optional):

¾ cup of butter, softened

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Whip all ingredients together and spread on to cooled muffins.

Enjoy!

Comment below and be entered to win a $15 Amazon Gift Card.

It is my plan at this point in time to introduce a new series in December after the Halloween and Christmas Books for the existing series have been published. I have several new series that I have been toying with and even working on to some extent, but I have finally decided to write the series I have been talking about for quite a while, a spinoff of Alaskan Alliance, one of the Zoe Donovan stories that took place in the town of Moosehead Alaska. I’ve changed the name of the town to Rescue Alaska since I plan the tag line to be A Rescue Alaska Mystery. I’ve also changed some of the facts about the characters just a bit. In Alaskan Alliance Harmony lived with her friend Jake and in the new series she lives alone with a bunch of rescue animals including: five dogs, four cats, six kittens, eight rabbits, and a blind mule named Homer.

I’m going to state right up front that this series is very Zoe-like. I’m sure there are those who will notice immediately that the series has the ‘feel’ of the early Zoe’s.  The protagonist I have chosen to feature is Harmony, a twenty-eight year old sweetheart that works in Jake’s bar and volunteers with the search and rescue squad along with six other locals. Harmony is a kind soul who loves animals, and in the opening story, she is focused on finding the money to build an animal shelter in their small town.

Here is an unedited excerpt from my working draft:

“Ms. Carson do you understand what I am saying?”

Harmony looked at the storklike man across the desk and frowned. “You are saying that you cannot consider my grant application unless I have secured a facility.”

The man let out a long breath, sounding like a wheeze, which Harmony was sure was more of a sigh of relief. “Exactly. I do love your proposal to build an animal shelter in your town but our grant is designed to be used for ongoing operations. I’m afraid without a physical presence we really must move on.”

Harmony leaned over to pick up her eight year old backpack. “Yes. I understand. Thank you so much for your time.”

“Perhaps next year?” the man encouraged with a lopsided grin.

Harmony smiled in return. Granted it was a weak little smile that did nothing to conceal her feelings of defeat. “Thank you. I’m certain that we will be able to meet your criteria by the next application cycle.”

“We begin a new cycle on June 1. If you can secure a facility by that time please feel free to reapply.”

Harmony thanked the man and exited his office. She tried to ignore the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach and instead focus on the clickity-clack created as the tile floor came into contact with the two inch heels she’d bought for just this occasion. She knew that the shelter committee desperately needed the capital the grant would have provided, and without it, they’d need to rely on plan B, which even she had to admit, was really nothing more than a blindfolded shot in the dark.

Had she really been working on this for more than a year? Maybe it was time to throw in the towel and accept defeat. The idea of building an animal shelter in Rescue Alaska was a noble one, but the mountain of fundraising and paperwork that needed to be scaled in order to make this particular dream come true, seemed insurmountable at best.

Harmony dug into her backpack for the cell phone which rang just as she stepped out of the warm building into the bracing cold of the frigid Alaskan winter. She pulled the hood of her heavy parka over her dark hair before wrapping the bulk of her down jacket tightly around her small frame. When her best friend Chloe asked about the outcome of the meeting she was tempted to admit defeat and suggest they drop the project until she thought about the strays that littered the town without a safe haven during the long months of winter. Most winters, more died than lived. Harmony saved those she could but without a shelter to house the rescues there was only so much she could do.

From this point on Harmony and Chloe talk about a plan to get Harley (Pretty much Harmony’s Zak) involved. Harmony doesn’t want anything to do with the man but she has the animals to think about and he has the resources to make the shelter a reality so she agrees to work with him. During the course of the story they stumble onto a dead body and work together to find the killer.

Okay, like I said, this series is almost a clone of the early Zoe Donovan’s.  I almost didn’t write this series for this reason. There are a few differences. Harmony will be a volunteer at the animal shelter but she will have a different job and there will be a search and rescue aspect to it that the Zoe’s don’t have.  And it is set in Alaska, which is awesome as far as I’m concerned.  I have toyed with the idea of making Harmony older and a bit more jaded rather than the sweetheart that she is, but I’m not sure a jaded Harmony would work for me.

So what do you think? As you are reading this are you thinking “Been there done that” or are you thinking “Yay, a new and slightly different Zoe Donovan?”  Comment below with your thoughts and be entered to win a $15 Amazon Gift card.

It’s RELEASE DAY for Costume Catastrophe. I’m super excited about this book. For one thing Zak and Zoe really are my favorites and for another Halloween is my very favorite holiday. And the cover, isn’t it adorable? Jessica Fisher found the graphic and came up with the concept so she gets ALL the credit for this one.  So what have Zak and Zoe got going on this Halloween.

Well first of all there is a murder. Isn’t there always?

Ellie is struggling with telling her huge secret to Levi who is still quite clueless.

Alex goes on her first date and papa Zak has a coronary.

And much, much, more.

Here is an excerpt from the opening:

“We could still go with the chubby pumpkin costume,” I suggested to my best friend, Ellie Davis, as I tried to help her squeeze into a sexy vampire costume that was never going to fit.

“I’m not chubby,” Ellie insisted as she stood in front of the full-length mirror in the dressing room of the local costume shop, sucking in her stomach.

“I know, but you are three months pregnant. This costume isn’t going to fit no matter how much you suck in your stomach.”

“If I go as the chubby pumpkin people will know. It’s the classic costume for pregnant women.”

“No one will know.”

“They will.”

“Okay, how about a ghost? We’ll just grab a sheet, cut out some eye holes, and you’ll be good to go.”

Ellie started crying.

Again.

I knew it was the pregnancy hormones, but seriously? If I was going to cry at every little thing when I got pregnant I was going to go back on the Pill before it was too late. Of course Ellie wasn’t just pregnant; she had a secret—a very big, life-altering secret she’d already kept much too long.

“Don’t cry; we’ll figure this out.” I tried for an encouraging tone. “We’ll keep looking until we find the perfect thing.”

“It’s no use,” Ellie sobbed. “I look like a whale. I’ll just skip the party and stay home. It’s really the only logical choice.”

“You’re not staying home and you don’t look like a whale. In fact, other than the tiny baby bump you don’t look any different at all. Still, it’s not going to be too long before even the baggiest sweaters fail to hide your secret.” I took Ellie’s hand and led her over to the little bench that ran along one wall. I sat down, pulling her down beside me. “You know I love you and you know I’ll do anything for you, but it seems to me that your current dilemma might serve as a hint that it really is time.”

“I can’t.”

“You can and you should. Levi has a right to know.” I referred to the baby’s father, my other best friend, Levi Denton.

Ellie took a deep breath. Then she let it out slowly. “I know. I’ll tell him. I promise. I just need to find the right time.”

“Now seems like as good a time as any.”

“No. Not now. He has the big game against Bryton Lake this week. I don’t want to distract him. I’ll tell him after.” Levi was the head coach for the Ashton Falls High School varsity football team.

I gave Ellie’s hand a squeeze. “Okay. I guess it can wait another week. But we really do need to find you a costume for the party. You mentioned a whale. You know, a whale actually might be the perfect costume.”

Ellie started crying again.

Good going, Zoe.

“How about we take a break? We’ll go get something to eat and maybe we can try costume shopping again another day.”

“Okay.” Ellie dried her eyes with the back of her hand. “I guess I am hungry.”

Now for the giveaway. Comment below to be entered to win one of three copies of Costume Catastrophe. Kindle or Paperback – winners choice – NON US Kindle only.

I have been so very buried in my to do list since returning home from my unplanned trip to Nogales Arizona for the Little League Regionals, that I have barely had time to come up for air. My body is feeling the long hours at the computer as aches and pains set in, and my mind is so overwhelmed that if you speak to me all you are likely to get in return is a grunt. The reality is that deadlines are deadlines and they don’t really care if an unexpected trip has thrown your schedule into chaos, so the best you can hope for is to plow through and hope for that light at the end of the tunnel.

I’d just completed one manuscript and sent it off to my editor and needed to begin working on another for a different editor when I realized I still needed to write my blog. I decided to write it real quick before I began my next project but of course my mind was totally blank. When I couldn’t come up with a subject after several minutes I decided to take a short break and go out into the yard and water my flowers.

Of course Echo was thrilled to be outdoors since I’ve been too busy to spend much time with him so once he got outside he began running around the yard, barking at butterfly’s, and rolling in the grass. He kept bringing me a stick which I’d take and absently toss all the while thinking about what I still needed to do that afternoon and how I could fit several smaller tasks into my already full schedule.

I caught Echo out of the corner of my eye as he was rolling down the hill on the far side of our property. When he reached the bottom he’d jump up and run to the top of the hill to roll down again. I suddenly realized that the sun was high in the sky, the temperature perfect, the flowers colorful, and it had turned out to be one of the most awesome days we’d had all summer. I realized that it had been weeks since I’d been fully in the moment, neither thinking of what lay ahead or what had just occurred.

Now I wish I could say that being jolted from the fog I’d been living in caused me to chuck my writing for the day and head to the beach, but deadlines are real and wait for no one. Still I can say that in that brief period of time, I allowed my mind to be fully present as I watered my flowers and watched my silly dog enjoy the everyday moment he’d captured and made the most of.

I love to hear from you all so comment below and be entered to win a $15 Amazon Gift Card. Winner will be announced on 8/6.