secret family recipe – Kay Springsteen: The Romance of Your Life

1) Have fun!

2) Invite all of your friends! Spread the word!

3) This tour starts: Monday, November 14, at midnight (Arizona time). This tour ends: Monday, November 21, at midnight (Arizona time). Winners will be drawn and posted November 22nd! ***

4) Meet and mingle with all the authors and book pages! Experience a new party destination at every stop! Participate in every blog contest and be entered for chances to win multiple prizes! Every blog visited is another opportunity to win!!

5) Participation at all blogs is recommended, but not required. Remember, the more blogs you hop, the better your chances of winning prizes. Every author and book page is waiting to meet and interact with you, so please be sure to show everyone some love!

6) Did I mention to have fun? Whoo! Hoo!! Here we goooooooooooo!

***authors have full discretion to choose an alternate winner in the event any winner fails to claim their prize(s) within 72 hours of their name being posted or after notification of win, whichever comes first. Anyone who participates in this blog hop tour is subject to these rules***

My mom, Audrey, was an amazing cook. She was so amazing that we usually fought to help her in the kitchen for holidays rather than bring our own potluck contributions. Luckily for her, our family wasn’t huge and unruly. Thanksgiving would consist of turkey with sage dressing, mashed potatoes, rutabaga, sweet corn, rolls…and for dessert our choice of apple pie, pumpkin pie, or individual mincemeat pies. My mom’s pie crust pastry was to die for, and even though she tried to teach the rest of us how to make it, alas, none of us in the family have quite mastered her secret…the only thing I can figure is she made the pies with magic, or perhaps a little bit of herself. Sadly, my mom passed on a few years back, and I miss her dearly, but one of the things I’m always the most thankful for is the time I had with my mother. She was more than my mom. She was my best friend, confidante, my partner in crime, my biggest emotional supporter, “Grandma” to my kids.

Audrey Springsteen’s Secret Thanksgiving Recipe: Apple, Sausage, and Sage Turkey Dressing

Prep Time: 20 min Cook Time: Same as turkey cooking time

Ingredients

16 ounces of stale bread, finely shredded
6 tablespoons butter, plus more for greasing the pan and topping
1 pound fresh sage sausage, casing removed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cooking apples (e.g., McIntosh, Fuji, Jonathan – different apples lend a different taste so your choice should reflect whether you want a more tart or sweet flavor), peeled, cored, and chopped
1 to 2 ribs celery with leaves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 eggs, beaten

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Put the bread in a large bowl and set aside. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and break up as it’s heating. Cook until it loses most of its pink color, but not so much that it’s dry, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage and pan drippings to the shredded bread. Melt the remaining butter in the pan. Add the onion, apple, celery, and salt. Cook until the vegetables get soft, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and parsley and bring to a boil. Pour the vegetable mixture over the bread and toss until evenly moistened. Mix in the eggs. Season to taste and lightly salt the inside of the turkey. Then, loosely pack the dressing into the turkey and cook with the bird.

Turkey cooking tip: For a moister turkey, flip it over and cook with the breast side down until the last hour. The back has more fat in it and cooking with the back on top allows gravity to draw the moisture through the rest of the turkey meat. Flip it over for the last hour to brown the breast for a nice golden-brown look.

Do you have a secret family Thanksgiving recipe that you look forward to eating around this time every year? If so, what is it? The name of the food, not the recipe – no need to spill family secrets. I’m giving away the commenter’s choice of one of these books in PDF format just for stopping by and leaving a comment and a valid email.

Happy Bird Day!!

Matrimonial Mayhem Anthology (contemporary romance)
Heartsight by Kay Springsteen (contemporary romance)
Lifeline Echoes by Kay Springsteen (contemporary romance)
Elusive Echoes by Kay Springsteen (contemporary romance)
The Picture by Stephanie Taylor (contemporary romance)
Lucky for Her by Stephanie Taylor (contemporary romance)
Double Crossing by Meg Mims (historical fiction)
The Last Wizard of Yden by S.G. Rogers (fantasy)
Wayward Soul by Kim Bowman (paranormal)
Ghosts in the Graveyard by Kim Bowman (YA/Halloween paranormal) upon release
Emily Dahil CID Part I by Lindsay Downs (YA, mystery)
Trophies by J. Gunnar Grey (mystery)
Blackbird Flies by Chynna Laird (YA)
Legend of the Oceana Dragon by J.F. Jenkins (paranormal)
Vala: Agendas by J.F. Jenkins (paranormal)
Scent of a Witch by Bri Clark (Halloween paranormal)
Glazier by Bri Clark (paranormal)
Shawnee’s Creek by Stephy Smith (contemporary romance)
Rescued From the River by Stephy Smith (historical romance)
Lizzie and the Rebel by Stephy Smith (historical romance)

The blurbs for all of the above titles can be found on Amazon.com.

Return to Save a Turkey: Gobble a Book!

My latest release, set in Virginia: Heartsent by Kay Springsteen

With her strict no-dating-within-the-department rule, Firefighter Lina Standish has a nickname in the Salem Hills Fire Department: Lina “Standoffish”. But Firefighter Kevin Daly has had his eye on Standoffish ever since a locker room incident nearly a year earlier, and now he plans to break all her rules. With the help of his niece and a hot-air balloon, he gets Lina’s attention and she agrees to “hang out” with Kevin as friends off duty, to take it slow and see where things go between them. Then Lina’s life is turned upside down by a surprise miracle who doesn’t even have a name. Kevin’s ready to step up, but is Lina?