Bacon Peanut Butter Banana Cookies – Inspired by the Magical Bakery Mystery Series by Bailey Cates.
Early on during the pandemic, I had a difficult time reading. I just couldn’t keep my attention on any book, and everything seemed stressful. After a few months went by, I realized that Bailey Cates latest Magical Bakery series book was out. Her books are always uplifting and inspiring. They are never too dark, or heavy, just good clean reading that always allows my mind to let go of its burdens and get lost in the fantasy of the magical Honeybee Bakery.
Happy Favorite FoodieBook Friday! This recipe for Coffee Glazed Banana Scones was inspired by Ilona Andrews Innkeeper Series.
My recipe for coffee glazed banana scones made with white whole wheat, Greek yogurt, and an espresso glaze that would put a smile on any vampire’s face! I just realized this is the second vampire-inspired recipe on my blog so far… (I’m starting to see a theme. Refer to my vampire related previous post.)
The embossed hardcover of Shady Characters by Keith Houston
These Pecan & Cinnamon and Hazelnut & Pecan Shady Characters Puff Pastries were inspired by one of my favorite books. Sh@dy Charac†ers – The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks by Ke!th H*uston.
It’s not really a coffee table book, but I use it as one. I like to see its funny, yet stunning title in bold white lettering embedded on the black long shadow of a giant white pilcrow floating on a bright red background. It’s a pretty jacket, over an exquisite white hardcover embossed with punctuation, symbols & other typographical marks, with black binding. The symbols stand out on the pages in bright red within the black text.
They make a TON of coffee (and tea) in this book, and eat tons of buttermilk pancakes at the Springside Pancake House. I found myself inspired to make pancakes, but not just any pancakes, FLUFFY pancakes! Fluffy pancakes have been all over Pinterest lately. I like breakfast for dinner, but “husband” is not a fan. Too bad for him!
Favorite FoodieBook Friday ~ It’s time for Fat Vampire Inspired Pizza!
One of the first eBookseries I read was Fat Vampire. Honestly, I hadn’t picked up a book in YEARS. My friend told me about eBook design and I was like… “What the hell’s an eBook?” So, I started using my iPhone Books app and realized that I could adjust font size, screen color, and I could even change the FONT. Whaaaaaat! This was a game changer for me! My eyeballs LOVE adjusting the font size, line spacing and brightness!
Update! Fat Vampire is coming to TV! On SYFY!!! I’m thrilled to say “I was reading that asshole’s books before everyone else knew him!” lol JT’s words, not mine.
It’s National Churro Day so if you’re looking for a fun, nutritional (ahem, cough, cough) churro recipe, try these Sweet Potato Churros! I originally posted about them on a FoodieBook Friday, back in April when I had finished reading some Barbara O’Neal and Hailey Edwards books. They BOTH had delicious-sounding churros in them.
Do you love food novels, food-themed books, or books with food as much as I do? As I’ve mentioned before, I love books and I love cooking, and I love novels with food themes. Here’s a taste of what’s to come! My all-time favorite author of “FoodieBooks” is Barbara O’Neal @barbaraoneal. Have you read any of her books? Can you recommend other food novelists that I or my readers will love?
One of my favorite food themed books
The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O’Neal is probably my favorite, but there are so many that I love, like How to Bake a Perfect Life. I may have to re-read all of her books to be sure! To give you an idea of the beauty of her writing, here is one of my favorite snippets. I agree wholeheartedly with the author, “the fingerprint of a chef is born in childhood…”
The Lost Recipe for Happiness
“… The fingerprint of a chef was born in childhood. She remembered drinking red Nehi soda and eating potato chips on the concrete back step of her Uncle George’s store on a hot day, the sky as cloudless and plain as a piece of turquoise plastic. She thought of women cooking tamales in somebody’s kitchen, the ripe smell of simmering pork and red Chimayo chile filling the air. Her Aunt Viola’s tender, pale yellow cake with sprinkles of shredded coconut stuck to the frosting. Watermelon straight out of somebody’s field, hot and sweet and thirst-quenching like nothing else in the world. Hot dogs roasted on a barbecue with little black lines of crackly skin. She narrowed her eyes, sketching chiles and tomatoes and pigs along the edge of the page. Tamales were hearty, and the structure made it possible to put almost anything inside. Duck? Venison? Peaches? A swirl of flavors rose against the roof of her mouth, a depth of dark sour cherry, the smoky gaminess of fowl, tender roasted onions. …”
~The Lost Recipe for Happiness, Barbara O’Neal
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In many of Barbara O’Neal’s food-themed novels, the main characters are getting a fresh start, finding happiness through cooking, and following their inner voices to find passion and fulfillment in their lives. In The Lost Recipe for Happiness the main character, Elena, endures personal loss, guilt, and physical pain and finds a new life where she can put aside the guilt and pain and love again. The writing and everything about this book are gripping, I promise you won’t be able to put it down!
Cooking with Gran
I’ll never be a chef, but my love of cooking began as a child, cooking breakfasts and baking and decorating cookies with my Gran. I can still taste the cream cheese frosting and picture the pink cheeks on the Santa Claus cut-out cookies vividly in my mind! I remember making these tuna cakes for dinner.
This book is obviously beloved. It has a 4.4 out of 5-star rating, and I give it a 5! What do you think? What are some of your favorite food novels?
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Amazon referred it to me about a year ago, but knowing how much I love coffee, how could I go wrong with a book titled “Coffee & Ghosts?” Anyway, re-reading Coffee & Ghosts is just what I needed. I needed fluffy pancakes with coffee syrup!
