Texas-Style Super Bowl Party Recipes

We always have a Super Bowl buffet of finger foods and easy to serve items so we can nibble our way throught the big day. It's very important to have time to see the commercials that run during the Super Bowl. I love them! So much, in fact, that my hero in the July, 2011 "Brody's Crossing" Harlequin American Romance, The Texan and the Cowgirl, gets to star in a 2012 Super Bowl commercial. Okay, it's fictional, but it's a good idea!

I haven't made this first recipe yet, Bacon-Apple-Jalapeno Pop 'Ems, but it looked good to my daughter, April Renno, so I'm posting the link. We're going to try it on Sunday. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/bacon-apple-jalapeno-pop-ems-recipe/index.html

In Texas we like our blackeyed-peas, and since the real Black Eyed Peas are entertaining during halftime at the Super Bowl, here's a recipe we call Texas Caviar. You can serve it with any type of crackers or chips, or as a side dish to barbecue or almost anything. (Have you tried the seasoned baked pita chips? They are great and wonderful for dips.)

Texas Caviar
2 cans (15 or 16 oz each) black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 can (15 or 16 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (11 oz) corn or equivalent of defrosted frozen or fresh corn
1 large red onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup (or a little more to taste) cilantro or Italian Parsley washed and chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Cumin Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Mix all ingredients and let marinate in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Makes 8 - 10 servings (or more if you use as a dip.)

Cumin Vinaigrette: Combine 2/3 c apple cider vinegar, 1 T. Dijon mustard, 1 1/2 t. ground cumin, 1 t. minced garlic, 1 t. ground blackk pepper and 1/2 t. salt. Whisk in 1/2 c. olive oil.
(Victoria's Note: Cumin contains tumeric, which has been shown in some tests to reduce dementia, so this is actually a health food dish, especially when you consider that blackeyed-peas are a traditional good luck food served on New Year's Day!)


You can't go wrong fixing a Crock Pot full of queso. Use a brick of Velveeta and two cans of Rotel tomatoes with green chilis, or substitute "real" cheese for half of the Velveeta. Add everything in a big microwave bowl and "nuke" it until it's hot, stirring often. You can also add 10 - 12 ounces of browned sausage or up to one pound of browned lean ground beef to the hot queso.

From my Facebook friend and high school classmate, Barbie Kinney, I have this meatball recipe we are trying on Sunday. I'm not sure of the name of the recipe, but several people have mentioned it as the "one with the grape jelly."

Easy Meatballs
1 pkg frozen meatballs or make you favorite meatballs from scratch, about 2 pounds of meat
(I make my meatballs from lean beef/eggs/breadcrumbs/salt & pepper, roll them into small balls, and bake on aluminum foil, sprayed with PAM, in a 400 degree oven until browned. Turn once. Much easier than frying!)
3 bottles Heinz Chili Sauce
1 c. grape jelly

Warm meatballs in Crock Pot/slow cooker if not already hot, stir together chili sauce and jelly, pour over meatballs and warm.

From another Facebook friend and former classmate, Jan Caffee Lewis, here's a suggestion. "I love [the] spinach dip on the back of Lipton's vegetable soup mix. Put in Hawaian bread [make a bowl] (cutting up some pieces to dip too!). Put out some veggies and yum yum." Note from Victoria: Spinach dip goes well with the Texas staple, tortilla chips, also. I love the blue corn ones with flaxseed from Target.


Since we're talking about a Texas Super Bowl, you can't go wrong with barbecue, either. Buy some shredded/chopped beef or pulled pork barbecue at your favorite place to make Barbecue Soft Tacos. You can also get it prepared in the meat section of your grocery. Serve it with flour tortillas to make barbecue soft tacos. Provide shredded cabbage and/or lettuce, shredded cheese, corn relish, salsa, and anything else that would make a yummy taco. Keep the beef warm in a slow cooker.

Last but not least, here's an idea from Memphis that involves barbecue beef or pork. My friend Becky Russell and I did a girl's road trip last summer to my hometown of Louisville, KY, up to Indianapolis, and over to her hometown of Carey, Ohio. Our first night we stopped in Memphis and ate at B.B.King's on Beale Street. Becky had some delicious and unusual nachos. Here's how they were made (I think!)

Barbecue Nachos
Multi-color tortilla chips (red, white/yellow, and blue)
Shredded or chopped barbecue
Barbecue sauce (slightly sweet - not too "vinegary")
Sour cream
Shredded Mild Cheese

On a large plate or platter, layer tortilla chips, barbecue and cheese. Drizzle with sauce. Repeat until you have a nice mounded platter. Warm in oven until cheese melts. Drizzle with sour cream. (Note: I believe the restaurant used a pastry bag or a squeeze bottle for the barbecue sauce and sour cream because of the excellent "presentation.") You can also add pinto or red beans to this dish, or serve the sour cream on the side.


I hope these recipes give you some ideas for having a Super Bowl party or family buffet. If you don't feel like cooking, you can always get a pizza and cut it into squares or triangles to make it fancy. Have fun and I hope your team wins (although I'm cheering for the Packers.)

How Long is a Series?

I've created two fictional Texas towns for my Harlequin American Romances: Ranger Springs, in the Hill Country (for information on the area see http://www.texashillcountry.com/), and Brody's Crossing, northwest of Fort Worth where West Texas begins. Each of them have their own geography, but more than that, they are inhabited by a steady cast of secondary characters who (hopefully) enrich the stories of the heroes and heroines. As I've mentioned in the past, some of these characters come from snippets of stories my Texas in-laws have told about growing up in the area southwest of Fort Worth. This is my father-in-law's homestead near Dennis, Texas on the Brazos River.

One of the frequent questions I get from readers is this: How many books will be in my Brody's Crossing series? The answer is . . . I have no idea! Perhaps my editor has an opinion on how long the series will continue, based on reader interest, but I'm not sure. (Authors don't get sales figures from our books for quite a while after they are released.) As long as I enjoy writing about these characters and don't run out of interesting plots that ring true for this particular town, I see no reason to end it. As soon as I have no more ideas, I'm sure I will move on to another spot, perhaps even (gasp!) another state.

In 2011 I'm very excited about the whole writing experience. I have finished the edits on both books, Suddenly Texan (May 2011) and The Texan and the Cowgirl (July 2011) and now I'm waiting impatiently to see the cover art. At the end of June the Romance Writers of America conference will be in New York City, a place I love. I've already reserved my hotel room; my husband and my daughter will have to "duke it out" to see which one of them is going with me, because they both love NYC.

In the past few years I haven't scheduled any booksignings, but I'm looking forward to having one (at least) at the Wal-Mart near our weekend house in Mineola, TX (http://www.mineola.com/.) They carry Harlequin American Romances and since I spend so much time (and money) there when I'm in East Texas, I just know they'll want to schedule an event! Because I mention Graham, TX (http://visitgrahamtexas.com/ ) so much in my Brody's Crossing series, I may see if I can go there for a booksigning. In nearby Weatherford, there is a very supportive independent bookstore and radio program that may be interested. I see several fun events in my future!

Perhaps I'm keeping myself busy and excited because I'm having one of those "milestone" birthdays next month. "A rolling stone gathers no moss" is the old saying that seems most appropriate to me at the moment.

I hope you feel equally excited about your prospects in this new year. Our careers and personal lives are often uncertain, but having something exciting to anticipate is very important as we move forward. Best wishes for a great start to 2011.

Reading and Writing a Series

I'm working on my 22nd novel, which will be the 6th book in the Brody's Crossing series for Harlequin American Romance. I love writing this series but I have gotten some feedback from several readers that concerns me.

These readers wait for all the books in a series to come out, then they read them. Since I don't know how many books I might write for this series, I can't tell them when they should start reading. I don't want to upset my readers but I don't have an answer for them.

Does anyone else have this dilemma as either a reader or a writer? If so, can you suggest how to respond to these loyal series readers?

Series are a funny thing, especially when you didn't expect to write one. My very first book for Harlequin American was what I thought was a stand-alone book, but the editor at the time really liked that town (Ranger Springs) and asked me to write more set there. I never had a true "Ranger Springs" series but they were a continuous story of the heroes and heroines, secondary characters and big events of the fictional town.

I've found when I write books set in Brody's Crossing that I'm always thinking about how to add friends, co-workers, relatives and newcomers who might have their own book. I don't have a big master plan for the town, but I did give it vacant buildings to grow into and some businesses that were missing or could be expanded. Now I'm adding a new ranch that I haven't mentioned before, but I think that's okay because I never said the Rocking C was the only ranch in Brody's Crossing! (The image to the right is an USGS aerial photo near the area where my fictional town is located.)

One of the main things I learned about ten books ago was to give characters some siblings or cousins that I could introduce as possible heroes and heroines. Sometimes I can't because it doesn't work out with the backstory or conflict, but I do try. Right now I have three more potential main characters for future books. I don't know if I'll get to write them, but I'm setting up the characters so they might deserve their own book one day.

I'm trying to soak up more small town life by observing people and listening to their stories. Tonight I stopped by the Mineola Country Club and heard some very lively tales told by some older gentlemen at the bar. I'm not sure how accurate they were, but they sounded real good as background material. Whoever mentioned pelting someone's car with golf balls, please be assured I'm going to use that in a book real soon!

I'll continue to develop Brody''s Crossing and add new characters who might someday fall in love, and I would love your ideas on what to tell avid series readers who email me about when the series will be over. Thanks, and have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day. When you get back from your long weekend, please remember to check out the recipes I'll post on June 4th. Happy reading!

Two More Blast from the Past Recipes

Do recipes make you hungry? Sometimes they make me want to cook and other times, just eat. But I don't think I've ever been as hungry as these two Mockingbird babies. The nice, tall man installing our new gutters at the lake house in Mineola, TX discovered them in the arbor (in the photo I posted before, covered in coral and yellow trumpet flowers.) Aren't they the cutest little things? Kara Lennox also has a baby Mockingbird just outside her window.

Okay, but enough about baby birds. They don't need recipes and they'll eat just about anything wiggly presented to them by their parents. We tend to be a little more discriminating. Here are two more recipes I mentioned in the next Brody's Crossing book, tentatively titled Texan in Her Heart, which will be out in 2011.

Sausage Pinwheels

As told to Victoria Chancellor at a party in the 1980s

1 package crescent dinner rolls (makes 8 crescent rolls) Use regular or reduced fat, or generic.

1 package pork sausage (about 10 or 12 ounces) I use Jimmy Dean Reduced Fat Pork Sausage.

Preheat oven to temperature indicated on the crescent rolls. On a cutting board or clean flat surface, unroll the crescent roll dough trianges. Put two triangles together to form a rectangle. Push and work the seam so that it doesn't separate. You will eventually create four rectangles.

Separate pork sausage into four equal parts. Carefully pat and thin the sausage onto the dough rectangle. Leave a little room at the edges so the pinwheel can be rolled and joined together. Roll the rectangle so you have a long column that will create your pinwheels. Cover in waxed paper or plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from freezer. Using a sharp knife, cut the column into about 1/4 inch slices and place them on a sprayed cookie sheet. (I cover my cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray that for easy clean up.) Place in preheated oven and bake for 10 -15 minutes, or per the directions on the package. The pinwheels should be crisp and browned but not overcooked and burnt. You just want to make sure the sausage has cooked all the way through. Serve warm or at room temperature. You will not have any leftovers!

Note: You can use other things to make pinwheels, such as ham slices, bacon, etc. It just needs to roll nicely. If using bacon, make sure your knife is really sharp and you've kept the pinwheel dough in the freezer until it's firm. Cheese does NOT work well in these.

Fudge Oatmeal Refrigerator Cookies

From Southern Living Best Recipes

2 cups sugar (Note: You can use less sugar, but they need some to be fudge-like.)

1/2 cup evaporated milk (NOT condensed milk)

2 T. cocoa

1 stick butter

1/2 t. vanilla

2 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

Combine first four ingredients in a saucepan. Heat and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until heated and bubbly but not boiling. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and stir. Add oatmeal and mix thoroughly. Drop by teaspoonsful onto waxed paper on cookie sheets or other flat surfaces. Refrigerate. Ready to eat as soon as they don't burn your tongue! They will taste more like fudge if they are refrigerated until cool. Will keep in a container for days in the refrigerator.

I hope you enjoy the "Blast from the Past" recipes. I also hope they all stay in the finished version of the book! Happy reading, baking, and eating.

Blast From the Past Food in Brody's Crossing

Three weeks ago I finished the next book in my Brody's Crossing series, tentatively titled Texan in Her Heart. It's the story of a lost sister, Amanda Allen Crawford, who travels home to Texas and the Rocking C, and ends up finding more than she'd ever imagined. Not only does she fall in love (of course!) but she discovers a sense of community in the town where her mother lived for twenty years, her brothers were born and her father is buried. If you've read the other Brody's Crossing books, you'll recognize Troy Crawford from Temporarily Texan and Cal Crawford from An Honorable Texan as Amanda's big (and clueless) brothers. As always, my small town atmosphere is enhanced by my new community of Mineola, TX, where springtime is absolutely IN BLOOM! Here's the arbor leading to our front door.

And, since I missed posting the recipes for this month on the 4th due to wireless Internet issues, I'd like to also mention that she discovers Brody's Crossing is a place to eat. Big time. I didn't realize until after I'd finished the book that someone (usually the hero, Leo Casale) was always feeding her. You'd think she was a stray kitten! He takes her to Dewey's Steakhouse and Saloon and fixes her an authentic Italian dinner (thank you, Virginia Kantra, for the Bolognese sauce suggestion) at his condo. She dines with "the lunch ladies" at the cafe. They have a "blast from the past" going-away party for her at the Rocking C.

I thought I'd share some of the recipes the lunch ladies fix for the party. These might be familiar to you if you are "of a certain age."

• Velveeta Cheese/Rotel Tomato dip (in a Crock Pot, of course!)


• Macaroni Salad


• Meatballs with Chili Barbecue Sauce


• Sausage Pinwheels


• Peach Jello Salad


• Refrigerator Oatmeal Fudge Cookies
  

You probably have some of these recipes in your cookbooks, on recipe cards or bookmarked
online. If not, I'm going to share the ones I really love. Some of these are standards you
can easily look up. Some are so simple you don't really need a recipe!

Virginia Chancellor's Macaroni Salad

• 1 pkg elbow macaroni, cooked until soft (do not overcook!
• 1 large green pepper or more, to taste, cored and diced into small pieces
• 1 pkg Velveeta Cheese, cubed into 1/2 inch squares
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Miracle Whip
  
• Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Add enough Miracle Whip to moisten
  everything but not so much that it becomes soggy. Refrigerate for several hours before
  serving so the flavors will blend. The Velveeta may get a little soft, but that's okay. The
  perfect macaroni salad for a hot Texas afternoon. Sometimes I even eat it for breakfast the next day!

Victoria Chancellor's Easy Meatballs

• 1 lb lean ground beef (I use 90% to 93% lean)
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 3 slices of bread, shredded or processed into crumbs, or saltine cracker crumbs
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Onion and garlic, minced fine, optional
• For Swedish meatballs, add 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and omit garlic
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and use non-stick spray.
  Mix all ingredients. Roll into small meatballs, about an inch or a little more in diameter, and
  place on cookie sheet. Bake for 20 -25 minutes until brown. For the best looking meatballs,
  turn halfway through cooking, but if you forget, that's okay. No frying! (Note: To increase
  recipe, just use the same proportions of 1 egg per 1 lb ground beef, and add enough crumbs to
  make them stick together.)

Chili-Barbecue Sauce for Meatballs

• 1 jar Heinz Chili Sauce and 1 jar sweet (not vinegary) barbecue sauce. I like K.C. Masterpiece.
  
  
• Mix together, heat, and add meatballs. Great in a Crock Pot. Will keep for days (refrigerated) if you have any left after the party!

Peach Jello Salad

My mother and then my mother-in-law loved this Jello salad straight from the 1960s or 1970s. If served as a salad, put it on a lettuce leaf for a nice presentation.

• 2 small packages Peach flavored Jello
• 1 large (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 2 small jars apricot baby food or about 4 ounces of frozen peaches, blended
• 1 large can crushed pineapple (Do not use FRESH pineapple!)
• 1 large container Cool Whip
• 
  You will need a 9 x 13 casserole dish or two 8 x 8 dishes. Drain pineapple and save juice,
  then add water to equal 2 cups. Bring water and Jello to a boil. Beat in cream cheese. Cool.
  Add fruit (baby food or peaches, pineapple) and allow to congeal slightly in refrigerator. Stir in Cool Whip. Refrigerate until firm. Serves a lot of people as either a salad or a dessert.

I'll share the Oatmeal Fudge Refrigerator Cookie and sausage pinwheel recipes later. Writing
about all this food has made me hungry! Happy reading ... and cooking.