Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Happy Holidays this Winter Time


Merry Christmas!

IN CELEBRATION OF GOOD COOKING

It is very cold here and we are just struggling with this heavy snow fall and terribly low temperatures.

This is a record breaking Winter for us, and it isn't even Winter.

So I am getting to spend some time at the computer. Right now I have a cup of coffee here and a bowl of homemade soup. I just like to cook, but the roads are pretty hazardous, so the pantry is looking a little empty.

This is a good time for simple cooking for me. I learned to cook when I was not quite in grade school. And I was short for my age, but in my family, you had to learn to cook young.
Some of the boys I knew were learning to drive a tractor out in the field or a truck and I envied them somewhat, but I did learn to cook from scratch is what people called it.
All of my life I have seen people who prize their family recipe more than anything else they have in their kitchen. I have tried to pry some of these out of a person before, and it is impossible to do.
So when I thought of writing a cookbook of my own, with no experience at this at all, I thought of the years I had cooked, the people I had taught, and the numbers I had fed at one time, from two to three hundred!
That is what happened. It took a while, but I did write my first cookbook with no other reason than this:

Hard Times

From my own experience and tales people have told me over the years, I know we can't always go to the grocery store and buy whatever we want. Many people have really had to cut down on grocery buying, even when their own families which they had to feed got larger. I have been there.

The second reason I wrote my first cookbook is many people kept asking me to show them how to cook this or that. You would be surprised how many times that can happen. I have even shown a would-be cook how to crack an egg.

There is a third reason I wrote my first cookbook. I wanted to share some recipes which I had developed myself over the years. I would have loved to have had some of those recipes people sometimes carried to their grave, seriously.
But now, people through the Internet have access to all sorts of how to books and there are recipe books galore. I think that is wonderful and a service to mankind.

But I still had this nagging desire which wouldn't quit, to share some of my own cooking knowledge with others, so finally I gave up my own fight against doing this, and started writing.

I have written three cookbooks so far, and thinking of a fourth. And I am grateful this Holiday Season that I was able to get these out to people I can share this simple, frugal, cooking handed down to me.
Again, Happy Holidays!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

HOMEMADE AND TASTY

COOKING FOR THE HOLIDAYS,

SIMPLE AND PLAIN AND GOOD!

I keep it simple and homemade. And I love the holidays!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOURS!

From our house to yours.....

Homemade cornbread stuffing

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Back to Basics cooking for the Holidays


LOOKING AT THE HOLIDAYS OF THE SEASONS


There are many reasons people are cutting back on spending, especially for the Holiday Season. The economy has hit people hard this year, and unemployment has climbed. In spite of this, the price to cook a meal has been dramatically climbing and there is no end in sight.

I personally love the holidays and learned years ago to trim my plans for a lavish and huge meal. At one time our family baked twenty pies of various kinds, several turkeys, a whole ham of giant size and all of those side dishes, salads special for the holiday, and special gravies and breads.

It was a time when special linens were placed on the table, and the table had two extra additions which were added. The table was polished and then the linens added and the napkins and on and on it went.

We have always had special candle holders, a large plate which was just for the turkey, and another serving dish just for deviled eggs.

The list included things to make cookies, all those different salads, and sweet potato and green bean dishes.

We would be doing dishes for hours afterwards and learned to clean the pans we used as we made the dishes.

And then came days of leftovers.  I have cooked for as many as three hundred people, and as little as two. So I know about these holiday traditions from years of experience.

I also went to many parties and events where we would bring a covered dish, and all of these dishes would be put on long tables and we shared. It was such a delightful mixture of food, and we loved it.

Nonetheless, I have found it is a good idea not to get too carried away, and above all to keep it simple.

I have found people like to have a simple meal, not elaborate, just good home cooked food. And because of the economy, little by little, this mammoth shopping list for one meal, has been seriously cut.

A little time back, I begin to see that people were having problems with feeding their families because of tightening budgets. So I seriously began to write about how to cook, period.

Not everyone is born with a mother who expects her child to be able to bake biscuits before they start school. And so seriously, it seemed this type of book was needed. So I began to write these things down, share pictures from my own home, since I wanted people to understand, I am just sharing what I know as a cook who has been cooking all of my life and learned to scrimp and save from parents who learned what they knew about this during The Great Depression.

I am thankful today, that the books which have resulted by my desire to share knowledge about the kitchen, have been well received.

I want to thank those people who have shown an interest in my cookbooks.

I would love to hear from you and about your own experiences here. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Two books in one 









http://www.amazon.com/Times-Cookbook-Basics-Depression-Cooking/dp/1478276363












http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Times-Crock-pot-Cooking/dp/148028274X







A beginner's guide to canning

http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Times-Canning-Book-Depression/dp/1491049626


THESE BOOKS ARE PART OF THE NEW AMAZON MATCHBOOK PROGRAM. SPECIAL DISCOUNTS ON KINDLE BOOKS BOUGHT WITH THE PAPERBACK VERSION. I THINK THIS IS HELPFUL IF YOU WANT TO SHARE THESE RECIPES WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS!


Saturday, November 2, 2013

Thanks for entering the Blog Hops

We have a Winner!


Congratulations to jmc

A note has been sent to you as the winner of the Wicked Warriors Halloween Hop Sweet Pea's Chatter House $10 gift certificate.

We really do appreciate all of you who came by. Visit again soon!

Romance Novelist Anna Patterson

CONGRATULATIONS!






Congratulations!



And the winner is:

Megan Parsons has won our drawing for the Haunted Open House Giveaway Blog Hop Sweet Pea's Chatter House $10 gift certificate from Amazon. Thanks to all who participated.




Monday, October 28, 2013

“Elena, do you want first dibs?
Damon held back slightly, but his eyes sparkled with enjoyment and his mouth broke into a wide smile with just a hint of the sharp teeth which prepared him for what was to come


From The Vampire Diaries: The Lost Diary by Anna Patterson
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FOB3WEQ












http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-House-Tales-Horror-Year/dp/1479248223


Add comments here for $10 Amazon drawing as part of the Blog Hop for Hot Halloween Blog Hop

Thursday, October 24, 2013

She has always told me, “Stefan, you are too intense!” I wonder what she means by that. Whatever that means, I like her smile, like velvet flower petals, soft and tender to the touch.

From Kindle World The Vampire Diaries: The Lost Diary by Anna Pattersonhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FOB3WEQ

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

We are doing Horror and Hot Romance this month!

JOIN US FOR A CHILLING TRIP THROUGH HAUNTED PLACES AND MYSTERIOUS ROMANCES


Sweet Pea's Chatter House is SO EXCITED to be a part of this blog hop. Many great reading experiences and giveaways included throughout the blogs. Sweet Pea's Chatter House is having a drawing at the end of this hop for a $10 Amazon gift certificate!

Check these sites out!

http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=210126http://nancygideon.blogspot.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-House-Tales-Horror-Year/dp/1479248223

Welcome to scary supernatural stories

Welcome to our Blog Hop fun!

JOIN US FOR SOME FUN!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/308aa4316/

Great blog hop. Why don't you check things out. This is the first Halloween Hop sponsored by BTS and Angela Knight. Grand Prize is one Kindle Paperwhite and five autographed copies of Unbound.
 Sweet Pea's Chatter House will be giving a $10 Amazon gift certificate in a drawing at end of the hop. All authors have great prizes. So here it is:







==/http://btsemag.com/contests/wicked-warriors-halloween-hop/










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D49VPJY

VAMPIRE OF THE HOAR FROST MOON



LEAVE COMMENT TO BE IN DRAWING

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FOB3WEQ




Now published on Amazon

Thursday, October 10, 2013

OCTOBER IS SCARY HERE AT SWEET PEA'S CHATTERHOUSE

ARE YOU PREPARED, WELL I'M NOT, I HAVE JOINED THREE BLOG HOPS AT THE END OF THIS MONTH, SO PLAN TO BE VERY BUSY THIS OCTOBER!

MEANWHILE, I AM PREPARING FOR MY PART OF THE EVENT. WORK IN PROGRESS RIGHT HERE.
LINKS WILL BE POSTED LATER THIS MONTH!

PLEASE COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

So excited about my Kindle World Short Story

This is a new venture to me, and I loved getting to try my hand at writing a short story in the Kindle World program under The Vampire Diaries!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Why I write the Lost Flyboy Series

   First book of series available at Amazon



https://www.createspace.com/4286307?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026&cp=70170000000bqKn&ls=Social_Media&sls=FB_Like&fb_action_ids=10201307198074598&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582





http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EMIA33A/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_3dMesb1J7ZY29
Why I wrote the first book of my Lost Flyboy Series now

    I had an old journalism teacher who once told us, “Write about what you know”, well she was right. I have heard this many times since she said it in that high school journalism room. Frankly, I believe ever time you write, no matter what you write, you had better be writing what you know, but I knew what she meant. Down under the layers of college courses, experience at a newspaper desk, and even in a makeshift budding author’s office, I began to peel the layers off actually hunting for the core of my being, and something worth writing about.
   This book is about a man who has a life or death experience. He is very aware he could die during this experience, and because of this, a freaky thing happens, he sees flashes of his entire life which had been hidden from him basically somewhere in the lost files of memory bank. So there he is, fighting for his life, and for the life of others, and he sees his life flash before his eyes.
  I personally know this can happen, and so this book is about one huge episode where a man experiences this phenomenon of man. Have you had such an experience, if so would you like to share a comment? I would like to see what you have to say about this.
  My parents had me at the end of World War II. They both got caught up in the war and my daddy was an Air Force cadet training to be a pilot, but said later they reduced the numbers of those in pilot training when it seemed the war was winding down, so he finished his military service in another capacity. My daddy died in his fifties. Mother died a few years back.  I also had an uncle who served and all of my life have heard many first hand stories about their various adventures. But the main point is, this soldier’s situation and what he remembered in this flash back of memories as he prepared to possibly die in that dangerous mission.
   This is a rather small book, but I feel it is interesting and jam packed with wonderful segments which are of a nostalgic flavor possibly. And there is a romance, which was so similar to many which occurred during that war time.

    So I hope you like this book about a man who was living a simple life before the war started and like many, were called up into a very different life than they ever imagined. 

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

We have a Chatter House Winner!

The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift card drawing from Sweet Pea's Chatter House is:
Janhvi!

Thanks to everyone who participated. Come back again.

Sincerely,
Romance Novelist Anna Patterson

Monday, July 29, 2013

Welcome to Romance Vampire Blog Party

Look who came visiting:

Romance Novel Model John Quinlan dropping by our blog to extend his Gothic presence to Romance fans who like a touch of horror! Thanks John! 

The mystery of Vampire Romance


Photo Courtesy of John Quinlan

Sunday, July 28, 2013

My latest Vampire book, shiver

. He made the love of his life comfortable. He was territorial, the women knew to give them space. He comforted her unconscious body in his. He placed it in such a way she would rest from long habit and then he sent her into a deep sleep and he rested there, like an intricate piece of something lethal, purring with the soft sound of perfection.: From recent release Vampire of the Hoar Frost Moon at Amazon.....

Hope you are enjoying the Vampire Blog Hop and visit all the wonderful hot hot Vampire Romance writers!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

$10 gift card to Amazon given away in drawing of commemorators on this site during this blog

We are having a drawing for a $10 gift card Amazon at end of this Vampire Blog Hop here. Leave a comment to be included for drawing.

Thanks,
Romance Novelist Anna Patterson


To be a Witch is to be a complicated thing. They both knew it. Copper managed to carry on a bit of a double life and his writing helped, it all blended together : Vampire of the Hoar Frost Moon at Amazon
http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=278822





He waited, and heard the shuffling, a sound, almost like laughter, which stood the very hair on the back of his head up straight, and then it really did move and he saw the dark thing stand up, and he gasped, a soft sound, like his heart giving out, like his lungs refusing to breathe. EXCERPT Vampire of the Hoar Frost Moon by Romance Novelist Anna Patterson. Now at AMAZON

Friday, July 19, 2013

Vampire Romance Feature Soon

The Alluring Vampire Stories and Romances. Featured at the end of July as part of a Vampire Romance Blog Hop.
Starts July 25!







Chatter house is giving away $10 Amazon gift card here at end of blog!


Wednesday, July 17, 2013



COMING SOON; HORROR ROMANCE BLOG HOP. WE ARE JOINING IN JULY 25


Joining Horror Romance Writers July 25 for a week of it!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

http://sandrasookoo.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/summer-tuesday-recipe-my-favorite-picnic-lunch-by-anna-patterson/








WRITING WESTERN STYLE ROMANCE AND SHARING COOKING SECRETS



WE Romance Writers know how to do two things at once. We might have a hot new novel on the computer, but we can also have homemade brownies in the oven for our families. Multi-tasking, we take to it like there is no tomorrow. So I am happy to say, my Western Romance is featured on Sandra Sookoo's website today. She is known for wonderful romances, so check out her site anytime. Also why don't you go over there and leave a comment on the picnic lunch article she is featuring about my favorite way to fix a meal sometimes. Meanwhile, come back here and say you left a comment there. At the end of the month, I am going to have a $10 gift certificate to Amazon for someone who is drawn out of my Cowgirl hat!. Meanwhile, ya'll come back. and a Howdy to all of you!


Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Pie making time

Cooking is something which always is helpful to know


I have been trying to remember how old I was when I first started cooking. I was young, very young. But now, I am glad and I can remember I loved it then. There is something satisfying to preparing something someone wants to eat and since I have written about cooking, well I like sharing also

Here, have a dish of homemade fried pie
If you were at my house, I would offer you a cup of coffee and something I had baked. We might sit down to have a piece of this freshly made caramelized apricot fried pie. And we would talk about cooking and baking. I have shown many people how to cook. It just comes natural to me and we just find ourselves at the stove and I am stirring something up and telling them how I do it. And I love it when they tell me how they do it.

I have a little cookbook out, a two in one special I would call it, since it is two little cookbooks in one. In this economy, I like a bargain and it sure is one.

If you ever want to share a favorite recipe with me just send it over to the Chatter House and I think that would be great.

Meanwhile, I want to say Thanks for Stopping By!

Caramelized Apricot pies and things like that


Just plain old cooking at its best





https://www.google.com/webhp?source=search_app#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=Hard+Times+Cookbook+with+Back+to+Basics+Great+Depression+cooking+Anna+B.+Patterson+author&oq=Hard&gs_l=hp.1.1.35i39l2j0j0i20j0l6.3824.4684.1.7449.4.4.0.0.0.0.164.582.0j4.4.0...0.0...1c.1.11.hp.Ms1GsvJvpFQ&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.45921128,d.cGE&fp=71882fa23daa667&biw=1275&bih=891






Wednesday, April 24, 2013

And the winner is......











We want to thank everyone who entered our Sweet Pea's Chatterhouse drawing. The winner is.....Sarah!


In June we are having cowboy and cowgirl month and will have another drawing then. So come on back anytime you want to. Nice to see you!


Romance Novelist Anna Patterson




Saturday, April 20, 2013

http://www.ebooknetworking.net/books_detail-1478276363.html

Why I wrote my Hard Times cookbooks


Dear Readers:

I started writing years ago as a newspaper journalist. I have written a lot of things in my time, but the hardest thing I ever personally wrote was a cookbook. And that is because it was so personal and something I wanted to do to help other people. And I wanted to help people who were struggling to feed their families, not back then, when I was trying to feed my own children, but right now, when people are trying to do the same.

I have read hundreds of cookbooks and loved to find a new one and I also have shared recipes with people all my life.
  But writing something is not like writing something our on a piece of stationary and handing it to a friend. It is so much harder to write a cookbook.

But the main thing is it made me remember Hard Times something no one would willingly want to do. I can remember working in a factory one summer while I was waiting to go into a university full time that next year. I saw people tape their fingers because of blisters due to repetitive work and they went on to work with these sore hands all day, sometimes for twelve hours straight.

I have seen people go out to the cotton fields with these old gloves and the fingers were cut out of them so they could pick the cotton, a stickery bush for sure and there was blood everywhere. I know some old people who used to brag, "Well, I have sure had it hard, but I never picked cotton." I can see why they say that when I saw all that cotton being picked.

I talked to a woman who can remember hog killing season, and the neighbors helped each other out and killed the hogs, dressed them out (which means cleaning them) and then canned the meat for the winter. I myself have canned pork. Most people don't can meat nowadays, it is just too high risk and dangerous. I feel the same.

But I can things today. It matters what you have done when you start to write anything, I believe. I had a journalism teacher in high school who told us, "Write what you know."
 
A smart alec of the class said, "What if we don't know anything."

Back then, we thought we knew everything, but now, we have learned differently.

I wrote the Hard Times Cookbooks (two little books both together now in one at Amazon.com,) because I knew something about stretching the food dollar. I still know something about this.

So I just wrote down things I wanted to share, like I was sharing it with my daughter or son or a dear friend. Because that is what I wanted to do. I wanted to help people learn some things which might do them good.

Anyway times are not getting any better, I would think. The economy is still going bad, many people have had their hours cut, or can't find work at all.

So those Hard Times cookbooks, well, I am very glad I shared them. They are not fancy, they are plain, but they still tell the hard, plain truth about cooking.

Remembering Hard Times


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

A note about my new Steam-punk book

http://www.slideshare.net/88A88P1/about-my-steampunk-novel-by-anna-patterson
http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=230445
http://www.steampunk.coffeetimeromance.com/?p=3760

Celebrating a Western Summer



Hi Ya'll!

It's Summer, FINALLY here and we are celebrating it.

Lots of neat things going on. We are part of the April in Bloom Author's Hop, and you can find out something about gardening tips and cooking on all of the sites until Saturday.

So follow the links.

Thanks for stopping by.


About this Video: I don't know if you have ever been a part of the Western Square Dancing, but I love it. The Western I wrote shows my love of all things Western, but has a touch of my recent fascination with the genre Steampunk. It is a simple little book, but I hope you enjoy its efforts.

So welcome and have a great time!







Celebrating release of Steampunk Book



This is a Steampunk Western, illustrated, and we are celebrating its recent release!





http://www.amazon.com/Steampunk-Lily-Stowaway-Engine-ebook/d









This is a Steampunk Western Romance Yarn for General Audience. In color, illustrated. 
Excerpts: So they went out to the barn and saddled up their horses and raced like children after they closed the barn door. She put the horse to its paces, kicking it slightly, with a tight and expert hold on the reins. He admired her and her tight fit to a horse and her blowing hair beneath her cow girl hat. 

He followed her, but didn't want to outride her. The whole point of this day was to enjoy this time with her, and he planned to. So they rode into the hills, all fleshed out with new growth of sapling pine, and green grass and bushes here and there, but perfect for a ride up into those lovely hills with a backdrop of clouds low hanging and moist and blue with rain.p/B00BO83WHA

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Blog Party Events


We are participating in this!



Sweet Pea's Chatterhouse is a participant in the Authors in Bloom Blog Party starting April 10 and running for ten days.
Sweet Pea's will in a random drawing choose the winner of a $10 Gift Certificate for Amazon.com.

Visitors:
Please leave comments. As part of giveaways, comments will be sifted  through on each site and a random winner chosen via rafflecopter!

We are pleased to announce we have a new Steampunk Book out at Amazon.com and want to call your attention to this now.

Check out the authors in this blog. We are sharing gardening tips and recipes all during the blog hop.

Thanks for stopping by here!











http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=230445http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=230445

Crustless Spinach Pie

  This is a recipe for a Crustless Spinach Pie which is so easy, I love it.
It is from the University of Arkansas (Where I graduated), and is one of the wonderful things they share in the UofA Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.

Crustless Spinach Pie

vegetable cooking spray
three egg whites or egg substitute
one cup flour
one cup fat-free milk
one-fourth teaspoon fresh minced garlic or one-eighth teaspoon garlic powder
one teaspoon baking powder
twelve ounce shredded low-fat cheese
four cups fresh, washed and chopped spinach (or one package frozen chopped spinach)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 inch by 13 inch pan lightly with vegetable cooking spray. Beat eggs well.
Add flour, milk, garlic and baking powder.
Stir in cheese and spinach, and pour mixture into the pan.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Makes six servings.

We are doing Spring Things Here!



Spring is truly here. Hurrah!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!




Finally a hint of warmth and summer......







A Garden in Full Bloom
And Gardens begin to take shape

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Sunday, March 3, 2013


THIS BLOG IS PARTICIPATING IN THIS EVENT FEATURED ON SMASHWORDS

Featured Post

NEW BOOK TRAILER ABOUT EGYPT