Thursday, February 28, 2013

Chocolate Peanut Butter with only 1 Gram Fat!

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Whew! After my Monday morning began with a hard drive crash, I'm up and running again with a new laptop (and Windows 8, which I'm trying to get used to). As promised earlier in the week, since I missed out on posting my Too Yummy Tuesday feature, I have a great new yummy treat to share  called PB2. It's DRY peanut butter. No, not as in it REALLY sticks to the roof of your mouth, but rather it comes in powdered form. You mix it with water and presto, you've got delicious peanut butter with only 1 measly gram of fat and 45 calories per 2 Tbsp. serving! (6 grams of carbs, for those who are watching that end of things.) Here are some pics I snapped of our jar, which is the chocolate peanut butter variety:

Here's the powder out of the jar

Simply add water (less than the jar recommends for thicker PB, more to thin it)...

 
And there it is! Chocolate-peanut butter goodness.



OH, and because several readers have asked questions about agave nectar, while I was taking pics in the kitchen I grabbed my bottle of light agave nectar to show you what I use:
(Note how this bottle is nearly gone!) This is how I sweeten tea and other small things. It's gluten free/vegan sweetener that is made naturally from a blue agave cactus plant. Twice as sweet as sugar!

I like the PB2 on whole wheat toast/bagels, not to mention as a dip for celery and even raw baby carrots. (PB and carrots isn't a typical pairing, I'll admit, but I find it darn tasty.) That and a cup of herbal tea with agave and I'm a happy snacker.


By the way, if you looked closely at the first photo, you'll see I paid a hefty $7 for that 6.5-oz jar of chocolate PB2, but I saw the plain variety on Amazon for $4.60. Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/PB2-Powdered-Peanut-Butter-6-5/dp/B002GJ9JWS . OR here to get both plain and chocolate varieties for $9.85: http://www.amazon.com/Plantation-PB2-Powdered-Premium-Chocolate/dp/B0098WV8F2/ref=sr_1_3?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1362037713&sr=1-3&keywords=pb2


 If you try it out, let me know how it goes!



J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Lost in a Crash

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On Mondays I normally gab about whatever I want, but this week I suffered a rather fatal crash of my hard drive. The kind where you can hear the disk grinding funny and know there ain't no bringing it back. Sigh. The crazy thing is, we'd JUST bought a new external terabyte drive to backup my files on. Sadly, I hadn't had a chance to transfer anything but a recent home video shot of my daughter. In any event, that crash delayed posting Monday's blog, among other things.

It's just been a really weird week, so I suppose this fits right in among the rest. My daughter's been sick, the weekend went awry, and I'm behind on my latest work in progress. On the good news side, I managed to use a Linux boot disk to pull some photos and files from the dead laptop onto the new terabyte, I completed and returned edits on both upcoming books, and I got my awesome cover art for NATURE'S BOUNTY.  Among the recovered files appears to be my entire recipe collection, so my Too Yummy Tuesday feature will be back next week! (Until then, I have a new favorite, low fat product I want to share with you all, so I'll try and slap that up sometime this week.)

I keep seeing Downton Abbey's season finale episode pop up as a trending topic, and I heard a lot of fans weren't happy with the way the season closed. I watched all the episodes except that last one, and I'm almost ambivalent to find out whether I'm going to be disappointed. Maybe while my Linux disk is busy trying to recover files I should just dig in and find out what all the fuss is about.

This week it appears my work is cut out for me. I need a new laptop, hopefully I can successfully recover the ton of video files I hadn't had enough space on my backup media to, well, back up, and I have some writing to dig in and get to. Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well this week!


J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

A Sound Like Thunder-Six Sentence Sunday

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On select Sundays, I'll post excerpts from works in progress.



Today's six is from my erotic BDSM/capture fantasy novel, BOUND TO HER MASTER.



“What’s happening to us?” Maddie whispered hoarsely when she could speak again.

A sound like thunder replied behind her.

She turned to see a small speck approaching from the distance. She pushed herself up and stared hard.

“What is that?”


J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Lemon Spaghetti

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It's Too Yummy Tuesday!
Lemon Spaghetti

On select Tuesdays I share delicious recipes either inspired by my books or that are just plain delicious!

This week's dish is inspired by the fact that I'm just plain darn busy this week. With little time to cook but plenty of work on my "plate," I need fast fuel to keep my motor revvin'.  Enter this easy, yet delish standby meal. Serve with crusty bread and/or a tossed salad and you can go from cupboard to table in under 20 minutes!

LEMON SPAGHETTI

We LOVE spaghetti at our house--and I dare say that pasta is my daughter's favorite food. The same old tomato sauce can get a little dull, however, so when you want something with a bit more zing, this is a great twist. (Lemon pun intentional.) This can also be quite a grown up, gourmet-looking dish, especially when garnished "just so" with the pretty green basil leaves. I recommend adding the lemon juice to the sauce with a light hand at first and taste frequently until the "lemoniness" factor is to your particular liking.

Ingredients


1 pound spaghetti
2/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions:



Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the oil, Parmesan, and lemon juice in a large bowl to blend.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Toss the pasta with the lemon sauce, and the reserved cooking liquid, adding 1/4 cup at a time as needed to moisten. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with lemon zest and chopped basil. Serves about 4.



J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.


Monday, February 18, 2013

Cover Sneak and New Feature

1:11 AM 0 Comments
On Mondays I gab about, well, pretty much whatever I want!

It's nose-to-the-grindstone week, meaning I've got two sets of edits back from publishers awaiting my review, plus Mike's latest to finish editing and get up on Amazon, and my work-in-progress that I left in the lurch for several days while I did other things. I will tackle each of these in that specific order, and hopefully by Friday my To Do pile will have whittled down to a manageable height.

I was excited to get cover art for my upcoming Siren release, PETER AND THE WOLF. Here's the first official peek at it. Another smokin' hot job by awesome cover designer Harris Channing:



Yowza!! I'm really excited about this one. Peter and Jarred are two alphas I'd love to bump into in real life sometime.

In other news, for those of you who missed it, this past week I launched a new feature on the blog called Stylin' Saturday. My daughter and I have been checking out some really cool hairstyles on YouTube, and each week we will pick one for inspiration and film us trying it at home. I thought it would be fun to post the results here.

This whole idea hairstyle idea thing sprang up as the result of a random bit of conversation at work about sock buns. That got me to thinking about how inspiration for other things--like writing--can strike in the funniest ways sometimes. Ever gotten a story idea based on something you heard, read, or saw? The inspiration for my current book came after watching an interview my publisher gave. The book before that was inspired by the title of an old classic story popping randomly in my head one day. And one of my favorite lines--and scenes--from my upcoming NATURE'S BOUNTY was inspired by a fun post someone started over on the NaNoWriMo forum. So as I dive into what will be a very edit-intensive week, I want to remind myself to be on the lookout for the Next Big Inspiration. Hey, you know, that's pretty good. I think I'll file that away as inspiration for a new segment on my blog...



J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The Slave is Giving Orders?-Six Sentence Sunday

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On select Sundays, I'll post excerpts from works in progress.


Today's six is from my erotic BDSM/capture fantasy novel, BOUND TO HER MASTER.

The guard, Ach’Na,  kept his head bowed but did not step aside. “Is it not forbidden for a Master to enter a pleasure slave’s personal quarters?”
Stepanyan gave him a warning frown as he said, “No more forbidden than a house guard dictating what a god can and cannot do.”
“Forgive me, my lord, for I am merely surprised to see a member of the household on the upper floor.” With a guilty glance, he added, “And she asked not to be disturbed.”
“So,” Stepanyan said, putting his hands on his hips, “my slave is giving orders like a noblewoman now, is that it?”


~~~
J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Sock Buns-Video!-Stylin' Saturday

1:43 PM 0 Comments
Okay, I've got a brand new feature to go along with a brand new video series I'm starting with my little girl. Every week, we will pick out a hairstyle seen on YouTube for inspiration and will attempt to recreate a version of it at home.

Our first attempt was double sock buns, which were easy to do, looked adorable on her, and as a bonus, she slept in them and woke up to a beautiful set of curls! (I did a sock bun too, and you can see the results for us both below.)





~~~
J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.




Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

1:17 PM 0 Comments


Just thought I'd share the Valentine's hairstyles I did on myself and my daughter today:
They were a lot of fun to do...and my daughter loves her heart pigtails!

Hope your Valentine's Day is a happy one!


~~~
J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

12:30 AM 1 Comments


It's Too Yummy Tuesday!
Chocolate Zucchini Bread
On select Tuesdays I share delicious recipes either inspired by my books or that are just plain delicious!

This week's dish is inspired by the cold weather we've had out here in "sunny" SoCal, where several of our neighboring towns had snowfall and we had some interesting hail. And hey, what's Valentine's week without SOMETHING that has chocolate in it?


CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD

I picked up this recipe off joyofbaking.com, and it's a great one for those cold days when you want to let the house fill with the warmth and aroma of something good baking in the oven. And don't let the thought of vegetables and chocolate throw you--zucchini makes for some great quick bread! It's mainly water, so grated zucchini in bread tends to dissolve away, leaving behind a wonderful moisture that's hard to resist! Serve this by itself, or with a dollop of whipped cream and a cup of your favorite warm beverage.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) shredded raw zucchini (courgette) (about 1/2 pound or 225 grams)
1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (45 grams) unsweetened natural cocoa powder, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
3/4 cup (180 ml) semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable, safflower, corn, or canola oil
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1/2 cup (105 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease (or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray) a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan.

Grate the zucchini, using a medium sized grater. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Then fold in the chocolate chips.

In another large bowl whisk the eggs. Then add the oil, sugars, and vanilla extract and whisk until well blended (can use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer). Fold in the grated zucchini. Then fold into the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely. This bread can be stored at room temperature for several days, or it can be frozen.

Makes one loaf.


~~~
J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.


Monday, February 11, 2013

TV Shows Recap and What's Up

11:50 AM 0 Comments
Happy Valentine's Week!

On Mondays I gab about, well, pretty much whatever I want...

The wind is blowing like crazy here in Southern California where I live, the kind of wind that makes me wonder how much of my patio will still be there afterward. It'd be a great day to stay home and cuddle up with a blanket, some warm tea, and a good book, but alas, I'm headed in to work in a few hours.

I caught up again with Downton Abbey, except I still have yet to watch last night's episode. Ugh! I mentioned last week that I'd heard a major spoiler about it, which definitely took the edge off the two episodes I'd missed. Still, all the acting was so good it still made me tear up. Thomas's reaction was the biggest surprise. They go and make him sympathetic right as O'Brien is setting him up for an ugly fall. Figures. And I have to wonder what will happen with the baby. And for Vampire Diaries fans, do we think Silas is about to become next season's super villain? Will Elena still be a vampire by the end of the season? The show diverts so much from the books that one never knows what direction they'll head.

The makers of TrueBlood premiered a new show called Banshee. I figured it'd be another supernatural deal, but turns out the name is derived from the small town where the drama is set. A (sexy-tough) man is barely out of prison when he is inadvertently involved in a triple murder. One of the victims had just come to town to become the new sheriff,  and with the help of a wisecracking computer-hacker-slash-drag queen, the ex-con assumes the dead man's identity and is sworn in as the new sheriff of Banshee. I wanted to like the show, I really did. I could see where they tried to toss in some interesting characters and intrigue, but for some reason I just couldn't get there.

It was a funky week with me not feeling up to snuff, and a round of antibiotics later I'm still a bit off. I didn't get Mike's new story edited since I decided to pretty much take Sunday off and just hang out with my kid. Nevertheless, I got some work done on my book, though not as much as I'd hoped since I got busy with an article and interview one of my publishers asked me to do. Tell you more about those when they go live. I worked a little on Mike's video short, and I got Bri's latest posted. If you want to see a cute reaction/ excitement over being surprised with Disney passes, check this out! And I've got her next vlog ready to upload.

This week I want to feel better! And of course log some hours on the new book, BOUND TO HER MASTER. More video edits for the family, and I need to get Mike's latest story edited. He's really jazzed about this one, called UNDER PASSION'S MOON. I love that title! And I've got to hurry and get his Valentine's Day goodies planned. Here's to a great week!


~~~
J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.






Sunday, February 10, 2013

A Hot, Wet God-Six Sentence Sunday

12:30 AM 0 Comments





On select Sundays, I'll post excerpts from works in progress.


Today's six is from my erotic BDSM/capture fantasy novel, BOUND TO HER MASTER. (Warning: adult content.)

Stepanyan was still wet while he pulled on white linen trousers and a loose, collarless tunic that was long enough to hopefully hide his stiff, uncooperative cock. A comb through his long hair came next, along with  thoughts of how best to proceed. Oshar had forbid him from summoning Ti-Hana for private meetings in his chambers. He had not, however, said that Stepanyan could not visit hers. Not specifically.

With a glance around to make sure he wasn't being observed, he headed to the back stairs and went up to the section of the household he wasn't permitted in.


~~~
J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Chile Rellenos

12:30 AM 0 Comments

It's Too Yummy Tuesday!

On select Tuesdays I share delicious recipes either inspired by my books or that are just plain delicious!

Things in my latest work in progress have really been heating up, so this week's dish is inspired by all things hot 'n spicy! Ole'!


CHILE RELLENOS


Man, I LOVE chile rellenos. 1-2 chiles makes a serving, so buy chiles accordingly. I like to use method 2 of preparation, because I find sometimes that with method 1 the batter drips off when I'm not fast enough. But sometimes, method 1 winds up working better. Experiment to see which one you like best!


Ingredients

chilies, fresh, roasted and skinned
Monterey Jack cheese, cut 1 inch wide, 2 inches long and 1/2 inch thick
Batter:
Allow 1 egg and 1tbsp flour for each chile you are using.
1 can ranchero or enchilada sauce

Directions:

Stuff each chile with cheese. Separate eggs. Beat whites until stiff. Fold in beaten yolks and flour.  Use one of the following methods to proceed, whichever suits your preference.

First Method: One at a time, drop stuffed chiles into batter. Scoop out with a large spoon (include plenty of batter) and carefully drop into hot oil or fat.

Second Method: Quickly drop 2 or 3 spoonfuls of batter into hot oil or fat in a long, thin shape (a little longer than the chile). Press a stuffed chile into the batter and cover with 2 or 3 more spoonfuls of batter.

Brown on 1 side; carefully turn with a long spatula and brown on the other side. Drain on paper towel in warm oven. These can stand in this way for several hours or even a day ahead. If so, just put rellenos into boiling ranchero sauce just long enough to heat through (about 5 minutes) and puffed up. To serve, cover with sauce.


~~~
J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.




Monday, February 4, 2013

Brains, Anyone?

12:47 PM 0 Comments

Funny Animation, Animated Pictures and Comments


On Mondays I gab about, well, pretty much whatever!

Just call me scatterbrained this week! I’ve been jumping around to so many different things that I apparently can’t keep things straight. It was the kind of week where I’d sit down to do one thing, and then remember I was also in the middle of something else. In the process of writing this blog, I stopped to do four other things. I partially blame the fact that I’ve been deliberately weaning myself off caffeine.

In the process, I managed to lose the thumb drive that is always stuffed into my laptop so I can back up my books and other important documents. It’s driving me crazy, since I almost vaguely recall pulling it out of the port for Some_Random_Reason that I can’t for the life of me remember. I also lost—and found again once it no longer mattered—my micro-to-SD card adapter. And I managed to forget the password to Bri’s new YouTube channel 3 times...and YouTube won’t send reminders, just reset requests. Then they wouldn’t let me use a password I’ve ever used before, making it even more certain I’ll forget the next one. Guess what? I vowed to jot the password down this time, and after the fact promptly found where I’d done the same thing last time and then forgot I’d done it. Ugh! Someone be a dove and get me a new brain STAT, ‘k? Thanks. Good grief.

Since I’ve been so busy flitting about, I’m a couple weeks behind on my shows. So naturally I managed to accidentally stumble over a major spoiler about Downton Abbey, as Yahoo decided to make it a news headline. Grr. I hate that!!

Despite my GLoB (General Lack of Brain), I got through most of last week’s ToDo list. Two book contracts were signed and put to bed. I also managed to get the current chapter of BOUND TO HER MASTER finished, and I'm 1/3 of the way through the next one. Mike finally got a new computer (cue applause), which lets him make hand gestures in the air to navigate and open links, etc. Weird-cool! Computer HUDs for home use aren't far away, I'm sure. 

In cheery news, we got Bri’s vlog posted, and she got surprised with Disney passes this last week. She had a fun trip with Dad on Superbowl Sunday. (Yours Truly had to work that day.) The only thing I didn’t finish from last week’s list was Mike’s video short, although I did get a couple FX shots done on it.

Well, THIS week I'm hoping to get in another chapter or two on the WIP, post two videos for Bri's vlog, and at least pretend like I'm making headway on Mike's video short. And at some point I want to catch up with my shows before I find out any more spoilers I don't want to hear!


~~~
J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Caught by the Wrong Man-(Still!) Six Sentence Sunday

12:30 AM 0 Comments



On select Sundays, I'll post excerpts from works in progress.


Today's six is from my erotic BDSM/capture fantasy novel, BOUND TO HER MASTER.

Ti-Hana tried to duck around the man, but he grabbed her arm and pushed her behind the building. “I saw your cuff,” he said. “You’re a slave, and an expensive one, too.”

He still had hold of her arm, and when she tried to twist away, he tightened his grip.

“Let go of me,” she said. “I’m on an errand for my Master.”


~~~
J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people.

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