It's Too Yummy Tuesday!
On select Tuesdays I share delicious recipes either inspired by my books or that are just plain delicious! Today I'm happy to have special guest Courtney Giardina, author of Tear Stained Beaches. She's here to share a very special recipe idea. Take it away, Courtney!
In my debut novel Tear Stained
Beaches, main character Haylie Julian’s day job is an event planner at a local
country club. I thought that in honor of Haylie, it would be fitting to
showcase a fruit arrangement I made for a recent girls night out event. It
really wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and everyone commented on how
cute it was!
Chocolate-Dipped Fruit Arrangement
Ingredients:
¼ cup grapes (whole)
1 apple (cored)
1 orange (peeled)
1 package of dark or milk chocolate chips
Crushed nuts or coconut for topping
Additional
Supplies:
Small square or rectangular vase
Floral foam (2 pieces)
Toothpicks
Wooden skewers
Any wrapping paper you have lying around
Double sided tape
Directions:
·
Cut the floral foam
so it fits snug in the vase you choose. I recommend not putting it all the way
at the bottom so you have room to maneuver your skewers and vary height.
·
Place double sided
tape on outside of vase
·
Cut your wrapping
paper to cover the full outside of the vase and stick it to the double sided
tape. Now you’re ready to begin!
·
Peel orange, cut each
slice in half and place on toothpick or skewer
·
Cut apple (I left the
skin on), cut in half and place on toothpick or skewer
·
Place grapes, whole
onto toothpick or skewer. You can place as many as you’d like for variation
·
Melt chocolate chips
at low heat , stirring continuously
·
Once chips are
melted, dip your fruit shallowly into the chocolate and roll it around until
it’s covered to your liking. Shake off any excess and stick into the extra
piece of floral foam to dry
·
Once all fruit is
covered with chocolate, place it in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes (or
until hard)
·
Take it out and stick
into your vase, arranging them however you’d like
·
I rolled some of them
in coconut for a different look
·
And voila! Your very
own fruit arrangement to impress guests at your never party
Alternating between regular
skewer and toothpick gives the arrangement depth. Feel free to use your
imagination and any other combination of fruit you prefer!
Note: I
didn’t stick the oranges in chocolate because they kept falling off J
Tear Stained Beaches
by Courtney Giardina
Haylie Julian wants nothing more than to put her crumbling marriage back together. Chase used to be a fun-loving, light hearted husband who had lately become an overworked attorney obsessed with climbing the corporate ladder. It isn’t long before Haylie starts waking up next to a man she barely knows. His secretive phone calls and late nights at the office leave her feeling alone and afraid of what he might be hiding. Ignoring his continuous pleas to just leave well enough alone, she continues to dig for answers and discovers a heartbreaking truth.
Struggling with what she has just learned, Haylie sets off to a quaint little North Carolina beach town to decide if her marriage can survive. It isn’t long after she arrives that her world is once again turned upside down as Chase’s secret stares her right in the face.
Tear Stained Beaches explores what happens when a marriage isn’t the happily-ever-after you thought it was. Can trust be rebuilt? Can a wife forgive the ultimate betrayal?
About the Author
Courtney Giardina is a Rochester,
NY native who currently resides in Charlotte, NC. After 9 months of wearing out
the delete button on the keyboard, Tear Stained Beaches was completed. She is
currently working on her second novel to be published in 2014. When she’s not
writing, Courtney is an avid health and fitness lover who has currently taken
up a love of boxing as a member of Title Boxing Club and loves trying out new
healthy recipes from Pinterest.
To find out more about Courtney,
visit www.courtneygiardina.com or follow her on twitter (www.twitter.com/sweetangeleyz)
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