Healthy Banana Bread - recipe

Dean Hinmon’s Super Healthy Banana Bread

2 1/3 Cups flour - I use whole wheat
1/8 Cup sugar
1/4 Cup chopped walnuts (optional, I sometimes throw in some roasted, unsalted soy nuts)
1 Cup raisins
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
7 large bananas pureed in the blender.
1 teaspoon vanilla

Notice that there is no oil, eggs, butter, and only a few grains of sugar in this recipe. Super healthy, yet delicious!

Thoroughly mix the dry ingredients, then blend the bananas, add vanilla and mix banana mix with dry ingredients. Pour into an oiled loaf pan and cook at 325-F or 163-C degrees for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Depending upon your altitude and attitude.

Eat a slice and then you can leap tall buildings and fly at the speed of a bullet. Feed it to insensitive people and they suddenly take on the caring personality of guardian angels.

The banana bread has other uses. It can be used as a door stop, an anchor for the boat and can be attached to a steel pipe for weight lifting. It can be used as a step for reaching into a high shelf in the cupboard. There is a case reported recently of the woman who killed her husband by beating him over the head with a loaf and then hid the murder weapon by eating it. Generally, this use is not recommended. You can't make banana bread while incarcerated.

Catching up

Books that went to press this week:

UNWORTHY by Jeanine Collins Malarsky


Editorial work continued or resumed on:

THE ODYESSEY, by Dorothy Elena Bowman
FROM JESUS TO HEAVEN WITH LOVE, by Barbara Garro
THE REMORA, by Charles Wilson


Galleys went out on, or went out for a second time on:

NO ACCOUNTING FOR TASTE, by Newt Love

We are awaiting galley corrections on the following

INSIDE INFORMATION, by Michael Field

THROUGH THE CLOUDS, by Erin Aslin

I am having trouble with my laptop, where editing proceeds. Getting it repaired may slow my work for some time to come.

arline

What if your query gets a positive response? - writing tip

We all know that it's better to send a query letter for an article, than the finished article itself, because editors like to have input into how an article is written. So don't be expecting a check by return mail, expect the editor to read your query, like your idea, then call and make you an offer instead.

When an editor calls, be professional on the phone. Don't forget to ask the pay rate, if expenses are covered, and whether there will be a "kill" fee. Sometimes editors will ask untried or unknown writers to do articles "on spec."

That means you do the work and if they like it they'll pay you. It's a good way to break in the articles market, and it's a good way for an editor to assign something to an unknown writer without losing either money or face.

In the beginning you may okay this, but when you have considerable publishing credits, the proper thing to do when an editor says "on spec," is to say, "I'd really like to work with you, but I do have other commitments and I can't devote that much time without some insurance. What about a kill fee?" The kill fee is what you're paid for your time, if they hate the article and decide not to use it after you've done all the work on speculation.

Jalapeno Cheese Balls - recipe

Ed Petty’s Jalapeno Cheese Balls

2 lbs. mild and grated cheddar cheese
1 lb. prepared pimiento cheese
1 lb. softened cream cheese
1 7-oz. jar of chopped jalapeno peppers
2 medium chopped onions
6 cloves of minced garlic
4 tbs. lemon juice
4 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 4-oz. bottle of chili powder

Mix all ingredients except chili powder together and shape into 1-lb. balls. Put chili powder into a flat dish and roll each ball until all of them are covered. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap or tin foil and refrigerate until all of them are set. Makes four to five balls depending on size.

Contributed by Edward Petty, author of FOUR FLESH FEASTS AND AN AFTER DINNER MINT, NAKED, and JARED'S LITTLE PLAYGROUND...People can only be pushed just so far before they snap and claim justifiable revenge. This is not your everyday, garden-variety retelling of 'Good' versus 'Evil'.

Look for "regulars" close to home - writing tip

With regional magazines you can sometimes make good contacts and perhaps get repeat sales or regular assignments. When I was first starting as a writer there was a small, quarterly publication given away as a "freebie" in local Realtors offices.

I did a "profile" of a local sportsman every three months for them. Now interviewing local fishermen and hunters tends to get old, and $150 an article wasn't all that much, but it was income I could depend on and it built my publications list.

What local and regional publications are available where you are? As a writer, how can you use them to your advantage?

Welsh Rarebit - recipe

Isabella, La Contessa Avezzano’s luncheon treat from England – Welsh Rarebit

1/4 cup butter
8 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
4 eggs slightly beaten
1 cup light cream
dash of cayenne pepper

Melt butter in heavy 3 quart saucepan or top of a double-boiler, medium low heat. Add cheese, stirring constantly till melted. Stir in Worcestershire, mustard, and cayenne.

Combine eggs and cream. Remove cheese mixture from heat, and blend well with the egg mixture. Return to medium heat, stir constantly, until thickened. Serve over toasted and buttered English muffins (or rather thick sliced Italian bread), or buttered toast triangles.

Contributed by Robert Legleitner on behalf of his character Isabella, La Contessa d’Avezzano. La Contessa is Kydon Schmidt’s landlady and a fellow allied resistance fighter in A BRIEF MADNESS: Book Two of the Kydon Chronicles...In WWII, Kydon Schmidt a man with a secret, has been forced to spy for the allies.... In this sequel to THE GOLDEN LEGEND Ky is seeking revenge on the men who shot his friend Val. If they want a spy, they’ll get one!

Catching up --

No books went to press this week:

Editorial work continued or resumed on:


FROM JESUS TO HEAVEN WITH LOVE, by Barbara Garro
THE REMORA, by Charles Wilson
NO ACCOUNTING FOR TASTE, by Newt Love

Galleys went out on, or went out for a second time on:

THE ODYESSEY, by Dorothy Elena Bowman

INSIDE INFORMATION, by Michael Field


We are waiting on galley returns for the following:
THROUGH THE CLOUDS, by Erin Aslin

EASTERN SHORE LIFE AND LURE, by the Writers Bloc

UNWORTHY, by Jeanine Malarsky

THE MOTHER-OF-PEARL DAGGER, by Victor Uribe