Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **AUTHOR SPECIAL** with COLLEEN L. DONNELLY!
Welcome to my Friday bonus feature called Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **Author Special**!! Today, in lieu of one of my own recipes, I’m going to introduce you to a new author who will share one of her favorite recipes. Not only will you and I occasionally learn how to make something new and delicious, but we’ll get a chance to check out some wonderful authors. Introducing author, COLLEEN L. DONNELLY, and her favorite recipe for ICE BOX DESSERT!
MINE TO TELL
By COLLEEN L. DONNELLY
Book Blurb
Annabelle Crouse is determined to reopen her great-grandmother’s boarded-up house – and her shunned life. Many years earlier, after an unexplained absence, Julianne was relegated to a separate home by a rigidly unforgiving husband, and the Crouse women have suffered the disgrace of her assumed guilt ever since.
Despite her family’s strong disapproval, Annabelle is driven to pursue her mission through cobwebs and dust, finding the clues and the coded story left behind by her great-grandmother—Why did she go? And why did she return? Annabelle has to know.
Only one person, a man she grew up with but never noticed, stands with Annabelle as she discovers the parallels between her story and her great-grandmother’s—two women, generations apart, experiencing what love truly is.
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MINE TO TELL
By COLLEEN L. DONNELLY
Excerpt
An excerpt from early in the story of “Mine to Tell,” a novel about love that was at first warped and marred by others, but then set free. It’s never too late for love, no matter how your story began. And it’s never too late for your real story to be told.
“Mine to tell,” Kyle said suddenly. It was a jolt. I was yanked from my mental tumble into a pit of unredemption. Alex looked up too, a quizzical expression on his face. “Julianne left a story behind,” Kyle continued. “Some of it speculation and rumors by people who don’t know, and the rest of it by her own hand. It was a love story. One that was countered with suffering.”
We were all quiet. I looked at him, my heart melting as I heard his masculine voice speak of love and suffering. I wanted to lean across the table and hug him, but I was too afraid.
Alex leaned back in his chair. “What my father went through didn’t feel like love when we were little.”
“But maybe it was,” Kyle persisted, his tone smooth and even. “Does love always turn out the way we want it to?” Then he looked at me. “Julianne Crouse was a fine woman. We haven’t finished her story, but she suffered, and she was fine indeed.”
Tears came to my eyes. “Thank you,” I squeaked. Kyle stood and walked around the table to me. He helped me stand as he thanked them for their time. He retrieved Julianne’s picture, took my hand, and together we went to the door, Alex and his wife following us.
“I hope you’re right,” Alex said, running his hand through his thin, brittle hair as we stepped outside. “My father had some things to come to terms with, but he was a good man. A better man later in life, when he told us he was sorry. I never knew for what.”
About the author…Colleen L. Donnelly.
Colleen L. Donnelly lives in the rural Midwest where life is generally quiet, but her imagination never is. Even in the midst of writing, editing, and working, she never stops searching for that next plot, that next relationship predicament that will make a worthy tale.
Colleen has worked in the academic environment for years, a day job of test tubes and beakers made more colorful by a wide variety of cultures and nationalities bringing their own stories her way.
Colleen always knew she was to write, but she saved the bulk of her efforts until her education was complete, her children were raised, and her career humming along at a steady pace. Now she writes continually with two novels already published, one waiting for its release date, and one going through birth pains on her laptop. Life is good.
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Links to Colleen’s website, blog, books, etc.
Author email: colleenldonnelly@gmail.com
Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/ColleenLDonnelly
Blog: http://colleenldonnelly.wordpress.com/
Website: www.colleenldonnelly.com
I hope you enjoy the recipe Colleen is sharing with us today on Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. Happy eating!
Karen
P.S. We’re at 163 recipes and counting with this posting. Hope you find some recipes you like. If this is your first visit, please check out past blogs for more Killer Fixin’s. In the right hand column menu, you can even look up past recipes by type. i.e. Desserts, Breads, Beef, Chicken, Soups, Author Specials, etc.
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A Note from Colleen: Appropriate for “Mine to Tell,” this recipe was passed from my grandmother to my mom, all of us farm families and as frugal (poor) as they came. This was a special treat, and I begged for it often as a small girl. Memories of my mom pulling it from the icebox to surprise me are special, even more special now that I’ve become one of those gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free healthy types.
ICE BOX DESSERT
Cream thoroughly:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 heaping Tb. cocoa
¼ cup butter
Stir in:
2 beaten egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt
Fold in:
2 beaten egg whites
Layer the bottom of a greased 9” square pan with crushed Vanilla Wafer crumbs.
Evenly spread the above creamed mixture on top of the crumbs.
Cover the top of the creamed mixture with another layer of Vanilla Wafer crumbs.
Chill overnight in ice box.
Cut in squares and serve with whipped cream.
Yummy!
**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Colleen is giving away a signed paperback copy of MINE TO TELL to one lucky winner (U.S. only) who comments on her Killer Fixin’s blog. Don’t miss this chance to read this great story! Thanks, Colleen, for sharing your new release and recipe with us!
Good morning, Colleen. Thanks so much for stopping by to share both your book and your favorite recipe with us here at Karen’s Killer Fixin’s! Enjoyed your excerpt. Sounds like a great book. I remember a similar Ice Box Dessert when I was growing up. I’ll have to take a trip down memory lane and make this!
Happy Friday!
Thanks, Karen! Your site is colorful and fun, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it. Enjoy some of that dessert for me, too. I miss it since my body no longer tolerates sugar. darn….
Colleen
I’m glad you’re enjoying the visit, Colleen. I love my new website because it IS colorful and fun. Thanks for saying so. 🙂
Fun sounding dessert