Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **AUTHOR SPECIAL** with GREG SANDORA!

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 his 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, GREG SANDORA, and his favorite recipe for MY HAM RECIPE!

GABBY, ANGEL OF GOD:
GUARDIAN & MESSENGER:
Keeper of Love, Joy, Peace, Kindness and Faith
A Supernatural Romance Thriller
By GREG SANDORA

Book Blurb

Gabby, Angel of God is a Supernatural Romance Thriller that feels like falling in love!

The story starts out with a young widower, Bo, raising two small children and the three heartbeats that will change his life. Ride along as stunningly beautiful Gabby, takes this human man on the no-holds barred adventure of a lifetime!

If you’ve ever lost a loved one this story is for you!

A story of Peace, Love, Hope, Charity and the strength of Faith, you’ll love Gabby, Angel of God.

Gabby, is gorgeous, powerful, and able to take on forces that would make the most powerful armies turn and run for their lives.

When a widower who feels he has lost everything meets an angel he finds out that his life is just beginning. Gabby is an angel of God who shows him that life is always full of surprises, adventures and a lot more meaning than we can easily fathom. She shows Bo how to help others, be open to love again and find the hidden strength that lies within all of us. It is a story with heart and hope that will take you on an adventure of faith with one amazing angel.

This best-selling novel is on sale for a limited-time to introduce you to up-and-coming author, Greg Sandora We hope you enjoy Gabby, Angel of God.

Excerpt

How quickly life can change. A sixteen-year-old girl texting while driving took the best part of us away, leaving two innocent kids without their mom. The most wonderful woman to ever walk the earth, my beautiful Sally, pinned against an icy guardrail, bravely clinging to her last moments of life.

“Tell Bo I’ll miss him terribly,” and, “please, tell my precious babies, Mommy loves them so much.” Tears filled her eyes, “I won’t be there to see you grow up.”

The car severed her just above the hip. The paramedics told her the truth, pulling the car away would cost the brief time she had left. Sally laughed, nervously asking for something to write on. My beautiful wife spent her last minutes writing, “Dearest family, I love you, I have had the most wonderful life, try not to be sad. Try to hold on to the good memories.” She signed, “Mommy,” and, “I’m so sorry, Sweetheart.”

I’m welding now, for Bath Iron works, a shipbuilder based on the Portland Waterfront. It’s steady work –building Arleigh Burke class destroyers, for the U.S. Navy. I had to do something with my hands to keep busy or else lose my mind. Grief can do that. Work helps me forget.

I must have dosed off. My eyes slowly open to the blinding brightness of the noonday sun. Turning sideways I catch a glimpse of my son Brandon swinging stomach first, but there’s something else, oddly out of place. I can’t explain it. A girl, a young woman maybe, is standing too close. Who does that? No one gets that close to someone else’s kid. What is she doing? She looks over at me, as though she would like to answer. I sense her thoughts as she realizes that I see her. My heartbeat quickens, I count three quick thumps – before I figure out what to do – she’s gone. What was that? Who could she be? This is crazy – someone was there then suddenly disappears. I have to question my sanity.

“Please come back,” I plead, mentally. “Whoever you are, whatever you are, I’ll wonder for the rest of my life! That’s not fair!” Maybe she wasn’t so gentle. My mind is racing now; Brandon is still swinging peacefully – oblivious, to what I’ve witnessed.

I ask anyway, hopeful, “Hey Bran? Who was that next to you?”

“I’m swinging by myself, Daddy.” He is giggling at me, his answer so matter-of-fact. I get chills.

Okay, I’ve finally cracked. To my credit it did take a while for me to lose my mind. I’ve put up a good fight the last two and a half years, but now I’m seeing things. For months after Sally died I waited, hoping she’d show herself – to somehow let me know she was okay. Surely our love could bridge the gap between death and life. If anyone would try – it would be her. I thought the chimes were Sally, the birds chirping, butterflies – the stern rustling of the leaves; it was all just dreaming. Now I’ve really lost it; for five seconds at least, I saw the most beautiful woman, as plain as the nose on my face. Then she disappeared. No one will believe me. The guys at work don’t understand stuff like this. I can’t trust anyone with this information. I thought I was a survivor and losing my wife hadn’t made me crazy. Now I can no longer say that. What am I going to do? If I tell – I risk losing my kids. I sit up and take a series of deep breaths to clear my head.

“You have the most beautiful faith.” I hear in my mind. It’s finally happened – I’ve completely cracked. I’m seeing things and hearing voices.

“You’re not seeing things, Bo. Look beside you, I’m here.”

My God. This is real. The most amazing creature is sitting beside me speaking directly to my mind. Now of all times, I can’t talk. My lips are frozen.

“Are you real!?” I manage to ask mentally, overly stimulated.

She delicately places her hand on my arm, “Yes, I’m real.” She smiles, gently shaking her head. “You must have been so at peace. True rest is a gift from God.” When she thinks of God, I fall limp. She catches me, cradling my head in her lap.

“Who are you?” I think to ask. She leans over, blows sweet breath into my face, breathing a message without moving her lips, communicating as if she were making love. I understand the truth. She is Gabriella, a messenger of God. A guardian sent to intervene wherever she is needed. She is not the most powerful angel. Others far greater guard the outer edges of the earth. She is here only briefly, to help change the course of events.

“Bo,” It’s funny, I’m hearing her dulcet voice aloud with my ears. “Your faith must be very strong for you to witness.”

“Well it’s going to be a lot stronger now. This is incredible…It’s amazing…You’re amazing!”

“Bo?”

“Yes, Gabriella?”

“Sally’s in a place of peace and love.”

The angel knew that’s what I’d ask. “Is she happy, does she miss us? Where is she?”

“Slow down, I can’t give you the details, but you’ll see her again. True love always finds its way in heaven. That’s all I can tell you.”

“Thank you, that’s the best thing you could have said.”

“You are blessed, Bo.”

“Your voice?”

“Yes, Bo?”

“It’s like hearing the sweetest melody, say something, anything – please, it’s beautiful.”

 “I bet you say that to all the angels.” The beautiful voice is teasing now.

“You are the first angel I have seen. Are all angels female?” I was still gazing in wonder at her beautiful face.

“I see…” Gabriella looked pensively, and then answered, “Angels can be male or female, Bo.”

“One or the other, I hope.” I said, trying to tease her back.

 “You’re funny,” she laughed. “I’m a female angel, very female, don’t worry.”

“Well, you’re lovely, ‘breathtakingly feminine!” I was trying and failing to suppress my admiration.

 She giggled, “You’re sweet, we are not learning so we angels display perfection, the ideal possible in humanity.”

“You’re beautiful in every sense, Gabriella. Your skin, your hair – you’re perfect.” She is the most desirable woman I have ever seen.

“We’re archetypes, Bo, modeled after men and women. Not the other way around.”

I have the strangest sensation, like I’m drawn to this angel. The feeling is overwhelming.

“Bo, that’s why angels never show themselves, we are irresistible to humans. It’s not your fault.”

“It’s strange, you’re reading my mind.” I can’t keep my thoughts secret from you?’

“I’m afraid not, I hear your thoughts as easily as if you were speaking them.” She began to walk, with a gentle gait that was as graceful as dancing, around me.

 “Sally would have loved to be able to hear my thoughts like that.”

 “What girl wouldn’t want to know what her man was thinking?” She continued pacing, seemingly filled with an excess of energy that she needed to vent by moving.

 “You’re funny.” Smiling, I shook my head.

“No it’s true; I hear a lot of prayers like that.” That statement brought home her angelic nature to me. Thinking of her listening to prayers and trying to help grant them was heady stuff, yet I felt remarkably focused and grounded by the thought.

 “I feel strangely clearer headed near you. Why is that?” I began to pace around in a less graceful imitation of her movements. It was a bit like being a moon that was caught in her gravity.

 “Angels can focus your mind, on what you really want.” She stopped and looked intently at me.

 “Well then I want you!” The words came bursting out of me. I didn’t censor myself and I could see disappointment in her eyes.

 “Bo, you don’t understand yet. I’m a helper, sent to aid and protect.”

Purchase Link:  http://amzn.com/B00IJA6XQS

About the author…Greg Sandora.

Originally from the Portland, Maine area and lived and worked there for years before moving to Southwest Florida. My first book, Jack Canon’s American Destiny: He’s All In, is a Presidential Thriller, or some might say White House Mystery Thriller, packed with action and adventure. I just completed the sequel to Jack Canon’s American Destiny – which is titled Jack Canon’s Women of the House: Love, Lust and Loyalty (A story of Kindness, Passion and Courage that can’t be separated. It’s has all of the same components of the first but leans toward a Presidential Romance, or White House Romance Thriller. The sequel is just as action packed, but with a bit more spice than the first, some would say it’s very sensual. Anyway both are available on Amazon now.

My next project is a Supernatural Romance Thriller, it involves an angel, Gabby, short for Gabriella – Basically, a man during a visit to Bar Harbor, Maine encounters a beautiful angel named Gabby; quite accidentally, he is told – she wasn’t supposed to make him aware of her existence. His purity of spirit, kindness and capacity for love has revealed her to him. Naturally he falls hopelessly in love with the beautiful creature, as humans can not resist angels. The book is titled Gabby, Angel of God, Guardian and Messenger (Keeper of the Peace, Love, Hope, Charity and Faith. She’s quite something and they go on a quick but exciting adventure helping people in trouble. There’s even some horror thrown into the mix. Gabby fits nicely in the Supernatural, Romantic Thriller, Paranormal and Time Travel genres. All three books have adventures and thrills, are fast paces and even some hilarious moments.

The Jack Canon series will eventually be about 7 books, book three is tentatively titled, Jack Canon’s Ghost Operative, it’s a Presidential Agent Thriller and deals heavily in the shady dealings of the CIA, Global Terrorism, and the do-what-ever it takes spy mentality. Anyway the attitude of President Jack Canon is to make things right, No matter what! My hope is to have people read the stories and let me know their thoughts. My dream is to write full time and return to beautiful Maine in the Summertime while spending winters in Florida. I probably share that goal with a lot of people.

My Dad and Mom were artists, my father painted and my mother wrote poetry and loved to garden. Most Saturdays we loaded up the 1970 Chevy Impala to trek to a one man show somewhere or other. I took a different track graduating with a business degree; owning and operating an Award Winning Franchise Fitness Center. Currently a professional manager I am living in Florida with my beautiful wife and children, and following my passion.

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Links to Greg’s website, blog, books, etc.

Website: www.gregsandora.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gasandora

Gabby, Angel of God:  http://amzn.com/B00IJA6XQS

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I hope you enjoy the recipe Greg is sharing with us today on Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. Happy eating!

Karen

P.S. We’re at 150 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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MY HAM RECIPE

My Ham Recipe.  This is for all the guys out there who really don’t cook, but want to make at least one dish over the holidays.  My ham dish is so delicious you’ll have the entire family’s mouths watering for more. See how good it looks in the pictures.

Don’t be fooled, as good as it looks, it tastes better, and it’s even easier to prepare. I call this my signature dish – my wife plays along because it means she doesn’t have to cook, at least for one holiday a year.

Here’s the plan of attack.  Visit a local supermarket. If you’ve thought ahead you’ve gone where there’s a sale. Your mission is to acquire one large ham shank, the bigger the better, do not even think of getting the spiral, spirals dry out. I am shocked that some people are too coddled to cut ham, but that’s for another day.

Step One:  Buy a precooked Ham, one can of pineapple slices in juice, and light brown sugar (one pound size). Helpful Hint: Always go with precooked, that way all you’re really doing is heating it up. No one has to know.

Step Two:  Place Ham in pan large enough to avoid spills and preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Step Three: Pour about half the juice from the pineapples and one half of the brown sugar (about a half pound) into the bottom of the pan. Place sheet of tinfoil over top of ham.

Step Four: Cook Ham in 300 degree oven for 4 hours.  That gives you plenty of time to go to church, and watch the game with only limited interruptions to check on the ham.

Step Five: Baste ham in juices.  Hint:  Whenever you get up from the TV to baste, make a really big deal of it.  There is no sense having a signature dish and cooking if you don’t get ample credit for it. Remember, you only cook once a year. The in-laws won’t complain, and your wife will keep your secret. Remember she’s the one who encouraged you to cook. Besides she knows this dish is so easy even you can’t mess it up.

Step Six: Remove tinfoil, score the top with a knife making one inch gashes in the fat.  (I’m not really sure if gashes is an official cooking term, but you get the point.)

Step Seven: Mash the remaining half pound of brown sugar into the one inch openings you made. Hint: There should be an enormous amount of brown sugar covering the top of the ham.  Pour the other half of the pineapple juice over the sugar very slowly, encouraging a thick sticky sugar mixture covering the ham.

Step Eight: Press pineapple slices into the sugar mixture covering the top of the ham.

Step Nine: Grab a cold one from the fridge, you’re almost done. Raise the temperature of the oven to 375-400 degrees and let ham cook until the top has a golden, caramelized candied look. Hint: The juice and brown sugar mixture boils for hours infusing into the first few inches of meat. This area is for preferred guests only. Note: Save most of this section for leftovers, remember how good it tastes with morning eggs. Hint: Dislodge several chunks of this area immediately, pop into mouth while nobody, especially company is looking. Reasoning: You won’t be as hungry waiting to eat.

Step Ten: Enjoy, and don’t forget to take pictures, they’re for bragging rights and to remember you cooked.

Step Eleven: Grab another cold one and dig in. You now have a signature dish.

Final note: This was my dad’s recipe.