Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **AUTHOR SPECIAL** with TINA GLASNECK!

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, TINA GLASNECK, and her favorite recipe for IDUNN’S PANCAKES!

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FOUR TIMES THE VAMPIRE
Order of the Dragon Series
BY TINA GLASNECK

Blurb

FOUR TIMES THE VAMPIRE
Order of the Dragon Series

Slow and steady wins the racing hearts…what is the power of the slow burn romance?
By Tina Glasneck

Deep down, I’m a romantic.

I believe you never forget your first heartbreak or your first love. Do you remember your first crush? The way your heart throttled in your chest until you thought it might explode? How butterflies fluttered in your stomach and you ached to be near your heart’s desire?

You hung onto every word they said. Even the inflection in their voice as they said your name was an invisible caress. Then, with bated breath, you’d search out clues, hints about their intentions and how or if your feelings may perhaps be returned.

Did you ever lean in, hoping to catch a whiff of their cologne?

Even now, I’m sure if you caught that scent, you’d be transported back to another time and place and remember from your heart’s beat.

Yes, that tension, that anticipation, that edge-of-your-seat slow burn.

As a reader, I relish the main characters’ romantic journey, and when I find a world I like, I enjoy nothing more than staying with it and watching the characters grow and morph and their relationships change. Maybe it’s a part of growing up with the famous soap operas like Young and the Restless, Bold and the Beautiful, or even The Days of Our Lives. It’s true. After school, every day as a teenager, I was glued to the television, rooting for my favorite couples and hoping that the challenges would always lead them back to one another, to true affection. I fed on that tension. Will they? Won’t they?

Now, in the age of Netflix, I’m binge-watching my favorite series with long arcs and am enjoying the progress.

Simone and Daphne are doing it…

Billie and Cooper are doing it…

Kate and Anthony?

When we think of romance, we often imagine passionate affairs that burn up the pages and the screens. Couples that hit hot and heavy. The spark of genuine affection compels us to continue watching and believing that all is possible. It delights us, providing hope and light in a sometimes dark time.

My name is Tina Glasneck, and I’m a proud member of Romancelandia!

The reader me loves romance, and as a writer, I find it fundamental. I cherish the moments of making a couple earn their happily ever after. I believe love and true affection are parts of humanity’s basic needs. It is what we steal, kill, cheat, and lie for. The one thing we will burn down the world for to save, to protect.

But there is also a power in the slow-burn love affair. Affection is revealed through prose, longing through heavy gazes, a light caress, a moment of loving-kindness or thoughtfulness. It doesn’t matter if it’s set in reimagined historical settings such as Bridgerton or even in Urban Fantasy worlds like my own in the Order of the Dragon series. When a relationship is slowed down, every interaction between the characters carries weight; each scene has a purpose beyond titillation, where hearts meet as the world around them disappears. Where the heartstrings are pulled until a beautiful melody plays.

That’s the power of romance, the power of love, no matter which creative setting one finds themselves in. Everything else disappears, and all left are these two characters, longing and finding their way to one another — be it with bated breath or reckless abandonment.

The underlying romantic thread pulls us along to discover more with each turn about these characters and what moves them. We are rooting for them to find one another through the ever-increasing chemistry, tension, and obstacles. We recognize those truths of love before they do, and we travel this well-worn journey with them, falling more in love with them and ultimately with ourselves.

For matters of the heart cannot be rushed… I can’t wait to pen the same for my characters now that Bridgerton has shown us all the beauty of a slow-burn romance. I’m currently working on the 10th book of my Order of the Dragon series, starring new vampire Leslie Love and her fated mate and dragon-shifter, Alistair McLeod. I’m excited to see my characters move to this next stage of their relationship, having laid the foundation for them through their whirlwind adventures.

(Fun Fact, Romance novels, and novels with romance actually help increase our emotional intelligence in dealing with others and ourselves).

And I know that all this slow burn will turn up the heat and tune into hearts when that tensely anticipated moment arrives. And that, dear reader, is worth all the kindling that went into the fire.

About Author Tina Glasneck…

Karen

P.S. We’re at 578 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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IDUNN’S PANCAKES

NOTE FROM TINA: Idunn is a Norse goddess and guardian of the apples, whoch give the gods longevity. I created this recipe due to my love of Norse mythology and because my kids enjoy these.

2 cups of all-purpose flour
½ cup of quick-cooking oats
2 apples peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of sugar or sugar substitute
2 teaspoons baking power
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup of milk
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of vanilla
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Ground Cinnamon for dusting
Olive oil and unsalted butter for frying

1. In a mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients, mixing them well together. Next, create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.
2. In a second bowl, combine your wet ingredients: beating eggs, milk, vanilla, and oil.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients.
4. Mix the ingredients together. The batter will be lumpy from the quick-cooking oats.
5. Allow the batter to rest for 5 minutes.
6. Peel and core your apple, slicing it into thin slices.
7. Heat up your skillet on medium heat. Place 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 pat of butter and oil your pan. Allow the butter to melt and mix with the olive oil.
8. Once the oil is hot and bubbly, spoon ¼ cup of batter into the skillet.
9. Place thin slices of the apple into the batter.
10. Reduce heat to lower heat so that the butter does not burn. If the butter is too hot, it will brown or potentially burn your pancake.
11. Dust the visible layer of the now cooking pancake with a bit of cinnamon.
12. Allow the bottom to cook until golden brown. When the pancake batter is bubbly, and the edges of the pancake are brown, flip it to the uncooked side.
13. Once both sides have cooked, and are golden brown, remove the pancake from the pan and place it on a plate.
14. Repeat the above steps until all batter is used. 15. Serve with whipped cream, maple syrup, or eat it without.

Tips: if the pancake mix appears too runny, feel free to add a bit more flour to thicken it (but do not just pour it in; instead, try the tablespoon-by-tablespoon approach). If the batter is too thick, add additional milk

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Thanks, Tina, for sharing your story and recipe with us!

Don’t miss the chance to read this book!