Friday’s Fun: Daily Blog Post

Hey!

Friday is a bit of a fun day for hubby and me. Our local casino offers a Veteran’s Promo on Friday mornings and we go down there for that. We meet up with a couple other of our friends, gamble a little until we meet the required point goal, go get our casino cards updated, get a free $5 comp that covers our breakfasts, then go back to gamble the $10 in casino dollars they give up.

We spend more time at breakfast than gambling but that’s all right with me. Friday morning I won $5 and hubby won $15. Free money, free breakfast and a meet-up with friends. A good start to the day, I say.

Also yesterday, when I returned home, I processed more peaches into peach puree for smoothies (or those bellini’s I mentioned a few days ago.) I still have more peaches in the fridge and have given up getting the last of the peaches from the tree. I can’t reach them and by now they’re too ripe to pick. Let the birds and the bees have them.

Then I wrote this blog, and will continue to edit my Gulliver Station series. I’ll have to be done with this box set sooner or later. Sooner, I hope.

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy my Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Peaches!: Daily Blog Post

Frozen peach slices

Hey!

So I mentioned in Monday’s post that I have an abundance of peaches. Monday morning I made cobbler, which used up 4 cups of chopped peaches. I had some of that for breakfast, yum!

I turned three other containers of peaches into sliced peaches and put them in the freezer. If you also have an abundance of peaches, here’s what to do. Quickly blanch your whole, ripe peaches, about 2 minutes. Drop them into ice water to stop the cooking. Then with a paring knife, peel each peach. If your peaches are truly ripe, the skin will slip right off. If your peaches aren’t fully ripe, you’ll have to actually peel them. Take care to just take the skin and as little of the peach flesh as humanly possible. Then half, pit, and cut into slices. Put them on a freezer-paper lined cookie sheet or sheets, in my case, and put in the freezer. I usually let mine freeze at least 24 hours. Longer if I get busy. Anyway, take from the freezer, loosen from the freezer paper, and put into gallon freezer bags.

There you have it. Frozen peaches ready for cobbler, smoothies or bellini’s. Don’t know what a bellini is? Check this out: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/238504/classic-bellini-cocktail/

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy my Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Gulliver Box set, New Ice Cream Maker, Gardening: Monday Blog Post

Newest News:

So, I have the Smashwords copy of the Gulliver Station Box set formatted and the table of contents linked. I’m going to go through it today to try and get rid of the punctuation and grammar errors I see in there so when I do the paperback version, it will be cleaner. I’ll update the Kindle copy as well. It’s a tedious process, folks, so please bear with me.

Ice Cream Maker

I mentioned a few of days ago that I was buying a new ice cream maker because I couldn’t find the motor and paddle for my old one. Well, the Cuisine Art maker came, and Saturday I made a new batch of vanilla paleo ice cream. I put it into the maker and it worked beautifully. Hubby tried it Saturday night and while he declared it wasn’t as creamy as regular ice cream, it was good. Better with the addition of fresh, cut-up peaches, of which we’re swimming. That’s a whole ‘nother story.

The garden is going strong. I have peaches. Lots and lots of peaches and they all ripen at once. So we give away a lot to friends. The a good many I’ll blanch, peel, and cut into slices to freeze. The freezing part is easy. Lay the slices out on a freezer paper lined baking sheet and put in the freezer. The next day, loosen them from the paper, put into a gallon freezer bag, and you’re done. Unless of course, like me, you have several more containers of fresh peaches in the fridge. Then it’s round two! The picture is of 2 containers already washed, and my gathering basket of just picked peaches, before they get their bath.

Giveaways:

The 2018 Authors/Bloggers Summer Giveaway is in progress at https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. There’s $80 as a Grand Prize Paypal Cash and 27 books and 27 prizes available to win.

The Smashwords’ site’s Summer/Winter Giveaway is over. I hope you had the chance to get many of my books for free or at a significant discount. Now you can find a list of all of my books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/conniecockrell and in whatever ebook format works for you.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Peach Shortcake: Chicklet’s in the Kitchen Blog Post

PeachShortcake005

Mid-Summer in my neck of the woods means peaches. My peach tree tends to ripen late July, depending on the weather. It held off to the 1st week in August when all the peaches ripened just about at once. Nothing like an avalanche of peaches to make you put on your thinking cap. After giving away a LOT! I decided peach shortcake would be just the thing. Now it’s not complicated, but after all those peaches, I didn’t have too much brain power left. And it’s hot! So why not peach shortcake for supper. Or breakfast!

Hardware

Medium Bowl

Cutting Board

Knife

Individual serving bowls

 

Ingredients

Bowl full of peaches, washed

½ to 1 cup sugar (your choice)

Can of Whipped Cream

Shortcake

PeachShortcake001

Cut the peaches in half, remove the pit, chop up and put in the bowl. Continue until all of the peaches are chopped up. Read the rest at Chicklets in the Kitchen.

My name is Connie Cockrell and I write SciFi, Fantasy, Mysteries, and a lot of other things and you can find links to all of my books at www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com.

 

Peachy August: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

The book festival is over, now it’s time to go full steam ahead on the Northern Gila County Fair. www.NorthernGilaCountyFair.com. We have totally revamped the website and designed a new logo and they look so good! You should check it out right away. So much new stuff this year, I’m very excited about it. We have a Ranch Rodeo this year on Saturday right after the livestock auction. We have a dance troupe coming on Saturday morning who will perform for an hour and a half. We also have some hotdog, watermelon, and chicken wing eating contests, a magician, and of course, all of the wonderful exhibits the crafty people of Gila county have made. We’re open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Check the website for all of the details.

Giveaways:

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The Red Hot Summer giveaway is still in full swing. Just click on the Rafflecopter link. You do have to sign up to Rafflecopter but after that, you’re free to click away. I have links to it on my facebook, twitter, and website pages. This giveaway I offer a free ebook, Mystery at the Fair, or for second prize, a $10 Amazon card. Over a hundred prizes from 50 authors plus a grand prize of $150 Paypal Cash. It’s not hard to enter, there are multiple ways to enter, and it doesn’t cost you anything. You could easily win a prize. If you haven’t entered yet, enter today and every day.

Shout Out:

Author DMG Byrnes

Author DMG Byrnes

This week’s author interview is with DMG Byrnes. a fantasy author. If you’re in a hurry, you can find her at dmgbyrnes.com. We have a great interview lined up and you can see the cover to her new book, the Fortelling Spark. So stop on by on Wednesday!

Garden News:

Peaches from my tree

Peaches from my tree

I picked my first batch of yellow beans a few days ago and ate some for supper and froze the rest. The patch is ready for picking again. I also picked a lot of cherry tomatoes which we’ve already eaten. They’re ready to pick again, too. The big news, I picked all of the peaches from the tree. That’s the picture above. They’re small because I didn’t thin them this spring but they taste wonderful, especially still warm from the sun. I’m running behind the zucchini production. I’ve made zucchini patties, those were delicious. Browned and crisp on the outside and wonderfully creamy and soft on the inside. Yummy! I’ve also added them to Saturday night’s Hot Chili oil and lemon spaghetti with fresh, halved cherry tomatoes. How’s your garden doing?

Where Will I Be?:

FallFest2016

9th annual Fall Festival in Pine, AZ. October 8th and 9th. http://pinestrawberrybusinesscommunityaz.com/fallapple.html. I’ll be there all weekend as part of the local author book signing. My hubby will be there as part of the chili cook-off at noon on Saturday. There are also crafters and a very excellent antique show scheduled, not to mention music and food!

Want more details about this event? Click here for more information.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up prizes on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team! I’d love to see you there.

Newest Book Release:

I’ve been editing and rewriting Zoe Ohale. I still have some work to do. I’ve also thought of a cover for the book so I’ll be working on that soon. If you’re a Brown Rain Series fan, I think you’ll like Zoe Ohale. You may remember a short story I published on my blog on 8/20/15, Extra Baggage. That was the second story about Zoe. The first, Betrayal Moon, is in the Forward Motion anthology, due out in the next couple of weeks. Just 17, Zoe has been an orphan living on the streets of Baia Mare since she was 12. Street smart and fiercely independent, Zoe has been offered the chance to move back into legal society by the police officer that arrested her a few months ago. But first, she has to help protect the little kids in her group, help her friend save her father from assassination, and find a criminal ring that just stole all of the physical credits being delivered to the Planetary Bank of Baia Mare. The book, the first of a series, should be out in August, if I can find time to work on it between the Book Festival and the Fair.

Kindred Spirits released on March 14th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads  or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.