Cooking with Pinterest

Meal two of cooking with Pinterest is Creamy Italian Chicken.  I know that this is the second crock pot meal that I’ve made but what can I say, I love my crock pot.  Creamy Italian Chicken

Ingredients

1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 in cubes

¼  cup of water or chicken broth

1 packet dry Italian salad dressing  mix

½ c onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 can cream of chicken

½ cup chicken broth

1 (8oz) block cream cheese, softened

1 (16oz) box Rotini pasta, cooked

This meal has a lot of instructions, more than what I was expecting.  You have to dice the chicken breast into cubes then with the ½ cup of water mix with the Italian seasonings.  I used chicken broth instead of water, I figured the more flavor the better.  After the chicken has been in the crock pot for 4 hours on low you are to saute the onion and garlic in a pan for a couple of minutes.  The next step is to add the ¼ cup of broth, cream of chicken and cream cheese to the pan.

You mix the ingredients until smooth.  Well as luck would have it, my burners went out on my stove, so… I had to throw everything into the crockpot.  I also cooked the chicken on high and tossed everything in at the three hour marker.   As with any cream sauces, you need to stir every thirty minutes or so to keep the sauce from clumping or burning.  Everything melted smoothly after about an hour to which I then added the cooked pasta.

Did my creation match the picture, not really but it was creamy.  It was sort of on the bland side but I think that’s because I used light cream cheese, maybe. It was also thicker than was appears in the picture.  It yields a lot so my family will be getting half sent to them. By the  second day, the flavors seemed to settle and it tasted better.  I do recommend this meal.  It was easy for the most part but there were a lot of steps, if you follow the recipe exactly.

Creamy Chicken pasta

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Cooking with Pinterest

I should be working on book three of the Elesin Vollan Story but since I have severe procrastination issues, I’ve decided to share the meals that I cook.  My goal is to cook every week using meals I’ve found on Pinterest and critique them.  I’m sure that I will make it until the end of the month before I am bored with this blog but here we go.

As a single person who seems to always be in-between jobs, I like to try to cook great meals on a budget. I hope to inspire individuals to share their meal ideas and experiences with the others.  I will also provide pictures of perfectly executed meals but also the not so perfect as well.

The first in the line up Three Envelope Beef, which is my go-to for a quick no hassle crockpot meal.

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Ingredients:
3 pound beef roast such as chuck roast
1 envelope of dry Italian salad dressing mix
1 envelope of dry ranch salad dressing mix
1 envelope of dry brown gravy mix
2 cups water

It calls for 2 cups of water but I use 1 cup since the beef creates it’s own broth.  I also throw in some red potatoes and onions.  I place the meat in first then toss the vegetables on top.  In a bowl, I mix the dry ingredients into the water.  Once properly mixed, I pour the liquid over the roast and veggies.  On high, it takes about 4-5 hours and on the low setting 6-7 hours.

Obviously, since I’ve made this before, it’s quite tasty and the cooking instructions can’t get any easier than this.  I can’t tell you how many servings it makes but if you are single, you will have so much left over that you will consider becoming veggan.

3 Evelope Beef

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Procrastination… Again.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written in WordPress.  I have so many distractions going on at once and I can’t focus.  I tried cutting off all electronics but that just made it worse.  I have so many story ideas filling my mind all at once that it’s overwhelming.  Now I’m on WP which means that I am not doing what I need to be doing.  My new game plan… Finish what I’ve started.  I need to revamp the outline for book three in the Elesin Vollan Story so that I can get going on my next story idea.  Maybe I will take the advice of one of my old co-workers and get a white board so that I can track and check off my story outline.  Gah!  Focus! Focus! Focus!  Alright, let me finish watching Master Chef Jr then I’ll work on my novel, I hope.

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Operation Sale!

Beneath the Surface second edition is available on the Tate Publishing website.  I would still like this book to get noticed by HBO or Showtime because this needs to be a series. Now I need to work on my Kick Starter; I wonder if people will contribute to my marketing plan?!?  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-63306-723-3

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New publishing company, new edits

I’m nervous about getting involved with this new publishing company.  I’m nervous about what is expected of me.  The idea of doing a book signing horrifies me.  I don’t like public speaking or having to market myself in person.  Sure, I’m a people person and I could go up to just about anyone and start up a mindless conversation.  However, there is something different about turning that natural approach into a marketing tool.  My brain shuts down.  Also, I think more than anything…it’s the fear that my novel sucks.  Then the thought that is it worth it to stage an event that only family members and friends would attend?  Great, now I’m psyching myself out before my book has even officially come out again.  Guess I’ll go back to So You Think You Can Dance or wait!  I need to be finishing up book three in the series.  Eh, I’ll get on that this weekend.  Can’t focus.  Too…Many…Distractions…Image

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Beneath the Surface by R.S. Kee | ISBN # 978-1-63306-723-3 | Tate Publishing

Beneath the Surface by R.S. Kee | ISBN # 978-1-63306-723-3 | Tate Publishing.

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Tate Publishing – Beneath the Surface

New publisher; new edits.

 

Tate Publishing – Beneath the Surface.

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Motivated

Guess what?!?  I’m motivated to write again.  Unfortunately, that ADD has my brain over-loaded with ideas.  Thanks to my friend, she planted a seed in my head about creating a more marketable book about supernatural beings.  That got the hamster wheel a-turnin’…I’m thinking adult comic.  I’ve got a character in mind that I hope is unlike anyone that we “nerds” have seen before.  It’s still in the planning stages and if my artist friend is on board, it will be done; however, if she isn’t…solo novel project it is.  Now back to book three in the Elesin Vollan series, I must finish this one. 

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Motivation

Motivation, one minute it’s here…then the next minute, it’s gone.  I’ve been working on book three for a while now; I should almost be done with it but I’m not.  I am actually so far behind (in my mind) that it teeters on pathetic.  It pains me to know that there are no limits to my procrastination.  I gag that I set goals for myself, obtainable goals and I drag them out for no good reason.  I think my main issue is that I get motivated in the wee hours of the night, like now, I should be in bed but I’m not.  Or, it could be that I’ve just discovered Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix and it’s taking over my life.  Nah, that can’t be it.  Right now, I’m diverting my attentions away from my novel to write a blog that no one reads.  I guess I’ll get back too it.  I’ll complete my chapter, then it’s off to bed.  Hopefully tomorrow, I’ll spend the day light hours working on my story.  SMH at myself.

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Book submission results

I submitted book one in a contest; I didn’t win but here is the review:

Entry Title: Beneath the Surface The Elesin Vollan Story
Author: Latonya Holloway (R.S. Kee)
Judge Number: 43
Entry Category: Mainstream/Literary Fiction

Books are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “needs improvement” and 5 meaning “outstanding”. This scale is strictly to provide a point of reference, it is not a cumulative score and does not reflect ranking.

In some cases, you may see special or out of place characters/symbols in your commentary. For example, you may see that a character/symbol replaces an apostrophe, copyright, and other “symbols”. These substitutions occur for various reasons – and are unavoidable. They are often [programming] misinterpretations due to encoding, installed fonts, web based content/sources etc. Since the “content”[data] of the commentary is comprised of data sent from several different computers (programs, fonts etc.,) and from the internet (online entry system), you may at times see an interpretation of what had been an apostrophe, dash, quotation mark etc.

Structure and Organization: 3

Grammar: 5

Production Quality and Cover Design: 5

Plot (if applicable): 4

Character Development (if applicable): 3

Judges Commentary*:

This is a book that deals with sensitive and intense topics—fame, celebrity culture, sexuality, child abuse, and trauma. Anyone who has ever had a secret can relate to Elesin’s shock at the beginning of the story as painful and disturbing secrets from his past are released to the media. By beginning the story with the shock instead of giving the reader a portrait of Elesin as a person, however, the author misses an opportunity to develop sympathy for his protagonist. The reader is told rather than shown his understandable fear and anger over the course of the book, which prevents the reader from truly rooting for him as he tries to put his life back together and move on from the revelations of his painful past. Not that Elesin is unsympathetic rather, by unfolding his story in exposition, the reader is told what to feel about him rather than coming to the conclusion themselves. The pacing of the book is good although slightly rushed- I think the author has more room to expand the story and give his characters time to develop. The book is well-designed and the cover art is eye-catching and compelling, and accurately conveys the tone and feel of the book.

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