Celebrating Spring! Authors in Bloom Blog Hop

Dianne Venetta_AIB Logo_2015

I adore spring and one of my favorite ways to celebrate (as a writer) is by participating in the annual Authors In Bloom blog hop put together by author Dianne Venetta. It's just a great way to get some gardening tips, pick up recipes, learn about new books and win some awesome prizes.

As it happens, Rayez, the hero of A CHRISTMAS WISH (my most recent release) is a chef and he's totally into seasonal cooking. My inspiration for Rayez, who is also an exiled fire djinn (genie), is the very hunky actor Dwayne Johnson.

So what would Rayez whip up to celebrate Spring? A simple, refreshing salad with different types of peas. :)

Three Pea Salad 

This simple, but satisfying, combination of sugar snap peas, snow peas and baby peas is crisp and green. A dish that seems to signify spring. You can add heft to it, by adding in cubed ham and shavings of a hard cheese like parmesan or manchego.

1 tablespoon minced shallot
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into slivers (a mix of basil & mint is also nice)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (you can add more to taste)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound sugar snap peas
1/2 pound snow peas, halved crosswise
1 10-ounce box frozen baby peas, OR 2 cups of fresh shelled peas


Directions

  1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil.

  1. Fill a large bowl with ice water.

  1. In another large bowl, whisk the shallot, basil, lemon juice, and mustard together. Whisk in the olive oil until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.

  1. Add the sugar snap peas to the boiling water and blanch for 20 seconds. Add the snow peas and cook for 20 seconds. Add the frozen baby peas and cook for 20 seconds longer, until the sugar snaps and snow peas are crisp-tender and the baby peas are heated through.

  1. Drain and immediately transfer the colander to the ice water to stop the cooking. Drain again and pat the peas dry. Add the peas to the dressing, season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Serve.
Now a bit about Rayez's story....


Won the Novella division of the 2015 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence

*This is an enhanced and expanded version of a story previously published as Sealed With A Kiss in the Alphas Unleashed anthology.*


Rayez, a smoking hot chef and fire djinn in exile, lands himself in deep trouble (at the bottom of a beer bottle) when he tries to help a mysterious beautiful woman.

Selene is pursued and desperate. She'll do anything to keep her brother safe--including capture a djinn.

While deception brings them together, dangerous enemies make them unlikely allies. Can one gigantic wrong lead to two rights and true love? 

*Also included are some of the recipes Rayez made in the book.*






Blog Hop Prizes:

My prize is a $5 Amazon gift certificate for one person who comments on this post, chosen at random.  Be sure to leave your email address so I can get in touch with you.
The hop grand prizes: To win, visitors must hit each and every author on the hop. Grand prize is an ereader of their choice (up to $200 value) with second prize a $25 gift card to the ebook retailer of their choice.

The blog hop runs April 8 through 17, 2015.

Now check out all the other participating blogs:



41 comments:

  1. I'm thinking that the pea salad would be wonderful made with peas fresh from my garden. Yum! Thank you for sharing.
    casey 4 4 6 at hot mail dot com

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    1. Thanks for visiting Casey! I love growing peas in the garden. :)

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  2. Oh does that recipe sound delicious, going to have to convince my husband we need to grow peas this year, we just have a small garden so we have to pick and choose what we grow each year.
    skpetal at hotmail dot com

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    1. Thanks for visiting Jean! I'm actually trying to grow peas in pots this year because of watering issues.

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  3. Your recipe sounds really good. slbs65 at aol dot com

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  4. Thanks for the recipe. I love to grow peas in the garden. cchant86 @ yahoo.com

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  5. I like these hops since I get introduced to a lot of authors I have yet to read.
    jwisley8(at)me(dot)com

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    1. Good point Joye. I love this hop because I love cooking & gardening so all of the posts make me happy. :D

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  6. Great way to meet different authors. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  7. Yummm that sounds so yummy for a warm spring day :)!! I think the Dijon mustard would give it lots of flavor :)

    savannahm1987@gmail.com

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    1. It does & the lemon juice helps brighten the flavors...I hope you enjoy the salad. :)

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  8. Love the sound of your novella! My current book boyfriend is a djinn named David (from the Weather Warden series). Wonder if this one would dethrone him!!
    (email's in blogger profile, thank you for the giveaway!)

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    1. OMGoodness, I LOVE the Weather Warden series! Okay, I love pretty much anything Rachel Caine writes. :)

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    2. And thank you for your kind words :)

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    3. Putting my other email here, that I'm using on other blogs --> ___@___.___.___, fill in the blanks with smiles, alumni, cmu, edu

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    4. Also, *high fives* Rachel Caine! I was so sad to hit the end of the Weather Warden series. Liked it way more than Morganville Vamps. I liked that one too, but it didn't quite have the same hold of me :)

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    5. She has a new one coming out: Ink& Bone. It's a steampunk/dystopian YA and is awesome (yes, I did get to read an advanced copy -- woohoo!) :D

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  9. thanks for the giveaway and the recipe. It sounds great!

    rbarckhaus (at) gmail (dot) com

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  10. Anything with sugar snap peas and I'm in! Gotta try that recipe! Thanks for the chance! :) greentopiaries at gmail.com

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  11. Great recipe! I'll be sure to give it a try.
    Thanks for the giveaway! =)
    JJs2468@aol.com

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  12. Sounds like a book I would really enjoy!
    faramena at gmail dot com

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  13. Sounds like a great recipe for spring


    fencingromein at hotmail dot com

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  14. My hubby doesn't like peas but I'm going to try this recipe and see if likes it. He will eat peas if they're in a mixed veggie or part of a stirfry, though.

    Barrie

    books4me67 at ymail dot com

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    1. Good luck! Hubbies can be so finicky sometimes ;)

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  15. Lovely recipe, it sounds like it would definitely taste like Spring!
    Thanks for the fun hop event, it's such a nice way to get to know new books and authors.
    ellis_dream (at) hotmail (dot) com

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  16. This recipe looks very good. We love all of these peas. I will copy it and make!! Thanks!!

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  17. interesting recipe

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

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  18. Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
    elizabeth(at)bookattict(dot)com
    GFC: BookAttict

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  19. The pea salad recipe sounds yummy! Thanks for the giveaway!!
    sienkiel1821 at yahoo dot com

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. Love the pea recipe. Thanks for sharing and participating in the hop!
    elfgurl3(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  22. thanks for the giveaway! my email is in my blogger profile.

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  23. This sounds so delicious! I can't wait to try it! eendrizzi79@gmail.com

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  24. If i liked peas, i might go for that, but im gonna admit, i hate them! lol Awesome sounding story! Looks so good! Thanks!
    shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com

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  25. So sorry about the lateness of my posting the winner here. We had a bad storm & it killed my internet for a few days...oh yeah, I went crazy! The winner of my gift card giveaway is SMILES! I'll be contacting you! Also congrats to Book Attict and books4me on winning the grand prizes!

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