Thursday, April 28, 2011

July 18




The murder of two members of the Capitol Cleaning Service might’ve been just another homicide investigation—that is if one of them hadn’t been romantically involved with a married senator from Arizona. Lt. Sam Holland and her team are plunged into another complex case that at first seems open and shut. But as Sam tugs on the threads of the investigation she uncovers a deep, dark Washington secret that threatens the careers of some of the government’s highest-ranking officials. Racing to catch a killer before he can strike again, Sam and her fiancĂ©, U.S. Senator Nick Cappuano, attempt to plan a wedding while her colleague Detective Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales faces life-changing news.

July 18, 2011. Are you ready for some more Sam & Nick?

Book Club: Luck Be a Lady by Cathie Linz

By: Ronlyn Howe and Shelly Estes
Logan Doyle busting into Megan West’s cousin’s wedding while shouting, “Stop the wedding!” does not endear him to her. Regardless of the fact that he’s there not to stop Faith’s wedding, but his grandfather’s pending nuptials to Megan’s grandmother. The misunderstandings spin out of control as Buddy (Logan’s grandfather) learns that his lark of a second marriage wasn’t actually annulled (pesky paperwork) and Megan learns that the mother she thought died when she was a toddler is actually still alive. Megan races from the hotel and runs smack dab into Logan who just can’t help himself from swooping in to aid the damsel in distress. He loads her into a vintage Chevy she can’t help but drool over and takes her on an adventure she’ll never forget.

After pancakes and a brief internet search the duo head off to the Butterfly Ranch, a brothel owned by a woman who once knew Megan’s mother, to see if she can provide more information than the information highway…which seems pretty barren in regards to Megan’s missing mother. After leaving the ranch the classic Chevy suddenly breaks down, stranding them in what could probably be argued to be the smallest town in Nevada, where Logan & Megan have to talk their way out of a shotgun wedding-literally. The town, aptly named “Last Resort” has one of those outdated silly laws on the books that implies you can’t sleep in the same room while unmarried…despite only being one motel room available. Megan manages to leave town with a suitcase full of vintage clothes and a treasured tea cup, while Logan has a tenuous hold on his anger and pride.

Once back in Chicago and their normal routines they try to continue as was before, only to have to fight this growing attraction to each other while dealing with Megan’s dislike for the police (which causes Logan to take things super slow) and Buddy’s unknown marriage. Megan’s family is still up in arms over not only Buddy’s “mistreatment” of their matriarch, but the secret of Megan’s mother being revealed. Logan is struggling with his own demons in the form of nightmares and guilt over his former partner’s death. Toss in the fact that Logan continues to get paged every time things start to heat up between the two it doesn’t take long for the sexual tension begin to take on a life of its own.

There’s an obvious theme in the book of family is more important than any misunderstandings and to forgive and forget, moving on to the happily ever after, that everything will work out in the end, et al.

The sweetest moment in the entire book for me was when Logan just blurted out “I love you” to Megan, then got flustered because it wasn’t how he’d planned to tell her. That he had to throw the words out to her in that moment showed exactly how much he’d come to love her.

Shelly's Recipes:

Chocolate Marzipan Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 7 ounces marzipan, cut into chunks
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• powdered sugar, for dusting
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a food processor, combine both sugars and marzipan. Process until they resemble a fine sand, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Add butter, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, salt and egg.
3. Use an electric mixer to beat until smooth, scraping down the bowl, once during mixing, about 2 minutes.
4. Add flour and cocoa powder and mix until incorporated, scraping down once during mixing, about 1 minute. The dough should be very stiff. Baking in batches, drop 1 tablespoons balls of dough on prepared sheet, leaving about 2-inches around all sides. bake on the oven's lower rack until cookies are flat and have a crackled surface, about 10 minutes.
5. The cookies will be very soft. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. If desired, once cookies are cool, dust them with powdered sugar.

AND


SHORTBREAD

4 cups flour
1 cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 pound Imperial Margarine (this time the brand makes a difference)

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then mix in the Imperial.
Dough will be sticky.

Dust your hands and a board (this time I use more confectioners' sugar). Take about 1/3 of dough at a time. Pat out until about 1/4" thick. (They don't really rise.) Cut into squares or rectangles with a pizza wheel, or use your favorite small cookie cutter. (These are rich
- - best to keep them about 1"x2") Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove to cooling rack covered with wax paper. Sift more confectioners' sugar on top.

These store best in a tin since they sometimes crumble. They can be frozen.
Yield: About 8 dozen

Monday, April 25, 2011

Get Ready for The McCarthys!

I'm so excited for the debut of my McCarthys of Gansett Island Trilogy, starting this weekend when I will post the first book, MAID FOR LOVE. I want to share the Author's Note I included in the first book:

My favorite place in the world is Block Island, located twelve miles off the southern coast of Rhode Island. A tiny slip of land with a Great Salt Pond in the middle, Block Island is the place time forgot. You won’t find a stop light on the island or a hospital. Internet connections are sketchy at best, and good luck finding a hotel room in the summer if you haven’t planned months in advance. What you will find is peace and quiet and beaches and bluffs and quaint shops and a laidback atmosphere that soothes the soul.

The island has played an important role in my life from the time I was a small child arriving on my parents’ boat, through a college romance and now as a favorite family vacation spot each summer. I’ve never been anywhere that inspires me more. Block Island pops up often in my books, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before I made up my own version of the island and set a series there. Thus Gansett Island and the McCarthy Family were born. “Gansett” is a tip of the hat to Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay, one of my favorite places to spend a summer day.

MAID FOR LOVE is the first book, FOOL FOR LOVE will come next June 1, 2011 and READY FOR LOVE will be out in July 1, 2011. Will there be a second trilogy featuring Grant, Adam and Evan McCarthy? That’s up to you, the readers, to let me know if you want more of the McCarthy Family.

I love to hear from readers! Contact me at marie@marieforce.com.

Welcome to Gansett Island! I so hope you enjoy Mac and Maddie’s story. Stay tuned at the end for a sneak peek at Joe and Janey’s story, Fool for Love.
xoxo
Marie

Here's a sneak peek at each book:


Maid for Love (May 1, 2011)
The McCarthys of Gansett Island, Book 1

Maddie Chester is determined to leave her hometown of Gansett Island, a place that has brought her only bad memories and ugly rumors. Then she’s knocked off her bike on the way to her housekeeping job at McCarthy’s Resort Hotel by Gansett’s “favorite son,” Mac McCarthy. He’s back in town to help his father with preparations to sell the family resort and has no intention of staying long. When Mac accidentally sends Maddie flying over the handlebars, badly injuring her, he moves in to nurse her back to health and help care for her young son. He soon realizes his plans for a hit-and-run visit to the island are in serious jeopardy, and he just may be “maid” for love.

Read an excerpt from Maid for Love.

Fool for Love (June 1, 2011)
The McCarthys of Gansett Island, Book 2

Joe Cantrell, owner of the Gansett Island Ferry Company, has been in love with Janey McCarthy for as long as he can remember. At the same time, Janey has been dating or engaged to doctor-in-training David Lawrence. When things go horribly wrong between David and Janey, she calls her “fifth brother” Joe, one of the few people in her close circle who lives on the mainland. Janey decides a few days with Joe is just what she needs before she goes home to the island to face her parents and family with the news of her broken engagement. It was bad enough for Joe loving Janey from afar, but having her in his house is pure torture. Will he take advantage of this opportunity to show her what they could have together? And what will Joe’s best friend and Janey’s protective older brother Mac have to say about it?

Ready for Love
The McCarthys of Gansett Island, Book 3

For four of the best summers of his young life, Luke Harris was in love with Sydney Donovan, a wealthy seasonal visitor to Gansett Island. Then Sydney went off to college and never came back. She married another man and had two children while Luke remained on the island, working at McCarthy's Gansett Marina and wondering what had gone wrong between him and the only woman he ever loved. Fifteen months after Sydney suffers the tragic loss of her husband and children, she's returned to Gansett to figure out what's next, and that may very well be a rekindled love affair with the one man from her past she’s never forgotten. But is she ready for a second chance at love?

I'll be posting excerpts from FOOL and READY as their launch dates draw closer.

These are my favorite kind of books to read and write, fun contemporaries that focus on a family with all its many facets, set in a place we'd all like to live (well, at least I would!) I so hope you enjoy reading them as much as I've enjoyed writing them.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Next Up on Book Club: Luck Be a Lady by Cathie Linz

A shocking announcement at her cousin's Vegas wedding sends retro- loving librarian Megan West on a whirlwind tour across Nevada with brash cop Logan Doyle. It's the gamble-and perhaps love affair-of a lifetime...

Join us Thursday, April 28, after 6 a.m. EDT for a chat about this book!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Book Club: Never Too Hot by Bella Andre

By: Mary G

I loved this book. Every. Single. Word.

Never Too Hot is the third of Bella’s Hot Shots Firefighter series. This one is less about firefighting and suspense and is more character driven. I didn’t need a bunch of firefighters to make this a sexy hot emotional book though.

Ginger finally leaves the clutches of her controlling ex & parents. She wants to go back to her love of painting. She rents a run down cabin to get away from it all. Connor is a hunky firefighter who suffered serious burns on his hands & arms. He is on his last appeal with the Forest Service to get his job back.

Connor wants to take a break from worrying about his future. He decides to fix up his childhood summer retreat for his brother’s upcoming wedding. He wants peace and quiet & to work on getting his strength back. He runs into Ginger there who unknowingly rented the cabin from his grandparents.

Ginger’s self esteem suffered from being voluptuous in a wealthy society where you can’t be too rich or too thin. She’s smart, artistic and compassionate. She’s done with men for the moment. Connor’s scars are more visible and women are the last thing on Connor’s mind. He’s definitely a wounded hero. He doesn’t believe in love and is afraid of anyone getting too close.
They agree to share the cabin and slowly get to know each other. The attraction is there from the beginning but it takes a while to go from simmer to boil. Ginger is the first one to admit that she’s in love. While she’s relieved at confessing it, Connor fights it. Page 232:

“No.” His eyes were dark. Wild. “You don’t. You can’t.”

She won’t back down though and makes him see that she’s going to stick. Eventually, he runs scared and tries to stay away from her. He thought it was the stronger path to walk away from her and deal with his issues on his own. The day Connor realizes that Ginger has staying power sets up my fave line in the book. He comes to realize that in his world, hotshots never give up, show weakness. He didn’t know if it was because they were tough or because there were nineteen other guys backing them up. They were a skilled crew of friends and family that would always be there for backup. Page 308:

A sudden thought hit him hard in the solar plexus. Ginger was his crew.

"Ginger was his crew". Four simple, seemingly innocuous words but when I read them I thought my heart was going to stop. Not only did I keep rereading them but I kept going back to read that sentence again. I don't know why it affected me like that and I don't even want to analyze it. It just worked for me. Four simple little words that just blew me away, gave me chills, made me sigh.

There is no doubt that Bella writes hot books. There is a beauty in her writing as well. Page 342:

He was kissing her like he’s been waiting his whole life to find her… Another sigh-worthy moment.

I loved this book. It had some secondary couples that really fleshed out the sense of family & community. I’ve loved every book Bella has written. I just haven’t read her new one yet – Game for Love which is the third book in the Bad Boys of Football series. Hey, is the host allowed to win? LOL – just kidding. In honor of Bella’s hot guys I chose the following recipe:

Firehouse Crockpot Chili
1 lb. ground beef or pork
1 lb. stew meat
2 cans kidney beans
1 onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
2 Tbsp. butter
1 sm can tomato paste
1 regular can tomato sauce
1 can Ro-tel
1 can beer
5 Tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. crushed red peppers
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. sage
2 cups water
* to make it 3 alarm, add 3 jalapeno peppers sliced in half and seeds removed (or 1 red savina habanero) Brown hamburger or pork, drain & set aside. Brown stew meat in butter with onion and bell pepper. Place ground beef and stew meat with onion & bell pepper in crock pot, add 1 can of kidney beans, tomato paste & sauce, Ro-tel, beer, all seasonings into crock pot and mix well, add the water if you have room. Turn crock pot on high until chili gets hot, then put it on low for about 6 hours. About 1 hour before you plan on eating, add the other can of beans & start the cornbread.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Next Up on Book Club: Never Too Hot by Bella Andre

A TOUCH IGNITES. A FIRE BURNS. AND THE HEAT HAS JUST BEGUN.

Deep in the cool green mountains of the Adirondacks, wounded firefighter Connor MacKenzie has come to rebuild the 100-year-old MacKenzie family cabin—and to be alone. A horrific blaze has left him scarred inside and out and certain of two things: He’ll get back on his Hot Shot crew no matter what it takes, and any woman who ventures too close will not stay long.

Ginger Sinclair has been burned by a different kind of fire. Having just escaped from a bad marriage, she’s retreated to the safety of the lakeside vacation town in upstate New York to start a new life. She’s done with men, with relationships, with the danger of desires that can rage out of control—until she unexpectedly encounters Connor MacKenzie. As a hot summer on the lake grows ever hotter, they find themselves sharing a cabin and a romance that will swiftly engulf them both.

Read the first chapter.

Thursday, April 21, from 6 a.m. EDT. Hope to see you there!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Book Club: Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard

(Note from Marie: I was 100 pages from the end of the book when I posted this, so I haven't read it yet. Can't wait to read it in the AM when I finish the book! Rock on, book club wenches!)

By: Alyson Hackett and Ronlyn Howe

Jaine Bright and three close friends share dinner one night and during casual conversation, create a list of qualifications for the perfect man--some logical, some hilariously funny, some racy. Within days, their tongue-in-cheek wish list of attributes for Mr. Perfect has been leaked to the press and the subsequent publicity is overwhelming. Coworkers, TV crews, and reporters barrage the quartet with comments and criticism.

As if Jaine doesn't have enough to cope with, she has a new neighbor who she suspects is a criminal. She's relieved to learn that her neighbor is really an undercover cop, but she's still wary--because smart, sexy Sam Donovan handles her sharp witticisms with easy humor, and Jaine suspects that he may threaten her heart. What Jaine doesn't know is that she's about to need Sam desperately for something other than romance because her circle of friends is in big trouble. Unfortunately, that list of qualifications for Mr. Perfect has touched off a madman's rage. All of their lives are threatened and some of them are going to die, maybe all of them, if Sam can't stop the unknown killer.



REMEMBER: FIRST YOU PILLAGE, THEN YOU BURN. THOSE WHO DO NOT COMPLY WILL BE SUSPENDED FROM THE RAIDING TEAM.


So, as Hackett and I sat to write this write up we brainstormed ideas of what key points we want to hit on in regards to Mr. Perfect. We decided that saying “THE ENTIRE BOOK” just wouldn’t cut it, so here are some of our absolute favorites!



-Of course the war between neighbors Jaine & Sam. Her being convinced he's a drug dealer while he's just sure she's trouble.

“I haven’t had any sleep, any breakfast, or any coffee. I better leave before I hurt you.”

He nodded. “That’s a good idea. I’d hate to have to arrest you.”



-The geek signs cause dude those are freaking hilarious!

FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION; ITS BUNDLED WITH YOUR SOFTWARE



EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, ALL EMPLOYEES WILL BE REQUIRED TO TAKE A COMBINATION OF GINKO AND VIAGRA, SO YOU CAN REMEMBER WHAT THE F*** YOU ARE DOING



XEROX AND WURLITZER HAVE ANNOUNCED THEY WILL MERGE TO MARKET REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS



-The friendships the women have which leads to the happy hour which leads to making the "Mr. Perfect" list in the first place. (I asked Hackett who she thought would be the one to most likely make that type of a list out of us...why are you all laughing??)

#1: Faithful. Doesn’t cheat or lie.

#2: Nice

#3: Dependable

#4: A steady job

#5: Sense of humor

#6: Money: Financially Comfortable

#7: Good to look at

#8: Great in bed

#9: A ten incher



“C’mon! Anything over eight inches is strictly for show-and-tell. It’s there but you can’t use it. It might look good in a locker room, but let’s face it – those extra two inches are leftovers.”



-The banter in this book is some of the best we’ve ever read. So funny.

“You can’t change your mind!” He sounded desperate now.

“Yes, I can.”

“Do you have herpes?”

“No.”

“Syphilis?”

“No.”

“Gonorrhea?”

“No.”

“AIDS?”

“No!”

“Then you can’t change your mind.”

“What I have is a ripe egg.”



But, mostly, we want to talk about having the blinds up and peering out our windows to admire men drinking orange juice.

“Um….Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“This is Jaine, next door. I hate to tell you this…but you might want to close your curtains.”

He wheeled to face the window, and they stared at each other across the two driveways. He didn’t dart to the side, or squat out of sight, or do anything else that might indicate embarrassment. Instead, he grinned. Damn, she wished he wouldn’t do that.

“Got an eyeful, did you?” he asked as he walked to the window and reached for the curtains.

“Yes I did.” She hadn’t blinked in five minutes, at least. “Thank you.” He pulled the curtains together and her whole body went into mourning.

“My pleasure.” He chuckled. “Maybe you can return the favor sometime.”

He hung up before she could reply which was a good thing because she was speechless as she closed her blinds. Mentally she smacked her forehead. Duh! All she would have had to do at any time was close her own blinds.

“Yeah, like I’m stupid or something.”



-And of course, the happy ending that wouldn’t be Jaine & Sam without some humor:



“I always heard that sex was different with a woman you loved, but I didn’t believe it. Sex was sex. Then I got inside you and it was like sticking my c*** in an electrical outlet.”

“Oh. Was that what all that shaking and yelling was about?”





NEW PRESS RELEASE BY THE FDA: RED MEAT IS NOT BAD FOR YOU. RESULTS OF TESTS SHOW IT IS FUZZY GREEN MEAT THAT IS BAD FOR YOU




Smoky Orange BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Ingredients
1 supermarket rotisserie chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
Zest of one orange
1 cup chicken broth
Grill seasoning or salt and pepper
Romaine lettuce
Sliced red onions
4 crusty rolls, split, toasted and buttered

Directions
Remove chicken meat from rotisserie chicken and shred; set aside. Heat oil in a large saucepan over moderate heat. Add onion and saute for 3 to 5 minutes or until onions are soft. Combine garlic, chipotle peppers in adobo, ketchup, orange juice concentrate, orange zest and chicken broth in a blender. Blend on high until sauce is smooth. Pour sauce into saucepan with onion and heat to a bubble. Reduce heat to simmer. Stir in shredded chicken and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes more. Spoon chicken mixture onto toasted rolls and top with lettuce, sliced onions or other desired condiments and toppings.

-and-

Yogurt-Marmalade Cake
Ingredients
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
½ teaspoons Salt
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 cup (heaping) Plain, Lowfat Yogurt
1 cup Sugar
3 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 whole Zest Of Lemon
½ cups Canola Oil
_____
ORANGE GLAZE:
½ cups Prepared Orange Marmelade
¼ cups Yogurt
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a loaf pan with non-stick baking spray (or grease and flour it if it makes your skirt fly up). Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together 1 cup of yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and canola oil until just combined. Pour over dry ingredients and mix until just combined; do not over beat.
Pour into a loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Remove from pan. While cake is cooling, pour marmalade into a sauce pan. Heat it on low until melted, stirring occasionally. Add 1/4 cup of yogurt to the pan and turn off heat. Stir to combine, then pour slowly over the top of the cake, allowing icing to pool around the sides.
Eat. Groan. Repeat.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Next Up on Book Club: Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard

What would make the perfect man?
That's the deliciously racy topic that Jaine Bright and her three girlfriends are pondering one night at their favorite after-hours hot spot: Mr. Perfect. Would he be tall, dark, and handsome? Caring and warmhearted—or will just muscular do? As their conversation hears up, they concoct a tongue-in-cheek checklist that becomes an overnight sensation, spreading like wildfire at work and sizzling along e-mail lines. But what began as a joke among friends turns deadly serious when one of the four women is murdered....Turning to her neighbor, an unpredictable police detective, for help, Jaine must unmask a killer to save her friends—and herself. Now, knowing whom to trust and whom to love is a matter of survival—as the dream of Mr. Perfect becomes a chilling nightmare.

Look forward to chatting about this book next Thursday, April 14, from 6 a.m. EDT on. See you then!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Book Club: The Bachelor by Carly Phillips

By: Hope Frost

Hello wenches, Marie & Carly. Sorry I won't be able to pop in today, we are traveling to California for a karate tournament. I am so thankful that Carly has agreed to stop in and say hi, answer some questions, and give away some loot (books). Thanks Carly for taking time to visit with us, you will find that the girls, for the most part, are on their best behavior, but we try to discourage that lol. Ya'll have a great day, enjoy the time talking about The Bachelor, and the rest of the series too. Have a wonderful weekend.

About the book:
Foreign correspondent Roman Chandler has always prized his freedom above all else. Now losing a coin toss has sealed this youngest brother’s fate. Finding someone to escort down the aisle is the easy part—every wannabe bride in sleepy Yorkshire Falls is itching to get hitched to this gorgeous, globe-trotting Chandler man. But Roman still lusts after the woman who got away. Stunning heartbreaker Charlotte Bronson has come home to put down roots and get her erotic lingerie business off the ground. She wants a man that won’t go chasing off to the far corners of the earth for a breaking news story. He wants her to say “I do.”

Hope's Thoughts:
Roman Chandler is called home from his work as an AP reporter to look after his mother. She has been taken to the hospital thinking that she is having a heart attack. (turns out is was really indigestion, but she used this and her doctor's confidentiality to fool her sons and convince them to marry) Roman and his brothers flip a coin to see who should marry and have a child to fill their mothers fondest wish. Roman loses the toss and has to find a wife and quick.

Charlotte is a girl from Roman's high school days that he really liked but broke his heart. She has returned to town to start a lingerie shop. When she sees Roman outside her shop she about faints. She had never forgotton Roman and only broke his heart to protect her own.

Going to dinner with her friend she sees Roman there with his brothers and tries to avoid him at all costs. But when she comes out of the ladies room he is there waiting. After a little nibble and kiss he lets her know that he wants to see her again. She is afraid for the very same reasons that bothered her before. But isn't sure that she can stay away from him.

This book is great. Carly Phillips was able to get the perfect combo of comedy and romance plus the dynamics of the family. After losing a bet Roman must find a bride and have a baby, simple right? Well even if your the town's most handsome eligible men, something has to go wrong. Roman is accused of being a Panty Thief, it's a hilarious tale of bad timing, family bonds, and love (maybe a little lust).

Recipe To Share:

Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina
Ingredients
1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inchbaking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Next Up on Book Club: The Bachelor by Carly Phillips

Foreign correspondent Roman Chandler has always prized his freedom above all else. Now losing a coin toss has sealed this youngest brother’s fate. Finding someone to escort down the aisle is the easy part—every wannabe bride in sleepy Yorkshire Falls is itching to get hitched to this gorgeous, globe-trotting Chandler man. But Roman still lusts after the woman who got away. Stunning heartbreaker Charlotte Bronson has come home to put down roots and get her erotic lingerie business off the ground. She wants a man that won’t go chasing off to the far corners of the earth for a breaking news story. He wants her to say “I do.”

Join us for book club on Thursday, April 5, beginning at 6 a.m. EDT. See you there!