Snacks with Lisa Smith

Another quick an easy recipe, good for a fast lunch!

Ingredients:

 2 slices of bread

5 oz can of Albacore Solid White Tuna

1/4 cup mayo

shredded cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Optional:

red onions, lettuce, tomatoes

jalapenos

Directions:

Turn your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit; with your oven already on and getting warm, your sandwich will be done in no time!

On a medium size baking sheet, place down your two slices of toast. I usually prefer white bread, but you can use wheat bread if you like.

Open the can of tuna, making extra sure that all the liquid is drained. And in a small bowl mix your tuna, and mayo together. The amount of mayo you use may vary depending upon how you like your tuna sandwiches, or if your tuna is dry. Make sure to completely mix the tuna and mayo. 

To add a little bit more flavor, salt and pepper to taste!

Once you like what you created, spread as much tuna as you like on your sandwich (I like A LOT). And just before tossing it into the oven, make sure to sprinkle as much shredded cheese on top as you like.

If you preheated your oven, your sandwich should be done between 5 and 10 minutes, but make sure to keep a close eye on it anyways! While I like my tuna sandwiches a bit more plain, you can also add some lettuce, tomatoes, red onions or jalapenos before slapping on the other piece of your toast!

I hope you give this one a try, and if you do comment down below with your thoughts, or even a picture of your sandwich!

This was another of my exploratory expeditions into eBooks. Anya had given me a copy for review, however, I wanted cover art so I also downloaded it from the Kindle store.

A statuesque young lady in an elaborate white gown draws the eye from the dark spooky looking woodland scene behind her, while curtains and a stage let you think maybe not everything is as concrete as first thought. It works well for the story and the ominous air of the trilogy.

The Goodreads Blurb reads…

“Fifteen year old Aisha disappears in the forests on a school hiking trip. She’s the latest in a string of children to vanish there over the past five years. The towns surrounding the forests are on edge and they demand answers. And wildboy Ethan—Aisha’s boyfriend—is on the run after he and his grandfather are blamed for Aisha’s disappearance.

Cassie is just about the only friend Ethan has left. She’s been secretly in love with him ever since her mother dragged her to the wilds of Australia from Florida six months ago.

Desperate to prove Ethan’s innocence, Cassie searches the forests with Ethan to find out what really happened to Aisha. But Ethan’s growing strangely silent, and Cassie’s left questioning if her feelings for him are clouding her judgement.

Cassie discovers a dark secret lurking in the heart of the forests; a secret world of nightmarish horrors—where nothing is as it seems, where the supernatural invades your soul, where the people she trusted most might be the people she can trust the least, and where escape exists only in dreams.”

We’re introduced to the story with a bunch of teenagers dealing with the aftermath of their classmate/girlfriend going missing. What starts out as a quite contemporary tale of kids carrying on when the adults have given up, continues into a story that throws you down the rabbit hole, makes you eat the cookies and drink the tea. Quite frankly it leaves you wondering which way is up.

I loved the build up to what I call ‘The big EEK’ because the dynamic within the group is quite convincing as a regular teenage drama. As for what ‘The big EEK’ is, think life-sized dolls and creepy carousels. Exactly… EEK!

I’m not normally a fan of spooky books, especially one where the spooky isn’t mixed with terrible humour and clichés coming out the wazoo. That being said I gritted my teeth (and read on in broad daylight) to get through the EEK, and found it was well worth it.

I think reading it during the cooler months would add an extra layer of goose bump inducing heebie jeebies for those who like to have the snot scared out of them. If not, the draw factors should be for the well written story and the left of field plot twists. Anya has done well to suck me (the big chicken) into loving her creepy portrayal of the wilds of Australia.

I’m sure I will be looking for book two Paperdolls in the near future. But if I read it it will be with the lights on, the doors locked, and the cats in the bed with me. Just Sayin’!

http://dollhousetrilogy.com/

Kindle Edition, 373 pages

Published 2012 by CreateSpace

Oh, my. Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate. And cookies! This was a new recipe I tried out just over the weekend, and it’s pretty safe to say I’ll be making these cupcakes again, especially if my kids have any say in it… ~Mandy Wrangles

What you’ll need:

About 24 cupcake cases

200g of chopped butter

160g dark cooking chocolate. I used Cadbury melts brand.

A quarter of a cup of water

2 tbs cocoa powder

1 tbs instant coffee

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup caster (superfine) sugar

3 eggs (best if they’re room temperature)

Three-quarters of a cup of sifted, Self Raising flour

How it’s done:

Pre heat your oven to 150 C, and set out the cupcake cases.

In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt together the butter, chocolate, cocoa, coffee and vanilla. Use a whisk to bring it together until it’s smooth. Don’t let the mixture boil. Remove from heat and let it cool for 15 minutes.

While your chocolate mix is cooling, use electric beaters to mix together the sugar and eggs until they’re pale and creamy. Then add the chocolate mixture, a little at a time. Once it’s all combined, add the flour slowly and mix.

Pour the mixture to fill the cupcake cases to just over halfway and bake for aprox. 30 minutes. This will vary from oven to oven. The best way to tell if your mudcakes are done is to insert a skewer into the middle of one of the cakes. If it comes out clean – you’re done.

Remove from the oven and let cupcakes cool completely before decorating.

To decorate, you’ll need:

Vanilla buttercream mixture

Chocolate buttercream mixture (yes, you can make your own, but the commercial brands are delicious and make life SO much easier. I use the Betty Crocker brand. Whoever said it wasn’t okay to cheat in the kitchen?)

Pack of miniature ‘Oreo’ cookies.

Piping bag and large ‘star’ nozzle.

Bring vanilla buttercream to room temperature.

Put aside two Oreo cookies for each cake, and add the left overs to a small snap-lock plastic bag. Seal the bag and smash the cookies with a rolling pin until they’re a fine grain. You can use a blender to do this, but it’s way more fun to smash stuff! Make sure the grains of cookie are small enough that they won’t clog your piping nozzle. Mix the cookie grains through the vanilla buttercream and pop in the fridge for 5 or 10 mins.

While the vanilla and cookie buttercream chills, add the chocolate buttercream to your icing bag and pipe a ‘base’ of chocolate over the entire cake. Once they’re all done, remove the vanilla/cookie flavour from the fridge and pipe a small swirl on top, adding the saved Oreo cookies for garnish.

Amy Tintera interviewed by Bec Stafford

1. Amy, you’re a Texan and Reboot is set in a future Texas. How much fun did you have re-imagining your state in a future/sci-fi context, and what are some of your own favourite tales and books set in Texas?

 It was lots of fun imagining a future Texas! Texans have such pride in their state, so it was fun to create world where they were the only ones left standing. It didn’t seem too far-fetched to me!

 As for my favorite tales set in Texas, I loved the TV show Friday Night Lights. And there’s this movie called Happy, Texas that is absolutely hilarious. But I can’t think of any recent books I’ve read that were set in Texas!

 2. With your background in writing (including a formal qualification in journalism) and working for the film industry, how does it feel to hand your story over to a screenwriter for the big screen? Will you have any input?

 I had no problem handing my story over to a screenwriter, because I really don’t get screenplays! For a while I thought I might want to write them, but screenplays are an entirely different type of writing and I had no talent for it. It’s an entirely visual type of storytelling, and not being able to be inside the character’s head is hard for me.

I’ve talked to the film people who optioned REBOOT a few times about the story and the characters, so I have faith that they want to make the best movie possible. Honestly, I think my input was writing the book, so I’ve already had a huge say! J

 3. How did you first come up with the storyline for Reboot? What messages do you hope fans will get from Wrens’ toughness and Callum’s humanity? Could you tell us about the way their contrasting characters developed?

 I first came up with the idea for REBOOT when I heard Wren’s voice in my head, saying she was dead for 178 minutes. I built the story around her and this idea that everyone thought Reboots were emotionless robots, and she’d bought into that idea.

 I hope the message fans take from Wren and Callum’s dynamic is that it’s important to be who you are, and to be proud of it. Wren is often misunderstood – she even misunderstands herself at the beginning of the book – and I wanted readers to see that transition from her seeing herself through the eyes of others, to her seeing herself for who she truly is. And Callum has always been my “stand up for what you believe in” character. He has a clear view of right and wrong, and he has that challenged a lot in the book.

 The character development was one of the easiest parts of writing REBOOT. I knew right away that Wren was tough and stoic and Callum was open and funny. A lot of their dialogue in the book is almost exactly as I wrote it in the first draft, because I understood them well so early on.

 4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

 Wren! She’s the first character I’ve ever written who does a lot of things I would never do. Some of her thoughts and actions are horrifying, and it was exciting to write a character like that. We don’t have a lot of female anti-heroes, and Wren was the first one I ever wrote, so I feel proud of her.

 Reboot is published by Allen & Unwin and is now available at all good bookshops and online.  

ISBN 9781743315507, June 2013, Allen & Unwin

‘These waffles are quick and easy to make. So, no waking up super-early and standing around to make your loved ones a delicious breakfast! Quick, easy and delicious!’ ~Lisa Smith

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups buttermilk or plain yogurt

½ teaspoon apple cider

Additionally butter for cooking

Instructions:

1. Preheat stove to medium temperature.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, vanilla, butter milk and vinegar. Then pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently, until fully combined.
4. Brush or spray your pan with butter or cooking spray, pour some batter into the middle of the pan; if you want larger waffles, pour more dough! Let cook for about four or five minutes, until crispy, then flip. Cook another two minutes and you’re done!
5. Enjoy!