We’ve been buried by snow this year and I find myself writing my latest work while alternatively holding a several times microwaved cup of hot tea, because I just can’t get warm enough. I have Reynaud’s Syndrome, it’s part of my overlap autoimmune disease, but in a nutshell it means my fingers and toes can blanch due to cold, emotional states, and well… just whenever the hell it wants to. I’m sure in the larger picture it is just the body redirecting blood back towards the heart and vital organs but zombie-hand is visually disconcerting.
Wine has been suggested for the condition as it is a vasodilator, and if it lasts more than 30 minutes I may just grab a glass of Pinot Noir and get a dose of resveratrol, a polyphenol antioxidant found in grapes, red wine, berries… I’m always looking to improve my health and if you saw the hand full of supplements I take on the daily to mitigate the symptoms of autoimmune disease you’d wonder how I had room for breakfast. My endocrinologist has asked why don’t I just get one good supplement from one of the larger health food stores, but my allergy to blueberries and mushrooms has made it near impossible to find one that doesn’t contain either. I am the person that calls every company before buying the bottle to find out if either of my two troublesome ingredients are in their “proprietary formula” and for most they are so I end up taking single vitamins. It’s costly and time consuming and frustrating. I eat healthy and I’m one of those weirdos that actually enjoys their veggies (lightly steamed, blanched, or pan fried so they are still crunchy), but when my bloodwork says I’m deficient in something I turn to formulary.
I know some of my readers are living with chronic illnesses and after dealing with this nightmare for decades, I don’t know how you do it. Thanks for being my support and trying to keep me sane in all this bedlam. Stay strong.
HUGE ACORNS IN NOVEMBER!!!
Back to snow, I knew this winter was going to be rough because I read the signs, from the wider banding on woolly bear caterpillars to the size of the acorns. Sometimes even the smell of the air can give you clues to what is coming your way and like a bloodhound I can smell snow before it comes, OCD is my superpower and with it comes complete body awareness-sometimes annoying body awareness. There is something special about every season, and seeing my children and the now less chubby hubby(more on that below) pitch in to clear snow while leaving treats for the non-migratory birds in our area makes me beyond happy. We have a large wildlife population since we live next to a salt marsh.
Though I miss seeing the deer everyday, I know they have nice spots to hide under the wider conifers and there are still some areas of exposed green they can feed and people sneak them food, though before you feed your local wildlife, check what is safe and understand not all animals are friendly, not even deer. However, by me, these deer have learned to take food from people and all year I find offerings people have left for them. I still see them eating grasses and vegetation and occasionally someone’s tasty flowerbed, but it’s all part of getting your vitamins I suppose.
Anyway, embracing the new healthier you is something I got the chubby hubby on board. He has a long family history of diabetes and his sugars were running super high. He is now within normal numbers (with meds, diet and exercise) and has lost around fifty pounds. He would have lost more but the biceps and quads are larger and the six pack he lost decades ago is returning. Muscle weighs more than fat-a note to everyone heading back to the gym, you might actually gain weight in the beginning as you add muscle. We are super proud of the work the now less chubby hubby has done and the example he is setting for the imps.
As for me, I have gotten a new glucose meter and my numbers are within normal limits with diet alone (yay!), even though it means giving up my gummy bears and Dr. Pepper (stress snacks) for a while and weighing my fruit. Discipline is everything and I will be walking more once the weather lifts, hoping the groundhog says it is soon this year. I know my spring weekends are busy because of my side gig as an artist with moving 3-dimensional canvases. If face painting toddlers through adults doesn’t give you a workout, nothing will. I actually do back exercises to be ready for painting, and for any artists out there those yoga balls are great!
Now, I normally leave a recipe and talk up a book and since I don’t have a guest author this weekend, I want to invite you to look through my previous posts at some of the incredible authors we’ve had. Since I am sans author this week, I’m going to tell you about what I’ve been writing.
Valentine’s Day is a huge holiday for me, partly because my daughter was born on that day and partly because I am a hearts and flowers kind of girl. I love adventures and though I was offered a bed and breakfast weekend this year, I had to pass on it because I’ll be celebrating Valentine’s day with my local karate school. I’m bringing the cake pops.
Since it’s such a huge holiday for me, I figured to write a Valentine’s day story, and with me its either monsters or mayhem. This time mayhem won out, so be ready for adventure. Fingers crossed, the Amazon entities will push it through quickly and I’ll have this out to you by Valentine’s Day.
When the snow falls, I’ll be drinking my high-polyphenol hot chocolate which isn’t at all bad without dairy so long as I add 4 grams of sugar of in the raw or add it to decaf American style coffee.
This is a recipe that you can spice up with alcohol, or leave it a virgin and the kids can have it too. There are probably hundreds of versions of this, this is mine. Enjoy!
Strawberry Jello Drink-the perfect mid-winter pick me up
Ingredients:
1-6oz. Package strawberry flavored Jello
2-cups hot water
4-cups ice (lemonade ice cubes perk this up even more)
1-2 liter Sprite to taste (substitute lemon or lime flavored seltzer if you are going for less sugar)
2 cups pineapple juice
1 container of fresh strawberries
You’re also going to need:
1- Large carafe/jug
1- heat resistant 8 cup container
1- kettle
1-cutting board
Glasses for serving
Oven mitts
Ice cube tray-if your making your own lemonade ice cubes
How to make it:
First, assemble everything you need
Cut strawberries in half or slices, reserve a few for garnish
Boil water in kettle
Pour two cups boiling water into heat safe container. I use borosilicate glass or Pyrex. Don’t forget your oven mitts here. This is super hot.
Add Jello and stir until dissolved. Will still be hot so be careful.
Let Jello mixture cool slightly.
Add your pineapple juice to the Jello mixture. The bromelain in the pineapple juice will keep the Jello from setting, so no worries about a clumpy drink. (Fresh kiwi also works if you don’t have pineapple juice-actinidin in kiwi stops Jello from setting)
Cool completely
Pour in a pitcher, add your Sprite or lemon lime soda and get ready to serve.
Fill glasses with ice (lemonade cubes if you have them) and sliced strawberries. Fill glasses with drink and garnish with strawberry.
Serve and enjoy!
If you are skipping out on Dry January and making this for the over 21 crowd add 1.5 ounces of champagne, vodka, tequila, or clear rum to each glass or 1 cup(8oz.) per pitcher. Remember to be sure everyone has a safe way home and no one is driving anywhere-the sugar and alcohol sneak up on you.
The imps have been told they have a snow day tomorrow, which is super happy for them and busy for me. Anticipating this frozen hell, I did some meal prepping and stocked up on things I could just toss on the stove, no refrigeration required.
We’ve lost the Internet and power before, and I’m not sure which is worse because children have homework they cannot complete offline and textbooks they cannot read offline. It’s a whole different kind of upsetting for me, because when I take a class I always order the paperback book, even if the virtual one is included. I like to study away from the electronics and having multiple pathways to the same information in the brain (writing, speaking, reading, hearing…) all helps. I taught IT for a few years and always insisted on students having a physical copy of the book they could take notes in, highlight, and underline and study from for their exams once the class is over. Seeing my child rush to get work done before we lose the Internet, power, or both, makes me shake my head as much as when I went to the grocery store for veggies and saw angry people arguing over who got to the last container of milk first.
I know the practice is to stock up on eggs, milk, and bread, but unless you are going to make French toast or bread pudding that’s kind of useless. It’s okay though, we all do those useless little things that make us feel in control when life spirals out of control, like during a snowstorm. If your crutch is having bread, milk, and eggs, by all means do that and feel secure. Mental health is important, even more so when you are stressed.
I took a mental health holiday this week and skipped out on the Liquid Friday book blog, sorry readers but my heart wasn’t in it this week. A lot of things have been going on in my life and though I have the tendency to turn everything around to a good thing in the end, they aren’t necessarily great right now. I’ve been living with autoimmune illness for most of my life though the diagnosis only came about 16 years ago. Knowing that it wasn’t all in my head was a good thing, but I feel like at least one of the learned people I went to for help should have connected the dots sooner.
I did ballet, gymnastics, and exercised for two hours a day to stay fit in my teens but I had joint pain and my ESR was elevated. I also had a stomach ulcer and was on Zantac for a while. Pretty weird things for a “normal” teen but we had moved from a city to the suburbs and I ended up with allergies to trees, grass… so I wrote it off mentally as just the stress of the move or physically acclimating myself to the new area. I had so many other little signs, even the ones doctors overlooked in my bloodwork that were like red flags to a rheumatologist. A few years later I started college, another move, and had a rapid weight loss followed by an insane amount of weight gain (+50lbs) though my diet remained largely the same and I did a lot of walking. Eczema and psoriasis were added to the list of problems and something was going on with my thyroid, though they wouldn’t find that out until 3 years later. Still I pressed on and went to nursing school. I graduated tops of my class, though under my uniform was ace bandages on both knees and wraps on my feet. By this point I had bigger digestive issues and at only 21 years old was suggested a colonoscopy to look for ulcerative colitis, a disease in my family. Still more doctors but no definitive diagnosis. More allergy testing. Turns out I reacted to everything including the control-histamine response. Then came asthma and the occasional steroid injection which just shut everything else down for a while and outside of ear infections I felt normal.
Got my tonsils out to stop recurrent ear infections, and thought I’d be in the clear for a little while. Worked as a nurse after graduation and hypoglycemia became an issue. I was told that it was likely that I would have diabetes later because that’s what happens to lots of people with low blood sugar. Tried to watch my diet, but I was very restricted to begin with for suspected food allergies.
I got married, got pregnant with my first child and discovered lactose intolerance at a time I needed more calcium than ever. I turned to supplements and carried on. The pregnancy was problematic and I was given a 5% chance of carrying my daughter to term. I left my job and focused on her. Minimal stress, supplements, and bed rest… a miracle happened for us and she was born healthy. By the time I weaned her I got pregnant with baby number two and tried to just continue on.
Shit just kept happening.
Four more miracle children and three bouts of gestational diabetes that required insulin and a dietician to tell me I wasn’t eating enough later, I weaned my last baby from breastfeeding and that’s when everything got ugly. The minor aches and pains became insurmountable obstacles that hampered my trips to the zoo and other favorite outings with the children. It got to the point where I could barely walk and my weight fluctuated again with no real changes to my diet.
It was a snowy day like today and I couldn’t open my mouth without pain. I couldn’t eat and moving my mouth to speak was agony. My fingers twisted up with cramps that lasted hours and didn’t relax even with potassium supplements. I saw a rheumatologist who told me I was a fat American and needed stomach stapling. I had been to dieticians, nutritionists, and doctors and I went with a positive ANA (lupus test) to her for help and she just yelled at me about my weight and told me the pain was fibromyalgia.
I was ready to throw in the towel but I had so much to live for, the beautiful children that depended on me, a husband that helped me with everything, and the hope of a life without pain. I just didn’t want to see another doctor, hear another misdiagnosis or criticism… I was tired.
I tried one more doctor.
This one listed to everything I had to say and told me that it sounds consistent with fibromyalgia but he wanted to run some more blood tests. He took the blood in his office without making me go somewhere else and wait again and he called me a few days later to come back and see him again. He had news. He had a diagnosis.
With the treatment, in I don’t know how many years, I could get out of bed without help, walk around the house, hold up three fingers… I was told to stay on the drugs for six months and then try and wean off them. We tried weaning SLOWLY over a month, and with a lot of head scratching we gave up and tried again two more times when my bloodwork looked better with no success. I have a rounder face from the steroids and unlike most people lost weight on them because a lot of my weight gain was from fluid retention(something other doctors missed). The medication helped but it didn’t fix everything. I still had pain and flare ups, the butterfly rash on my face, muscle cramping, the stiffness in my joints possibly from years of joint damage while I waited for a diagnosis, and we added Plaquenil, a disease modifying drug people now associate with Covid-19 but was originally used to treat malaria. We found I also have the gene for Familial Mediterranean Fever, which explains the fevers and some of the other symptoms. I have medication for that too but the side effects have made me put it on the shelf until I’m a little braver or a little more desperate.
Life continues.
I’m sitting here typing this out while looking out my window at the snow and sipping high flavonoid/flavanol cocoa powder, 4 grams of sugar, and hot water (absolutely no dairy) to do my part for my blood pressure and blood sugar, since my A1C is high enough to officially say I now have diabetes. I am not phases by this most recent addition to the autoimmune disease family I possess: Sharps disease, asthma, colitis, myositis… and the list goes on. I’ve been on the diabetic diet three times in the past and OCD is my superpower so I weigh and measure everything so I have the appropriate grams of carbs at the appropriate time of day with the right combination of protein, fat, flavonoids, and fiber. If I managed to eat my way into diabetes, I will eat my way out of it again or go on insulin(pills don’t work for me since I don’t digest anything properly including blood pressure pills)-not my first rodeo.
Why all this info?
I just want to remind you, there is always hope. No one can kill it, no diagnosis can crush it, no challenge can stop you. Not even the store running out of eggs, milk, or bread before a big winter storm. You got this! Even if no one sees what a warrior you are, how brave you have to be each day, or how hard you have it… illness does not define you, it is just a bump in the road and maybe you need to put on a cape everyday and remind yourself of your super power.
As for me, I find workarounds and I’ve learned to ask for help. It’s the scariest thing to me, the OCD warrior, to say, “hey, I could use a little help,” but sometimes you just need to put on your big girl panties and ask for help, whether its asking a neighbor to help you shovel your driveway or asking someone in the store to reach you that last loaf of wholewheat bread before a storm… don’t be afraid to ask. The worst they can say is “no”-like we haven’t heard that enough times already, right? Ask for help. And if you know someone struggling with illness, remind them not to give up. be that person that says “yes”.
Now, while you still have power and Internet (hope it stays that way for you), find out where your heating stations are and write them down for you and possibly a neighbor or two that needs to know. If you can help someone, great, please do, and if you need help ask a friend or neighbor. Please don’t call 911 to see when the power will be restored, they’ll be busy with emergency calls-check with your electric company.
I know my children will be out trying to build a snow fort and making a cash of snowballs to be ready for an all out war with each other followed by a warm hot chocolate (theirs will have milk). Sleds are waiting for the perfect hill or for the kids to safely give the dogs a ride to the park.
As for what to do with all the bread, milk, and eggs you bought-French toast is an option and below is a recipe for bread pudding-
Bread Pudding-
Ingredients:
5 to 6 slices day old bread cut into 1″ cubes, or let the kids tear them into small pieces
2 Tablespoons melted butter (I use unsalted and toss in the microwave in a safe bowl until liquid)
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
2 cups milk (or nondairy substitute)
1/2 cup white or golden sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar(lightly packed)
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar, vanilla extract, or vanilla paste
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 whole eggs beaten
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
Put your bread pieces into your baking pan (8 inch square, 9 inch rectangle…meatloaf pan-whatever you got)
Drizzle over your melted butter, add raisins, and nuts(optional)
Mix your milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon in a bowl until creamy and smooth. You can use an electric beater. You just want everything to look uniform, no big clumps of egg white or yolk.
Pour this over the bread mixture in the pan and let it soak in. It’s okay to mix it with a fork but your raising and nuts will probably fall to the bottom of the pan.
Bake about 45 minutes, until firm. Serve warm with whipped cream, ice cream, or chocolate drizzle.
Depending on your bread, it may have more carbs, so if you are watching your carbs, count everything out and cut the appropriate size piece. When I make it for me, I cut out the white sugar completely, switch the brown sugar for sugar in the raw, omit the raisins, and cut out any add-ons like ice cream or whipped cream unless I make it myself with almost no sugar. I also add 1/4 cup almond slivers and 1/4 cup walnuts. There’s some research out there that says nuts help with diabetes, nuts are satisfying, and walnuts in particular are heart healthy-so it’s a win.
You can also add in an apple if you’re trying to get more fiber. You will have a moister pudding, but apples are so good. Just remember that if you are counting carbs, you gottta count that, too.
If you need more protein, add a scoop or two of protein powder to your wet mix before you pour it over the bread. You can pretty much do that with any baked good, really important if you’re doing the whole macros thing.
When I am on the diabetic diet, I eat normal food. I just count my carbs and portion everything accordingly. I used to use a sheet of paper from my diabetic educator with all the foods I ate and how much and when, now I have an app that does all that for me (yay! for technology) but if the power goes out and my app doesn’t work, I still know what my exchanges are and I read labels. I can even have cake or ice cream so long as I weigh it and have no more than 15 gram carb serving. Yes, some food choices are better than other when controlling your sugar, but denying yourself something you really want often makes people cheat. Better to portion than to cheat. Of course, check with your dietician or diabetic educator to see what’s best for you, but remember that stress doesn’t help.
Told you OCD was my superpower! Find yours and have fun with it.
I’m so excited for 2026. I feel like on some level we just barely survived 2025. For everyone I’ve spoken with recently, it was a hard year. When things get too hard for me, I just shut down. Living with autoimmune illness (part of it thyroid) just saps your energy to begin with, so when I have to do more than my spoons allow, my body stops me. Having even one sick person at home, is enough to flare my immune system, so with four of them sick in succession, I’m done. A one hour nap becomes a two or three hour nap and I’m waking up wondering what the hell happened. The dogs are like personal alarm clocks, so I never sleep too long. I am so grateful for the slower pace for a week or two before the middle children go back to college for the semester and the mom-mobile rides again.
I had my bubbly with family to start out 2026 and at least for January, I’ll only be cooking with wine (or tequila). It’s a great time to focus on goals, gummy bears (or spiders), and health. We all have our vices and I’m tweaking mine to be a little healthier. With one diabetic and one pre-diabetic (the bloodwork came back) in the house it means more veggies, less quick carbs, and a higher protein intake (my diabetic is on the shot and losing muscle mass is not an option).
My almost middle child has insulin resistance. His bloodwork does not show diabetes or other issues, but a sensitivity to artificial sweeteners(check your liver enzymes if you drink diet soda & other diet beverages). I can’t drink them either for GI issues, so I just do flavored teas or juice and sparkling water, of course this would happen to the pickiest child on earth, the one that hasn’t touched fruit since he was born. It was easier to sneak vitamins into his food when he was younger, even if it means his pasta had pureed carrots, beets, and spinach in it, or desserts included pureed fruit. It’s a texture thing and he can’t stand it. I’ve been told people on the spectrum have strong aversions to certain foods, I’m seeing that, so I got a juicer. We’re going to try and make pulp-free homemade juices or he’s going to drink the green sludge in the morning with 100% of his daily everything in it. That’s all there is to it.
The soda junkie in him won’t go away easily so we’re back to mocktails (see how this works, lol). I have stockpiled seltzer in all kinds of flavors and fruit juices. It’s how I survived the diabetic diet for three pregnancies. One ounce of your favorite no sugar added juice and seven ounces of any seltzer and you’ve got a homemade soda, with usually no more than 5 grams carbohydrates (compared to 40 grams in a soda).
Tonight I’m drinking 1/2 ounce pomegranate juice, 1/2 ounce cranberry juice, and 7 ounces orange seltzer. We’ll see if the man-child likes it, too.
Since my Christmas book is out, and it’s a quick read spicy vampire book, I’m listing the recipe for a Mocktail Renfield below. Happy Dry January!
Mocktail Renfield-
3 ounces blood orange juice
1 ounces cranberry juice cocktail
4 ounces cold white tea or jasmine tea
gummy spider(or worm) for garnish
ice
Fill a tall or hurricane glass with ice. Add in juices, pour in cold tea, stir. if your man-sters are fussy like mine, skip the ice and use pulp-free orange juice. Garnish with gummy spider and serve. Enjoy!
Wishing you a great start to 2026, may it not be a dumpster fire!
Sometimes it takes a while to get to get the e-books up and approved, but this one sailed through. I’m hoping the paperback will be released soon, but in the meantime I’m so excited to share this with you.
Knot A Psychic, is book number 9 of the All Tied Up In Knots Series. It is the third full length book and a crossover book between the All Tied Up In Knots Series and the Help Wanted Romance Series (supernatural & monster books). I wanted a fun way to mix things things up in time for Halloween, so I hope you love this book as much as I do.
Many of you know me from my side job as a Psychic Reader. I’ve always had a love of all things carnival. I think I have Seaside Heights and Six Flags to blame for my cheap thrills addiction. Now, I chase carnivals, whether its for the beautiful belly dancers, clever balloon twisters, candy floss (cotton candy) and sweet makers, henna artists, or other entertainers who knows, I love them all.
Having worked with many other entertainers over the years has given me some insight into the personalities behind the performance. Instead of killing the magic, it has done the opposite and I often find myself making pilgrimages to one faire or another for the rush of adrenaline fueled by thrill rides and excited screams.
My children are equally big on cheap thrills and we get season passes for places I know they’ll stay from the time they open until they shut down for the night. Whether it’s a magician or the thrill of lit up carnival rides after dark that get’s you, you know that feeling of excitement.
Before the big venues shut down for the season, I’m going to go on one more roller coaster (as soon as the weather lifts) and maybe have one last candy apple before Halloween.
Now, back to the book… Knot A Psychic
Here is the blurb:
Mystic, psychic reader extraordinaire, can help everyone else with their troubles but is completely lost when it comes to her own messy life. Her whisperers offer advice but she can’t force people to bend themselves to her will and change the future for the better. It cost her the love of her life, Mike, because he refused to listen to her pleas and succumbed to injuries caused by a motorcycle accident. Bereft, Mystic decides to live her life out alone, away from people.
Johnathon Riley convinces him to do one more gig, an annual event for charity. Chaos ensues, when a serial murderer comes to destroy the only person who might be able to identify him, Mystic. Together with Detective Steve Turner, Mystic is determined to flesh out the criminal, even though it means attending a BDSM event on a cruise under a different identity with no way out if things go wrong.
Ghoulish fun at Six Flags in Jackson, NJ
Since I always include a segment about the author and a recipe, let’s combine the two. I’m a huge fan of apple picking and apple cider-hot, cold, with alcohol… doesn’t matter-just love the stuff. Since I’ve picked up a gallon of apple cider which will last about a day with the imps in the house. It’s cocktail time for me.
Top Shelf Caramel Apple Cocktail-’cause you deserve the good stuff
Ingredients:
Ice
Apple Slices for Garnish
Chopin or Belvedere Vodka
Butterscotch Liqueur
Apple Liqueur
Apple Cider (to taste)
Caramel Drizzle
Fill tall glass with ice and add equal portions (1/2 jigger of each) of Vodka, Butterscotch Liqueur, and Apple Liqueur. Add apple cider to taste and drizzle over caramel for that syrupy sweet taste. Garnish with a slice of orchard fresh apple and serve.
Hello my friends, today we will welcome novelist Michael Molloy, writer of romance and suspense, author of “The Acrimony of Matrimony,” a brand new romantic comedy set for debut on Sunday June 2nd on Amazon.
But first let us kick back and relax with his favorite drink, which is super appropriate when you pair it with his favorite food.
Here is a word from Michael J Molloy:
My favorite recipe is chicken parmigiana with fettuccine Alfredo. That’s my Italian side showing. I can eat that three days a week. My drink? With that meal, it’s got to be a glass of merlot. At other meals a bottle of Brooklyn Lager.
That’s right. Who ever said that you can only have one favorite drink? especially when enjoying it three times a week. Variety is the spice of life after all.
This time however, before we kick back and relax with the drink we must cook up some chicken parmigiana with fettucine alfredo.
Ingredients:
Chicken Parmesan
3 large chicken breasts (or 6 tenderloins)
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 cup dry grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tsp. salt
2-3 large eggs
1 jar marinara sauce of choice (I like the Victoria or Rao’s brand)
fresh Parmesan for topping
flavorless oil for frying (canola, vegetable, etc.) (several cups)
Pasta
1 lb. fettuccine (or other long-cut pasta)
salt
Alfredo Sauce
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1.5 sticks)
3 cups heavy cream
2 cups fresh Parmesan cheese, grated or shaved (make sure to use fresh!)
1 teaspoon salt
Serving/Toppings
fresh basil
salt and pepper
extra grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Chicken Parmesan
Start by prepping your chicken. Place your chicken breasts or tenderloins in a large ziploc bag, 2-3 at a time. Using the flat side of a meat mallet (or side of a can or other heavy object), begin to flatten your meat.
After you flatten your meat, cut the pieces into similar sizes. I usually cut one large chicken breast in half after flattening.
Before cooking the chicken, you need to get your dredging station ready. Get out 2 low wide bowls or pie pans. In the first, crack 2 eggs and add 1-2 tablespoons of water. Whisk those together and set aside (I set it near my stovetop).
In another low, wide bowl, mix together Panko bread crumbs, dry grated Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and salt. Set next to the egg mixture, near the stove top.
Next, prep your baking dish and oven. Turn the oven to 350°F. Get out a 9×13″ baking dish (or other wide, rimmed baking dish) and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large saucepan or heavy-bottomed pan, pour flavorless oil until it’s about 1 inch up the side of the pan. Depending on your pan size, the amount will vary.
Heat oil to a medium-high heat, until a sprinkle of water dropped in sizzles (will take about 5 minutes to heat up).
Once oil is hot, dredge your first 3 pieces of chicken, first by dipping in the egg mixture, and then into the breadcrumb mixture. Then carefully set each piece of dredged chicken into the hot oil, using tongs.
Let cook on each side for about 5-7 minutes. Each piece will take a different amount of time depending on the size and thickness. Once one side is browned and cooked, flip with tongs. Once chicken looks cooked, tap on the center with the back of the tongs, if it feels firm it’s probably cooked through. If you want to be sure, you can double check by making a slight cut with a sharp knife to ensure it’s cooked.
Once first batch is cooked through, remove and place in the prepared baking dish. If the oil starts to get too hot, you can turn it down to medium heat.
Once you start another batch of chicken, add a little more oil into the pan. Continue cooking until all the chicken is done. Place all chicken in prepared baking dish. Cover each piece of chicken with a couple spoonfuls of marinara sauce and then top with fresh Parmesan cheese.
Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 10-15 minutes until cheese melts and sauce is warmed through.
Pasta and Alfredo
While your chicken is baking, you’ll have time to get your pasta and Alfredo ready. Start by heating a large pot full of water over high heat.
Meanwhile, in a separate medium saucepan, add butter for Alfredo sauce. Whisk until melted. Once melted, add in heavy cream. Once mixture comes to a simmer, add in fresh Parmesan and salt, whisking constantly until melted together and smooth and creamy. Once thick and smooth, remove from heat and set aside. You will have extra sauce – I do this on purpose so I can add it to the leftover pasta when we reheat it.
Once pasta water is boiling, salt generously and add pasta. Stir pasta constantly while it’s cooking so it doesn’t stick. Cook pasta until just barely done, then strain and top with Alfredo sauce. Remove chicken from oven.
Serve pasta on plate topped with Parmesan Chicken. You can add extra marinara sauce or Alfredo to the table if anyone wants to top with more. Top with fresh parm and basil if desired – enjoy!
Notes
It really helps to have a meat mallet to pound out/thin your chicken before frying it. If the chicken is thinner it will cook more evenly, and will cook through without the crispy edges burning.
If you don’t have a meat mallet, try using a large rolling pin or some canned food, on its side.
Wow! After all this cooking, I hope we have enough to last us till Sunday, when we finally would be able to kick back with the new book. For now let us get our appetite going:
“The Acrimony of Matrimony”: A bungling young marriage counselor has difficulties bridging the differences of feuding husbands and wives, but he overlooks his own shortcomings in his long-term relationship with his girlfriend
Excerpt:
CHAPTER 12
With his veins on end as he stared at his mail order watch, Gavin’s forehead poured out beads of sweat. It wasn’t as a result of the humid eighty-three temperatures. No, not with the air conditioner on at full blast. He squirmed in his office chair wondering where his two o’clock appointment for that Thursday afternoon was. It was bad enough he pledged a commitment to attend the meeting with other marriage counselors that evening. He didn’t need to appear as a frayed mess when shaking their hands that night, although he was already quivering from zigzagging nerves.
Two twelve. With a deep sigh, Gavin rested his chin on his open right palm while staring at the window as if it was going to help get his clients in the office lickety-split. The fingers on his left hand marched to the cadence of a caterpillar to exacerbate the lateness.
Then a subtle knock on the door startled Gavin out of his skin. A bug-eyed glance at the door preceded an anxious clearing of the throat. In a raspy tone, Gavin called out to the party to enter.
The knob turned in stealth slowness. Gavin had enough anxiety vibrating his body for the afternoon. The tension mounted as the door opened in the measured speed of a sundial’s shadowy path. The head of a young man appeared like a prairie dog checking out his surroundings. In bewilderment, the man with a healthy head of black hair spoke up.
“Excuse me, are you Mr. McGuiness?” the young man inquired.
“Uh.” Gavin hesitated as he searched his wallet for his driver’s license to assure himself. “Yeah, that’s…that’s me. But you can call me Gavin. And you must be Chase Haglund.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Come in and have a seat.”
“Thank you.”
Chase came into full view as Gavin checked him out. The counselor’s new client was a strapping figure over six feet tall with distinguished chiseled handsome features. In his wake was an attractive woman with sandy brown hair flowing over her shoulders. Gavin noticed her holding up her left palm at someone in the hallway before closing the door behind her.
“This is my wife, Vickie.”
“Hello,” Vickie quietly addressed Gavin.
As Vickie entered the room, Gavin eyed her scanning the office. She ambled over to a corner and pulled across a chair, which she then placed in between the two seats meant for a husband and wife. Gavin’s Picasso face stamped his confusion over the odd behavior.
“Gee,” Gavin opened. “I know there’s some friction between the two of you, but you really don’t have to separate each other like you just did. I mean, the whole point of this session is to bring the two of you together. This doesn’t help it any.”
“I’ll explain in a while,” Vickie said passively.
Gavin squirmed in his seat, crisscrossing his fingers as he volleyed his sights on the couple. Chase looked out to the right and Vickie the left. The counsellor shifted his eyebrows, releasing a subtle sigh, wondering how much longer the stalemate would continue. Time to break the ice.
“Okay, friends.” Gavin slapped his palms on the desk. “Let’s get to the root of the issue.”
Vickie swiveled in her seat, facing Gavin head-on. With a pronounced sneer, she pointed at Chase, avoiding eye contact away with her husband.
“The bastard cheated on me!”
Chase turned to Gavin with extended arms.
“No,” Chase rebutted. “It was an honest mistake.”
“Uh, I don’t see how having an affair as being an honest mistake, Chase.” Gavin then turned to Vickie for the full story.
“A month ago,” Vickie began, “I came home early from an errand. I walked into our apartment and I found him screwing another woman!”
Chase cupped his hands as if in prayer, pleading to Gavin to hear his side. “She’s not telling you everything. You don’t have the complete picture.”
“I think I do,” Gavin countered. “This is some serious crap, my friend.”
Chase’s reddened scowl spoke volumes as he pivoted toward Vickie.
“Why don’t you show him what I’m talking about?”
Vickie pouted as she shrugged her shoulders. Twisting her slender figure as far as she could to her left, she shouted to the top of her lungs. “Okay, Tara, you can come in!”
Gavin reclined deep in his seat, curious as to where all of this mess was heading to. The person in the hallway made her appearance. Gavin’s eyes popped out of his head as the woman coming into the office bore a striking resemblance to Vickie.
“This is my identical twin sister, Tara,” Vickie deadpanned.
Gavin’s jaw dropped as his eyes volleyed from Vickie to Tara and back again. No, he wasn’t seeing things. But there were measurable differences. Whereas as Vickie wore her dark blonde hair straight down, Tara had hers done up in pigtails. Vickie hardly had any make-up on, but Tara painted her modest cheekbones in red rouge with eyeliner and mascara that could be seen for miles. Vickie’s attire amounted to a conservative sky-blue blouse with black pants to round things out. Tara wore a short-sleeved tee with dazzling pastels and hot pink shorts to complete her Kewpie doll appearance. And while Vickie shuffled into Gavin’s workspace, Tara pranced in on her tiptoes, clinging on to her gold lame change purse, clutched close to her belly. Tara placed herself gingerly on the chair, sandwiched in between her sister and her brother-in-law.
Gavin still had difficulty fathoming the exact basic features of the two women. Even as simplemindedas he was, the counselor had a gut feeling where this was going to.
“Well, then,” Gavin began “we do have an issue here. Vickie?”
“Like I said, I came home one day, and I found Chase screwing Tara’s brains out.”
Chase raised his right hand for a word in edgewise.
“Can I just say something?” He peeked around Tara to stare at his wife. “I thought she was you!”
“Oh c’mon!”
“She dressed like you. Wore her hair down. Even spoke like you – you know, not as perky as Tara usually talks.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, did you happen to notice the heart tattoo on her ass?”
“You’ve got a heart tattoo?” Gavin asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Tara giggled. “I had it done a few years ago.”
“Well, I’ve got a friend who’s got one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on his right bicep. It’s really cool. I think it’s Donatello.”
“Wow! Would you like to see my tattoo?” Tara was about to rise to unbutton her shorts, but Vickie quickly intervened.
“Please! Let’s not go there!” Vickie extended her left arm to force Tara to take her seat. The ditzy twin turned up her nose at her sister.
“Well, Chase,” Gavin began, “Vickie does have a point. You didn’t see that tattoo?”
“Look, Gavin, I’ve seen Vickie’s ass quite a number of times. I just took it for granted.”
“Oh!” Vickie exclaimed. “So now you’re getting tired of my naked body, huh?”
“That’s not what I meant! I love you whether you have clothes on or not.” Chase turned to Gavin while pointing at Tara. “She tricked me!”
“Yeah, but you have me a great orgasm, Chase,” Tara threw a wry smile at her brother-in-law. “You’ll have to admit, I give a louder scream than my sister.”
“Well, I at least act and dress my age of thirty-three,” Vickie argued. “You’re still reliving your teenage years!”
“Yeah, but how many men did you fuck before Chase. Two? Maybe three?” Tara turned to Gavin. “I did at least twenty-five! I lose track, though.”
“This is getting sickening!” Vickie yelled, pounding the chair’s armrest to prove her point.
“Oh, and by the way, sis, you were right. Chase is long and hard.”
“That does it! I’m getting out of here!”
Gavin sprang up to motion Vickie to sit back down.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Gavin commanded. “Let’s all get our heads together here.”
Chase bowed his head down with a subtle nod. Tara looked off into a corner with her lips twisted and arms folded across her chest. Vickie stared at the opposite corner with a reddened scowl. Peace was sort of restored. At least the vitriol wasn’t being exchanged back and forth.
“Now, Chase, the fact that you didn’t notice Tara’s…uh…well…assets, lends me to believe some complacency may have set in. You ought to let Vickie know that you don’t take her for granted. What about surprising her with flowers for no special reason? That’s one way of doing it.”
Chase softly nodded at the counselor’s suggestion.
“Vickie, while I can’t condone what Chase did, I can understand how he got duped into thinking Tara was you, tattoo or no tattoo. She put on a good performance that anyone could’ve made a similar mistake. I mean, if it was a brunette Chase was with, well, you might have a case there. But Tara played her role as you to a tee. I say you should cut him some slack here.”
“Humph! That’s probably how she stole Devon McGwire away from me in high school.”
“Who? Me?” Tara stretched her fingers across her chest.
Vickie tilted her head up to the far corner of the room while Tara shrugged her shoulders and gazed at her golden wallet.
“And as for you, Tara.” Gavin leaned across his desk with one eye squinted and the other wide as a saucer. “Perhaps you ought to take a closer look at yourself. I sort of agree with Vickie. Trying to relive your teenager years in your thirties might be a little, shall I say, weird. Maybe if you dialed down the craziness you might have a special man in your life. And who knows where that might lead to.”
“Hmm.” Tara flirted with batting eyes. “What are you doing this Saturday?”
“I…uh…I do go out with someone. She and I have been together for ten years.”
“Ten years, huh? Then how come there’s no ring around your finger? I would think you and her would’ve been married by now.”
“Well, we’re working on it.”
Gavin slapped his hands down on his desk as he brought an end to the session. He spotted Chase grabbing Vickie around her waist. Gavin took satisfaction that the couple buried the hatchet in resolving their marital upheaval. The counselor beamed as Chase and Vickie exited the office. Tara was about to follow them when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. She pivoted and sashayed back to Gavin, taking him by surprise.
She whipped out a pen from her little change satchel and proceeded to scribble down on a small piece of paper.
“Here.” Tara smiled, finishing her writing and handing Gavin the slip. “That’s my number in case you’re in need of a little action.”
Tara puckered her lips and kissed the air before flashing her pearly whites. Gavin shot a wavy smile back at the tart as the latter followed her sister’s tracks.
The counselor plopped back in his chair as he was back to his lonesome self. Tara’s slip of paper? Well, Gavin gave it a good look before crumpling it up and tossing it in the waste can next to his seat.
He slumped like a sack of potatoes when, suddenly, he received an alert on his iPhone.
We look forward to seeing you at our marriage counselor group tonight at 7 pm!
A little reminder for Gavin that he was in need of forgoing watching Jeopardy! for the evening. He actually didn’t need that vibrating buzz to yank himself into Manhattan. Indeed, Gavin was very much looking forward to trading war stories with fellow practitioners. Maybe they also encountered ambulance chasers, clowns, operatic sopranos, and identical twins. Or was he the only counselor in town to attract this unique list of eccentric clientele?
About the Author:
A fan of authors Stephen King and Nicholas Sparks, I didn’t get the writing bug until about 20 years ago. I was influenced greatly by an English teacher I had during my years at Stuyvesant High School – Frank McCourt.
I have two traditionally published books to my credit, both through Gypsy Shadow Publishing. One is a contemporary romance novel entitled “The Diamond Man”. The second is a suspense novel called “Sadistic Pattern”, which was voted as a top-five book by Apple iTunes in April, 2019. I published another contemporary romance novel in 2021 entitled “Sweet Greetings from Carthage” and I’m now out with a women’s fiction story called “Allison Tinsley”. You can learn more about these books by going to my Amazon author page (http://www.amazon.com/author/michaeljmolloy). I’m also a musician as I’m the organist for the New York Aviators USPHL hockey team.
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