News – Page 47

A Disciplined December, Week 2 Check-In

December 19, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

It’s been a bit of an upside-down week, but in spite of that, I made some progress on my goals, and even accomplished some things, like baking, that hadn’t even made it onto my list of goals. My book launch has been going well, and homeschool has been plugging along, despite interruptions on all sides!

Get into a better personal routine. I’ve been waking up early almost every day this week. Still haven’t gotten down to exercising, but feeling much more motivated about that as my shoulder continues to heal, and plan to get into the routine this week.
Regroup in the homeschool department. I waver here between trying to cram in as much as we can before we leave so that we have fewer books to carry back, and paring down to a skeleton schedule so I don’t stress myself out. Anyone want to weigh in?
Launch my book. I have some further dates scheduled this week for the Virtual Book Tour, I’m quite happy with the results from last week, and I’m scheduling blog tour, part two for the new year, since who knows what will happen over the holidays! (But I have an excellent suggestion for a Christmas gift. Did you know you can gift a Kindle book? Look for the “Give as a Gift” button in the sidebar to the right.)

How are your goals going? Christmas shopping done yet?

Guest Post at My Only Vice

December 17, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

I want to thank Julie for the opportunity to be a guest at My Only Vice. I’m honored. Julie asked me what my inspiration for After the Snow Falls was–basically why I would choose such a difficult topic to write about, and whether there was a personal connection to the events of the story. (For a synopsis of the story, see the review yesterday.)

I don’t think I set out to write about a difficult topic. My desire was to write something meaningful. I think it’s just as possible to write something meaningful in a quirky, light hearted way. I really enjoy authors who are able to do that–to entertain you and keep you laughing and then turn around and make you take a look at yourself in the mirror.

A Christmas Journey Home: A Review

December 16, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

What would Christmas be without stories? Of course, there is The Story, which we always keep at the center, but some stories around this season help us to do that. A Christmas Journey Home is one such story.

Kathi, who has just been named Author of the Year by BooksAndAuthors.net, is a prolific writer not afraid to take on difficult topics. She doesn’t shrink away from her mission just because it’s Christmas. In fact, what better time to speak up for justice? In A Christmas Journey Home, Kathi handles the tough issue of human trafficking with tenderness and compassion.

She takes the issue from an impersonal headline to a very personal collision between the worlds of two women: Miriam, an embittered widow whose husband was murdered by Mexican drug smugglers, and Isabella, a pregnant Mexican newlywed, struggling to put her faith in El Senor while she journeys across the US border, led by an unscrupulous “coyote.”

Pregnant Isabella and her husband Francisco flee Mexico after the brutal slaying of Isabella’s entire family at the hands of los malos, the bad ones, who have sacrificed the safety of Isabella’s once idyllic community for the sake of the drug trade. But the situation they find themselves in once they are “safely” across the border isn’t much better, as they learn their caretakers are involved in human trafficking. They eventually escape, but Franscisco is killed, leaving Isabella a widow with a baby soon to be born.

Living on a ranch along the Arizona Border, Miriam has developed a hatred for all immigrants after her border patrol husband is killed in a skirmish with drug smugglers. She is bitter and angry at God.

When these two widows’ lives collide, grace steps in.

A Christmas Journey home is a wonderful read. I especially enjoyed the way the author wove in difficult questions, such as Isabella’s grandfather’s struggle of conscience over whether he was right, after praying about it, to encourage his granddaughter to escape to find a better life. He wonders: “Was it wrong to try to save a life when doing so involved breaking the law?”

Her grandfather also has a deep relationship with his God, and through that relationship, some other gems in the story emerge. Such as his musing that he “was well acquainted with the faithfulness of God, but he also knew that the road to fulfillment of His purposes was nearly always costly to those who traveled there.”

The portrayal of his faith is beautiful. Don Alfredo is in constant fellowship with God. At one point, he is preparing for bed:

“‘I am weary, Senor,’ he whispered a he climbed into the familiar bed that had seen so many nights and heard so many prayers. ‘And I am yearning to see Your face.’

And I, yours, came the response.”

I found the story suspenseful, and the characters easy to care about, particularly Isabella. I really wanted to know that she was going to be all right. In a busy week, when I couldn’t read in long sittings, I found myself wondering what her fate would be. The ending was satisfying, and the epilogue was the most beautiful portion of the book, in my opinion.

From the author’s webpage:

Kathi Macias is a popular speaker for women’s retreats and conferences. She has won numerous awards for her prolific and outstanding writing, which includes both fiction and nonfiction. Red Ink, part of her 4-book “Extreme Devotion” series, won 2011 Golden Scroll Book Awards Novel of the Year and was named a finalist for a Carol Award.

Her latest series from New Hope Publishers is the “Freedom” series on human trafficking.

Note from me: Don’t forget to check out the puzzle challenge at The Borrowed Book today for a chance to win a FREE Kindle or Nook copy of After the Snow Falls. A second giveaway is going on over at My Only Vice If you’re a winner, stop back here and let me know what you thought about it. Have a wonderful Friday!

Gluten-Free Orange Shortbread Cookies

December 15, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

First things first: Don’t miss the review of After the Snow Falls at My Only Vice today! And don’t miss tomorrow’s post at the same location. There will be a giveaway for a free digital copy.

This year is the first year we are eating gluten-free for Christmas. Though our GF girl complained recently about how difficult it’s been to go to Christmas functions and refuse things, I must say she’s been very good about it, and we can see two notable changes for her:

She sleeps better–at night and even during the day in the car while we were away when we’d been up late the night before. This was previously unheard of for her. She didn’t seem to be able to shut off.
She obeys more immediately more of the time and with a better attitude.

So I would say it’s definitely been worth the experiment. And not awful, although admittedly sometimes inconvenient. I’ve resorted to buying bread mixes for the bread, but they’re pretty good and about the same price as a loaf I could make at home without the challenge of mixing all the flours because let’s face it, gluten-free cooking is a bit of a science–or an art form.

I say “resorted” not because they’re not yummy. They are. It’s just that I’m really a homemade girl at heart, and I have a hard time taking the easy route. I think someone should pat me on the back for this, come to think of it.

If you read my blog post the other day, you’ll know that we were supposed to be at my inlaws’ already. However, two out of three of the kids decided to get a cold and since we didn’t want to infect great-grandma, we decided to take a couple more days at home to recover before heading north. To keep everyone busy and help them get over the disappointment, we continued our Truth in the Tinsel crafts and made Christmas cookies. Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies!

Orange Shortbread Cookies

Rating: 5 spoons up
These were nothing short of amazing. Of the three recipes I tried, these were hands-down the favorites for me, JavaMan and Pumpkin. The taste and texture were incredible, and they were a breeze to make, with the possible exception of the stiffness of the dough you need to spread out in the pan prior to baking.

1 ¼ cups of four-flour bean mix* (pictured here is garfava bean flour–see below)
1 tsp. xanthan gum
¼ tsp. salt
Grated rind of one orange
1 c. butter
1/4 c. honey

Preheat oven to 300°F

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour mix, xanthan gum, salt and orange rind. Set aside.
In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and honey. With the mixer on low, blend in the dry ingredients. Finish blending with your hands.
Pat the dough into an 8 x 12″ oblong pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. The top will brown only slightly.
While still warm, cut into 1-1 ½ inch cookies.

Yield: 2 ½ dozen cookies.

* To make four bean flour mix, mix together 2/3 cup garfava bean flour, 1/3 part sorghum flour, 1 part arrowroot flour, 1 part tapioca flour (You will have some mix leftover after making this recipe, but you might just want to make it again!)

Sorry there’s no scratch and sniff here. I know they look very ordinary sitting there in the pan (you’ll notice we couldn’t quite get the camera out in time, they were so irresistable). It’s a shame there’s no scratch-and-sniff on the internet, because you can’t get within a foot of them and not drool. Seriously that good. But this is still not a food blog.

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