Book Review: Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Flue

Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the 16th book in this series and the second one I’ve read.  I wasn’t sure what I would think of other books in this series after I finished the first, but I really enjoyed this book.

The mystery centered around finding who killed Dr. Bev.  I was at a little disadvantage as I skipped the 14 books in between this one and the first and was not familiar with Dr. Bev, who apparently was introduced in a previous book and was a rival for Norman’s affections.  Thus, because Hannah found the body (apparently she does this a lot) and because of the “rivalry” and because apparently they thought Hannah’s baked goodies might have been the method of death, Hannah was a suspect.  Thus, her involvement.

I thought the mystery was very well done and clues were strewn fairly evenly throughout the book.  The characters from the first book were still all there, with some new ones (again, I suspect introduced in previous books) and I still liked them all.  Hannah’s mother is now dating someone, which apparently makes her a much better person as she was much improved from the first book.  Likable, in fact.

There is a “triangle” between Hannah and Norman (the dentist) and Mike (the cop).  Frankly, I found it weird.  Several times they all sat down to dinner as if they were all just buds and not trying to figure who was coupled with who.  Speaking of dinner, food is front and center is this book.  It might have been in the first one as well, but it seemed like whole chapters were devoted to dinner and what was cooked and who did what.  The recipes placed throughout the book were a bit distracting as well.  However, I did try one of the recipes (the Chicken Tetrazzini Hot Dish) and liked it.

Even with the distractions and relationship weirdness, I enjoyed this book and will read others in the series.  Recommended.

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Recipe Review: Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

The past week or so has seen a giant jump in my baking.  I've shared a good portion of what I've baked, but some is just for me.  These muffins fall in the just for me category.  I'm always on the lookout for a good chocolate muffin.  I've tried a lot of recipes from various cookbooks and have so far only run across one that was really good and it made just two large muffins (I tried making four smaller ones and they just weren't the same as the large ones).  Anyway, I came across this recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Muffins from Oh She Glows (one of my favorite blog sites) on Pinterest.  Since I've also recently discovered the joy of zucchini, I had to give them a try.

I'm so glad I did.  They were well worth the effort.  I particularly like the recipes from this blog as they are dairy free.  The flour came out a bit strong to me, but mine could have been on the cusp of needing to be replaced.  Next time, I may go with just unbleached flour or a mix of unbleached with whole wheat pastry flour.  And, I'll use a finer grate on the zucchini, but that is just my personal preference.  Overall, I'm happy to have found a chocolate muffin recipe that is good and has some good for me stuff in it (mostly referring to the zucchini).  Give them a try.

Recipe Review: Coconut Loaf

We had a meet and greet for a new employee in my department at work and I decided that it should be a morning breakfasty kind of thing.  I made Poppy Seed muffins from Mostly Muffins, a wonderful little cookbook I got years ago and have used so much it is literally falling apart.  I have many muffin cookbooks, in all shapes and sizes, and this recipe is one of my favorites.  Most poppy seed muffins have lemon.  This one doesn't.  It does have sour cream, which gives it a very moist texture.  I made mini-muffins rather than full size and as always they were wonderful.

Coconut Loaf

I also wanted to take something else.  I toyed with a blueberry coffee cake or a pound cake or some type of nut bread.  I was going through a little Taste of Home Muffins and Quick Breads cookbook, you know, the ones that you get at check-out registers, that I came across this Coconut Loaf  recipe. I'd wanted to try it for some time, but never had any coconut.  Well, I had coconut, so I gave it a try.  It's simply wonderful!  It's more like a pound cake with a bit of coconut -- the coconut is not overwhelming at all.

I did make a couple of modifications - I used margarine (really not a huge change) and almond milk, leaving this version dairy free.

It sliced fine after it cooled, but the following day it was a little crumbly when sliced.  Not sure why.  Still, it's a wonderful recipe and I'll probably bake it again

Recipe Review: Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

Slowly, but surely, I've been cooking a bit more.  Lunch is heartier these days, so dinner is light.  This past week,  I tried Blueberry Baked Oatmeal from So, How's it Taste?, which I found on Pinterest.  I'm not a fan of traditional oatmeal, though I love baking with oatmeal.  So, I gave it a try.  Overall, I enjoyed it and will do it again, though I will make some modifications.  If I line the bottom with bananas again, they will not be overly ripe.  If I use ripe bananas, I'll mash them and add them to the liquid portion of this recipe.

However, I'm looking forward to trying it with peaches or an apple rather than the banana as well.  Some commenters even suggested lining the bottom with applesauce, though I'd probably also add that to the liquid.  At any rate, it made for a nice light dinner.