The Holidays and Allergies, Food Intolerances, and Picky Eaters by Shaleen Kapil

Oh, the holidays! How we love the food. If not gifts, food is probably on top of the list of the things planned for and bought. Lots of goodies and special foods that we don't let ourselves have the whole year through. But doesn't it seem like these days that everyone has a special diet from choice or necessity?

The holidays, with lots of guests, can become a balance of how to prepare a meal for all of the different food restrictions. I've prepared holiday dinner with vegetarians and with those who had better have ham or duck on the table. For a long time, I had to have gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free items, too. It can get tricky to make it all happen and not just feel like an odd assortment of food.

Some of the things I've done:

• Smashed potatoes: Instead of mashed potatoes, use the cooking water of the potatoes to smash/mash them with vegan butter. (A little garlic salt, if allowed, helps the flavor.)
• No-bake chocolate gluten-free cookies: As long as your gf guest can handle gf oats, check out my recipe on the upcoming Sweet Romance Facebook Holiday party.
• Broiled vegetables: Whatever I broil with some olive oil and salt in the oven is a hit. I won several people over for brussels sprouts one year.
• Applesauce: Nice addition for vegetarians and children
• Baked sweet potatoes: Make a few this way for your sensitive guests.
• Stuffing cooked outside of the turkey (we like stovetop kind anyhow) and use vegetable broth for the liquid. Yes, most vegetarians do not want to eat it with chicken broth or if its been in the turkey.

On December 10th, the Sweet Romance Reads Facebook page is hosting a party full of recipes. I hope you will stop by my table and leave the recipes that you use to fulfill special dietary requirements, or at least some good tips/stories. Hope to see you there!

Get some more romance in Shaleen’s Christmas novella, My Christmas Cupcake, available as part of the Sweet Christmas Kisses 2 collection available here: Kindle, Nook

Also keep up to date with her on Facebook or website

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Ways to add some romance to your life this winter season by Shaleen Kapil

            I don’t know about you, but I think of winter as the un-sexy time of year. With multiple layers of clothes, I feel like a marshmallow man rather than a pretty woman.  So, here are some ways to add romance to your life this winter (with or without your sweetie):

1.     Cuddle Up

It is that time of year to sit before a fire, with your favorite hot drink (spiked or not), and talk. Turn off the TV and listen to some music. Reminisce or plan and dream. (I will be dreaming of buying a little beach house.)

2.     Talk a Long Hot Bath

Cozy up by yourself in the tub with some suds. Read your latest Holiday Romance or dim the lights and light some candles. Plus, that heat will keep your body temp up for a while.

3.     Go Ice-Skating with Your Honey

Or if your honey is like mine and can’t balance with anything on his feet, bundle up for a winter walk. Hold hands and have some fun. Let being active together bring you closer together. You can treat yourselves to some hot chocolate when you get back to warm up.

4.     Romance Movie Night

Pick your favorite romantic holidays movies (White Christmas, Holiday Inn, are Christmas in Connecticut mine) and indulge. Or pick your favorite leading man and watch several of his films.

5.     Plan a Romantic Trip

A cabin in the mountains, a trip to a warm island, or visiting the city lit up for Christmas. The planning could be half the fun!

6.     Open a Bottle of Bubbly

Just because. You are allowed without an occasion!
 

Get some more romance in Shaleen’s Christmas novella, My Christmas Cupcake, available as part of the Sweet Christmas Kisses 2 collection available here: Kindle, Nook

Also keep up to date with her on Facebook or website

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Homemade Chocolate Cake & Birthday Memories by Shaleen Kapil

I’ve been busy baking (well, instructing my mother-in-law from India on how to bake) cakes. I’ve bought a few birthday cakes for my kids along the way, but every time I do, I remember the elaborate cakes my mom used to make us. Sure, they were box cakes, but she always let us pick the shape from a book that she had and they would cut and rearrange sheet cakes to that shape. My favorite was a swan.

I cheat, at least with the shape. I have a horse cake pan that I have been reusing for my daughter for a few years, but I make the cake from scratch using my grandmother’s recipe. This year, I’ll share it with you, true and simple (just don’t over bake it...And don't judge- I don't decorate well, that's why it gets the pretty glass dome!)

Shaleen’s Chocolate Cake

Mix dry ingredients:

¾ c. cocoa

2 c. sugar

2 c. flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

Then add the wet in a well that you make from the dry:

½ c. melted butter

1 egg

1 c. boiling water

1 c. milk.

Bake 350 for about an hour or toothpick comes out dry. Makes 2 8” round or 1 9x12”

I like to frost it with cream cheese icing (butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar), but this year, I tried coconut too!

Get some more yummy goodness in Shaleen’s Christmas novella, My Christmas Cupcake, available as part of the Sweet Christmas Kisses 2 collection available here: Kindle, Nook

Also keep up to date with her on Facebook or website

Back to School by Shaleen Kapil

Last year, this time, I was writing about the empty nest syndrome I had from my youngest leaving for kindergarten. This year, as I saw the kids off onto the bus for the first time ever (we used to walk at our old school), I was even more nervous. But I wasn’t so nervous about their school; instead, I was worried about my own.

Now that both kids are back to school, I decided to pursue my dream of getting a Ph.D. 

Last spring, I took the GRE again. That felt like a big step because it was a lot more difficult this time around than when I got my master’s degree‑probably because there was a lot more time between uses of inane math questions. (Yes, I truly believe having to look at a complicated algebra problem just to determine whether it is even or odd is an inane way to test for post-graduate intelligence.)

I held my breath for the next few months waiting to hear if I got in. The school was only going to accept 4 applicants. I felt confident that my education record was strong, but I was changing fields. I didn’t have particular skills or knowledge in urban planning, my intended field.

Long after I thought I had been rejected, I received my acceptance letter. Now, here I stand ready to begin my Ph.D.  I am very proud and excited, but I’ve also got the same jitters as the kids starting school and not knowing the teachers or where to go or who to talk to. This time around I have to balance family and kids with school. While my peers talk about finding roommates and cheap places to eat and go out to bars, I’m trying to find babysitters and pre-cook meals for the freezer and crockpot. Also, I’ve got to figure out pretty quickly what topic my dissertation is going to be on (feel free to throw crazy ideas out at me).

Deep breath. Whew, I get into a whirlwind just thinking about it. But I feel extremely lucky to be able to pursue my dream and to have a family willing to support me through it. There is so much good to focus on, as long as I remember to breathe.

Take your own deep breath with a sweet novella break by Shaleen. My Christmas Cupcake is part of Sweet Christmas Kisses 2 available Sept 27, 2015! You can find out more about Shaleen and keep up with her on Facebook or on her website.

Love to Anticipate by Shaleen Kapil

Every night, I ask my children what their favorite or happy part of their day was. For my son, the answer is almost always the anticipation of something he is looking forward to. Yesterday, it was the idea that his grandfather was going to take him golfing when he comes to visit. Today, that his friends were going to come visit us. (When it is not something in the future, it is normally a favorite food item consumed!)

I think it is this same love of anticipation that makes us love romance stories. The concept of “falling in love with falling in love”. When will they notice each other or realize that they really don’t hate one another? What will happen at the first kiss? When and how will the couple come together.

We can read romances again and again, despite knowing how it is going to turn out, because we get to recreate that anticipation‑all that delicious excitement that gives us goosebumps and sweetly invades our dreams. The best thing about romance books is that we get to do all of that without have the scary uncertainty of real life.

 Shaleen Kapil's new Starfish Beach series is a spin off from The Winning Bid and is a fictional town based off of one of her favorite beaches. You will find My Christmas Cupcake in the SRR Christmas Box Set available September 2015!

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