Month: May 2023

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Buttermilk Chicken

Buttermilk Chicken
Buttermilk Chicken

I like the buttermilk chicken at Montana’s so much I decided to try making some at home. No buttermilk in the fridge, no problem.

Pour a half inch of milk in a flat baking dish and add a tablespoon or so of vinegar. Stir it up a bit.

Spread out boneless thighs to soak in the buttermilk for an hour or two, turning them over once or twice.

Pour some flour into a plastic bag and add barbecue chicken spices. If you don’t have a spice mix, try cayenne pepper (depending how hot you like it) or paprika and salt.

Shake the chicken pieces one at a time in the bag, holding the top tightly closed.

Meanwhile, preheat a half inch of olive or other cooking oil in a pan on medium. Add the chicken and cook for a half hour or so on med-low, turning several times until cooked through and the coating is crunchy.

Mine turned out tender and tasty 😋. Hope yours does too.

Instead of wasting the chicken-soaked buttermilk and flavourful flour mixture, once the chicken has been fried and removed from the pan, on low heat, stirring constantly, gradually add to the residual oil together with potato water. Mmm, delicious gravy.

Okay, so now you know why I’m fat 😏.

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In the SHADOW of the RIVER, by Ann H. Gabhart, 2023, Revell (Baker Publishing Group)

In the shadow of the river, the mystery of Jacci’s life plays out.

In the Shadow of the River
In the Shadow of the River

The mystery of Jacci Reed’s life plays out in the shadow of the river. Who is she, and where did she come from? Her true identity is really a mystery, to be revealed gradually in the shadow of the river.

Gabe Kingston becomes her protector from the first time they meet, under scary circumstances, when he is 13 and she’s one brave five-year-old.

I love this intriguing tale set in the late 1800s on the rivers of southern states. Before the time of roads and automobiles, paddlewheel boats transported people and goods and even entertainment from one town to another along rivers and tributaries.

Families, such as they were, worked and lived on these boats. Not a fancy life, though in some respects romantic and adventurous.

Characters come to life in the shadow of the river.

Ann Gabhart brings characters alive so readers can experience riverboat life and its dangers and joys in the shadow of the river. Not everyone is cut out for such a lifestyle, unmoored from a land address. But the people running the boats become family, some for the season, others for a lifetime. And you know how families are. Some members likeable, some not always, and some with a mysterious past. Who to trust?

As in previous books by Ann Gabhart, she excels in writing characters and setting, and intriguing plots keep you reading. I find the pacing comfortable, easy to follow, and not confusing. In the dark shadows, characters find strength in turning to God and trusting their lives to Him.

Thanks to Revell for sending me this beautiful paperback for my honest review.

Learn more about Ann Gabhart and her writing at www.annhgabhart.com.

Click on this link to see further information and reviews or to purchase: https://amzn.to/3OL1aiN As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

One more link; click on this one to see what your reader friends on Goodreads say: Pearl Fredericksen’s review of In the Shadow of the River | Goodreads

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the SWINDLER’S DAUGHTER, by Stephenia H. McGee, 2023, Revell (Baker Publishing Group)

The swindler’s daughter never even knew he was still alive.

the SWINDLER'S DAUGHTER
the SWINDLER’S DAUGHTER

The swindler’s daughter never knew him. In fact, her high society mother always claimed to be a widow.

Suddenly Lillian Doyle is sent to a small country town to claim an inheritance from him. Mid-twenties and away from her mother for the first time in her life. People staring at her fashionable clothing and taking her propriety as pretense.

What kind of person had her father been? And what is the nature of her inheritance? Furthermore, how will she fit in (or not) with her father’s family and their close friends, whose manners, thoughts, and ways are so different from hers?

Such strange choices the swindler’s daughter must now make.

The swindler’s daughter doesn’t have a clue what she’s been plunged into, but her life is turned upside down. Will she choose to return to a pretentious high society life in Atlanta, or fall in love with these sincere, straightforward, country people? What are the dangers?

Will she be seen as herself, or as a pretentious city woman, or as the swindler’s daughter?

In the context of Historical Fiction concerning smuggling moonshine during prohibition, Stephenia McGee portrays a complex picture of the times and the consequences of prohibition on families. Interwoven into the story is a romantic thread of attraction and love developing between two opposites, as well as a clear spiritual message about trusting God and waiting on Him in prayer.

Roles of mothers.

How apropos, with three mothers playing important roles in the story, that the book is being published right around Mother’s Day. Since my sons weren’t with me that afternoon, I enjoyed sitting on the beach reading, inspired to be a godly, steady, influencing force in the lives of those around me like Jonah Peterson’s mother, Melanie.

Thanks to Revell for sending me this delightful book so I could write my unbiased review. Stephenia H. McGee has a unique voice with pacing that’s easy to follow, and an amusing sense of humor. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Learn more about the author at www.stepheniamcgee.com. Click here to find out more about the book and to purchase: https://amzn.to/3BAmtMt. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.