Author Thom Battisto's Favorite Recipe...

Hello fans and followers. For the month of November we are going to be featuring some of our authors' and team members' favorite recipes every Tuesday and Friday right here on the JLB Creatives Publishing Blog.


Today we're featuring children's author Thom Battistos's favorite recipe. Find out more about Thom's children's books by visiting Sydney Finds a Job.

This is one of my many favorite Thanksgiving foods:

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

CRUST:

1-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tlb brown sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 stick melted butter

FILING:

3 8oz. packages of cream cheese at room temp.

1 15oz. can pureed pumpkin

3 eggs + 1 egg yolk

 1/4 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground clove

2 tlb. all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Directions:
CRUST

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter then press crumb mixture flat into a 9" spring form pan. Set aside.

FILLING

Beat cream cheese until smooth. 
Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and all the spices. 
Add flour and vanilla. 
Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust and spread evenly

Bake in oven for 1 hour
Turn off oven and crack oven door open, leaving pie in oven for 1/2 hour 
Remove from oven and let sit for 1/2 hour, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Thursday Prompt: Attic Trunk

Today's prompt is a visual prompt.

photographer: Elise VanCise

What's inside this trunk? Who does it belong to? Is it a family member or a mysterious discovery by new owners of the house? Gaze the photo for a while, at the contents that are visible and let your imagination wonder what is packed underneath. Now write a story minimum word count of 500 words. When your finished share the link to your work on our Facebook page in a comment under the link to this blog post! We would love to read your story.

For those working hard on their NaNoWriMo Novels.... I dare you to put an item from this trunk into your novel! Post on our FB page in the comments under this blog link to tell us what you used and how you did it.


Discover great books at JLBCreatives.com.

WEDNESDAY FEATURE "Spark Your Creativity"

#Winter #Snow #Trees #Shadows

This week's photo takes us to Paradise, Michigan's U.P.

Janet has titled this photo, "Winter's Shadows Arrive"

Happy Creating!

On Wednesdays we're posting a photo taken by our CEO, author Janet Beasley to help inspire authors, painters, musicians, and other awesome artists. We've titled the new feature, "Spark Your Creativity." How did we come up with this? Read on...

When Janet isn't hard at work in the literary world, you'll find her and her husband kayaking the crystal clear, spring fed rivers of Florida. Janet's second passion next to writing is photographing nature as they glide through the serene settings these rivers have to offer. She and her husband also enjoy traveling the US, so you'll also be seeing some of Janet's

photos taken from hikes and journeys she and her husband have done nationwide. She has used her photos time and again for her own inspiration when it comes to many of her stories, and decided she would like to share the same inspiration with the literary and arts world.

And not to worry if you're not inspired this week, come back each Wednesday to catch a glimpse of what could "spark" your next amazing piece of work. And if you don't want to wait until next Wednesday, we'd like to invite you to visit our JLB Creatives Photo Gallery on Flickr where the photos are always free to download and use as book covers, business cards, wallpaper, etc. All we ask is that you give credit where credit is due - perhaps by something as simple as adding a credit link to the JLB Creatives/Janet Beasley Flickr site in your book or on your presentation. 

We hope you enjoy our new Wednesday feature, "Spark Your Creativity." And we want to let you know, if a photo inspires you to write a story that you would like to have considered for publication by JLB Creatives Publishing, be sure to visit our website at http://www.JLBCreatives.com where you'll find our company's history, be introduced to the publishing team, discover our Submission Guidelines, and may submit your work for consideration.

Enjoy!

Author J.D. Karns' Favorite Recipe

Carl L. Young
Honolulu, HI 1945
WWII Veteran 1943-1946

Hello fans and followers. For the month of November we are going to be featuring some of our authors' and team members' favorite recipes every Tuesday and Friday right here on the JLB Creatives Publishing Blog.

In honor of Veteran's Day, we proudly present to you our Historical Fiction author J.D. Karns, and want to thank WWII veteran Carl L. Young for serving this country to maintain its freedom and awesome way of life! 

Today we're featuring historical fiction author J.D. Karns' favorite recipe. To find out about his awesome WWII historical fiction based on the journal of WWII Navy veteran Carl L. Young visit 28 Months of Heaven and Hell

Tempting Tettrazini:

3 TBS butter

1 sweet onion – chopped

1 stalk of celery – diced

2 cups cooked chicken, pulled from bone and cut up OR 2 cups mixed vegetables: carrots, broccoli, yellow squash

6 oz dry spaghetti – broken up

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup fresh mushrooms

½ cup parmsean cheese

2 1/3 cups chicken broth OR 2 1/3 cups vegetable broth

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Melt butter in skillet and sauté onion and celery over low heat

Add remaining ingredients except for mozzarella cheese

Bring to boil, turn to low heat, and cook until spaghetti noodles are done

Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and serve right from the skillet

Surviving NaNoWriMo

Participants are heading into the second week of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) with novels

going full steam ahead. This second week a few who are in those early stages are still chugging strong. Those of us who are nearing that middle land of our novels are heading into rougher seas.

This is the part where the novel gets into the meat of the story and more twists and turns create conflict for our heroes and heroines to overcome. It even though we’re going full steam yet the story feels like it’s slowing and maybe even heading for a stall… Don’t worry it’s not going to slow down or stall out. You’re just starting to feel that first ping of, “What was I thinking signing up to write 50,000 words in only 30 days!” Or maybe, “My word count is so far behind I’ll never catch up!”

Don’t despair, you will survive, your novel will survive and you will make it to the finish line! Here are a few tips to help you do just that.

Getting wordy

Feel like your word count isn’t where it should be? Not a problem, start describing your scenes with all five of your senses, even if you edit part of it out later. You’ll be surprised how much your senses pick up in a room when you really think about it.

Kill someone off, seriously bump off a character or a new murder victim. Death is wordy. There is the death itself, discovery of the body, examination /investigation, informing loved ones, the funeral…. You can get a few pages out of a good killing.

Bag the lag

Feel like your just getting bogged down by your novel? Too many words too much deadline? You’re starting to feel that noveling lag. You’ve been going at it hot and heavy for a week now. It’s okay to shake it up and shake off that lag. (Anyone hear Taylor Swift singing there?)

Change your view and you’ll be surprised how even changing rooms can make you feel a bit refreshed. Getting out of the house and heading to the coffee shop or library is even better! My personal favorite is a local museum you’re surrounded by history and art. Talk about a fount of inspiration right at your finger tips!

Even changing your method for a few pages can help pick up pen and paper and go analog for a while.

Reward yourself

This is a big thing in NaNoWorld. Everyone jokes about their novel rewards. Seriously though, it really is important. Set goals daily, a word count, or page number. But not large goals make them small enough to do in a day or three max. Now, when you reach that goal give yourself a reward. Get your favorite latte, download a song you like, a hand full of candy kisses or maybe even a trip to the movies. Earning that reward no matter how small or large it is can give your self-conscious a boost and prove you can survive this.

I’m with ya Wrimos! Writing away and getting wordy with all these survival tips. My reward for reaching tonight’s word count goal is watching one of my favorite Russell Crowe movies Cinderella Man, with a cup of dark chocolate cocoa. What’s your goals and rewards?

Elise

Media Director

JLB Creaitves Publishing

Discover great books and more at JLBCreatives.com We are open for submissions if you have a novel looking for a new home find the guidelines for submission at the link above.