Category Archives: giveaway

The BEST Potato Leek Soup

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Here in the US, St. Paddy’s day is pretty popular. Corned beef and cabbage and green beer will be on many people’s menus tonight. Here in the DeJarnett household, our favorite Irish-inspired dish is Potato Leek Soup. We’re not Irish 8( but some of my characters are (Jason McAlister and his family), so I thought I’d share the recipe in case you’d like to try it.

NOTE: I label this recipe as the BEST because it’s gone over so well with everyone I know – even hard-to-please 10 year-olds! If fifth graders will eat it, it must be pretty good!

Potato Leek Soup

1 leek (about 1″ in diameter)
1 small onion, quartered and sliced
1/4 Cup butter (everything’s better with butter!)
2 Tablespoons flour
3 cans (14 oz size) chicken broth (I recommend Swanson’s)
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
16 ounce container of sour cream (light would work too)
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

In a large non-stick skillet, saute leeks and onion until soft. Add butter and flour, cook for 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and potatoes, simmer 30 minutes. Remove from heat. With a stick blender, carefuliy puree the soup in the skillet until smooth. (You can also use a blender, but the soup is very hot.) Whisk in the sour cream (you can use less than the whole container, depending on taste), and parsley, if desired. Salt and pepper to taste.

Great hot on cold days, or cold on hot days. Even the kids will eat it!

Serves 4-6

Fun FYI: I first made this recipe *cough*ty years ago as part of a research project on Ireland for the sixth grade. I have yet to visit the Emerald Isle, but it’s definitely on my list!

Giveaway going on LibraryThing

Don’t forget to ENTER TO WIN an autographed copy of Whirlwind on LibraryThing.  What’s Whirlwind? Check out A Trail of Books Left Behind’s REVIEW!

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Another Chance to Win

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The giveaway is now up on LibraryThing! Click HERE to enter to win one of 2 autographed copies of Whirlwind!

You must be a member of LibraryThing to enter, but registration is free.

Good Luck!

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Congratulations to the Winners!

The winners of the Goodreads giveaway have been chosen, and their autographed copies of Whirlwind are going into the mail tomorrow! Congratulations to:

Milena in New York
and
Nicole in Great Britain

If you’re not Milena or Nicole, don’t fret, a new contest starts tomorrow on Library Thing.  The link to the giveaway will go up tomorrow. Good Luck!

Meet an Author Monday

Whether your a reader or a writer, there’s a lot of great information and fun on the Hop. Check it out!

Meet an Author Monday

Click here for the Author hop

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Read an Ebook Week

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Whether you have an ereader filled to the brim or are a staunch ink and paper fan, Read an Ebook Week is a milestone not to be missed.

According to readanebookweek.com, ebooks have been around for 40 years! From simple text files read on a green screen to fancy new multimedia books including video and sound, ebooks have come a long way.

I’ve often said that I believe paper and ink books will be around a very, very long time, but that doesn’t mean that ebooks don’t deserve a look.  So if you haven’t tried one yet, how about dipping your toe in the epool this week?

No, you don’t have to spend hundreds and learn yet another new device’s tricks.  You can read an ebook right on your laptop using something as simple as Adobe reader.  The books themselves vary in price from FREE up to who knows.  Many classics fall into the free category, and even more are $5 or less (including a romantic suspense named Whirlwind I’m pretty proud of!).

You can download software for free to read the more exotic formats – nook, kindle, and others all have free applications for laptops, smart phones, and just about anything with a screen.

So if you haven’t tried an ebook, why not give it a try?

[BTW: I find it exceptionally ironic that the day before Read an Ebook Week was National Day of Unplugging. hee hee hee!]

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WIN WHIRLWIND

Only one more week left to enter to win one of two paperback copies over on Goodreads.  Two more copies coming soon on Library Thing.

Meet an Author Monday

Whether your a reader or a writer, there’s a lot of great information and fun on the Hop. Check it out!

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March Madness

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Can you believe it’s March already? Okay, not till tomorrow, but wow, has the year been flying by! I keep waiting for things to calm down around me, but they never seem to. Which brings me to today’s title.

March Madness for me has nothing to do with basketball, but everything to do with writing. The last year was devoted to publishing and marketing, and writing took a back seat. NO MORE! My madness revolves around my goal of getting the first draft of my next book completed, and thanks to my dear critique partner, I’m being held accountable to that deadline.

So if you don’t see me around as much, don’t despair – it means good things are happening!

Win a Copy of Whirlwind in March

Are you as tired of winter as I am?  How about a little spice and romance to welcome spring?  I’m giving away FOUR copies of Whirlwind in March on Goodreads and LibraryThing (yup, I’m on LibraryThing now!).  Sign up now and you could get your copy of Whirlwind for FREE!

First up:  Goodreads.  Two copies are up for grabs during the first half of March. Winners will be selected on March 14th.  You must be a Goodreads member (FREE) to enter.

Meet an Author Monday

Whether your a reader or a writer, there’s a lot of great information and fun on the Hop. Check it out!

Meet an Author Monday

Click here for the Author hop

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