Christmas Jell-O Recipe

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

I want to express my appreciation for those of you that have supported me throughout the year. I want to share a Christmas recipe and hope you enjoy this Jell-O Salad as much as my family and I have throughout the years, probably as many as fifteen Christmases – does that make it a Christmas tradition?

It’s called “Christmas Raspberry Carousel”


1 3 oz Raspberry box Jello
2 Cups boiling water
¾ Cups Cranberry Juice Cocktail
1 Cup Diced Apples
¼ Cup Celery, diced
¼ Cup Walnuts
1 3oz Lemon Jello
1 4 ½ oz Cool Whip
½ Cup Real Mayonnaise

Dissolve Raspberry jello in 1 cup boiling water…Add Cocktail Juice, chill

Fold in apples, celery, nuts into the raspberry jello and pour into mold – chill
Dissolve lemon gelatin in 1 cup boiling water – chill

Combine Cool Whip and Mayonnaise
Stir into lemon jello
Spoon over raspberry mold
Chill
Unmold, garnish

Sorry about the picture, that's all that was left from a Christmas dinner party I had last night. I forgot to take a picture of the mold, but it gives you an idea of what the mold could look like.

By the way, if you didn't get my recipe for my delicious carrot cake - see the previous blog for 'Sherry's Carrot Cake'

Have a wonderful, blessed Christmas. Judy

Merry Christmas

I’m one of those ‘weird’ people that others don’t understand – yup, you’re right - I start listening to Christmas music in August. Once I started writing a Christmas themed story in December and listened to Christmas music all the way through April, when I finally wrote “The End.” I about drove my hubby crazy when I decided to write two more books (during the summer months) to complete my Santa Series: Santa’s Pretty Lady, Santa’s Secret Gift, Mainland Santa. And, yes of course, you have to have the music while writing. All my e-books are written under my alter-ego Anna Sugg. Read a blurb on my website: http://anna_sugg.coffeecup.com

I have so many wonderful Christmas memories that I have often started out writing a Christmas story, until my characters head into a different direction. That’s what happened when I wrote Secret Past, A Yellow Creek Novel.
My family always went to my grandparents’ farm in Tennessee for Christmas when I was a child. To this day, the memories of so many special Christmases put a smile on my lips. They’re so dear to me since both my grandparents and parents are gone. In Secret Past, my character returns to her grandmother’s farm and while taking a journey through the past, she remembers a fun Christmas Eve spent at the farm. While there a vision of her grandmother appears…and, so, my story is off and running in a different direction. But, those Christmas feelings are still living within me to this day.

When visiting my family in Tennessee in 1988, my sister, Sherry, gave me a recipe that I thought would make the best holiday cake ever. Now, years later, I’m making the same cake for our Christmas dinner dessert. We make traditions sometimes that can last a lifetime. I would like to share my Christmas recipe with you…

Sherry's Carrot Cake
2 cups of sugar
1 ¼ cups of vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 ½ cups cake flour
2 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups finely shredded carrots
3 ½ cups black walnuts
Combined sugar, oil, egg (one at a time) Mix well after each egg
Stir in carrots
Add nuts
Sift together: flour, baking soda, cinnamon
Stir into mixture
Pour into 3 greased 9 inch round cake pans
Bake 30-35 minutes
Cool

Cake Icing
1 8oz package cream cheese – softened
1/4 cup butter – softened
1 lb box soft confection sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon lemon juice
Blend cream cheese and butter until smooth
Add sugar, gradually mixing
Stir in lemon and vanilla
If frosting seems too soft – refrigerate for a few minutes

I decorate our entire house for Christmas and I start at Thanksgiving. My husband drags the Christmas tree from the storage area and sets it up in the living room. We don’t decorate the tree, but always have the lights on for Thanksgiving dinner which adds to the festive atmosphere. Once Thanksgiving dinner is over, I sat back, relax, have a glass of wine, and watch the grandkids decorated the Christmas tree. My hubby likes that tradition. They always do a beautiful job, with their parent’s help of course, or else, only the bottom half of the tree would be decorated. I put up two more trees the next day and by the weekend I decorate the rest of the house, including the bathrooms. I would love to hear from you at drake31704@yahoo.com and please visit my website: http://judybaker.coffeecup.com

My next post will be my cheeseball recipe with BB's Special Seasonings - another tradition that just happened years ago.

Merry Christmas to you and your love ones. Judy

Santa Series

Christmas E-books Santa Series AVAILABLE NOW

Lena Belle tries to reject the love of a man whose only job for the moment is playing Santa for the department store. Yet, he stirs an emotion within her that she has not felt for many years. How could she fall in love with a homeless Santa? Would he be willing to work for their relationship? Supporting a man once in a lifetime is enough. She will not be the sole provider and risk another divorce.

Madison Sanford never dreamed a gift from a secret Santa could give her hope and a chance to take her daughter and run. Once safe in the arms of the sisters at St. Paul’s shelter, their new life melts into days of happiness, until her past catches up with her and her secret Santa shows up at the shelter, homeless. Now, to correct a malicious feat, she must leave the happy life behind and return to the man that could destroy her.

Dr. Brianna Sanford would miss the smell of the salty ocean air, the winter Hawaiian nights with their perfect conditions for stargazing, and the island’s constant eighty-two degree temperatures. As her job at the prestigious Hawaiian hotel nears an end, Brianna meets Cagney Malloy. Since breaking off an engagement, Brianna Sanford has decided all men have only two things on their mind: sex and secrets. Cagney Malloy is no different. He has a secret. She wouldn’t care, except her feelings for the man had become more than she expected. All e-Books available on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com http://anna_sugg.coffeecup.com

A Christian Writing Non-Christian Novels

All my life, I’ve looked to God for guidance and he’s been there for me. Being a Christian, I have faith in my God to lead me through all that I accomplish in my life. That being said, I write romance novels and discovered many Christians think I should only write Christian novels. I don’t. I tried. Not me. A long time ago, I asked God for wisdom to make right decisions in the directions of my stories. I feel I've written stories true to what God had given me.

If you’re a Christian and write novels that aren’t spiritually Christian stories, can you let me know? I’d like to know there are others that believe in God and have faith that their writing is directed by Him. I believe we can be faithful Christians and still write romantic, suspenseful, non-Christian stories.

Just finished updating my website, take a look http://judybaker.coffeecup.com

Also, I want to share two pictures with you. My YaYa Sisters got together in May at Myrtle Beach SC and had a wonderful time. My hubby and I went to Hawaii in April and the weather was perfect, while at home in Utah, they had snow!

YaYa Sisters Trip

Big Island, Hawaii

Words

I found a great quote that I want to share with my fellow writers:

To read is to empower
To empower is to write
To write is to influence
To influence is to change
To change is to live
Jane Evershed (More than a Tea Party)

So far my first month in this New Year has been pretty good. I’ve ignored those excuses that keep you from writing – you know what they are, I won’t even bother to list any. To see my actual progress in writing, I’m keeping an Excel chart of words written each day. It’s an eye opener. Try it and when you look back at a week’s worth of writing of what you thought was a good week, you might be surprised. I found that keeping a chart causes me to be aware of wanting to be able to put a number down instead of ‘0’ (If you want a format copy of my chart, let me know and I’ll share). In January, I completed half of a manuscript that I had started last year. Not only have I been writing my story, I also submitted two completed manuscripts and query an agent.

Do I dare to dream? Yes. Are you daring to dream? Are you taking a risk, that’s what it takes to dream? Let me know. Judy

End of 2010

Wow! Where did the year go? No…on second thought, where did the decade go? I think time seems to fly within our mental faculties because we are so caught up in a constant whirlwind of ‘doing'. To quote Stephanie Meyer, Twilight, 2005: “I was thinking about how disjointedly time seemed to flow, passing in a blur at times, with single images standing out more clearly than others. And then, at other times, every second was significant, etched in my mind.”

I sat down to write my list of what I want to accomplish in 2011 and realized I really should also be thinking about the next decade. Why did the last two decade seem to jump ahead in lightening speed, landing us in another doorway into the next one? Well, if 2020 arrives as quickly as 2010 did, I had better get busy and decide where I want to be tomorrow, which of course, will be today before I know it. My calendar is already filling up and I really want to say that in the next ten years, I want to learn how to enjoy the moment. So, what does that mean? If the next decade flies by as fast as the last, I better not waste a moment, but enjoy and accomplished what needs to be done in that moment.

When I glanced back at my calendar year, I realized I did accomplish something: completed two manuscripts and started another; taught a workshop at RWA National in Orlando, Florida; took a workshop by Bob Myers; pulled off a great huge event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for my day job; had a wonderful YaYa Sister trip with my sisters in Eureka Springs, Arkansas; a fun motorcycle trip to Elko, NV with hubby on his Harley; ended the year with a great family vacation to Disney World. These are all positive things that I feel good about, forget the negative stuff.


Thank you for being part of my life and supporting me in my endeavors to be a better writer. Judy

Hair Cut

I did it! A new do after having long, long hair all my life. Check it out. Not sure about short hair, but HAIR GROWS. It was for a good cause anyway - sent my 13" ponytail to LOCKS of LOVE.