Today I've got author Conda Douglas in for a visit. Welcome, Conda!
Hi all, I'm Conda, author of all sorts of things. It's great being on Iva's blog, thank you Iva! And I have a couple of things for you all, a short story and a recipe from my Mall Fairies series. And right now the first and second novels in my series, plus a stand alone short story are in a book bundle for only $1.99 here! Scroll down for the short story and recipe. And please, ask me anything in the comments. I may not have the answer, but I sure love the questions.
Hi all, I'm Conda, author of all sorts of things. It's great being on Iva's blog, thank you Iva! And I have a couple of things for you all, a short story and a recipe from my Mall Fairies series. And right now the first and second novels in my series, plus a stand alone short story are in a book bundle for only $1.99 here! Scroll down for the short story and recipe. And please, ask me anything in the comments. I may not have the answer, but I sure love the questions.
In The Mall Fairies: Exile Swoop the fairy lives in the attic of a shopping mall and loves it. She’s terrified of Outside, where fairies can die. But when Swoop finds her best friend One Wing in the company of a human, she determines she’ll do anything to save him from being exiled Outside.
In The Mall Fairies: War: Once, the fairies lived hidden, safe in the attic of a shopping mall. No longer. Now the fairies must become warriors to get a necessary potion from the troll-like pixies. Now teenage fairy Swoop must discover a way to save her fairy clan from death. Can she stop a war?
In The Mall Fairies: War: Once, the fairies lived hidden, safe in the attic of a shopping mall. No longer. Now the fairies must become warriors to get a necessary potion from the troll-like pixies. Now teenage fairy Swoop must discover a way to save her fairy clan from death. Can she stop a war?
(Conda's note: this is a story and recipe from my cookbook The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook. It's about the pixies that are introduced in the second in my Mall Fairies' trilogy, The Mall Fairies: War. Enjoy meeting Flit and the rest of the pixies!)
FLIT AND THE PUMPKIN BREAD AND BARS AND...
"What, in the Big Digger's name, are we going to do with an entire pumpkin?" Cheer, the leader of the pixie clan glared at Flit. Cheer sat straight on her rock—okay, throne, as she insisted it be called—and leaned forward.
Flit fingered the hem of her mouse skin cloak. She'd thought that Cheer would be pleased with what Flit and her friends had managed to find tucked away in a human's garden and haul home. There were times when she hated her part time job of scavenger—Dumpster diver--provider of foodstuffs for the pixie clan. She gestured at the human's fist-sized pumpkin. "It's a tiny pumpkin."
"For human's maybe, not for five-inch-tall pixies. For pixies, it's big enough for all of us to live on for a week."
Flit nodded. "Exactly."
Cheer slumped on her rock. "My fault for sending a healer out instead of a hunter."
"Pumpkin is very good for you," Flit the healer said.
Cheer sighed. "Right, but I'm sending all the complaints your way."
… Three days later …
"Roast pumpkin, pumpkin soup, cold pumpkin soup—no more!" Digger, Flit's best friend, stood in front of a large group of angry pixies confronting Flit.
"But—" Flit looked over at the pile of cooked pumpkin, the rather large pile of remaining cooked pumpkin.
Digger saw her looking. "Yeah, I hate to waste food too, especially food I helped you drag home and then cook, but we're making an exception this time." The other pixies nodded in agreement.
"But—" Flit cast her gaze around as she tried to think of a way to use up the pumpkin—her gaze fell on the stack of honeycomb freshly stolen from a hive. Aha.
"What if we had it for dessert instead?" Flit asked.
"Dessert?"
"You know, make up some pumpkin bread or bars with acorn flour and the honey—"
"Yeah, yeah, that sounds—delicious," Digger said. The other pixies nodded again.
"And it's healthy too," Flit had to add.
PUMPKIN BARS
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves (can be omitted, but why?)
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 and 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large can (15oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, salt & soda) and set aside. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients, gradually. Mix well.
Spread batter in a greased 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.
For a richer dessert, frost with one of Grandma MacDougall's frostings (recipes follows Molasses Cake recipe in The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook).
FLIT AND THE PUMPKIN BREAD AND BARS AND...
"What, in the Big Digger's name, are we going to do with an entire pumpkin?" Cheer, the leader of the pixie clan glared at Flit. Cheer sat straight on her rock—okay, throne, as she insisted it be called—and leaned forward.
Flit fingered the hem of her mouse skin cloak. She'd thought that Cheer would be pleased with what Flit and her friends had managed to find tucked away in a human's garden and haul home. There were times when she hated her part time job of scavenger—Dumpster diver--provider of foodstuffs for the pixie clan. She gestured at the human's fist-sized pumpkin. "It's a tiny pumpkin."
"For human's maybe, not for five-inch-tall pixies. For pixies, it's big enough for all of us to live on for a week."
Flit nodded. "Exactly."
Cheer slumped on her rock. "My fault for sending a healer out instead of a hunter."
"Pumpkin is very good for you," Flit the healer said.
Cheer sighed. "Right, but I'm sending all the complaints your way."
… Three days later …
"Roast pumpkin, pumpkin soup, cold pumpkin soup—no more!" Digger, Flit's best friend, stood in front of a large group of angry pixies confronting Flit.
"But—" Flit looked over at the pile of cooked pumpkin, the rather large pile of remaining cooked pumpkin.
Digger saw her looking. "Yeah, I hate to waste food too, especially food I helped you drag home and then cook, but we're making an exception this time." The other pixies nodded in agreement.
"But—" Flit cast her gaze around as she tried to think of a way to use up the pumpkin—her gaze fell on the stack of honeycomb freshly stolen from a hive. Aha.
"What if we had it for dessert instead?" Flit asked.
"Dessert?"
"You know, make up some pumpkin bread or bars with acorn flour and the honey—"
"Yeah, yeah, that sounds—delicious," Digger said. The other pixies nodded again.
"And it's healthy too," Flit had to add.
PUMPKIN BARS
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves (can be omitted, but why?)
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 and 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large can (15oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, salt & soda) and set aside. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients, gradually. Mix well.
Spread batter in a greased 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.
For a richer dessert, frost with one of Grandma MacDougall's frostings (recipes follows Molasses Cake recipe in The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook).
Conda grew up in the ski resort of Sun Valley, Idaho, in her folk’s funky art gallery. She’s traveled the world and her own tiny office, writing all the while. She delights in writing her popular tween fantasy Mall Fairies series and getting fairy Swoop, pixie Flit, and their human companion, Grace, into magical and fantastical trouble. The inspiration for her Mall Fairies came from the sparrows living in the shopping mall Towne Square Mall in Boise, Idaho. Next up, trouble with trolls in the last of the trilogy: The Mall Fairies: Destiny.
For more about Conda visit:
Blog: http://condascreativecenter.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conda.v.douglas
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/condadouglas/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Conda_V
Conda, thanks so much for coming by today. I can't wait to read The Mall Fairies series! I'm SUPER excited to try out the Pumpkin Bars recipe…yum!
For more about Conda visit:
Blog: http://condascreativecenter.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conda.v.douglas
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/condadouglas/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Conda_V
Conda, thanks so much for coming by today. I can't wait to read The Mall Fairies series! I'm SUPER excited to try out the Pumpkin Bars recipe…yum!
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