And the Winner is ...

The winner of a copy of Lost and Fondue by Avery Aames is Jackie Griffey.

Jackie, be sure to email Avery at avery (at) averyaames (dot) com with your address so she can send you the book!

Thanks to all who entered, and especially to Avery for being my first recipe guest blogger.

What's Cooking Wednesday - Avery Aames Apple Pie

Thanks so much for author Avery Aames for joining me in sharing recipes on What's Cooking Wednesday. She's giving away a copy of her newest release, Lost and Fondue, so be sure to leave a comment. Winner announced over the weekend. (I'd love more sharing, so if you have a recipe, let me know!)

Here's a little about Avery:

I have made pies since I was a little girl. Chocolate pudding pies, fruit pies, lemon meringue. I sold them around the neighborhood. My favorite is still apple pie (and peach pie…but for this blog…apple). I could eat pie for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In addition, I love cheese. What could be better than combining the two? I’m not just talking adding a slice of cheddar on the side, which is what my dad loved to do. I wanted to incorporate the cheese into the pie. Since I need to eat gluten-free (something I discovered over 12 years ago…that’s another whole blog), I have had to adjust my eating habits. One of the easiest things to make, if you can find a good, gluten-free frozen pie shell, is apple pie. If you can’t find that, there are plenty of mixes, including Bisquick and Bob’s Red Mill and Pamela’s, (all gluten-free, already boxed or bagged) that will help you make a single shell. Instead of adding a lattice pie pastry to the top of this pie, I shredded cheese. It turned out gorgeous. And scrumptious.

“Life is good; cheese makes it better.” That’s my quote and I’m sticking to it.

AVERY AAMES APPLE PIE WITH CHEESE CRUST

The Deliciousness of Research

I'm over at Naughty Author Chicks today, talking about the shady boundaries between romance sub-genres. While I'm gone, my guest today is Avery Aames, whose sharing some of her tasty research. I love foodie posts!

I am writing a series called A Cheese Shop Mystery that features a cheese shop owner as the amateur sleuth. To be authentic, I have to research cheese. That’s right, taste cheeses as research. All kinds of cheeses. In a variety of recipes. Oh, poor me. Oh, lucky day!

When I landed this series, I had no idea about the wealth of cheeses. Sure, I had tasted the usual suspects: Cheddar, Edam, Gouda, Roquefort, Feta. But did you know there are so many varieties of cheese that you can eat a different one every day of the year—or maybe three years? From all fifty United States as well as from around the world. With cool names like – Etorki, Taleggio, Roaring 40’s blue. From cheese makers with unusual names like Cowgirl Creamery, Cypress Grove, Kerrygold, and more.