On your way home from work, stop at the grocery store and pick up a roasted chicken, pork roast or turkey. Think! What can I make for dinner to complement the entree and complete the meal? You need a copy of In Addition...to the Entree at your work, in your car or at your home. Viola!

The market for In Addition...to the Entree is for busy working people or people in a hurry who just want to put together a good meal without hours of preparation. Not much time to cook? Most recipes are easy to complete in a limited amount of time and most have basic ingredients.

This book has much more than just a few recipes. In Addition...to the Entree has one hundred ninety recipes with sixty five color photos and illustrations to tickle your fancy. It gives choices of food to use in addition...to the entree. It gives the history of cream cheese, information about vinegars, and explains the different squashes.

Need to make a quick appetizer for several unexpected guests? See Appetizers; Mushrooms and Cheese or maybe just cream cheese and jalapeno jelly. My personal favorite when I have a surprise guest stop to say hello.

Need to do something different with risotto? See Vegetables and Starches, under Artichokes Risottos. Check out the index under chicken or beef, turkey or shrimp.

Want to add pizazz to a vegetable? Try some butters or sauces. Or add taste to your entree with a salsa or chutney.

In Addition...to the Entree gives you a guide to how easy a recipes is or how difficult is indicated by chef hats. Just the right side dish can change your meal from ho hum to GREAT! In Addition...to the Entree is your own personal guide to help you decide what to serve for dinner, for lunch or even for breakfast on the side. From tasty soups to simple spreads and dips, the ideas and recipes show you how to become a more confident cook.

In Addition...to the Entree has fourteen sections to wow you into becoming a great cook. There are sections on Appetizers and Dips, Soups and Chowders, Salads, Vegetables and Starches, as well as Desserts, Breads, Jellies, Jams, Marmalades to the Odds and Ends that you can have fun with. The sixty five photographs illustrate some of the dishes and the appendix show you how to do canning. It also explains what makes a pepper hot and how the heck you cut up that pumpkin and mango.

Most ideas are quick, easy, and fun to use with side comments and bits of information to add to your knowledge as a great cook. Do you know the different types of peppers? Look under Salsas for types and information on peppers. Do you know what a squash is and the different kinds? Check it out in Squash 101. Do you understand the different types of vinegar? Check it out in Vinegar 101.

Your personal copy of In Addition...to the Entree will be available in your local bookstore, online and in local kitchen stores very soon. If you would like to contact me personally, please email me at conniehope4@gmail.com.

Enjoy!

Fig Jam

2 quarts chopped fresh figs (about 5 pounds)

6 cups sugar

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup lemon juice

(You may need 1 pouch liquid fruit pectin for thickener)

Chop figs in food processor.

Put figs in a large pot with a small amount of water and boil until soft about 5 minutes.

Let stand for 10 minutes

Drain water

Combine figs, sugar and 3/4 cup of water in a large pot.

Bring to a boil.

Stir continually until all sugar dissolves.

Cook over medium heat until thick.

Stir continually.

If it doesn't thicken, add the pectin and continue to cook for another few minutes.

Add lemon juice and continue heating for 1 minute.

Put mixture in sterilized jars making sure that the rim is cleaned and the mixture is down 1/4

inch from top.

Put lid and rim on.

Water bath for 15 minutes.

Makes 5-6 pints

(I have cut the recipe in half)

My favorite is to place the Fig jam as an addition to a cheese appetizer. Put the fig jam in a small cup and use a knife with a variety of cheeses. It is also very tasty with cream cheese as an appetizer. It also complements ham. Bake brie is excellent with fig jam.

Corn Chowder

2 cups canned corn (or off the cob) drained, save

the liquid

3 cups chicken stock or chicken cubes

1 teaspoons sugar divided into 1/2 teaspoon

sugar and 1/2 teaspoon sugar.

1/2 cup onion, minced

1/4 cup celery,minced

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Tablespoon lemon juice ( fresh is best)

1 1/2 cup diced potatoes

3 drops Tabasco ( or Gloria's West Indies Pepper Sauce, see my index)

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Pinch thyme

Parsley to taste

Paprika

1 egg yolk-beaten

1 cup heavy cream (small container)

3 Tablespoons flour

3 Tablespoons milk

Put chicken stock, liquid from corn, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and salt and pepper and simmer for

10-15 minutes.

Saute corn, onions and celery in butter adding mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and salt and

pepper.

Put sauteed mix in chicken stock or cubes with lemon juice and potatoes.

Allow to reach a slow boil. Cook until potatoes are tender.

Turn down heat and add Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce.

Whisk yolk and heavy cream in a bowl, then add 1/2 cup of the hot soup stock to the bowl and

whisk, then add to the remaining soup.

Make a thickening sauce with flour and milk and whisk into the soup slowly to thicken.

Serves 4-6 and is always better the next day.

Cool Blueberry Summer Salad for Two

2 cups baby spinach leaves

1/4 cup of blueberries

1 Tablespoon crumbled bleu cheese

1 or 2 Tablespoon balsamic vinaigrette (to taste)

Place spinach leaves in a shallow salad bowl.

Add the blueberries, bleu cheese, drizzle the

salad dressing.

Serves 2-3

Here are several sample recipes to 'wet your appetite' for buying my cookbook, In Addition...to the Entree.

Aunt Jane's Carrot Salad

1 lb fresh carrots, cooked ( It is about 3-3 1/2

cups or you can substitute 2 cans of carrots)

1 green pepper, chopped

1 medium white onion, chopped

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil ( or olive oil)

1/2 cup vinegar ( use your favorite)

1 can tomato soup

Slice fresh carrots.

Cook carrots until a little crisp.

Mix the other ingredients together, then add carrots last.

Tastes better if it is made the day before.

About the Author

Constance L. Hope, known to many as Connie or some even as 'Crazy Connie."

I was born and raised in a small borough in New Jersey called Metuchen. Or sometimes called "the Brainy Borough". I graduated from Metuchen High School in 1965 and am in the middle of trying to organize our 45th class reunion for 2010. Wow! Time has really flown by. And what a great time it has been.

As a child, I was always on a chair next to my mother cooking, baking or sometimes just making a mess. I loved to be by her side and help with any kind of cooking. I learned to create my own tomato soup creation from just a can of Campbell's and my imagination. I would add a little of this spice and that sauce and make my own concoction. My father was the tester. Bless his heart...some of the things, I dare say, were not that good. But as I grew, I learned more about herbs and spices and how to create different taste treats. I have cooked and catered dinner parties for myself and others. I have been involved with 'Mother of Twins' cookbooks and other cookbooks along the way.

Life has really been great for me. Oh, I have had a few ups and downs, but I have my health, my sense of humor and my smile. What else do you need.

After high school, I went to Union Junior College. "Uicy Juicy" as we called it, located in Cranford, New Jersey. After two years, I transferred to Trenton State College and went to school nights while I worked during the days.

I moved to Doylestown, Pennsylvania and married my high school sweetheart. So much for high school sweethearts!. I remarried several years later and lived in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania where I had three wonderful children. John, my oldest son, has done a lot of the art work for this book. Then I had twins, Jacob and Jennifer. Jacob has always said to me ,"Mom, you should write a cookbook because you make the best soups and side dishes ever." So I did write one. Jennifer, who is a lawyer, has helped me with some of the legal items about the book. They all grew up standing on chairs in my kitchen, helping me make cookies, or soup or homemade jellies and jams. Each with an apron on and flour or fruit all over them as well as on the floor.

Though the years, I have traveled a great deal and collected, tried, changed and created recipes from friends and acquaintances all over the world. Most recently, Hewitt, my partner of fifteen years, and proof reader for this book (Thanks!) and I moved to Fort Myers, Florida where the weather is warm, the fruit is abundant and the time was available for me to write and put together this cookbook. It has been 20 years in the writing, but is has been well worth the long creation time.

Cooking is something that you need to get into to really enjoy. I have always loved it and I have tried to instill this love in my children. I am now trying to instill that love in each of you who read this book. By reading and creating some of my favorite recipes, I hope you will make them your own. Good luck on your tasting journey.

Keep in touch and I will let you know when my book is published and for sale. The price will be in the $14.00 range. Check back to my blog or email me at conniehope4@gmail.com. Love to hear from you.

In can't believe I am at a signing for Randy Wayne White's new book. I really look like a dork, but Randy looks cool.

Anyway, I enjoyed the few minutes I had with Randy. And by the look on my face you can tell I was really blown away.

Thanks Randy, for signing your new book and giving me encouragement for my new cookbook.