SUSPENSE SISTERS: DECEMBER QUILT GIVEAWAY

Suspense Sisters: December Giveaway

GRANDMA KAY'S CARAMEL APPLE PIE FOR CHRISTMAS

I bake this pie every Christmas. I have no idea who Grandma Kay is (or was). I got the recipe from our local paper in Wichita many years ago. It's soooo good. I'm sharing it with you. I'm not a baker, so that should give you the confidence you need to try it. If I can make it, anyone can. 

Merry Christmas!

GRANDMA KAY’S CARAMEL APPLE PIE

(This recipe makes two pies)

Pie Filling

Mix together and set aside 3 cans - 21 oz Wilderness Cinnamon and Apple Pie Filling. You can also use regular Apple Pie Filling or Apple Caramel Filling. Just add 2 tsp. cinnamon to the Apple Caramel filling. Add 2 tsp. cinnamon and 1 ½ apple pie spice to the regular Apple Pie Filling.

Crumb Topping

Combine 2 cups flour, 1 cup packed brown sugar
Cut in 1 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Set aside.

Make 2 single pie crusts for 9 or 10 inch pies (I use Pillsbury premade pie crusts. Comes frozen. Defrost before using.) *Line pie plates with crust.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Divide pie filling mixture between the 2 pie shells.
Mix together ¼ cup fat free caramel apple dip and ¼ cup milk.
Drizzle ½ of caramel mixture over each apple pie filling.
Sprinkle ½ of the crumb topping over each pie filling.
Cover edge of pie with foil to prevent over-browning. Bake at 350 F for about 1 hour or until filling starts to bubble through the crumb topping.

Let pies cool about 10 minutes.

Drizzle 2 TBS fat free caramel apple dip on top of pie or put caramel apple dip in a decorating tube and draw lines of pie. (Note: the fat free caramel apple dip is thinner and easier to use than the regular dip.)

Cool and serve.

ANNOUNCING THE SUSPENSE SISTERS' CHRISTMAS CONTEST!!!

Once again, the Suspense Sisters are presenting their December Christmas contest! Someone will win a beautiful Christmas quilt, lots of books, and some lovely Christmas items.

Stay tuned! Our contest will go live this afternoon!!!

Congratulations to the winner of our November contest, Shelly Peterson!!

The Opposite of Comparison

Give Thanks in all circumstances.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 

by Sharon Dunn

One of my goals this year has been to stop comparing myself to others. I really think it gives Satan a stronghold in my life. I'm trying to catch myself when I find myself comparing in relationships, in what I own, in health, in achievements and with where my adult children are in their lives. When I start listening to that tape playing in my head, I find that it happens a lot. 

The strongest weapon I have found against comparison is gratitude. When my mind is occupied with what other people have, I miss out on God's abundant provision in my life. Focusing on big things like being cancer free is a good place to start. But I also think it is the little gifts that God gives every day that can help me flip the script on comparing myself to others. At the end of the day when I lay down to go to sleep, I ask myself what was good about the day. The list is abundant: a baby's smile, a friendly dog, a meaningful conversation with a friend or stranger, clothes or jewelry that made me feel pretty, the sun on my skin, a good book, watching the snow fall from inside my cozy house. I could add so much more to that list. 

How about you? What are some of the little things you are grateful for? Maybe there is something big in your life that you are celebrating in this season of gratitude. Leave a comment along with your email address. I will be giving several randomly chosen readers copies of the three Christmas books I've written. Alaskan Christmas Target, Christmas Hostage, and Tasha's Christmas Wish (USA only). 

A Thanksgiving Prayer for You

It’s Kristen, and I’m honored to have the chance to wish you a blessed Thanksgiving on the day before Thanksgiving. My little family will be driving to spend the holiday with my parents, brothers, and their families. It’s going to be loud, chaotic, and so much fun.

It’s going to be the kind of Thanksgiving my character Avery Reynolds in Watch Your Back has never experienced.

After her parents walked out of her life when she was seven, she grew up in foster care until she aged out of the system. But one foster family deeply impacted her. Foster “Mama Casale” once told her, “You can be anything you want to be.” Eleven-year-old Avery believed her, but thirty-one-year-old Avery doubts if she should have. 

Now a private investigator on a mission to avenge her foster brother Anthony Casale’s death, Avery hits wall after wall in the case to track down the Tampa mob boss responsible. Coast Guard veteran Ethan Bridger becomes her unlikely ally. When he invites her to join his family for Thanksgiving dinner, the question lets loose a torrent of emotions in this hardened private investigator. 

Does she agree to go? You’ll have to read the story to find out. This is a spoiler-free zone. 😉

Seriously, though, Avery’s story reminds me that not everyone has the chance to spend Thanksgiving with family, due to distance or life circumstances. That’s why tonight, we invited some friends to our church’s pre-Thanksgiving dinner. I hope they come and see that they’re not alone in what they’re going through. 

If you feel alone this time of year, please don’t isolate. Find community. Maybe it means a pre-Thanksgiving celebration or volunteering somewhere to bless others. Maybe it means picking up the phone to call someone. Maybe it means opening your Bible to read God’s love letter to you.

Wherever this holiday finds you, I want to pray for you. Please put your name in the blanks below and know you are seen and loved by the most generous God, who is our Creator, Savior, and Father. 

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for Thanksgiving, which reminds us of all the ways You have lavished Your love and goodness on us. For those traveling, keep them safe. For those hurting, be near to them. For those overflowing with joy, remind them that You are the source. For _________ today, You see and know his/her heart, needs, and longings. Draw _____ closer to You this Thanksgiving and fill _______ with Your love, peace, joy, and hope. Amen.

WHAT'S HOT IN INSPIRATIONAL SUSPENSE?

Wondering what's HOT in Inspirational Suspense this week? THE LONE RICE BOWL by USA Today Bestselling Author Camy Tang!!

A Hawaiian Christmas, an undercover investigation—and maybe a second chance at love.

Mimi Sakai has held the infamous title of the Oldest Single Female Cousin in her family for many years now, but her independent streak enables her to ignore the nagging and pitying looks. When she spends Christmas in Hawaii to help her favorite aunty out at her high-end cosmetics store, Mimi is reunited with Tosh, a boy she wronged when she was much younger and much more stupid. She tries to meet with him to apologize, but she unexpectedly becomes embroiled in his undercover work.

Security consultant Tosh Kusunoki has become a loner after being hounded by the gossip about his father’s fatal car accident, which happened to also kill his girlfriend. He never expected to see Mimi again after all these years, nor could he have predicted that she would be caught up in his investigation into drugs on the North Shore.

Mimi agrees to help Tosh, and as they work together, they fall back into the comfortable friendship they had in the past. But Mimi struggles with loneliness, with regret over who she used to be, and uncertainty over who she wants to become. She knows she’s just a mass of emotional baggage and Tosh should run away screaming.

Despite all that, could Mimi possibly hope to receive the gift of a Christmas romance in paradise?

THE LONE RICE BOWL is Book #1 in the Mahina Security Christian Romantic Suspense series and you can get your copy at THIS LINK! 

I hope you LOVE it! ~ Marji Laine