Halloween Delights Cookbook – Paperback $19.95

LCCN: 2011923151 BISAC 1 CKB04200 BISAC 2 CKB077000 BISAC 3 CKB101000 BISAC AUD 01

About the Author: Karen Jean Matsko Hood is an internationally published author of numerous cookbooks, children’s books, poetry, and more.  A woman of wide interests, she, her husband, sixteen children, and foster children make their home in Greenacres, Washington.  Ms. Hood is currently working to complete her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University.  Websites:www.karenjeanmatskohood.com, www.karensblog.net, and www.karensbookblog.com.

Author’s Availability: Washington State and nationwide by arrangement.
Contact: Marketing and Sales Department
Phone: (509) 928-8700 or Fax: (509) 922-9949
Email: sales@whisperingpinepress.com
Website: www.whisperingpinepress.com,
www.whisperingpinepressbookstore.com
Blog: www.whisperingpinepressblog.com

Whispering Pine Press International, Inc., 507 N. Sullivan Road Suite LL-5, Spokane Valley, WA 99037-8576 USA

Fruit leather is a treat that kids love!  It is a healthy substitute for candy. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that dried fruit is like eating sticky candy. It stays on the teeth longer than fresh fruit, releasing sugar into the saliva for a greater period of time, which promotes tooth decay. Make sure you limit the amount of time in which your or your children’s teeth are exposed to sugar without being cleaned.

Drying fruit has been done for centuries. It is an easy way to preserve fruit. We generally think of dried fruit as such things as raisins, prunes, apple slices or apricot halves, but that isn’t the only way to preserve fruit. Pureeing fruit to make leather is an easy way to use up excess fruit before it goes bad. It is also easier than drying fruit pieces, because the puree is a more consistent thickness so that it all dries at the same rate.

Following are three fruit leather recipes you can use to preserve fruit for later use as tasty snacks.

Kiwi Fruit Leather

From St. Patrick’s Day Delights Cookbook

This is a great way for preserving kiwis when you are able to catch a great sale and they do not look like they will get used or eaten fast enough.

Ingredients:

10 kiwifruit, peeled

2   Tbs. white grape juice concentrate

¼  c. sugar

2   Tbs. lemon juice

green food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Purée ingredients completely in blender, making sure seeds are pulverized.
2. Spread purée in trays; dry until leathered.
3. Wrap in wax paper and store in airtight jar.

Blueberry Applesauce Fruit Leather

From Easter Delights Cookbook

This is excellent fruit leather, and it makes a great Easter basket filler.  This makes a tart fruit leather, so if you like it sweeter, add more honey.

Ingredients:

1  c. blueberry purée

1  c. unsweetened applesauce

1  Tbs. honey

Directions:

1. In blender or food processor, combine blueberries and applesauce.
2. Process until smooth.
3. Pour mixture through strainer or sieve to remove skin and seeds.
4. Stir in honey.
5. Place mixture in 10-inch skillet.
6. While stirring frequently, cook over very low heat for 1 hour until thickened.
7. Preheat oven to 150 degrees F.
8. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
9. Pour thickened mixture onto parchment paper, and spread to form rectangle.
10. Bake 5½ to 6 hours, until fruit sheet is dry enough not to stick to your fingers but moist enough to roll; remove from oven and cool.
11. Placing a potholder in oven door to keep it ajar will help dry the leather by allowing moisture to escape.
12. Once cooked, leather should be rolled in plastic wrap or stored in airtight container to keep.

Raspberry Fruit Leather

From Easter Delights Cookbook

Try homemade raspberry fruit leather for a great snack or lunch treat.  You will not want store-bought leather after tasting these.

Ingredients:

2  c. raspberry purée

2  Tbs. honey (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix purée and honey together if using honey.
2. Line cookie sheet or tray with wax paper.
3. Evenly spread purée ¼ inch deep.
4. Place in sun, oven, or dehydrator to dry.  (It takes 4 to 10 hours.)
5. Leather is ready when edges are not sticky to the touch.
6. Pull from wax paper while still warm, and roll in plastic wrap.
7. Can be stored for 30 days at room temperature or for months in the refrigerator.

St. Patrick’s Day Delights Cookbook and Easter Delights Cookbook are coming soon! Find more preserving recipes in Karen Jean Matsko Hood’s Cookbook Delights series of cookbooks. These may be purchased online from Karen’s Bookstore.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are right in the thick of huckleberry season, that marvelous time of year when the Northwest’s favorite berry is ripe and ready for the plucking!

Huckleberries are a delicious, blueberry-like fruit that can range in color from deep crimson to dark purple. Because huckleberry bushes yield a small amount of fruit compared to other berry bushes, they are rarely grown by farmers. Most huckleberries are handpicked in the wild and sold in local stores and farmer’s markets, or harvested for specific companies that use the berries to make syrups, jams, jellies, and other tasty treats. Many huckleberries grow in high elevations on the slopes of mountains. There are dozens of varieties, but the most sought after is the black huckleberry, which yields its sweetest fruit at elevations of 3000 to 6000 feet.

The huckleberry has great cultural significance for the local Native Americans: the Yakamas used them as a major food source for centuries, and still uses them in feasts and religious ceremonies today. For others in the Pacific Northwest, this berry is quite beloved, spawning numerous Huckleberry Festivals in small towns across the region. Even bears love these juicy, flavorful berries–so if you are out in a remote location looking for your own huckleberries to pick, be careful!

Once you have a gallon or two of huckleberries, what next? How to transform all those sweet berries into delectable treats that will delight you and your family… Luckily, we have just the thing! Huckleberry Delights is a wonderful cookbook full of delicious recipes that will help you make the most out of your huckleberries. Recipes have clear, simple directions and are accompanied by a collection of poems, folklore, and history that add to your enjoyment and knowledge. Huckleberry Delights comes in several formats, including a bilingual English-Spanish version, a Christian version with selected Bible verses, a large print edition, and a journal that can be used to record your own thoughts and recipes. To order this unique cookbook, click here.

A Collection of Rhubarb Recipes

Cookbook Delights Series

Rhubarb is an all-time favorite vegetable that once was used for medicinal purposes, but has always tasted delicious in Mom’s homemade pie.  In this cookbook, you’ll find more than just pie recipes to spark your imagination in cooking with rhubarb.

Delicious rhubarb is versatile, nutritious, and always adds a special flair to many dishes, whether used in cakes, pies and breads, in preserves, as a salad ingredient, in wines or brandies, or any number of other imaginative ways.  In Rhubarb Delights Cookbook, author Karen Jean Matsko Hood presents her collection of more than 250 exciting rhubarb recipes that will be sure to please everyone.  Inside, you will also find some fascinating reading regarding this old-time favorite’s history, folklore, cultivation, and much more.  With recipes using readily available ingredients, Rhubarb Delights Cookbook will be a valued addition to any chef’s bookshelf.

Please visit our websites at www.whisperingpinepressbookstore.com, www.whisperingpinepress.com, and www.rhubarbdelights.com.  6 x 9, 320 pp., featuring a durable, full-color cover in a variety of bindings.  Whispering Pine Press International, Inc., Your Northwest Book and Gift Company © 2011.

Inside You Will Find:

• Delicious Rhubarb Recipes
• Facts about Rhubarb
• Types of Rhubarb
• Measurement Conversion Chart
• Fascinating Rhubarb Folklore
• Rhubarb-Themed Poetry
• Nutritional Information
• Helpful Index and Glossary
• Rhubarb Cultivation

LCCN: 2011900696   BISAC 1 CKB000000   BISAC 2 CKB101000

BISAC 3 CKB085000   BISAC AUD 01

About the Author: Karen Jean Matsko Hood is the author of numerous cookbooks, children’s books, poetry, and more. A woman of wide interests, she, her husband, sixteen children, and foster children make their home in Greenacres, Washington. Ms. Hood is currently working to complete her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University. Websites: www.karenjeanmatskohood.com, www.karensblog.net, and www.karensbookblog.com.

Author’s Availability: Washington State and nationwide by arrangement.

Contact: Marketing and Sales Department

Phone: (509) 928-8700 or Fax: (509) 922-9949

Email: sales@whisperingpinepress.com

Websites: www.whisperingpinepress.com, www.whisperingpinepressbookstore.com

Blog: www.whisperingpinepressblog.com

Whispering Pine Press International, Inc., 507 N. Sullivan Road Suite LL-5

Spokane Valley, WA 99037-8576 USA

A Collection of Chocolate Recipes

Cookbook Delights Series

Chocolate is a worldwide favorite in all of its forms and flavors, from bitter to extra sweet and light to dark; everyone enjoys the decadent flavor of chocolate.  Recent studies have proven the health benefits of chocolate, especially dark, and the flavor is delicious in all types of recipes.  In Chocolate Delights Cookbook, Volume I, author Karen Jean Matsko Hood presents her collection of more than 250 exciting recipes that will be sure to please everyone.  Inside, you will also find some fascinating reading regarding  history, folklore, cultivation, and much more.  With recipes using readily available ingredients, this cookbook will be a valued addition to any chef’s bookshelf.  This book is a perfect gift when paired with Volume II.

Please visit our websites at www.whisperingpinepressbookstore.com, www.whisperingpinepress.com, and www.chocolatedelights.us.  6 x 9, 320 pp., featuring a durable, full-color cover in a variety of bindings.  Whispering Pine Press International, Inc., Your Northwest Book and Gift Company © 2011.

Inside You Will Find:

• Delicious Chocolate Recipes
• Facts about Chocolate
• Types of Chocolate
• Measurement Conversion Chart
• Fascinating Chocolate Folklore
• Chocolate-Themed Poetry
• Nutritional Information
• Helpful Index and Glossary
• Chocolate Festivals

LCCN: 2011900695   BISAC 1 CKB018000   BISAC 2 CKB105000

BISAC 3 CKB004000   BISAC AUD 01

About the Author: Karen Jean Matsko Hood is the author of numerous cookbooks, children’s books, poetry, and more.  A woman of wide interests, she, her husband, sixteen children, and foster children make their home in Greenacres, Washington.  Ms. Hood is currently working to complete her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University. Websites: www.karenjeanmatskohood.com, www.karensblog.net, and www.karensbookblog.com.

Author’s Availability: Washington State and nationwide by arrangement.

Contact: Marketing and Sales Department

Phone: (509) 928-8700 or Fax: (509) 922-9949

Email: sales@whisperingpinepress.com

Websites: www.whisperingpinepress.com, www.whisperingpinepressbookstore.com

Blog: www.whisperingpinepressblog.com

Whispering Pine Press International, Inc., 507 N. Sullivan Road Suite LL-5

Spokane Valley, WA 99037-8576 USA

A Collection of Huckleberry Recipes

Cookbook Delights Series

For those of us living in the heart of Washington, we enjoy a deeper appreciation of the huckleberry.  The Inland Northwest yields the greatest bounty of huckleberries in the country, from which author Karen Jean Matsko Hood writes and gathers her recipes for Huckleberry Delights Cookbook.  Hood has brought together carefully selected huckleberry recipes with easy-to-follow directions for beginner and accomplished cooks alike.  These recipes are compiled with readily available ingredients as well as lots of poetry, history, and folklore for the reader to thoroughly enjoy time and time again.  This would be a wonderful addition to any cook’s cookbook collection.  Share the health benefits of this delicious berry!

Please visit our websites at www.whisperingpinepress.com, www.whisperingpinepressbookstore.com, and www.huckleberrydelights.com.  6 x 9, 326 pp., featuring a durable, full-color cover in a variety of bindings.  Whispering Pine Press International, Inc., Your Northwest Book and Gift Company © 2010.

Inside You Will Find:

• Delicious Huckleberry Recipes
• Facts about the Huckleberry
• Types of Huckleberries
• Measurement Conversion Chart
• Fascinating Huckleberry Folklore
• Huckleberry-Themed Poetry
• Nutritional Information
• Helpful Index and Glossary
• Huckleberry Cultivation

LCCN: 2010921422   BISAC 1 CKB035000   BISAC 2 CKB101000

BISAC 3 CKB000000   BISAC AUD 01

About the Author: Karen Jean Matsko Hood is the author of numerous cookbooks, children’s books, poetry, and more. A woman of wide interests, she, her husband, sixteen children, and foster children make their home in Greenacres, Washington. Ms. Hood is currently working to complete her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University. Websites: www.karenjeanmatskohood.com, www.karensblog.net, and www.karensbookblog.com.

Author’s Availability: Washington State and nationwide by arrangement.

Contact: Marketing and Sales Department

Phone: (509) 928-8700 or Fax: (509) 922-9949

Email: sales@whisperingpinepress.com

Websites: www.whisperingpinepress.com, www.whisperingpinepressbookstore.com

Blog: www.whisperingpinepressblog.com

Whispering Pine Press International, Inc., 507 N. Sullivan Road Suite LL-5

Spokane Valley, WA 99037-8576 USA