Sweetwater (50 page)

VINEGAR PIE

Melt butter, size of an egg. Beat 2 eggs, add 3 spoonfuls of vinegar, the butter and a cup of water. Mix together a scant ½ cup of flour, a cup of sugar and a grated nutmeg. Add to the egg mixture and pour into an unbaked pie shell. Bake 30 minutes. Cool until the filling is firm enough to cut.

FRIED CABBAGE

Shred a firm head of cabbage very fine, sprinkle with salt and let stand 5 minutes. Melt large spoonful lard in a hot kettle, add cabbage, stirring briskly until the cabbage is quite tender. Add a cup of milk, remove from heat and stir in 3 spoonfuls of cider vinegar.

Forever Victoria
(Warner Books—1993)

1870 Wyoming Territory

Victoria McKenna was a
Western
woman—tough when she had to be, but soft inside where she kept her secrets and dreams. Her cattle ranch on Wyoming’s notorious Outlaw Trail was the only home she had ever known. But her cheating half brother, Robert, had sold it to a stranger named Mason Mahaffey, who turned out to be a rangy, handsome cowboy with five orphaned brothers and sisters. Victoria had to choose whether to fight him for her land or listen to the instincts that told her he was a man who could love a woman with a lonely heart.

CABBAGE AND APPLE SALAD

(Amounts are according to family size.) Shred cabbage, chop apples and raisins or nuts. Mix equal amounts of cream and honey. Dribble over the mixture. Mix lightly. Let stand a while before serving.

POTATO CAKES

Cook and mash 8 medium-sized potatoes. Add two beaten eggs, a grated onion, pinch or two of baking powder, dash of salt and just enough flour to hold mixture together. Shape into patties and drop in hot fat. Fry until brown on both sides.

FRIED VENISON STEAK

Rub slabs of meat with salt, pepper, then coat with flour. Fry in hot fat until brown on both sides. Remove. Add a chopped onion and several spoonfuls of flour to fat. Let brown. Add hot water and stir. Add steaks to gravy and let simmer until tender.

Nightrose
(Warner Books—1990)

1873 Montana Territory

Katy Burns, her sister, Mary, and her tiny niece were the only people left in a desolate Montana ghost town. Without a horse, they hadn’t a chance of crossing a wilderness crawling with outlaws, Indians, and grizzlies. All Katy had was a firm will to survive and a derringer in her pocket. Then a stranger named Garrick Rowe rode down the empty main street. He wasn’t a desperado; he was a rugged, frontier-smart man with a daring scheme to bring this town back to life. After he met Katy, he also had personal plans for her. All she wanted from Garrick Rowe was a way out of this miserable town.

COTTAGE CHEESE

Do not throw out a pan of milk that is turning sour. Cover it and set it in a warm place until it becomes a curd. Pour off liquid. Tie curd in a clean bag with a small hole so it can drain. Hang it up. Do not squeeze the bag. After 10 or 12 hours put the curd in a bowl and add rich cream and a dab of fresh butter. Press and chop with large spoon until it is a soft mass.

FRUIT COBBLER

Soak dried fruit or berries overnight. Sweeten and cook, leaving a large amount of juice. To regular biscuit dough add a half cup sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon to taste. Pour hot fruit and juice in a shallow pan and cover with dabs of biscuit dough. Bake until top is brown.

A Gentle Giving
(Warner Books—1993)

1880 Bighorn Mountains

Willa Hammer had narrowly escaped the lynch mob that unjustly hanged her foster father. She had nothing left but her dog and her faith in herself. Forced by circumstance to join a strange, secretive family heading west, Willa ended up on a run-down, intrigue-ridden ranch in the Bighorn Mountains. There she had to depend on the protection of a hardened cowboy with a haunted past who wanted nothing to do with her. He could infuriate her, hurt her, and … love her, if both dared to take the risk.

STEW

Stew was a staple in the Old West. There was no set recipe for it. It was made with squirrel, rabbit, pheasant, beef or venison. It included potatoes, onions, peppers, cabbage, corn, turnips, beans and carrots. At times it was made in a 20-gallon black iron pot hung over an outdoor fire to feed a roundup crew or a platoon of soldiers.

Coat meat in flour and brown in hot fat. Remove meat and place in large kettle. Add several spoonfuls of flour to the fat, brown, then add water to make a thin gravy. Pour this over the meat in the kettle, add more water, salt and pepper. Cook until meat is almost tender. Add whatever vegetables are available and cook for several hours. On the second day, you can reheat, adding several hot peppers to give the stew a different taste.

Glorious Dawn
(Warner Books—1992)

1880 New Mexico

Johanna Doan is a golden-haired, slender woman whose tragic beauty hides her bold, determined spirit. She has lived through her parents’ murder, her sister’s rape and pregnancy; now she must survive the intrigues at Macklin Ranch. Hired as a housekeeper, she discovers that her cruel employer expects her to marry his son. Her racist boss reasons that because his son Burr is blond and blue-eyed as Johanna is, the children they would produce would be too. Burr Macklin arouses her anger as well as her passion; he needs to learn that a woman’s heart can never be taken by force … only given with love.

FLOUR TORTILLAS

Three cups flour, spoonful salt, lard the size of a lemon, baking powder to cover your palm. Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in lard. Add warm water to make a stiff dough. Form dough in balls the size of a lemon. Roll out on floured board to 6- or 8-inch diameter. Bake on ungreased iron griddle until brown and spots appear on both sides. When cool, wrap in a cloth and store in a cool place.

BURRITOS

Cook pinto beans until tender. Drain. Season with garlic and chili powder. Mix in cooked ground beef. Place by spoonfuls down the center of flour tortillas and roll up. Can be eaten as is, or covered with chili and heated in the oven.

The Listening Sky
(Warner Books—1996)

1882 Wyoming Territory

When Jane Love answers an advertisement for people to rebuild the town of Timbertown, she has high hopes of escaping a haunting past and a mysterious tormentor. Her hopes are dashed when she meets handsome T.C. Kilkenny. He is determined to rebuild the town, and what better way to find wives for his lumberjacks. T.C. delights in teasing Jane until she becomes furious. She is ready to leave town, especially since someone here knows her secret. When she suffers a humiliation that is almost too much to bear, it is T.C. with his strength and love who shows her that she need not be ashamed.

SQUASH PIE

Cook, drain and mash a yellow squash. Add a cup of sugar, a cup of milk, half a grated nutmeg, cinnamon, and a spoonful of vanilla. Salt to taste. Pour in prepared pie shell and bake one hour. Tastes a lot like pumpkin pie.

GRIDDLE CAKES

Three or 4 eggs (depending on size), 1 quart flour, 1 quart buttermilk, small handful of sugar, melted lard (size of 2 eggs), 4 pinches baking powder mixed with flour, 4 pinches of soda mixed with a little hot water.

Beat all this together for several minutes. Pour onto hot griddle from a pitcher. About a half a cup makes a good-sized flapjack, easy to turn over.

Larkspur
(Warner Books—1997)

1883 Montana Territory

Kristin Anderson arrived in Big Timber to take possession of Larkspur, a ranch she inherited. She was a twenty-three-year-old Swedish
spinster
with silvery blond braids wrapped primly around her head. She didn’t know that she’d have to outsmart a land-grabber, and she never dreamed that Buck Lenning, the
old
ranch foreman she expected to meet was a young, lanky, secretive cowboy taking care of his elderly father on
her
ranch. Soon Kristin and Buck were butting heads, hunkering down to protect Larkspur from hired henchmen, and discovering that they both wanted the same thing—a home and a love worth fighting for.

POTATO BREAD

Boil and mash potatoes. Rub them with flour in the proportion of 1/3 potatoes to 2/3 part flour. Add yeast softened in half cup of lukewarm water. Knead in enough flour to make stiff. Put in pan and keep warm until it rises. Bake at once.

BISCUITS