Woah, this week has gone fast! Probably because I’m on deadline with my Rocking Horse Hill revisions and I’m nervous about making it. Still, it’s nice to welcome another Friday and a brand-spanking new Friday Feast guest for you to play with. But first, today’s instalment of Us Heins Weren’t Meant To Play Golf Weekly. Sadly, the curse has returned in all its let’s-see-how-many-balls-we-can-hit-into-the-water glory. I knew all that good play couldn’t last. It just wasn’t normal!

Enough of that depressing talk, it’s time to get breathless with Feast virgin Dakota Harrison. I’ve known Dakota a little while now, and was thrilled to bits when she contracted her first contemporary romance novel, Exhale, to Samhain Publishing. Exhale gained fabulous reviews and now Dakota has followed it up with another romance that is bound to leave you…

BREATHLESS

She ran half a world away to escape from her past…and found the one man who can heal her heart.

It’s been three years since a seemingly insignificant decision destroyed Emma’s life. Western Colorado is a long way for an Australian girl to run from the suffocating guilt she feels, but it isn’t far enough.

So she’s made herself a promise: No men, no responsibility. Ever again. That was before her pipes burst, and the crusty old plumber she was expecting turns out to be six-foot-two of brooding hard body with a killer smile—which he rarely aims in her direction.

Gabe doesn’t like it. Even through a layer of plaster dust, Emma’s beauty shines through and grabs him hard. Her laugh wraps around his lungs until he forgets how to breathe. But he’s still looking for pieces of the broken heart another woman’s betrayal left in its wake.

Pretty women are trouble, end of story.

Too bad no one told his determinedly matchmaking sister. Her efforts could crash and burn, for all he cares. He’s not interested. Not now, now ever. Now if he could only convince his body.

Intriguing, huh? You can purchase Breathless right now with just a few clicks. Buy direct from the publisher, Samhain, or try Kobo, Amazon (for Kindle), Booktopia, Barnes & Noble (for Nook), iTunes, BigW ebooks, JB Hi-Fi, Google Play or your favourite ebook store.

All loaded up? Excellent. Now let’s get foody!

Food: An Author’s Bane

Hello Cathryn! Thanks for having me on Friday Feast! Ahh, food. Food and I share a love/hate relationship. You see, I love to cook. Sweet, savory, anything. The problem is, I also love to eat it! I’m an emotional eater, so if I’m stressed, happy, whatever – I eat. Over the years this has resulted in some amazing combinations, and some horrific disasters that sounded good at the time. Anyone for balsamic vinegar ice cream? No. Didn’t think so 😉

I love to cook from scratch, but, as with many others, I have another job, children, and a husband. Sometimes it’s a case of Grab it and Growl, or, use the packet mix!

My husband is a potato fiend. Anything potato and he’s pretty much guaranteed to love it. I have a terrible (or genius!) tendency to toss in whatever I have on hand, and I’m lucky that most of the time it works a treat. It’s only if I’m trying something new, or something that can’t be tampered with, that I use a cookbook.

This is the potato bake I made earlier this week.

And it’s as simple as anything to make, although it takes forever to cook!

Dakota’s Potato Bake

Potatoes – whatever you have on hand. In this 30cm dish I used 10 medium to large.

1 onion – ringed

4 rashers bacon – cut in strips

2 cups milk/cream

1 chicken stock cube

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Salt, pepper, paprika to taste (This is subject to change. Whatever seasoning you have that you like can be substituted.)

1 tablespoon corn flour

1 cup grated cheese

Mix the milk, stock, garlic, seasoning and corn flour in a jug. Set aside.

Slice potatoes thinly, and layer. Add a sprinkling of bacon, onion, and a drizzle of liquid mixture. Rinse and repeat until top layer. Empty all liquid over the top. Cover with aluminium foil. Cook for 30 minutes on 200˚C, then turn back to 160˚C for minimum 2 hours. Remove foil and sprinkle grated cheese over the top in the last 15-20 minutes. Enjoy! 🙂

I mentioned sweets. I can’t make brownies from scratch to save my life, but I LOVE brownies!!! They are my indulgence food. If I’m feeling down, or just need a fast sweet treat, this is what I make. My packet mix of choice? White Wings Choc Chunk Brownie Mix.

O.M.G.

They are heavenly. And, as another writing friend showed me, if you add vanilla ice cream to the just-out-of-the-oven slice, it’s positively sinful.

A bit of oil, an egg, mix her up, and pop it in the oven, and 35 minutes later you have a dessert worth killing for!

Ahh, Dakota, you’re determined to spoil some waistlines with those two. Potato bake and brownies? That’s a way to get you crossed off health foundation’s Christmas card list. But we’re allowed to be naughty now and then. It keeps life interesting!

Now, most excellent Feasters, that potato bake has my mouth watering for spuds. What’s your favourite way to cook them? Are you a lover of the humble deep fried crispy chip? Maybe you’re a creamy bake person too? Perhaps rosti is your go? There’s a recipe in my Two Fat Ladies: Full Throttle cookbook (remember that TV series?) called Pete’s Pommy Pommes that I just adore, made with the simplest of ingredients but packed with flavour. The best kind of dish and well worth the cost of that book.

So share your spudly goodness and please a crowd!

If you’d like to learn more about Dakota and her books, please visit her website. You can also connect via Facebook and Twitter.