Tag Archives: weddings

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies #Recipe by @Donna_Fasano

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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut CookiesNow that I’ve been fully vaccinated, life is opening up a bit. My son, his wife, and my granddaughter recently came for a 4-day visit. It was so nice to spend time with them. I baked White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies for the event. I had never baked these cookies before because white chocolate never appealed to me and macadamia nuts are so darned expensive. But I decided to give them a try and they were delicious! Here’s my recipe:

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 11 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 12 ounces white chocolate chips
  • 1 1/2 cup macadamia nuts

(Note: coarsely chop 1 cup of the nuts and leave 1/2 cup whole)

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 375° F. Cream the sugars, butter, and shortening together. Once they’re fully incorporated, mix in the eggs and the vanilla.
  2. Add flour, soda, salt. Stir to combine.
  3. Add white chocolate chips and nuts.
  4. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (I use a cookie scoop) about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet (I use a non-stick baking mat). Bake until light brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet.
  5. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

June is the month to celebrate brides!

I have several books that feature weddings and brides and grooms. Please check them out:

The Wedding Planner's Son

Return of the Runaway Bride

An Almost Perfect Christmas

If you love Marriage of Convenience stories, try these:

An Accidental Family

A Beautiful Stranger

Do you have a funny or unusual wedding story to share? Please leave a comment. I love hearing from you!

 

What I miss the most…

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CoronaVirus has locked me at home since mid-March–six months to the day. At first I thought it would be a three to four weeks confinement and accepted the situation with resignation. I prepared myself a uniform for grocery shopping, something easy to wash regularly, and I chose a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt I was about to give away, my oldest pair of sneakers, a cap, and the little yellow purse I hate. Unfortunately after three washes, these clothes shrank…and I uploaded five pounds all around.

In front of Walmart

But grocery shopping once a month was not enough outing for oxygen breathing. I was suffocating at home, writing eight hours a day or chatting on the phone. I hardly saw my grandchildren once or twice a month, on the beach or in their backyard, always with masks on and never for more than twenty minutes. To exercise, without mask, I walked on the building catwalk with my Fitbit recording 4 to 5 miles a day. I lost my claustrophobic feeling but developed a horrible pain in my left heel, diagnosed as Plantar fasciitis by the podiatrist. I had to stop walking and I started swimming–actually floating with a noodle–in the ocean, or swimming in the building pool if I was on my own or with only two or three people. Now I bought a foot peddler and use it while watching TV at night.

Life has changed so drastically. I miss hugging my grandchildren. I don’t even see the Chicago grandkids. I miss seeing my friends and our Saturday evening dinners in a restaurant or at each other’s place. I miss shopping at the mall or my favorite stores. After gaining fifteen pounds during this pandemic, my wardrobe is reduced to a pajama with elastic band and a t-shirt. I miss wearing dresses, jewelry, makeup. And oh God, how I miss going on cruises! I don’t think I’ll ever feel comfortable in a plane or a cruiseship again.

Unfortunately, we lost too many relatives during the last six months, two to the Covid-19 and several to strokes, heart problems, and even a goal bladder inflamation, all not treated on time for fear of going to the hospital. I was tested once for Covid-19 when I had a cold in July and was so relieved the results were negative.

Now I live day by day. It’s too depressing to remember the easy-going life from before Pandemic and too scary to think about the future. As long as I can swim, use my peddler, cook and write, I count my blessings.

I just uploaded four new books, funny stories and heart-warming romance that will cheer you up. They are on pre-order:

Amazon

His Son, Her Daughter: High school sweethearts reunited after twenty years by their small children. Their conflicting baggage prevents them from fully trusting each other. Yet what wouldn’t Daniel do for his son and her daughter? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HKPNRWH

To be RELEASED on Septenber 23, 2020

Amazon

Sunshine Over Snow: When his children manage to ruin his second wedding, Brad is caught between a furious fiancée and an offended ex-wife, both determined to keep him and make him pay for his mistakes. https://www.amazon.com/DP/B08HHNSSSK

To be RELEASED on October 14, 2020

Amazon

Half a Dozen with Love: At twenty, Tammy is left with the responsibility of five brothers and sisters. Dr. Jack Conan stops the Foster Care system from separating the children, but his unorthodox solution may complicate Tammy’s problems—or bring her into his arms? https://www.amazon.com/DP/B08HKQSRYC

To be RELEASED on December 2, 2020

Amazon

Between Babies and Girlfriends:Abandoned baby twins, a former girlfriend, an almost fiancée complicate Dr. Brian Dutton’s life to no end.

To be RELEASED on February 11, 2021

Here come the Brides!

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If June is the month for weddings, doesn’t that mean that May is the month for final preparations? Do you know someone getting ready to get overwhelmed with photographers, floral arrangements, gowns and tuxes (or is it tuxi?), honeymoons and hairdressers? If it isn’t you, consider yourself lucky, grab your Kindle (or other reading device) and settle back and read one of The Authors’ Billboards Fabulous Wedding Box Sets. There are enough stories to keep you busy reading into June!

One of the NINE stories in Sweet and Sassy Brides is THREE ARE ONE, my sweet story about a military wife with a scoundrel for a husband. Not your typical romance, this one has colorful threads of mystery, irony, and even unexpected humor in the morgue. How can that be? Start reading and find out. You’ll fall in love with Kizzie and her sweet special needs daughter just as quickly as the chaplain does.

Other stories in this set include Mimi Barbour’s TOGETHER AGAIN, a spirit travel story about unequal timelines and a romance writer. Hmm. Gotta love time travel stories, right?

Jacquie Biggar mixes two stubborn fools, a touch of fate, and a double dash of desire to get A CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE.

Love lurks where you least expect it in Alicia Street’s THE LEFTOVER BRIDE.
You can run, but you can’t hide when Stephanie Queen and the SMALL TOWN SASSY BRIDE come to this small town.

Need a Bridezilla story? How about mixing it up with a hunk and a wedding planner? Sounds like the recipe for ROSES AND CHAMPAGNE KISSES by Stacy Eaton.

A whole Caribbean island has decided who Jane must marry in Rachelle Ayala’s BRIDE FOR BREAKFAST. Some neighbors, right?

Yearning for a Regency Romance? Check out this bright tale of the Duke and the devious ploys of his dowager mother who has decided she will choose his bride in THE DUKE NEEDS A WIFE.

And what’s a box set of romances without a cowboy? Check out and see if Aileen Fish needs some help WARMING THE COWBOY’S HEART.

Once you’re done with the nine stories in Sweet and Sassy Brides, there are loads of other wedding box sets by The Authors’ Billboard ladies. Check out Sweet and Sassy Weddings, Unforgettable Weddings, and A Wedding She’ll Remember. That should be enough stories to keep you seeing tulle and lace for weeks!

REMEMBER! All these sets are FREE to read with Kindle Unlimited!