WHO MOVED MY GOAT CHEESE which releases March 6th is the first of the FARM-TO -FORK mysteries set in River Vista, Idaho. Now, before you go and google the town, I’ll tell you right now, it’s a mishmash of a lot of different places around the area where I grew up.
The memories are all there, but the roads Angie drives to get to River Vista to her new restaurant, The County Seat, may be called something else.
As she drives, she goes right past the little farm house where I was born. My mom was the glue that held everything, and everyone together. She lost the love of her life a year after I was born. And she went from farm wife, to widow at thirty-five.
She eventually remarried and we moved to a farm house just a few miles away from the place I was born. And she became a farm wife again.
we had at the big wooden table that was often too small to hold all of the relatives who came for Sunday dinner. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn (we’d frozen that summer), and always dessert.
One year, my mom found this recipe in one of her magazines. It was on Mom’s Easter table ever since. And now, that she’s gone, my sisters have taken up the baking of Mom’s Bunny Cake.
I got my love of food from my mother. In the FARM TO FORK books, Angie finds that same love of food passed down from her Nona. Angie’s recipes at the County Seat are definitely fancier than my own creations or to be honest, my mom’s. But we have one thing in common. We share a love for the food.
This recipe is none of that. You can make the cake from a recipe, it’s up to you. Boxed mix works just find. It’s a fun memory that I wanted to share with you.
Mom’s Bunny Cake.
1 box of yellow cake mix. (I like chocolate, but then you have to use chocolate frosting.)
Prepare to the package directions and bake in round pans.
Once it’s done and cooled out of the pan, put it on an aluminum foil covered piece of cardboard. This is your design pad. (Yes, we’re going fancy here.)
One of the rounds will be his face. Place that near the bottom third of your design pad. Take the other round and cut a bow out of the middle by cutting ears off the top and bottom using a half circle. Place the bow and the ears on your design pad.
Now comes the fun part. We’re going to cover it with white frosting from a can. Make sure you cover all the joints and edges so the cake doesn’t show.
Once the bunny has frosting, sprinkle coconut for bunny fur. You can take about ½ cup of coconut and dye it pink with food coloring.
Cut black licorice for the eyelashes, mouth, and whiskers. You’ll need jelly beans for the eyes, nose, and bow.
Lynn
Angie Turner hopes her new farm-to-table restaurant can be a fresh start in her old hometown in rural Idaho. But when a goat dairy farmer is murdered, Angie must turn the tables on a bleating black sheep . . .
With three weeks until opening night for their restaurant, the County Seat, Angie and her best friend and business partner Felicia are scrambling to line up local vendors—from the farmer’s market to the goat dairy farm of Old Man Moss. Fortunately, the cantankerous Moss takes a shine to Angie, as does his kid goat Precious. So when Angie hears the bloodcurdling news of foul play at the dairy farm, she jumps in to mind the man’s livestock and help solve the murder. One thing’s for sure, there’s no whey Angie’s going to let some killer get her goat . . .
Praise for Lynn Cahoon’s Tourist Trap Mysteries
“Murder, dirty politics, pirate lore, and a hot police detective: Guidebook to Murder has it all! A cozy lover’s dream come true.” —Susan McBride, author of The Debutante Dropout Mysteries
“Lynn Cahoon has created an absorbing, good fun mystery in Mission to Murder.” —Fresh Fiction
Spooky Season Reads With Rebecca Zanetti