A Second Helping of Murder and Recipes: A Hot Dish Heaven Mystery

by Jeanne Cooney

  Blueberry Bars

  1¾ c. sugar

  1 c. butter

  4 eggs

  1 tsp. vanilla

  3 c. flour

  1½ tsp. baking powder

  ½ tsp. salt

  1 reg. can blueberry pie filling

  Ground nutmeg

  Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat till smooth. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in gently. Spread half of this mixture in an ungreased jelly-roll pan. Carefully spread pie filling over the mixture in the pan. Sprinkle with a little ground nutmeg. Drop the rest of dough mixture on top of the blueberries, using a teaspoon. Bake at 350º in a preheated oven for approximately 45 minutes.

  Pineapple Cheese Hot Dish

  2 large cans pineapple chunks (in own juice)

  2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

  1 c. sugar

  6 T. flour

  3 dz. Ritz crackers, crushed

  1 stick butter, melted

  Drain the pineapple. Mix together the pineapple chunks and the cheese. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and flour. Then add it to the fruit-cheese mixture. Spread this mixture in an 8” x 11” or 9” x 12” casserole dish. Sprinkle crushed crackers over the top. Pour the melted butter over everything. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350º in a preheated oven. Let cool and serve. Tastes good warm or cold.

  Acknowledgements

  First and foremost, I must thank my sister Mary Cooney. Once again she was there to share ideas, review drafts, provide encouragement, and make me laugh. Thanks also to Myron Hennen and Gary Bostad for their ongoing lessons about farming in the Red River Valley, as well as David Bergh for teaching me about beet pilers and scale pits. Thanks to the Cooney and Hennen families, both full of funny people who share hilarious anecdotes and spark lots of ideas. Thanks to Mary Keyes and my sister Teresa Cooney, who, along with Mary Cooney, provided critiquing that immensely improved the final manuscript. Overdo thanks to Haley Cooney, who designed the website before the first book came out and continues to manage it, and Elizabeth Young, who oversees the Facebook page. Then, of course, thanks to the booksellers who have taken a chance on me, as well as the readers who have e-mailed wonderful messages, jokes, and recipes. Keep them coming! Finally, thanks to my publisher, North Star Press, where the staff performs editing, layout, cover design, marketing, e-book production, and so much more. Oh, yeah, one final shout-out to the makers of Dove chocolate. I couldn’t have done it without you!