My guest today is author Jennifer Bernard, who writes for Avon and Avon Impulse, and she’s got a sizzling Fireman series going on these days. Here’s the blurb to her latest book…

There’s a hardnosed new training officer in town, and that’s bad news for the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel…

 But GREAT news for firefighter Sabina Jones…maybe.

The toughest captain on the East Coast, single father Rick Roman has come thousands of miles to San Gabriel to put an end to the “Bachelor Firemen” media hype. But when a stunning woman he nearly hooked up with in Reno turns out to be a firefighter from his new station, Roman realizes it’s going to be tough keeping the tabloids at bay.

But there’s even more Sabina isn’t telling him. Before dedicating her life to battling blazes, Sabina led a very different life, one that made her famous. The last thing she wants is to have her secret exposed. The papers, bloggers, and TV gossips will have a field day with that—especially when they sense the obvious sexual heat between Sabina and Chief Roman, who’s torn between firing her…and falling in love with her!

Thanks so much to the Jaunties for inviting me to Bring a Friend Friday! My topic today is very close to my heart: Men Who Cook. On our first date, my future-husband cooked for me. He brought over a salmon he had caught that very day and cleaned it in the backyard. Then he covered the filets with a crust of pine nuts, salt and oregano and fried them in olive oil.

Is it any surprise I was a goner?

But if I thought I was in for a lovely life of delicious meals cooked nightly for me by my wonderful new husband, I was a little off. I do most of the
cooking, though he still handles the salmon. I’m not complaining, just explaining why the hero of my latest book, SEX AND THE SINGLE FIREMAN, loves to cook. If I can’t live it, I’ll write about it! Rick Roman is a big, tall, strong, powerful, commanding alpha-type Battalion Chief from Brooklyn, New York, and he knows his way around a veal piccatta. Is it a stretch to think he knows his way around other activities pleasing to the senses? Absolutely not.

Is it a stretch that a fire chief would be an expert cook? Definitely not! Firefighters rotate cooking duties at the firehouse. The meals I’ve eaten at firehouses aren’t always high-end gourmet, but they’re tasty and filling and usually cooked from scratch. When researching this book, I hunted around online and found some fantastic firehouse cookbooks. These guys really know what they’re talking about! They’re used to cooking for big groups and satisfying the appetites of active men and women. And when the cookbook cover looks like this, how can you complain?

http://www.bramptonfirefighter.com/contact.html
Scanning the various cookbooks, firefighters like meat, they like things spicy, they like primal pleasures like Buffalo wings and pecan pie. But that’s not always the case. A firefighter in Austin, Texas put his entire firehouse on a vegan weight-loss, health-improvement plan and wrote a book about it. The Engine 2 diet would please the most demanding health nut.

But my hero, Chief Roman, is no health nut. He’s more of a sensualist — a lover of Greek olives, a seeker of fresh-baked baguettes, a passionate advocate of the arrabbiata sauce. A single father, he does all the cooking for his thirteen-year old son. He eventually wins the heart of Sabina Jones with, among other things, mushrooms sautéed in butter, folded into a perfect omelet, accompanied by Italian roast coffee and actual cream.

In fact – and I just realized this – in each of the books in the Bachelor Fireman of San Gabriel series so far, the hero at some point cooks a meal for
the heroine. So is there a little wish fulfillment going on here? Do I miss the magic of that first date with my husband? Okay, maybe a little, but the truth is, there’s nothing sexier to me than a guy who knows his way around a kitchen. A big, strong guy bending over a sauté pan on a hot stove? A hunky man presenting you with a delicious dish he concocted just for you?

Now that’s hot.

So… does your significant other like to cook? What’s his specialty? Leave me a comment and I’ll enter you to win a copy of HOT FOR FIREMAN (book 2), in which Ryan Blake cooks his special Thai Chicken Curry dish!

And if that’s not enough… How would you like a fireman from your hometown to appear in the next fireman book, HOW TO TAME A WILD FIREMAN? All you have to do is like my Facebook page or sign up for my newsletter to enter.

Yes, this is *another* New Year’s Resolution post…Listen it’s January, what do you expect? One of the things I’ve been struggling with (since we got our girls) is consistently cooking dinner. I don’t even really remember much of the first 6 months, it’s a blur. I was tired. Really, really tired. But hodge-podging meals or going to restaurants isn’t a great plan, not to mention it gets really expensive (resolution #2 – budget living). So I’m getting back to meal planning. I know how to do this. I did it most of the time when we first got married. If I have it planned, written down and the ingredients are already in my house, then I just cook it. Well, most of the time.

And well, cooking most nights of the week also has another benefit – we eat healthier and that’s always on everyone’s resolution list. The Professor isn’t great with left-overs so I try to make meals that are enough for one night or at least freeze well so I can pretend it’s new another night. So here’s my meal planning plan, as it were…

* I will write down the meal plan for the week!

* I will use my crock pot at least once a week, sometimes twice a week.

* We will eat breakfast one night a week (eggs, pancakes, french toast, etc.) <– easy and The Professor can make eggs!

* We will have spaghetti once a week (this is one of my family’s favorite meals, its easy and I make homemade sauce)

* I will try new recipes every month so I don’t get burned out

Alright, so here’s where you can help. I love to try new recipes (especially easy ones or crock pot ones) so leave me a recipe suggestion and I’ll pick one reader to win a copy of my latest book, A Little Bit Wicked.

In August, my husband and I took our daughter (our only child) to college. It was more heart wrenching than I’d ever imagined. I’m not going to lie, I sobbed for an hour after we said goodbye and headed home. My poor husband didn’t quite know what to do with me.

We have a rule in our family called “The Twenty-Four Hour Pity Party.” When something upsets us, we’re allowed to wallow in it for twenty-four hours, but then it’s time to buck up and move on. There are special exceptions to the twenty-four hour rule. Leaving my daughter at school qualified, but deep inside I knew I wouldn’t be a good mother if I didn’t encourage her in this rite of passage. Then another thing happened: soon I realized that not only was this a fabulous time of growth and wing-spreading for our daughter, but it was finally my time again.

She’s been away a month now. In that time, I sat down and made a list of things I’ve been wanting to do but hadn’t had enough time while my daughter was at home.  Of course, at the top of the list were writing and reading more. I’m spending more time with my art journal, taking an art class and going on a plotting retreat in early October. This new freedom is also affording me a great opportunity to cook some of the things I might not have cooked in the past because it didn’t appeal to my daughter.  Not that she ruled the roost, but when she was home it was more fun to fix things we all liked. I didn’t mind.

The other day I made homemade granola. It was so fun and simple – and yummy – I wondered why I’d never made it before. Oh, wait – I’d never made it because it contains coconut.  If I tried to feed dear daughter coconut she’d swear I was trying to poison her. So, that recipe was shuffled to the back of the stack. Until the other day.

Now, here it is, front and center:

Granola

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2  cup cashews
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut
• 2/3  cup olive or canola oil (I used olive oil)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 or 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon to taste (I used 2 because I love cinnamon)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup of your favorite dried fruit, such as golden raisins amd/or dried cherries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the all of the ingredients except for the dried fruit in a large bowl, and toss to coat. Spread evenly on a baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. After about 10 minutes, I stirred the granola so that it browned evenly. Then I let it cook the remaining 10 minutes.  Let cool completely on the baking sheet. Add the dried fruit after it is completely cooled. If not using right away, store in an airtight container or Ziplock bag,

My most recent Special Edition series Celebrations, Inc. features lots of food. It’s set amidst a Dallas-area catering company owned by four friends. I had a lot of fun as my heroines cooked up all sorts of delicious dishes in the kitchen. The first book, TEXAS WEDDING, is available this month. TEXAS MAGIC hits the shelves in October, followed by TEXAS CHRISTMAS in November.

I’d love to give a copy of  TEXAS WEDDING to someone who posts about favorite ways to spend free time or a favorite recipe. I realize I still owe books to some of my past winners. Thanks for bearing with me as I’ve settled into this new chapter of life. Now that Dear Daughter is settled and I’m starting to regain my equilibrium, I’ll be more timely sending out prizes!