Ideas for Pancake Day!

Pancake Day's just around the corner (4th March), which means lots of tossing and sticky mess on ceilings!

I can't help with how to avoid that but I can help with some recipes, as my daughter thinks everyday is pancake day.


Banana Pancakes (Serves 6)

125g plain flour
85g wholemeal flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons caster sugar
335ml buttermilk
2 small ripe bananas (finely chopped)

In a large bowl, mix both flours, salt, baking powder and sugar. Stir in buttermilk and bananas until just moist.

Heat a frying pan, lightly oiled, over a medium heat. Pour approximately 60ml of batter into the pan and brown both sides before serving.


Mango and Honey Pancakes

Using the above recipe, or your own, make a batch of pancakes and then stack them with cubed mango then drizzle with honey. Serve with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt.




If you don't have a sweet tooth, try a savoury pancake!

Make your pancakes. Steam seasonal vegetables, whatever you fancy. Mix Philadelphia cheese with a small amount of milk and warm through. Mix with the vegetables and fill your pancakes!

Bruce Borders is on the Spotlight Tour!

Once again, I have the honour of helping out on the Rave Reviews Book Club Spotlight Tour. Today, please welcome author Bruce A. Borders!

Good Vs. Evil by Bruce A. Borders 

A huge thank you to all the members of Rave Reviews Book Club who agreed to host me on their site! I am honored to be the Spotlight Author! 

Miscarriage Of Justice tells the story of two people, Ethan Rafferty and Mariana Clark. Ethan has just been released from prison after serving fifteen years for a crime he didn’t commit; Mariana is the D.A. responsible for putting him there. As we get to know the characters, their lives are moving in opposite directions. One is continually sinking to new depths; the other is slowly making an ascension to becoming a better individual. It’s the old line of good versus evil - almost. But what happens when those lines intersect? When neither side is exactly virtuous or exhibits an upstanding moral character? 

In writing this book, I wanted to bring out that sometimes it’s hard to tell, with certainty, the good from the bad. Sometimes, good and bad seem to run together, with the attributes of both present. I think the majority of people fall into this category - I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “no man is all good, and no man is all bad.” Yet, there is a right and wrong. Most of us inherently know which is which, but events and situations can muddle what we know. 

We’re taught that good always triumphs over evil, but what if you’re not sure which side is good and which is evil? Then how do you know which side is going to win? 

In the beginning, both Ethan and Mariana are normal people - reasonably normal anyway. But as they respond and react to situations, into which they have unwillingly been thrust and over which they have no control, their paths take them in opposite directions, until... 

Miscarriage Of Justice  

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1624070639 

Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/miscarriage-of-justice-bruce-a-borders/1111648967 

Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/156958 

Sony http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/bruce-a-borders/miscarriage-of-justice/_/R-400000000000000717099 

iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/book/id543047448?mt=11 

Kobo http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Miscarriage-Of-Justice/book-KcHcGhmTgESAXmnO9tUK4Q/page1.html?s=SxowIrFdQkGHRsi0UUar0g&r=2 

Connect with Bruce: 

@BruceABorders 

http://www.facebook.com/BruceABordersBooks  

http://bruceabordersbooks.weebly.com 

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5752197.Bruce_A_Borders 

RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB “SPOTLIGHT” AUTHOR, Bruce A. Borders was born in 1967 in Cape Girardeau, MO. Bruce’s childhood years were spent in a number of states, including Missouri, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. During his high school years, he was a member of the football, basketball and track teams, involved in various non-athletic activities such as school yearbook production and photography, and won numerous awards for his artistic creations. Bruce graduated Valedictorian in 1984. While in school, Bruce held three part-time jobs; a store clerk, a janitor, and a dental technician, working about 60-70 hours per week. After graduation, he became employed full time as a dental technician. Other jobs have included restaurant manager, carpenter, and grocery store cashier. For the past sixteen years, he has worked as a commercial truck driver, logging more than two million miles. At the age of fifteen, Bruce decided to become a writer. He began by writing songs, news articles, and short stories. Eventually, books were added to the list. Over the years, he continued to write and currently has a catalog of more than 500 songs, numerous short stories and over a dozen completed books. He writes on a variety of subjects such as fictional novels of legal issues and westerns. Titles include: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Journey, and in The Wynn Garrett Series - Mistaken Identity, Holy Terror, Remote Control, Judicial Review, Even Odds, and Safety Hazard. 

Extra calories & how to burn them!

Think your 30 minutes of exercise a week will burn off all your indulgences? Think again!


A slice of chocolate cake could be about 200 calories. To burn that off you'd need to dance continuously for approximately 30 minutes.

A slice of a meat feast pizza will typically contain around 330 calories. You're going to have to power walk for one hour.

My shameful habit is crisps. Most weeks, I'll shove about 5 packs down my pie hole! I love McCoys and each pack contains 252 calories, so that's 1260 extra calories right there. To burn all that off in one go, I'd have to do about 120 minutes of kickboxing....

When you unwind with a bottle of white wine, just remember that's about 600 calories. An hour of swimming is needed after that. (Preferably when sober!)

These exercises are aimed at people of average weight, so for us heavier people we have to do more. However, I'm happy to start off slow....

Guest Post by Katie Hayoz

Once again, I'm honoured to host the Rave Reviews Blog Tour. Hope you enjoy the post from this week's featured author.

That Novel Will Never Be Perfect

From Katie Hayoz

I’m not a perfectionist.  Little mistakes don’t bother me.  But when it comes to my writing, I take pride in what I do and I want what I put out there to be not just decent, but good.  I rewrote Untethered at least eighteen times.  Literally.  And I’m talking full-on, rip-it-up and make do with the shreds kind of rewriting, not moving sentences around. What started as a five page story ended up (20 years later) to be a 340 page novel.  That novel went through so many critiquing sessions and beta readers that I was sure it would be perfection by the time it was published. 

Ha.  Not quite. 

Writing is art, and like all art there is a point where the person creating the work just has to stop. She just has to tell herself that particular piece is the best she can make it right then.  That’s the sticker: right then.  Because the truth is that you can always go back and make it better.  There will always be holes you missed or mistakes you made or words that paint a clearer picture.  But if you keep going back and going back and going back you never move on.  Never get on to the next book; the one that first one prepared you for. 

My dad paints watercolor. I can’t tell you the number of times he’s looked at a picture of his, already framed and on the wall, and said, “Why did I think this was finished? This whole section could use reworking.”  My mom rolls her eyes.  I understand.  I totally do.   

But there was a point when I just had to quit trying to make Untethered perfect.   A point where my writing group and my family and friends said, “Stop already!”  So I did.  I’m proud of this novel -- the characters, the world, the writing itself.  However, that didn’t keep me from face-palming myself after its publication.  There were things that I see now that I couldn’t see then.  It kills me.  And yet… 

And yet I could go in, change it all and six months from now I’d be face-palming myself again.  So, I’ve left it as is.  I’ve moved onto another novel.  It’s finished; sort of.  I’ve done three drafts – three pick away the fleshy parts and gnaw on the bone drafts.  I’ll rewrite it one more time. Then I’ll need to tell myself, “Stop already!  That novel will never be perfect.”   

But I’m hoping it will be damn good.   

*Katie Hayoz was born in Racine, WI, USA but ended up in Geneva, Switzerland, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and two fuzzy cats. She devours YA novels like she does popcorn and black licorice: quickly and in large quantities.   

Untethered is a paranormal coming of age novel that follows 16-year-old Sylvie on a unique and slightly sinister journey of self-acceptance. Sylvie has an ability to leave her physical body and astral project. While it could be akin to a superpower, she sees it as a curse.  That is, until the day she decides to play with its dark side. Sylvie then sets an evil plan in motion that she believes will change her life for the better.  But she does not count on it spiraling out of control. 

Connect with Katie  

On her website: www.katiehayoz.com 

On Twitter: www.twitter.com/katiehayoz 

On Facebook: www.facebook.com/katiehayoz.author 

Buy Untethered on Amazon: http://amzn.to/ZH2qzY 

(Thank you to Rave Reviews Book Club and all the members who so generously agreed to host me on their site!) 

RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB is pleased to announce a new Facebook "Question of the Day!" In an online Scavenger Hunt, participants will need to find the daily answer SOMEWHERE on the many Blog Tour Host sites! Please LIKE our FB page and play along: 

https://www.facebook.com/ pages/Rave-Reviews-Book-Club/ 271290866357000?fref=ts

Katie's questions & answers on THIS site:

Rave Reviews Book Club: How do you craft your story and characters?

Katie Hayoz: I am one of those writers who has never been able to work well with an outline. I craft the story and characters as I write - which means I do a lot of rewriting.

RRBC: How much research is involved?

K.H.: Depends on the book. The novel I’m writing now involves a good bit of research.  For “Untethered”, I researched astral projection by reading books, going on websites and forums.  I also went by my and others’ experiences.

THANK YOU for stopping by! Please visit all Blog Tour Hosts as found on: www.RaveReviewsByNonnieJules. wordpress.com