SLOW COOKER APPLESAUCE

I adapted this applesauce from one of my favorite Ina Garten cookbooks to use with my slow cooker. I love using Georgia-grown apples like Pink Lady for their sweet-tart taste, or Honey Crisp or Cripp’s Pinks, but use whatever apples you like, and adjust the brown sugar and orange/lemon juice to account for your taste.

2 large navel oranges, zested and juiced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
6-8 cups of firm cooking apples, peeled and sliced.
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
half stick of unsalted butter
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

Dump everything into your slow cooker, give it a stir, set it on slow/low and prepare to have your house smell like an apple-pie factory when you come inside from raking leaves. Your applesauce is done when the apples have melted into a lumpy mush—say 3-4 hours, maybe more, depending on your slow cooker.

RENT ONE OF MKA’s COTTAGES

The Breeze Inn

Ebbtide

Did you know that MKA’s own beach cottages—that she has lovingly restored with her own hands and decorated with her own junking treasures—are available for rent?! You and yours can chillax in beautiful beach cottage comfort in the very spot where MKA pens her bestselling novels. Smaller group? Choose The Breeze Inn which MKA took from ramshackle to the pages of BH&G in a year’s time back in 2009. For larger groups, check out MKA’s new treasure, Ebbtide, which was featured in a huge spread in HGTV Magazine. Contact Tybee Island Vacation Rentals and book yourself in for the full MKA experience. Get yourself on “Tybee time” and discover the magic of slowing down.

MKA Online

Dear Friends:

This October marks a life-changing milestone for me. Twenty-five years ago this month, I answered the phone at my desk at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. To my complete amazement, an editor at HarperCollins Publishers in New York was on the other end of the line—calling to tell me he wanted to buy EVERY CROOKED NANNY, which would become my first published novel.

All these years later, the process of birthing a book has lost none of its thrill. This past summer, thanks to loyal readers like you, BEACH TOWN, my 23rd novel, debuted on The New York Times bestseller list at #6.
As always, my favorite part of the writing process was meeting old and new fans on my book tour where this time I visited 20+ cities. I can’t thank you enough for coming out to my signings to say hello—and even to bring me gifts like the gorgeous basket of farm-grown produce one sweet reader brought to my signing in Vero Beach.

Of course, no sooner was I off tour than I plunged into working on next summers book. I can’t wait for you to meet Riley Nolan Griggs and the rest of the cast of characters who make up THE WEEKENDERS, which goes on sale in May 2016. The new book is already available for pre-order, so go ahead and order now to make sure you’re the first on your block to have it in your hot little hands. Here is the cover. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Although THE WEEKENDERS is set on a fictional barrier island off the coast of North Carolina, for the past three months I’ve been escaping to a rented mountain cabin to write. Since it’s apple-picking season in the mountains, I’d love to share my super-simple recipe for slow-cooker applesauce.

Speaking of Christmas, I’m happy to say that St. Martin’s Press has released a paperback version of CHRISTMAS BLISS, the fourth in my Savannah set series featuring Weezie Foley and BeBe Loudermilk—just in time for your holiday gift-giving.

To celebrate my big silver anniversary of published authordom, I’ve planned lots of great giveaways with other bestselling novelists, starting with a super Halloween-themed mystery and thriller giveaway. Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to get in on the giveaway action—and, as always, to see where I’m signing, talking, and junking.

All my best,

MKA

Bookclub Corner

Do you have a book club? If your club is reading one of my books, I would love to call in and join your discussion. You never know, I may even be able to drop by in person if it works out right. E-mail us with your request and we’ll see what we can do! Be sure to include a snail mail address and info about the size of your club.