JoAnn Durgin – Recipe for Romance – Part 1 of 2

Shannon here: Contemporary romance author, JoAnn Durgin shares a recipe for peaches and cream pie. Yum! Plus a chance to win a copy of her latest release, Daydreams. Comment on any post Dec 10 – 14 to get your name in the drawing. Deadline: Dec 22, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s JoAnn:

Here’s a favorite recipe in my family—delicious and easy and good for the holidays or any time of year—and one I’m sure even Amy could make and Sam (characters from Daydreams) would absolutely love!
Peaches and Cream Pie
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 (3 ounce) package non-instant vanilla pudding mix
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 (29 ounce) can sliced peaches, drained and syrup reserved
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease sides and bottom of a 10 inch deep-dish pie pan.
• In a medium mixing bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder and pudding mix. Mix in butter, egg and milk. Beat for 2 minutes. Pour mixture into pie pan. Arrange the peach slices on top of the pudding mixture.
• In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons reserved peach syrup. Beat for 2 minutes. Spoon mixture over peaches to within 1 inch of pan edge. Mix together 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and sprinkle over top.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. Chill before serving.

About JoAnn: JoAnn Durgin is the author of the popular Lewis Legacy Series (Torn Veil Books). The fourth book in the series, Daydreams, releases in late 2012. Meet Me under the Mistletoe, a 2012 Christmas novella, is now available (Pelican Group Ventures/White Rose Publishing). She also has a short story, Please, published in I Choose You, a romance anthology to be published this week by OakTara Publishers. JoAnn lives with her husband, Jim, and their three children in her native southern Indiana. She’s an estate administration paralegal in a Louisville, Kentucky law firm and loves writing Christ-honoring fiction. She’d love to hear from you via her website (www.joanndurgin.com) or drop her a line on Facebook.
A note from JoAnn: I’m so excited to introduce Daydreams to readers, and its publication is expected in the next couple of weeks—just in time for Christmas and the new year. Although it’s the fourth book in The Lewis Legacy Series, each installment can be read by itself. Of course, knowing the history of Amy’s character and some of her friends will only enrich the reading experience (and you’ll have a front row pew at the wedding of one of my couples from the third book!). A lot of series end with the third book, but this series will keep on going since there’s so many love stories still to tell! Daydreams belongs to Amy Jacobsen, one of the lively volunteers in Sam and Lexa Lewis’ TeamWork Missions crew, and her hero is a new character I’m introducing into the series. Readers will also meet Amy’s brother, Mitch, featured in the next book, Moonbeams. Not to be mysterious, but there’s a twist in Daydreams, and I must be very careful not to give it away.
About the book – Daydreams: 
What the eyes conceal, the heart reveals.
It’s early December 2002, and Amy Jacobsen is living the dream: a job she loves with a trendy New York City magazine, a Manhattan walk-up inherited from her grandfather, and a busy social life without the unwanted complication of a steady boyfriend. During dinner one evening with her brother, Mitch, she spies Landon Warnick the next table over. He’s influential, successful and one of the youngest magazine publishers in the country—not to mention one of New York’s most eligible bachelors. After Mitch wrangles a meeting between the two, Landon wastes little time in asking her to dinner. Amy questions her sanity when they share a cozy carriage ride in Central Park and she comes this close to kissing him. Is it the joy and wonder of the Christmas season that’s put stars in her eyes or the enigmatic, intelligent, challenging and incredibly handsome man?
The following weekend, she travels to Louisiana to be a bridesmaid in a wedding and a reunion with her friends and fellow volunteers in TeamWork Missions. Headed down the aisle in the wedding, Amy’s steps falter. Standing at the front is a groomsman who flew into town only an hour before. . . She does a double take. What’s Landon Warnick doing in her world, with her friends? Perhaps more important, why does he suddenly have a Texas drawl and a crescent-shaped scar on his forehead? Sharing a romantic dance at the reception, she casts aside her better judgment and kisses him. She’s lost her mind and her heart might not be far behind, it seems. Let the adventure begin! Is the Lord showing her the “right” man for her heart or is Amy in way over her head?  
Come back Dec 12th to read an interview with Amy and learn a little more about her story. A busy career girl, Amy doesn’t cook much, but all the TeamWork crew knows their “Papa Bear” Sam loves peaches. On my website, you’ll find And the Man Said Peaches, in which I tell the story of the amazing way the Lord used that specific word (peaches) in my life, and how significant it was on my journey to publication.