By Kate Carlisle, author of A COOKBOOK CONSPIRACY
Award winning author Kate Carlisle spent over twenty years working in television production as an Associate Director for game and variety shows, including The Midnight Special, Solid Gold and The Gong Show. She traveled the world as a Dating Game chaperone and performed strange acts of silliness on The Gong Show. She also studied acting and singing, toiled in vineyards, collected books, joined a commune, sold fried chicken, modeled spring fashions and worked for a cruise ship line, but it was the year she spent in law school that finally drove her to begin writing fiction. It seemed the safest way to kill off her professors. Those professors are breathing easier now that Kate spends most of her time writing near the beach in Southern California where she lives with her perfect husband.
A lifelong love of old books and an appreciation of the art of bookbinding led Kate to create the Bibliophile Mysteries, featuring rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright, whose bookbinding and restoration skills invariably uncover old secrets, treachery and murder. Find Kate online at www.katecarlisle.com.
Could you ever imagine a vegetarian committing murder? I’m sure in the history of the world, that it has happened, but frankly, it’s hard to reconcile. Someone who won’t eat meat because she doesn’t want to hurt an animal seems like the unlikeliest of people to kill a human being in cold blood.
And yet, that’s just what Brooklyn Wainwright’s sister Savannah is accused of doing. Of course, you can’t really blame the police for suspecting her. Savannah was discovered with the body, a bloody knife in her hand.
But Brooklyn knows her sister. She knows that Savannah would never kill anyone, not even if she had a very strong motive. The victim is her rat-fink ex, a celebrity chef famous for his bad boy behavior. But still, no. So Brooklyn will prove her sister’s innocence… or die trying.
Savannah is a vegetarian chef, so in honor of A COOKBOOK CONSPIRACY, Bibliophile Mystery #7, I’m sharing Savannah’s recipe for a California Veggie Wrap. It is beyond delicious, an explosion of flavors. And yes, I’ve included recipes in the back of the book, too!
California Veggie Wrap
4 6-inch flour tortillas
4 T cilantro pesto (recipe follows)
2 green onions with tops, sliced thin
¼ cucumber, sliced thin lengthwise
1 large avocado, sliced thin
1 small tomato, sliced thin
1 carrot, sliced thin lengthwise
4 sugar snap peas, sliced thin lengthwise
2 large strawberries, halved and sliced thin
Warm the tortillas in a dry pan over medium heat. Spread 1 T cilantro pesto on each, then top with the vegetables. Wrap and enjoy!
Cilantro Pesto
1 C fresh cilantro
¼ C pecans, walnuts, or almonds
1 clove garlic
¼ t salt
2 green onions, cut into chunks
1 t fresh jalapeno, without seeds
1 t lime juice
¼ – 1/3 C olive oil
Place everything but the olive oil in a food processor. Pulse several times, scrape sides, then pulse again. Add the olive oil a little at a time, pulsing the food processor between additions, until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
The cilantro pesto tastes great with pasta, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese, or as the sauce on a pizza with Mexican ingredients.