Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #16)(23)

Add HALF of the grated cheese, and lightly toss everything together with a fork. (I gave up on the fork and used my impeccably clean fingers instead.)

Spray a 1 and ? quart casserole dish with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. Set it on a drip pan, just in case.

Transfer the contents of your mixing bowl to the casserole dish.

Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese on top.

Bake the Chicken Tetrazzini Hotdish at 350 degrees F., for 45 minutes.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: To double this recipe, just double the ingredients and bake it in a larger casserole dish. You don’t have to double the baking time, but I’d give it an extra 20 minutes or so.

When I make this for a potluck dinner, I use a disposable, half-size steam table pan. (Use 2 nested together, if the ones you buy are flimsy.) Since it spreads out in the disposable pan, I only give it an extra 15 minutes, bringing the baking time up to one hour. The reason I use a disposable pan is that I don’t have to wait around for my pan to be washed at the end of the evening.

Yield: This hotdish serves 4 if you pair it with a nice salad and rolls or garlic bread.

Hannah’s 3rd Note: This recipe is so easy I’m going to tell Mother to add it to her repertoire of entrees.

Chapter Seven


The Chicken Tetrazzini Hotdish had been every bit as easy as Florence had promised. It was a winner recipe. Hannah slipped the casserole dish in the oven, along with the cookie sheet that would act as a drip pan, and set the timer. Norman would be here in thirty minutes and that would give them plenty of time to nibble on the cheese tray she’d prepared as an appetizer and sip coffee or the pink lemonade she’d made from the leftover frozen concentrate.

The next thing Hannah did was read through the recipe her mother had given her for Easy Fruit Pie. She’d picked up a can of peach pie filling because peaches were Norman’s favorite fruit.

Since she had a double oven, a feature Hannah gave thanks for every time she baked, she mixed up the crust for the Easy Fruit Pie, spooned on the filling, and slipped it into the lower oven. Then she glanced at the apple-shaped clock on her kitchen wall and set a secondary timer for fifty minutes. Her dessert would be ready and slightly cooled by the time they’d finished their salad and hotdish. At that time, she’d dish it up and couple it with a scoop of the vanilla bean ice cream.

As she went out into the living room to set plates, napkins, and silverware on the coffee table, she thought about what a challenge it was for young cooks to make a meal where everything was ready on time. It took some planning and there were always unexpected delays. When she’d first started to hold dinner parties, she’d always had trouble getting the vegetables to the table on time. She’d coped by serving a lot of one-dish Crock-Pot meals where the meat and vegetable were in the same pot. She’d also learned to prepare the vegetables ahead of time and serve them cold. Her guests had loved sliced tomatoes and red onions with vinegar and oil drizzled over the top, and chilled cooked asparagus with mustard hollandaise. Even today, as a veteran cook, she was careful not to have more than two time-critical items in a meal. She knew that delays invariably happened and company dinners never went like clockwork. The trick was to anticipate and keep it simple.

Hannah had no sooner changed into a comfortable lightweight lounge outfit when the doorbell rang. She opened it without remembering to check the peephole, something both Mike and Norman had warned her against, and smiled as she saw Norman standing there. He was holding a cat carrier and she reached out to take the package in his arms so that his load would be lighter.

“Hi, Norman,” she greeted him happily. Norman was the perfect dinner guest. Actually, he was the perfect everything. He’d asked her to marry him almost two years ago and she knew she’d never find anyone more loving and faithful. She loved him, she loved his cat. He loved her, he loved her cat. Norman would make a perfect husband. What was she waiting for?

“Rrrrrowww!” Moishe stood outside the cage impatiently when Norman set it down on the rug.

“Okay, big fella. Hold on a second and I’ll let her out.”

Norman unlatched the crate and Cuddles ran straight to Moishe and batted him with her paw. “And they’re off,” Norman said as the two cats ran down the hallway with Cuddles in the lead and Moishe chasing her. He held out his arms to give Hannah a hug. “Something smells fantastic,” he told her.

“Chicken Tetrazzini Hotdish and Easy Fruit Pie.”

“Sounds wonderful.” Norman gestured toward the bag she was holding. “Open it. It’s for you.”

Hannah opened the bag and pulled out a bottle of champagne. But it wasn’t just any bottle of champagne, and she gripped the bottle even tighter. “Dom Perignon,” she breathed, reading the label.

“I thought you might like it.”

“Like it? Like it? This is om Perignon. It’s even more expensive than the champagne Mother likes!”

“I know, but this is a split. It wasn’t as expensive as a whole bottle and it only holds two glasses.”

“Then you’re going to have some champagne with me?” The surprise was clear in Hannah’s voice. Norman didn’t drink and she knew the reason why he didn’t. Was tonight some kind of an exception?

“Not for me, thanks. I brought it for you.”

Hannah’s heart beat a little faster as something occurred to her. “Enough for two glasses, but you don’t drink. Are you trying to get me . . .” She paused, trying to come up with the right word, but settled for a euphemism that fell short of what she was intending. “Are you trying to get me compliant ?”