2014 - Book 35

"Starcrossed" - Massachusetts

This has got to be one of my favorite books of the year . . . I couldn't put it down. It has intriguing characters, a good number of historical / literary references (Greek Mythology), and a nice PG love story. The story follows Helen, a girl growing up with her single dad on the small island of Nantucket. She knows she is different, but doesn't know quite why . . . that is, until a gorgeous and mysterious family moves in, and Helen finds she just can't stay away from them. There are tons of interesting plot points and while some of it might be a bit confusing at the end, I can't wait to read the next one. I began reading this book thinking it was a stand-alone novel, so I was very distraught when it ended with so many loose ends, but luckily (or not, since so many books on this 50 States of YA list seem to be series) there are already a 2nd and 3rd book out for me to enjoy :) This is not high literature by any means, but I really did enjoy it.


This was a recipe that I was going to try (Freezer hash browns), but had a little run in with the potatoes beforehand, so unfortunately, I can't actually tell you how it works out. But, feel free to give it a try and let me know how it works. . . it sounds like a really good idea. I think I cooked my potatoes a little too long (I just used the sensor cook on the microwave) and they got mushy when I tried to shred them so I just turned them into fresh hash browns . . . they were okay. But my tip about potatoes, and I can't stress this enough, is DON'T EAT GREEN POTATOES. It would seem like common sense to cut them off, and if you do, the rest of the potato is fine to eat, but I was eating a whole baked potato with toppings on it and apparently didn't realize how big of a part of green I ate. First of all, it tasted horrible, but I figured that it was just one bite, so it wasn't a big deal. I was wrong. I had a very bad evening of intestinal distress and didn't end up feeling any better until I threw up. Yep, really gross, sorry, but I just wanted everyone to know. There is nothing else to do . . . the green potato contains a poisonous toxin called solanine, so just be really careful, especially with kids. The smaller the person, the more they are affected by it.

Okay, that's my green potato rant . . . for how much food stuff I do, I would have thought I would have heard of that by now, but I never did . . . so, now you know . . . please learn from my mistake.

To make up for that gross tale, I have something much better to share with you, my very own slow cooker banana bread flavored steel cut oats recipe. I developed this recipe as a Christmas present for the girls that I work with. I began with the sweet potato steel cut oat recipe that I loved so much and tried different variations to find out what tasted the best. To be honest, I did not go buy the Quaker oat packets to find out what commercial banana bread oatmeal tastes like, I just tried to make it taste as much like banana bread as I could.

Since I'm a scientist, and this is my life's lab notebook, I did try to document most of my experiments . . . sorry that makes this post a little long, but I wanted to keep track of all of the different trials :)

Trial 1
3 bananas, mashed (~1.5 Cups)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C steel cut oats
4 C skim milk
1/2 C water
1/3 C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cooked on low for 5 hours.

This variation tasted a little off. I don't know if it was the vanilla in it, but I didn't really like it. It did taste better the next day after the flavors melded a little bit, but I decided the vanilla was not a good addition.

Trial 2
3 bananas, mashed (~1.5 Cups), previously frozen and thawed in the microwave for 2 minutes
1 C steel cut oats
4 C skim milk
1/2 C water
1/3 C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Cooked on low for 5 hours. I learned from the last trial to let it rest overnight in the fridge before trying it and this variation was very good.

Trial 3
2 large bananas, unmashed, previously frozen and thawed in the microwave for 2 minutes
1 C steel cut oats
4 C skim milk
1/2 C water
1/3 C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Cooked on low for 4.5 hours. I thought maybe the bananas would kind of dissolve while cooking and I would be able to eliminate the prep work of mashing them, but that definitely did NOT happen. They pretty much looked like nasty brown worms on the top of the oats and since they had cooked that way, it was a bit difficult to get them to incorporate. Not appetizing. They still tasted good, but that experiment did not give good results.

Trial 4
3 bananas, mashed (~1.5 C)
1 C steel cut oats
4 C skim milk
1/2 C water
1/4 C brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Cooked on low 4.5 hours. I found that the previous versions were plenty sweet and since bananas are so sweet themselves, cutting down the sugar was definitely a good call. The additional cinnamon couldn't even be tasted however. It's kind of a waste to put that much in at the beginning. If you want a stronger cinnamon taste, just put a little sprinkle on top before you eat it.

FINAL RECIPE
2 - 3 bananas, mashed (~1.5 C), can be fresh or thawed from frozen
1 C steel cut oats
4 C milk (any kind works)
1/2 C water
1/4 C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Cook on low 4.5 - 5 hours. Refrigerate over night. Heat up with milk before eating and top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and some walnuts. Yum :)

Banana Bread Oats

Pecan Pie oats

The other part of my recipe development was to find a way to make these easy "grab-and-go" breakfasts. I found that placing a strip of parchment paper in the bottom of a custard cup or ramekin and then adding ~200 g oatmeal (almost filling the 6 or 7 oz. cup) was just about a perfect way to do it. (Wax paper did not work, so make sure you use parchment paper.) After freezing, place the ramekins briefly in a small water bath and then use the parchment tabs to pull out the oatmeal "puck". These can be stored in freezer bags. I also froze skim milk in ice cube trays and placed two of those in a sandwich bag with one oatmeal puck and there you go, "grab-and-go" breakfast. Just pull out the oats, peel off the parchment, heat for 2 minutes, stir, add in the milk cubes, heat for another 1.5 - 2 minutes and TA DA, yummy steel cut oats . . . easy peasy :)

My kitchen, the oatmeal factory, I made 32 oatmeal packets :)

Enjoy :)

2014 - Book 34

"Delirium" - Maine

This was sort of a sci-fi story, and I found it really fascinating. It takes place in an alternate present where love has been ruled to be a disease. All people over the age of 18 get the "Cure", basically a brain surgery that cuts off the part of the brain that feels strong emotions. The government has closed the U.S. borders and major cities are contained within electric fences. All residents are closely monitored and if they are deemed to be "infected", or sympathizers, the consequences are severe. Outside of these cities are "The Wilds" where the uncured, "Invalids" (their identities have been invalidated) live and try to make it on their own. The story follows Lena, a girl getting ready to have the cure performed, whose life is pretty much set in stone (the government decides where you go to college, what you major in, how many children you will have, and each person is given a choice of 4 potential spouses to choose from). Besides tragically losing her parents at a young age, she is relatively content with her life, that is, until she meets Alex. Alex is unlike anyone she's ever known before, and of course, the fact that she is actually talking to a boy is pretty risky in itself. Now Lena must decide what her true destiny is going to be.

This is the first in another trilogy, but I think I will try to make a point to read the rest of these next year because I want to find out what happens :)

Instead of recipes this week, I have two crafty projects to share that I think are pretty awesome. The first one is this ADORABLE baby bear hat:

Isn't that just the most adorable hat???

I had to relearn how to crochet to make this hat, but it went together really easily by following this knit-along video by iKnits: Crochet Bear Hat. I also used this pattern from CrochetRochelle to make the cute little flower: Small Petal Flower.

The bow is on a barrette so it can be removed for a boy's hat

I made the 3 - 6 month size for my soon to be born niece . . . my brother and sister-in-law loved it :) I hope the baby will too.

I enlisted the help of my stuffed Scottie to model it as I didn't have a baby on hand ;)

The second is this cabled hat I made for my husband. It took me almost a year to make it because I was just not motivated to knit, nor did I have a lot of free time during the summer, but I did manage to get it done in time to give it to him for Christmas this year. I think he likes it :) The bamboo circular needles were interesting, I can't say that I really liked them all that much, but they were a good way to make a hat. I just like resting the end of my knitting needle on my lap and that's not possible with circular needles, so it felt like more work. Also, the wavy type of yarn I used was a bit of a problem and the cabled rows ended up getting really, really tight, so they weren't too much fun. The end result was worth it, but I don't think I'll make this pattern again (Snappy Hat). Time to try something new (or make a whole bunch more baby bear hats because all of my expectant mother friends decided they want one now too :))

The cabled hat

Details

2014 - Book 33

"Blood and Chocolate" - Maryland

This was back to the typical YA novels of the times, a story about werewolves. The writing was kind of weird, I don't know if it was because the author was trying to get into the wild creature mentality, but it just seemed too carnal or sensual for a YA book, but then again, too many YA books are like that, in my opinion. It just surprised me that this was a YA book written by a children's librarian when I thought she would have been a romance novelist or something instead. It was shorter than some of the books I have read though and the plot all fit together well, which I liked. The story follows a young girl and her pack family of werewolves. There is much dissension and unrest following a fire that killed her father, the pack leader, and drove them from their previous settlement into a more heavily populated town. Suspicions rise when a few humans are killed and Vivian (the main character) has to figure out out if she belongs with her pack, or with a human boy she's fallen for. It was an interesting read, I guess, but only for older YA readers.

And now for something totally different, a house remodeling tip: How to paint clean lines

We recently remodeled our half bathroom and I wanted to make sure we had clean lines between the wall and ceiling. I found this gem on Pinterest and it worked beautifully.

Look at those lovely clean lines.

This was the inspiration for our remodel: Half Bath inspiration

I didn't get as nice of pictures as she did, but here are some before and afters:

Overview

Biggest area of change, in my opinion. Also, the mirror is a medicine cabinet :)

We still need to add some shelves above the toilet, some artwork on the large wall, and some sort of window treatment, but you get the idea. It's so much nicer now :)

Now you know I couldn't resist throwing in a recipe too: Monster Cupcakes ("green eyed monster" & "orange you spiky monster")
These turned out really cute, but were rather putsy to put together. Usually I have a pretty high tolerance on my "putsy-meter", but putting individual chocolate sprinkles into frosting behind a tiny M&M just about pushed me over the edge. I only managed to do half of them before I gave up and decided that half were girl monsters and the other half without the eyelashes would be boy monsters ;) The green ones had too much frosting on them for my liking, but if I would have made homemade buttercream that wouldn't have been a big deal. I just really don't like store bought frosting anymore . . . I've spoiled myself into becoming a frosting snob I guess . . . oops. Well, these little monsters were pretty cute anyways, I really liked the addition of the chow mein noodles, and the cupcakes were a big hit with the kids at our gathering around Halloween time.

Have a great week :)

2014 - Book 32

"Arise" - Louisiana

I thought I would like this book quite a bit, but I had a hard time getting into it. I don't know why they decided to put the 2nd book in the series on this list, but I don't think it was a good idea. I spent the first third of the book wondering what the back story was that I was missing. It is about a girl who is a ghost but dating a live teenage boy. His family can almost all see ghosts and when they travel to New Orleans for the Christmas holiday, things start to get really weird. There is some strange voodoo stuff and I just wasn't that enthralled by it. Also, it was rather long. Oh well, on to the next book now. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to finish all 52 this year, but I've made good progress. Maybe some of the other books will be shorter and I'll be able to get through them faster.

For my recipes this week, I have Mile-High Peanut Butter Pie and another round of crock pot freezer meals.

The Peanut Butter Pie was very tasty, and I really liked the Nilla Wafer crust, but I didn't take a picture of it because my chocolate and peanut butter "drizzles" were more like globs and didn't look very nice. I think to get it to look like the picture, you would have to put it in plastic baggies with the corner snipped off. Oh well, it was very tasty and everyone liked it . . . yum.

These are the recipes I used for my Slow Cooker Freezer Meals:

Mom's Slow Cooker Chili - http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/02/10-slow-cooker-freezer-meals-in-less.html
This was a repeat recipe, I made two bags because I knew it would be good. This time I used ground turkey instead of ground beef to try and save money, but the chili really is better with the beef.

Crock Pot Pork Carnitas - http://www.mommysfabulousfinds.com/2013/10/easy-crock-pot-freezer-meals-2.html
So far, this one is the real winner, it is AMAZING. Maybe it's just that I haven't had pork in so long, but this was really yummy. We put it in tortillas with tomatoes, lettuce, hot sauce, cheese, and sour cream . . . so good. Go try it :)
 
Crock-Pot Chicken Sweet Potatoes - http://www.mommysfabulousfinds.com/2013/06/crock-pot-chicken-sweet-potatoes.html
I haven't tried this one yet, but I'll let you know how it is when I do.

Crock-Pot Honey Garlic Chicken - http://www.mommysfabulousfinds.com/2013/06/crock-pot-honey-garlic-chicken.html
This was was just meh. The chicken turned out dry and really the sauce served over rice was the tastiest part of the meal. I won't make this one again.

Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti - http://www.mommysfabulousfinds.com/2014/03/crockpot-freezer-meal-recipes.html
I haven't tried this one yet either. I'm really skeptical about putting precooked pasta into the crock pot, I'm expecting it to be super mushy and gross, but I thought it was a good experiment. The pasta took up so much space in the bag that I didn't have room for the Velveeta, and the Velveeta package says not to freeze it, so I'm just going to add it in the morning when I put the rest in the crock pot and hope for the best.

Sweet Potato Basil Soup - http://www.mommysfabulousfinds.com/2014/03/crockpot-freezer-meal-recipes.html
I was hoping for more with this one . . . it was not too bad, but the onions were kind of chewy yet and it wasn't as creamy as I thought it would be. Not a make again recipe, but it was okay. 

Bean Tator Tot Casserole - http://growingtofour.blogspot.com/2014/09/crock-pot-freezer-meal-bean-tater-tot.html
Tator tots are always better in the oven I think. After cooking, I had to stir it up to mix in the cheese and soup and the tator tots pretty much fell apart. Luckily the recipe calls for less than the full bag, so I baked some of the left over tator tots in the oven and put them on top. It was a very mellow flavored dish and I think kids would like it, but I think making it ahead and then baking it in the oven is probably the best way to go. I did see some crock pot recipes that line the crock pot with the tator tots and then thaw the soup mixture and pour it over . . . I think that would turn out better, but I still think the oven would be the best.

Chicken Taco Soup - http://www.lovingmynest.com/learning-activities/cooking/freezer-crock-pot-recipes/ AND http://www.allergyfreecooking.net/chicken-taco-soup/
I've made this before too and it's excellent so I also made two batches of it. I couldn't remember if the beans were supposed to be drained or not (one link says to rinse and drain the black beans and the other doesn't), so I made one batch with all of the beans rinsed and drained, and one batch without doing that, so we'll see which is better :)

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week. Go make some pork carnitas, it will make you feel better ;) See you next week.

2014 - Book 31

"The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls" - Delaware

I found this book very strange. It's about a book club, and I think it was written to be a book club book. There just seem to be lots of things left unanswered that the reader can decide for themselves or discuss with others. I don't really like books like that . . . I want the author to tell me what happens. Maybe I'm boring, but I like answered questions and happy endings. So, if you're looking for a book about four very different teenage girls and their mothers and what happens in a small town in Delaware over one boring summer, then this is for you. Take it to your book club and discuss it, but it just wasn't for me.

My recipes this week, on the other hand, were definitely for me: Blackened Tilapia, Parsley Pesto, and a Great Zucchini Brownie Challenge (Fudgy Zucchini Brownies vs. Low-Fat Zucchini Brownies).

I wish I could give credit to whomever came up with this tilapia recipe, because it's delicious. However, I got it off of the tilapia package and I only saved the recipe part, I don't even know what brand it was. Here is the recipe:

I think MasterChef has improved my plating skills :)

1 lb. of tilapia fillets, thawed
1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cayenne
2 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. onion powder (I didn't have this, so I just upped the garlic powder)
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. ground thyme
1 tsp. brown sugar

Combine the dry spices together to create a rub. Completely coat the tilapia fillets and allow to sit for 15 - 20 minutes before cooking. Heat oil in a large pan (I used a cast iron griddle) and add fillets. Cook fillets for 2 - 3 minutes on each side. Enjoy :)

So good :) I made a southwestern style salad to go with it. Yum :)

I had a big bunch of parsley from my CSA box that I didn't really know what to do with. Luckily, the CSA farm sends recipes with the boxes and this recipe was included. I don't really like parsley all that much, but I do love pesto, so this was a very good way to use it up. I have no idea who thought 1/5 of a cup was a good measurement though. Are you starting to see why I prefer to use weights in a lot of my cooking? Oh, and I don't think I've shared this page before, but it is very helpful once you transition to using a kitchen scale: How Much Does a Cup Weigh? It's a very handy chart with weights in ounces and grams for one cup of a wide variety of different ingredients. Give it a try.

And finally, another brownie challenge, but this time with zucchini brownies. I think you can probably guess, just by the names, that the fudgy zucchini brownies won by a landslide. The low-fat ones were still good, but the fudgy ones were GOOD. I used dark chocolate cocoa powder for both the brownie and the frosting of the fudgy brownies and it was very tasty. If you want the nice color contrast that she has on her blog though, I would use regular cocoa powder in the frosting. Mmm, so good :) Not to neglect the low-fat brownies though, they were still good brownies, and much healthier than your typical brownie. Give them a try if you are watching your weight and still want something sweet. But if you are just looking for a really yummy zucchini brownie, go for the fudgy version :)

That's all for this week folks :)

2014 - Book 30

"The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer" - Florida

Wow, this book was really interesting. It kept me confused and guessing for most of the book. It had a love story, villains, mystery, and suspense . . . in short, I rather liked it. Unfortunately, it was part of a series again, so the ending was a huge cliff-hanger. I'm going to have to keep a list of books from this year that I need to read the rest of the series next year.

I would like to write out a short plot synopsis for you, but 1 - I don't want to give anything away, and 2 - Some of it was just so strange that I don't know how to write it down. I'll give it a shot though: basically it is a story of a girl who can't remember the tragic night when she and her 3 friends were exploring a condemned insane asylum. She escaped with minor injuries, but her friends were killed. She was then diagnosed with PTSD, starts seeing weird things, and convinces her family to move from Rhode Island to Florida to sort of start over. She has an interesting family dynamic with a lovable younger brother, a seemingly perfect older brother, her mom, a psychiatrist, and her father, a defense attorney currently working a grisly murder case. When other things and people start dying around Mara, she can't help but wonder if she is somehow involved. Also, her one friend at her new school, warns her off the British boy with a reputation, Noah, but Mara discovers that maybe there is more to him than he lets on.

Sorry that my summary is kind of vague, but you'll just have to read it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Does anyone else have the same problem that I do where you get so involved in a book that if you have to tear yourself away you are cranky and distracted until you can finish it? I've been like that for as long as I can remember. I guess I just love resolution and always want to know what happens in the end . . . which is hard to do if I have to stop in the middle of the book. I think that's why I like movies so much, because I get the whole story in one sitting. I will attest that reading a whole book in one sitting is one of my favorite little joys in life. Anyways, that's a digression, I just wondered if others have that same problem.

For my recipes this week I have one miss and two home runs: Cream of Celery soup, Chocolate Raspberry Souffle, and Sweet Potato Steel Cut Oats.

Now, if you like celery, and use the store-bought kind, this recipe is probably just fine. I got it with my CSA (community supported agriculture) box containing organic celery, which is not like store-bought at all. It was much stronger flavored, and I thought it made the soup bitter tasting. So I guess it's not so much of a fail for the soup as for my use of the celery. I don't really like celery that much to begin with, unless it's covered with peanut butter or used in chicken dumpling soup, so that might have something to do with it too. The bacon was a good addition though . . . I never buy bacon, so I  overcooked it . . . oops.

Before

Oh well, to make up for that failure, I have two wonderful successes. I attempted a cheese souffle here: Cheese Souffle, but this was way better. Put a little whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top . . . yum :) They were very easy to make too . . . a wonderful way to use fresh raspberries.

After

I think you all know by now of my dual loves of steel cut oats and my crock pot. I found a new version of crock pot steel cut oats to try, and it was just fantastic. I had a few sweet potatoes that needed to be used up, so I cooked them in the microwave and put them in a food processor with some of the milk to get nice and smooth. I've made this recipe a few times now, and I have to say, that was my favorite version. I never have evaporated milk on hand, but I figure you can substitute evaporated milk + water for whole milk, so why not substitute whole milk - water for the evaporated milk. It's not like there wasn't water added to the recipe anyways, so I wasn't changing the liquid levels, I just added more milk and less water, and it turned out just fine. If you'd like to do that, I substituted 24 oz. whole milk + 12 oz. water for the 12 oz. evaporated milk + 3 cups water. Also, I though with the sweetness of the sweet potato that it was too sweet (even for me . . . surprising, I know). So I reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup and that was better. I also put some sort of nuts on it and if you want to make it really special, a little bit of whipped cream . . . it's like eating sweet potato pie for breakfast, but not quite as naughty ;)

The original recipe actually calls for pumpkin puree, so the next few batches I made I used that. We cook and puree our own pumpkin and it is always more watery than the store-bought kind, so I used the following amounts: 2 cups pumpkin puree, 3 cups whole milk, and 1/2 cup water. I made it later with skim milk too, and while it's not as rich tasting, it is still good. I make a double batch and then just throw it in the fridge for 2 weeks of tasty breakfasts. I've put walnuts and almonds on it too, and they all taste good. Also, in the recipe she states it is not a good overnight crock pot recipe, but if you have a programmable crock pot like I do, it's not a problem at all. I've tried 4, 4 and a half, and 5 hours on low, and I think it was good every time. Subsequent days, I just add some milk to it, microwave for about a minute and half and stir it up really well to make it creamy again. Easy peasy. Give it a try, I guarantee it will give you a nice, warm, festive fall feeling :)

Have a wonderful week :)

2014 - Book 29

"Under the Blood-Red Sun" - Hawaii

Usually I really love historical fiction books, especially those set during World War II, but I just couldn't connect with any of the characters in this book. It's probably because it is narrated by a young boy, but it just felt like a book that I would have been assigned to read in grade school, not something I would have picked out myself. Not that it wasn't a good book, because it really was, I just didn't really get into it.

The story follows a young Japanese-American boy living with his family in Hawaii when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. It is obviously very difficult for him, but he has a great group of friends in his baseball team, The Rats. So if you know any grade school age boys who like baseball, they would probably really like this book, it just wasn't for me.

The recipes I have to share this week are hearty breakfast muffins, slow cooker beans, and chipotle tomato soup.

Although the muffin recipe was a top-rated recipe on Allrecipes.com, I almost didn't make it, just because I was so annoyed with whomever wrote the recipe. Seriously, "one zucchini" is NOT a measurement. Sure, bananas are pretty uniformly sized, so I can understand that one, but even carrots vary greatly in size. How is anyone supposed to know if they are creating the recipe properly, and if they do happen to succeed, how on earth will they be able to recreate their success again? We grew zucchinis that were approximately "medium-sized", but I've seen them in the store about the size of a carrot, and I've gotten some from friends and neighbors that netted me at least 10 cups of chopped or shredded zucchini, EACH. Can you imagine doubling the recipe, using 2 of those giants, and ending up with 20 cups of zucchini in this recipe?!? Now, I would hope most people would use a little common sense and not do that, but still, my initial argument stands, "one zucchini" is NOT a measurement.

Being of a scientific mindset, I of course set out to remedy this problem. I got out my kitchen scale (if you don't have one yet, you should get one . . . it really makes so much more sense, especially for measuring flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder) and weighed my ingredients. I took the most helpful suggestion I found in the Allrecipes reviews and tried to get approximately the same amount of carrot and zucchini. Who knows if my carrots were "average" size, but I tried to find ones that weren't too big and weren't too small. I ended up using 4 carrots (I doubled the recipe) for 183 grams shredded carrot (~ 2 cups), and ~one and a half medium zucchini (318 grams after draining it through a strainer, again ~ 2 cups). Notice the large weight difference in the "same amount" (~ 2 cups) of each ingredient? That's why weighing is better. Anyways, I also used four bananas (492 grams).

After all of this headache, I did end up with some very tasty muffins, so I will be posting my findings on Allrecipes and hopefully be able to help out other picky bakers like myself ;) Also, instead of dried cherries (because they are expensive and hard to find), I used half dried cranberries and half mini chocolate chips . . . I liked the substitution. This recipe is pretty amenable to any little tweaks like that.

As for the beans, I've cooked beans in the slow cooker before, but this recipe didn't really work. They were just not done enough. I've gotten suggestions from friends to add one teaspoon of baking soda to the water, and that seemed to work, but even after an overnight soak, these were still a bit hard. I ended up freezing half of them because I'm trying to get away from buying canned foods. I want to do another round of slow cooker freezer meals soon and those always call for many cans of beans, so I thought I would be ready, but I think when I need to use these, I'll have to thaw them and then do another short cook so they aren't so crunchy. It was a good experiment, but next time I'll try a different recipe.

So, this soup was not much of a success, but I think that was mostly due to the undercooked beans. Even though I braved the molten lava-esque boiling soup to attempt a few rounds of immersion blending, it still didn't have that creamy texture I was looking for. I was trying to be healthy and substitute beans for cream, but it just didn't work. The soup was pleasingly spicy, so it grew on me after a while, and the beans were good protein, but it just wasn't that good . . . oh well. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I just used it as a guideline, so maybe if you use the actual recipe and add canned or properly cooked beans you'll be more successful.

That's all for this week folks . . . sorry for my lack of pictures.

2014 - Book 28

"My Life Next Door" - Connecticut

This is a perfect "beach book". Typical boy meets girl-next-door summer romance, but with a really nice storyline behind it too. A little bit too much focus on the physical aspect for my liking, but still PG rated. I really liked the different family dynamics and the main character, Samantha, has a good head on her shoulders, which I appreciate. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but it was one of my favorite books that I've read all year. Every girl deserves a nice guy like Jase :)

For my recipes this week, I have Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken Drumsticks, "Magic" Cake, Crock Pot Applesauce, and Dried Apple Skins (& this recipe for the apple skins too).

For the slow cooker sticky chicken drumsticks, you'd be better off following this recipe. There really is no way to get the good sticky sauce in a crockpot. I found that out the hard way by making it in the crock pot and ending up with cooked chicken and liquid sauce. So I looked over the other recipe and put the chicken in the oven and cooked down / thickened the sauce and then brushed it on a few times in the oven. I put them back in the crock pot on "warm" to serve at a pot luck, and they were SOOO good. I love cilantro too, so sprinkling that and the toasted sesame seeds on the end was a good addition. The first recipe didn't really work, but the flavors are great, just follow the oven procedure and you'll be good to go.

When I made the "Magic" cake, I thought there was no way that I was doing it right. Why would I whip the egg whites and then literally stir them back into a liquid mixture (as opposed to folding them in the make the mixture more light and fluffy)? It just seemed wrong, but I watched the little video at the bottom of the page, and that's what they did, and to my surprise . . . it worked. It kind of had the flavor of flan, minus the caramel part, and it had all three layers . . . amazing. There are lots of other desserts I like better, but I might try a different variation of this, just because it was kind of cool. I think the chocolate version might be good.

Magic :)

I really enjoyed the crock pot applesauce. I used 8 medium apples that we picked at a local farm (not sure which variety because we had four different ones), but I think using different types is a good idea. The addition of the strip of lemon peel was really tasty too. With all of the lifting the cover off and stirring, mine was not nearly done enough after the allotted time, so I let it go quite a bit longer (maybe two hours on low plus on "warm" for the rest of the night . . . I had to let it go overnight since it was too late to stay up and watch it. Programmable crock pots are my friend.) I didn't need to use a blender, because it was so soft at this point that I just stirred it and it was perfect. I warmed it up when serving and put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and ate it with graham crackers as my spoon = YUM. I don't really like pie crust, so this was like the perfect apple pie in my book. Give it a try, it was really good.

Since I peeled all of those apples for the applesauce, I had a ton of leftover peels. I didn't want to just waste them, so I read the two recipes I linked above and just sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar and put them in the oven on the lowest temp (170 F I think it was) until they were done. The smaller pieces were done first, but some of the larger pieces took a bit longer. I don't remember how long I had them in, but it was quite a while. Just keep checking them, and take them out when they are fully dry and crispy. They were actually pretty tasty if you are just looking for something to snack on.

I hope you enjoy all of the yummy food this week. Make a big pot of that applesauce, sit down with "My Life Next Door" and have a wonderful day :)

2014 - Book 27

"Beneath a Meth Moon" - Mississippi

This book kind of hit home because it was about a girl dealing with addiction, and I'm close to a few people who struggle with various kinds of addictions. Thankfully, none of them are meth addicts like the girl in the story. From some of my criminal justice classes in school I've seen before and after mug shots of people addicted to meth and it is obvious how destructive it is. The book was an interesting view into her past, how she first got into meth, and how it affected all of the people around her. I hope it serves as a good warning for anyone thinking they might want to try it to run the other direction.

The writing of this book was of a much higher caliber than the last book, and the characters were very real and compelling. I didn't really enjoy this book, because it's not really my favorite genre, but it was a quick, easy read, and would be good for teens to see how destructive this kind of behavior can be. She thought she could get out whenever she wanted, like she was just "experimenting" with it, but no, once you use, you are a user . . . and it is so damaging to everyone. Here is my public service announcement, and not just because I abhor illicit substances: Please, PLEASE don't go near that kind of stuff. Keep your body clean and find your peace and joy in the good things around you. Even if times are hard and you don't see a way out, there is still beauty in nature, in the miracle of living, and even if you don't believe, in the God who created you and loves you more than anyone else. Cling to these things, don't go chasing some chemical-induced release, and you and everyone around you will be so much more blessed in the end.

Okay, off my soapbox now and into the kitchen . . .  here are the recipes for this week: Zucchini Chocolate Chip Walnut Muffins, Copycat Chili's Queso Dip, and Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread. As you may have guessed, I had lots of zucchini to use up, and the dip was for a friend's housewarming party. All of these recipes were fairly successful.

The muffins were easy and tasty . . . a very good recipe. Not too much else to say except they were a success.

The queso dip was pretty good, but not as well liked as the cheeseburger dip I made once that was similar. It was a very good copycat of the Chili's version. I didn't realize how expensive Velveeta cheese has gotten though, which is a bit of a detriment to making this recipe. It is definitely  not healthy, but would probably be a hit at a football party or something of the sort. But if you were going to make it, I'd make the cheeseburger dip instead.

The glazed lemon zucchini bread was probably the biggest success of the week. I thought it looked just like it had come out of a Starbucks or Panera bakery . . . it was very moist and tasty. It thought the green in it gave it some nice color. The zucchini did give it a bit of a spongy texture, but I still liked it.

Hope you all have a great week :)

2014 - Book 26

"Ashfall" - Iowa

This book wasn't too bad, but the writing wasn't that great either. Apparently it was the author's first book, and it kind of showed. All of the early chapters had obvious cliff-hangers at the end, and pretty much every bad or gory thing that could happen in this sort of situation did happen. I might be a bit biased as a girl though . . . I think boys would like this book more. I will admit it was an interesting concept, and I liked seeing how certain scenarios played out.

It is a story about a boy and his family trying to survive after the super volcano under Yellowstone erupts and destroys most of the U.S. Some people he met were helpful and kind, others were ruthless, horrible, and mean, and a huge number of people died. I don't know how our society would fare if that were ever to happen, but I don't think his predictions were too far off the mark. It wasn't a great book (not that I'm in a position to really be a book critic or anything), and I won't be reading the sequel, but it did make me think, which is always good.

I have one bad dish, one okay dish, and one good dish to share this week...can you guess which is which? Curry Chicken Pasta Salad, Homemade Mayonnaise, Zuppa Toscana

The bad dish first . . . homemade mayonnaise. Now, I'm not just saying it was bad because I don't like mayonnaise . . . on the contrary, I figured that if I made it myself it would taste better and I would like it. That part at least proved to be true . . . it did taste a whole lot better than the nasty stuff you can get in a jar at the store. My beef with this recipe is that I could not get it to work. It was probably my own fault because I cooked the egg yolk to a higher temperature than it said to, but I could not find pasteurized eggs anywhere, so I needed to cook it longer to make sure there was no salmonella. Does anyone know where I could possibly find pasteurized eggs for future reference? Anyways, it looked like it was working and I thought it was fine, until I set it aside and came back to use it later and it was complete liquid. So then I sort of tried again with another egg yolk and the immersion blender, and that worked a little better. But then I set it aside for a couple of minutes and when I came back to add the last little bit of oil (after my immersion blender had cooled down), the emulsion completely broke and I was back to eggy oil liquid grossness :( This was so frustrating because I ended up having to throw it all away . . . what a waste of tasty olive oil. So if you make it in a blender or use an immersion blender right away, and don't care about using raw eggs, I think this would work just fine and be tasty, but for me, the experience was horrible.

The reason I needed the mayonnaise was the Curry Chicken Pasta Salad. This was a recipe I found in my Penzy's Spices catalog and it sounded pretty good. It would have been super easy, if not for my stupid desire to try and make my own mayonnaise for it at the same time. A lot of people liked it, and it really is a complete meal (starch, protein, good fat, fruit and vegetable) . . , my husband took it for lunch the next few days and he said it was very good. I did end up cutting the curry down a bit because I only had the spicy curry powder and I didn't want it to be too hot, but I should have added more, because for me, it was a little bland. Since my mayonnaise didn't work, my mom was nice enough to give me her olive oil mayonnaise from the store, which I'm sure made it much nicer than just generic mayonnaise. Overall though, not my favorite. I think I like the Italian type of pasta salads better.

And now for some good news: when we got a large bunch of kale from our local farmer, my mind instantly went to Zuppa Toscana, and I was surprised to find that I hadn't shared it on my blog yet. This is a great recipe that comes together easily and can be adapted a bit, if you like. We usually double all of the ingredients except the sausage, and add extra potatoes and kale to make it more hearty. The flavor is great, and you don't even have to leave your house to get soup just like Olive Garden :) Now if only I could perfect those breadsticks ;)

Hope you all have a great week :)

2014 - Book 25

"White Cat" - New Jersey

I had a difficult time getting into this book. It had a very abrupt beginning . . . if that makes any sense? I felt like I got thrown into something way over my head and I wasn't eased into the story. Once I figured out what was going on though, it was a pretty interesting book.

"White Cat" follows a boy named Cassel Sharpe, as he navigates his way through boarding school and family drama as the only "non-worker" in a family of "workers". In this society, some people are born with a gene that allows them to do a certain kind of magic (luck, emotion, transformation, death, etc.) just by touching someone else. Therefore, everyone wears gloves. And the magic has consequences too . . . Cassel's grandfather is a death worker and for every person he kills, he loses a finger. It a very corrupt society with heads of worker families running the show like mob bosses. It wasn't a feel good book with a happy ending like I usually like, but it was still interesting. I didn't like it at first, but once I got into it, it was rather fascinating. It really makes you think what it would be like to live in a world where your dreams might be more true than your memories. Whoa . . . deep, right?

For the recipes to share this week, I have zucchini bread with crunch topping and roasted summer squash.

Neither recipe was earth shattering, so I don't really have much to say about them, but they were both very good. Easy and tasty . . . good kinds of recipes to have on hand. Give them a try :)

Hope you all have a great week.

2014 - Book 24

"The Splendor Falls" - Alabama

This has been the best and most entertaining book that I've read so far this year. It was just right up my alley. Historical fiction including some wartime stuff, an awesome PG-rated love story, very few bad words, some cool sciencey-stuff (archaeology and geology), a little bit of the supernatural, and throw in other interesting things like the world of professional ballet dancing and a love interest with a sexy British accent...perfect ;)

The story centers on Sylvie, a young professional ballet dancer who breaks her leg and can't dance anymore.  She has a bit of a breakdown after her mom's wedding and her new stepfather (a psychiatrist...she calls him the "step-shrink") and her family think she needs a change of scene. She is sent to her family's historical home in rural Alabama, which is completely unknown to her, and begins to discover her family's rich history and the many mysteries surrounding the house and the town. I won't give away any details for you, but she does think she is going crazy because she might be seeing ghosts and her interactions with her little dog, Gigi, are really adorable. Also, she has to go to a grocery store at some point and is incredulous when she hears the store is called Piggly Wiggly. I've always gone to that store, so it never seemed weird to me, but now thinking about it, it is a pretty funny name. I like it even more now :)  

I wish they would make this one into a movie, although the ghosts might give me nightmares. I just think it would be a really interesting movie and would love to relive the story again. This might not be everyone's cup of tea, and I'll admit that I was a bit disappointed that the supernatural stuff went a little too far at the end to quickly close up some of the loose ends, but overall, it was still a really good book in my opinion.

In other news, just so you don't think that all I do is read books and bake, I am almost done with a 20 class pass at the hot yoga studio . . . I've been going almost every day, and I have been practicing my cello as well as listening to the Pimsleur approach Spanish CDs on my daily commute. See, I am keeping up with some of the things I started in 2012 :)

But of course, I do have recipes to share, and they are good ones this week: The Best Brownies #1, The Best Brownies #2, quick gnocchi, and chicken & gnocchi soup.

Brownie #1

Brownie #2

The reason for the two brownie recipes is that I was looking through my "Desserts to Try" board on Pinterest and noticed that I had two brownie recipes that both claimed to be "The One" . . . the only brownie recipe you will ever need. Well, the couldn't BOTH be the best brownies ever, so of course I had to undertake what I dubbed "The Great Brownie Challenge". It was a tale of two different types of brownie, one sweet and cakey with a rich ganache frosting, the other dark and chewy. I took a poll of all of the people that ate them and despite most people initially thinking they would vote for the frosted brownie, the chewy brownie ended up winning out in the end by quite a large margin. Truthfully though, they were both really good. The cakey ones were easier to make, but it really all just depends on which type of brownies you prefer. Anyone would probably be crazy if they didn't like either one of these recipes though. Granted, I took a few liberties with the chewy brownies because I didn't have unsweetened chocolate, so I used semi-sweet and cut down a little bit on the sugar and butter content. They still worked out perfectly fine. If you have a day and you are seriously craving brownies . . . give one, or both, of these a try.

The Great Brownie Challenge

As for the soup, I was going to make regular old chicken dumpling soup (which I love by the way), but decided to branch out and try something different. One of the girls I eat lunch with had gnocchi once and they looked so good that I decided to try them. They weren't the most beautiful things in the world, but boy were they tasty. The recipe was really easy and I just cooked them in the boiling soup and removed them with a slotted spoon. When I reheated the soup on subsequent days, I just dropped them in after heating and it was a perfect leftover meal. I did store them separately though, because I didn't want them to get soggy sitting in the soup for too long. I will admit I didn't follow the soup recipe perfectly, but it was my basis for the soup that I ended up making. I don't know how that exact recipe will turn out, but I must say, the chicken gnocchi soup that I ended up with was one of the best soups I've ever made. I'm really sad that it's all gone now. Give these recipes a try, and finish off the meal with some of those brownies . . . perfect dinners all week long :)

Enjoy :)

2014 - Book 23

"Julie of the Wolves" - Alaska

This was a Newbery Medal winner by a great author, so it couldn't help but be a good book. I would recommend it for any younger readers out there, especially those who like animals. I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, but it is a very real story and the writing is fantastic. The details are so vibrant, I almost felt like I was Miyax, living out in the Alaskan wilderness with her adopted wolf family. I feel like I learned a lot about Eskimo culture and wolves in this story, so it was educational as well as entertaining. Maybe I'm channeling my teacher friends, but this would be a great book report subject. Apparently there are two sequels to this one too, so even though it is a rather short book, there is more material out there if you would like to read it. If you're feeling too hot in the warm summer months, take a mental trip to Alaska and give this book a read :)

The recipes I have this week are chocolate "lasagna", grilled bok choy, and cookie dough Greek yogurt.

The chocolate "lasagna" was the typical all-American layered dessert with Cool Whip, chocolate pudding, and Oreos. Really, when you've had one of these type of desserts, you've had them all. It was tasty, but not home-made tasting enough for me, and kind of boring. But, this is easy to put together and it's pretty much a given that everyone at whatever pot luck you take it to will love it, so give it a try :)

The grilled bok choy was a new experience for me. It was tasty, provided you don't burn the thin ends of the leaves, but it wasn't really that good of a recipe. It was too salty, and it didn't make nearly enough. I had to double the recipe and a few of them weren't very well coated. It got mixed reviews, so I don't think I'll make it again, but it was an interesting new way to cook a veggie that I'm not very familiar with.

Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt sounded like a great idea, but again, this recipe didn't live up to my hopes for it. I bought a whole bunch of single serve yogurts and took this to a Pinterest party. Not too many people tried it (probably because it was put out after we were done with crafting and people were tired of "creating" things). Of the people that did try it, some said it was good, but it didn't really taste like cookie dough, and I'd have to agree with them. It's not bad, but just tastes like sweetened yogurt with chocolate chips in it . . . no resemblance to cookie dough, unfortunately. I really wanted this to be good, but it just wasn't. In the end, I was left with many unused Greek yogurts, and they were very useful in other dishes in the following week (soup and pasta sauce primarily) . . . so it wasn't a loss after all :)

Sorry for a week of mediocre recipes, hopefully I'll have better ones to share next time. Until then :)

2014 - Book 22

"Shattered Souls" - Texas

This was a really interesting book, and I liked it quite a bit. It seemed kind of weird at first, but I was quickly sucked in. It's a story about a girl who is hearing voices and thinks she's going crazy. It all starts to make sense when she meets a boy who tells her that she is a "Speaker", a reincarnated soul who can speak to the "Hindered", souls whose bodies have died but have some unfinished task preventing them from going to heaven or hell. This boy, Alden, is her "Protector", and they supposedly work for a secret organization in charge of helping the Hindered, eliminating the "Malevolent" (evil souls), and keeping all of this secret from humans. There are a lot more details to it, but it is an interesting look at how she deals with discovering all of this and what path she will choose to spend the rest of her life on. To top all this off, she also can't remember any of the past lives that she's spent with Alden, so that complicates everything. At any rate, I rather liked this story, and I was sad when it was over. Hopefully I'll have lots more books like that in the near future :)

The recipes I have to share today are watermelon cake, grilled cranberry chicken, and Snickers peanut butter brownie ice cream cake (yes, all of those wonderful things were combined into one dessert).

The watermelon cake was the surprise cake I made for my husband's birthday. He loves fruit . . . I mean really loves fruit, way more than cake, so this was right up his alley. The whipped coconut milk was a bit messy to work with, but the real mistake was following the directions and slicing the cake before frosting. I didn't do the best job of making it a perfect cylinder, so the pieces kept falling over. Combine that with frosting that doesn't stick too well and you have one big mess on your hands. I managed to make it look okay for the presentation, but it was definitely not my best work. Next time (and I think there will be a next time, because he loved it so much he requested it for his birthday cake every year) I will not slice the cake beforehand, and I'll try to do a better job of making the sides flat. I might try cool whip or a different type of frosting too. I did read one review who left it in the fridge over night on a piece of paper towel to let it dry out a bit so the frosting would stay on better . . . that might be another tip to try. All in all though, he loved it and it tasted good, so it was a success :)

The grilled cranberry chicken was also fantastic, but I forgot to take pictures of it. I don't like jellied cranberry sauce, so I just made fresh cranberry sauce using the very simple directions on the cranberry bag. I doubled the recipe and didn't bother reboiling it before serving (the sauce wasn't applied to the chicken until it was safely cooked, so there was no fear of contamination). It's just a really good combination of sweet and savory and spicy . . .  yum. We've made this recipe multiple times now, and it's been tasty every time, give it a try.

I don't think a dessert can look too much more appetizing than this crazy pile of sweetness. It was indeed just as good as the name implied it would be, and it was pretty easy to make too. However, I've been trying to wean myself off of liking the taste of overly processed foods and candy, so all of the candy, syrup, cool whip, and boxed brownie mix wasn't quite to my liking. It was pretty impressive though, it tasted good, and everyone liked it, so I'd say it was a winner, even though I probably won't be making it again.

Now that I've been posting multiple recipes every week, has anyone actually tried any of them? I know one of my awesome aunts tried the steel cut oats and loved them, so if you do try one of the recipes I've posted, leave me a comment and let me know how you liked it :)

That's all for this week . . . talk to you again soon.