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 :)