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 :)