The Winner's Crime (Winner's trilogy book 2) by Marie Rutkoski

3 Stars
Age: High School and up

This book wasn't quite what I was expecting.  If I had book three right in front of me I would read it just to see if there is any resolution, but as it stands, I would have to special order it in from my library, and I'm not sure if its worth the effort.

There is a lot of stratagizing and plot twists to keep things interesting.  If you are someone who likes old fashioned war strategies and the loops of misunderstood love then I would recommend it to you.

There is a touch of graphic gore, no swearing, and despite the fact that she is doing things for love, there is no romance whatsoever.

3 Ingredient Homemade Oreo Sandwich Cookies

Homemade Oreo Sandwich Cookies

I love cookies, probably a little more than I should.  And these are some of my absolute favorites and they are super easy!

Ingredients:

1 box Devils Food Cake Mix (you can substitute with other chocolate mixes too.)
2 Large Eggs
3/4 cup Shortening.

Preheat oven to 350.  In a mixer combine all ingredients and mix until well incorporated.  Scoop out into 1 inch balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes.  Let cool on cookie sheet for one minute before transferring to cooling rack.  Let cool completely.  Fill with your favorite frosting* and enjoy!  Makes 36 cookies, or 18 sandwiches.

*I use homemade vanilla buttercream frosting from the Betty Crocker cookbook.  Cream cheese frosting is also wonderful.  Frosting from a can works too, I recommend adding 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to the canned frosting to make it a little bit stiff so it doesn't squeeze out of the sides as easy.

Foil Packet Grilled Meatloaf

Grilled Meatloaf

I love meatloaf, but I detest ketchup.  If you choose to ruin yours with a glaze, be my guest, just omit the seasoning salt.

In the summer I hate heating up my oven, so last year I decided to try something new, I had gotten a new grill for Mothers Day and was all up for experimenting, now I am wondering why I haven't done this for the last...ever!

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Hamburger
1 cup Breadcrumbs (or 3 slices of bread broken in tiny bits)
1 cup Milk
1 Large Egg
1/3 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp Ground Mustard
1/2 tsp Ground Sage
1/4 cup Chopped Onion
1/2 tsp Salt
Pepper to taste
Seasoning Salt (I use Lowry's brand)

In a large bowl mix everything but the seasoning salt together.  Cut 2 large sheets of tinfoil and lay them in opposite directions on top of each other (like a plus sign.  This is both for strength and just in case a hole gets poked).  Dump the meat mixture in the middle and shape into a long loaf shape.  Wrap tightly with seams on top.  Put on pre-heated grill for about 20-25 minutes.  Open foil packet and lightly sprinkle the seasoning salt on top.  Let it rest for five minutes so the juices re-distribute.

Spinach Dip

 

Spinach Dip

 

 

This spinach dip has no artichokes, because artichokes are disgusting...  It's creamy and cheesy and full of flavor, sure to be a crowd pleaser or a late night snack.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

8oz Cream Cheese (Neufchatel works just fine too)

6oz Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

1/8 tsp Garlic Salt

1/8 tsp Black Pepper

1/2 cup Sour Cream

2 cups Spinach (fresh, loosely packed)

 

Cut spinach into thin strips and rinse well.  Put into a microwave safe bowl with a few tablespoons of water and microwave for forty five seconds to one minute until wilted and it loses half of it's volume. Drain.  In the same bowl add remaining ingredients and mix. Microwave in :30 intervals stirring well until all the cheese is melted and dip is hot.

 

This can also be made ahead of time in a small crock pot, or even baked to get a crust on top.



Grilled Roasted Red Potatoes

 

 

Grilled Roasted Red Potato's 

 

These potato's are easy and make the perfect side dish to any summer meal.  The two different ways of cooking them turn the insides all creamy with a delicate crust on the outside.

 

Ingredients:

 

Red Potato's (6-8 medium sized)

2 TBSP Olive Oil

2 TBSP Butter

Salt

Pepper

 

Quarter the potato's and put in a pan to boil until halfway done.  Meanwhile in a grill safe pan put both the olive oil and the butter.  Pour off water from potato's and put them in with the oil and butter, salt and pepper to liking.  Put pan on the grill and let them bubble over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until crust is formed and potato's are done.

 

Ruby Red (trilogy) by Kerstin Gier

5 Stars
Age: 15 and up

Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue, Emerald Green

Usually I do a rating for books separately, but this time I'm going to lump them all together.

I love these books!  They are full of intrigue and suspense and mystery, the plot is wonderfully thought out and each book is a page turner.

I love the fact that it centers around secret society's and time travel without pulling in religious themes.  I have a hard time when people write stories that turn religion into fiction, my sense of sacrilege is higher than most.

All three are entertaining, funny, and based on a solid foundation.  I found next to no inconsistency's and the ending was one of complete surprise.  I have read this trilogy several times and each time I try and look for the clues that I missed before. 

Overall a clean read.  There is a love story, a few make out scenes, and a fair bit of fighting.  Only a handful of swear words; I would be fine with my children reading them.

Highly, highly recommend!

Hydrangea and Peony Burlap Wreath with Butterfly's

 

Sometimes it's nice to step out of the kitchen (although I made this on my kitchen counter...) and pull my nose out of a book and do something crafty.

 

I don't have true instructions for this, I you-tubed how to do the burlap and then I just found flowers I liked and wired them in.  I thought the butterfly clips gave it a bit of whimsy.  Wreath making is truly an individual thing, there is so much room for creativity, but sometimes it's nice to base a wreath off of someone else's and then make it your own.  Happy Crafting!

A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole

3 stars
Age: Adult

To tell you thee honest truth, I didn't even finish it.  I first downloaded the sample from Amazon, I'm hesitant on romances.  The beginning started out so sweet and sad!  It probably wasn't a good thing for me to read about someone dying from cancer just two weeks after losing my dad to that battle.

It started out all sweet and innocent and morphed into a little bit of manageable smut.  Then he moves away and things change when he comes back.

Then it turned into a sappy mess!  There was a lot of swearing that felt forced and underage smoking that everyone was oddly OK with, and a ton of kissing, which I knew there would be from the title, and I'm OK with, but there was so much confessing of love, and the chapters were super long.  There was another scene of light smut and that is when I decided I was done.  It has a sweet story line, but it's just not for me.

It's not one I would knowingly let my daughters read.  I'm not OK with a lot of the behaviors it portrayed.

Perfect Potato Salad

 

Perfect Potato Salad

Prep time: Give yourself an afternoon to get it made, it's not labor intensive, but it does take time for things to cook and then cool.
Cook time: 45-ish minutes

With summer just around the corner, for me that means grilling and eating fresh, cold, potato salad!  I can't have a hamburger without it!  If you like food with a lot of texture and bold flavor, this is the perfect side dish to any picnic, potluck, or summer meal!

*Potato Salad is fraught with food born issues if not handled properly.  Please make sure you keep things refrigerated!*

Ingredients:

8-9 medium red potato's
3 hard boiled eggs
Dill Pickles (I use 2 4inch pickles, you can use more or less depending on how chunky you want it.)
2-3 TBSP Pickle Juice
1/3 Cup Chopped Onion
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1/2 Cup Miracle Whip
1-2 TBSP Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
Pepper to taste.
Paprika and Chives or Parsley for garnish

Boil red potato's whole until soft (usually around 40 minutes.) drain and set aside to cool to almost room temperature or until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, boil 3 eggs, cool. 

Slice eggs through the middle, leaving 6-8 slices for garnish (cover and refrigerate these until later) Chop remaining eggs, pickles, and onion add to a bowl.  Add Mayo, MW, 1TBSP Vinegar, 2TBSP Pickle juice, salt and pepper.  Mix well. Add more pickle juice and/or vinegar until it becomes a smooth, thick dressing consistency.  It will be very salty- if it's not, add more salt.  (My mother says that if you taste it you should dry up and blow away from all the salt -Maybe not quite to that point, but you want a lot of salt because the potato's will balance it out.)  Refrigerate until cold.

Meanwhile, peel the skins off the potato's.  In a medium sized bowl (here comes the fun part!) Squish your potato's....Yes, grab them in your fist and squeeze...Kids love this!  This will give you parts that are mashed and parts that are still chunky.  If it needs to cool a little longer, let it, otherwise add your dressing and mix well.

Add the egg slices on top and sprinkle with paprika and chives. Steal a bite or two while it's fresh, then cover and promptly put it in the fridge so the flavors can blend and it can get cold.

The Iron Butterfly, (trilogy) by Chandra Hahn

Book 1: The Iron Butterfly
4.5 Stars
Age: High School and up

Chanda Hahn is really one of my favorite authors, despite her numerous editing errors.  Her stories are strong enough to overlook some of the wording problems.

Book 1 builds a strong foundation of characters and gives them mostly believable obstacles in a fantasy world.  Her relationships are strong and her character reactions have a touch of selfishness that makes them seem like real people

There is torture and violence, but without it, the story would fall flat.  There is a clean romantic thread and no foul language.

Book 2: The Steel Wolf
4.5 Stars

This one is actually my favorite of the three.  This is the book where Thalia discovers what she can do and figures out where her heart lies, even though she doesn't know it.  The characters are just as strong and the story is full of action.

There is a continuation of violence, but still clean.

Book 3: The Silver Siren
3.5 Stars

This is my second time reading this, and I will say that it was better this time than the first.  My main docking of stars comes from one inconsistency with Kael and the bond they have, he disappears for half the book.  Its redeeming factor is that it wraps up well.

There is war and romance, but nothing I wouldn't let my children read when they are old enough to understand.

All in all, I would recommend this series to anyone, they are fun, entertaining, and clean.  As long as your mind can fill in a few missing words.

Flood Rising (The Water Keepers. Book 4) by Christie Anderson

Three Stars
Age Range: High School and up.

Let me start off by saying that I actually enjoyed the other three books in this saga.  The Idea she has of the Water Keepers is different and fun to read because it is different.  She works a whole other world in wonderfully along with a clean love story to match.

However, I think it should have ended with three.  Book four didn't do it for me, it felt like it was just a place holder.  The whole book I kept thinking it felt more like an explanation rather than a continuation of the story. 

There is a book five that is coming in the future, I'll probably read it, just for the hopes that it turns out better since I loved the first three books.  Her writing style is easy to read, and there are no typo's.  I did feel that there was some redundancies in a few sections, like there was a good idea and it just needed to be said 3 different ways. 

There is some squeaky clean romance and no foul language of any kind.  There is a touch of violence, but nothing I wouldn't let my children read. 

Feijoada

Feijoada (Black Beans and Rice)

Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cooking time: 20 Minutes

This is a mock recipe for Brazilian Beans and Rice, I found a shortcut and it takes a fraction of the time to make and my husband loves it!  This meal is perfect on a stormy day when you need something fast, filling, and with a burst of flavor.  Not to mention it is a budget saver on your grocery list!

Recipe:

1 Pound Steak cut into bite sized pieces
1 Can of Black Beans, undrained, divided.
1 1/2 Cups of Water
1/3 Cup chopped Onion
1/2 Cup Italian Dressing
3/4 Cup Instant Brown Rice
Sour Cream and something green for garnish.

Brown steak and onions in a medium sized sauce pan.  Pour 3/4 can of beans and juice into a blender and puree, adding to the steak.  Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for around 20 minutes or until rice is tender, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.  Top with Sour cream and cilantro or chives.

This feeds my family of two adults and two children perfectly!