Fighting the Winter Blues

      As we ring in 2022, I decided to change up how I was going to do my reading goal and blog. Last year, I kind of did a theme for each month. I have to admit, I did read some books that I probably wouldn't normally pick up to read.  I decided that I would cut my reading goal in half this year and concentrate on some meaningful books that may take a little more time to read. I think I will try to incorporate more nonfiction into my reading as well. My mom and sister actually prefer nonfiction, and I do enjoy discussing books with them, so one of my selections each month is going to be a nonfiction. I also want to stay connected to young adult (YA)/juvenile fiction, so I will also include at least one from this category each month too. I feel like this will still give me a wide variety in my reading each month.      

                                                     

     The first book I read this year was The Matzah Ball  by Jean Meltzer. I chose this book because it got great reviews on social media and I was curious about the Jewish culture during the holiday season. I like to read about various cultures, races, and religions. Not only do I like to read for enjoyment, but it is a big plus if I learn something as well. This is her first novel and I can't wait to read more of her books. She has another book coming out in August, Mr. Perfect on Paper.  I will have to keep my eyes open for it. The Matzah Ball not only tells a story about celebrating Hanukkah, but it also addresses different issues, such as chronic fatigue syndrome (cfs), homosexuality, and  Jews living in a predominately Christian society during the month of December. The main character Rachel is a hoot. I really enjoyed her story and quickly got emotionally attached to her character. This is a great story about being true to yourself, plus it is a cute little romance. If  you ever had a crush on someone at camp when you were twelve years old, then wonder what they are doing twenty years later as an adult, this story will relate to you. 

 npr.org    The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak is a book that was a Reese Witherspoon book club read. It was all over social media and it was available at the library right before we closed for the holidays. So, I grabbed it and thought I would give it a try. This is a story about nature that gets tangled up in a love story. Ada is a teenager that lost her mother at a young age and has a distanced relationship with her plant obsessed father. The story goes back and forth between Ada's story and her parents story about how they met. Her mom is Turkish and her dad is Greek, which are rivals on the island. It is kind of a Romeo and Juliet story with a twist. Also woven in the book is the story of the fig tree which was growing in the tavern where Ada's parents used to meet as they were courting. They found a tavern where they could meet in the back room and no one would see them and tell their parents they were dating. Not only do we get the story from Ada's view point, but we also get the fig tree's story and view. It is a unique format that appealed to the nature lover in me. This one was worth the try. 

simonandschuster.com

     The YA novel that I started off the year with is All This Time by Mikki Daughtry. This is the same author of Five Feet Apart. I haven't read it yet, but her latest book was on a top pick list on Amazon. As I order books at our public library, I am always consulting lots of "best of", "best selling" and "top reads" lists. This was a unique story with a twist. It is about a teen couple who are graduating, have dated for all of high school, then struggle with what to do after high school with college and career goals in their future. They argue and are involved in a car wreck. I can't tell you much beyond that without spoiling the book. It is a unique twist to a typical teen story. It makes the characters look into themselves and find who they really are, with or without each other. Not the best YA book I have ever read, but if you like a romance with a twist, it is a fairly engaging story. 

                                                 

     One of the audio books I read this month was The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian. Set in the 1920's, during prohibition, it takes place in the swamps of Natchez, Mississippi.  Two girls, one a poor white girl, the other a daughter of a black sharecropper, tell their stories of how they plan on escaping the trace. The racial conflicts of the south during this time period are addressed, as well as the lifestyle of the poor living in the stilt houses on the swamp. Your heart will go out to these characters as you get to know these girls.

    This next book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer is a nonfiction book. My goal is to read at least one nonfiction book a month. I have never been a big nonfiction reader, but as I have gotten older, I seem to enjoy it even more. I am a life long learner, so I tend to choose nonfiction in which I can learn something rather than to be entertained. Braiding Sweetgrass is not a your typical nonfiction book. Not only did I learn so much about science and biology, but it is a beautifully written book. You do not hear that very often when referring to nonfiction books. There were even a couple of parts in the book where I cried and I do not ever remember crying while reading nonfiction, except maybe the Bible. The author's love and respect for nature shines through as she embraces her indigenous roots. From strawberries being the queen of the berries to welcome in Spring to the three sisters- corn, beans, and squash- growing in harmony, to a mother working hard to clean up a pond for her children to swim in to rescuing salamanders as they cross a road at night she captures nature in a way I have never witnessed before. There were parts that were a little too "sciencey " for me, but overall I highly recommend this book if you love nature. It will make you appreciate it even more. 

                                           

     Hamnet by Maggie O' Farrell was my book club read for this month. Our book club took a break due to the covid resurgence and we were able to get back together this month. This book is a fictional story about Shakespeare's family. His son dies from the plague and it inspires him to write the play Hamlet. Even though we have no way of knowing anything about Shakespeare's life, this is a well told story about the time period of when the black death was going around Europe. His wife, Agnes in the story, was an eccentric non conventional woman. They had three children, a daughter and twins, a boy and a girl. We go into the book knowing his son dies of the plague, so no spoiler alerts here, but the writing in this book is just beautiful. I actually had tears after reading how the mother suffered through her son's death. It is an interesting play on the relationship between Shakespeare and his wife and their families. I wasn't sure how I would like this one going in because I am really not a big Shakespeare fan, but it was a very engaging book. If you enjoy beautiful literature, you will like this book. 

       The last book I read in January was The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay. It is about a beloved woman who owns a bookshop in one of the small towns outside of Chicago. She and two lady friends run the shop after her husband dies. After her death, her niece who, went to school in Chicago and lived in the city but never went to visit her aunt, inherits the shop. Why? As her niece contemplates what to do with the shop she befriends the two other ladies, older than her, who helped her aunt run the shop. Along the way, she finds out about some family issues that caused confusion as she was growing up. The relationship that develops between the three ladies is wonderful. It is a very uplifting book that examines family, forgiveness, and grace. It was a delightful read. 

     The two months after Christmas is always the most difficult for me. I do not like the cold. I do not like the dark days. And, did I mention, I do not like the cold?! I tend to have seasonal depression in the winter and it can be a tough time. I fell off of the fasting wagon during January and I was just miserable. We always have lots of leftover goodies around the house from the holidays. I have extra groceries in the house that I don't usually keep other times of the year and I hate for them to go to waste. So, I tend to snack more and bake more and just cook items I wouldn't normally cook. Not good for a plus sized girl who can gain weight just smelling of food.   Thankfully, starting February 1st, I have a fresh new look on eating and am going to try and get back into the intermittent fasting lifestyle.  I always feel so much better when I am on it.  With all of that being said, I thought I would share some of the dishes I made with all of the holiday "extras" we had around the house. 

     First, I made a tiramisu for my son's birthday. His birthday is December 31st, but we weren't able to celebrate with him until after New Year's day. Tiramisu is one of his favorites and I wanted to make it from scratch. I did make the wonderful filling or custard from scratch, but I could not find ladyfingers, the cookie which is traditionally used in tiramisu. I did use a German cookie that I found at Aldi. It is a biscuit type sandwich cookie that had dark chocolate as the filling. It made a WONDERFUL substitution. The dark chocolate went great with the rum and coffee flavors of the traditional tiramisu. 

     Next, I had been craving scones all during the holidays and never made any so I decided to make some with the left over whipping cream I had in my fridge. The recipe I usually use always says to brush the scones with heavy cream before baking them. I usually do not do this to save a few calories. I didn't think it made that big of a difference. Boy were they good. Here I made blueberry scones with some blueberries  I had in the freezer from the blueberry farm where we picked berries this past summer. I made a simple vanilla glaze to drizzle over them. Scones are my favorite. 

       One of my favorite soups is broccoli cheddar, especially the one you can get at Panera.  I found a copy cat recipe on Pinterest and it is a wonderful soup. One thing about the broccoli cheese soup is that it usually calls for cream. I don't always use cream. Again, I try to save a few calories and I usually use 2% milk. I had a quart of heavy whipping cream left over in the fridge from a recipe I made over Christmas and so I used some in the soup. It was wonderful!! My husband doesn't eat broccoli cheddar soup so I usually freeze leftovers and can enjoy it throughout the winter. 

     With some of my Christmas gift cards, I ordered a doughnut pan. I have always wanted one. Cake doughnuts are just as good to me as the fried ones. So, I thought maybe I needed to test my new pan. I had leftover buttermilk in the fridge from the holidays as well, so I made some buttermilk doughnuts with a vanilla icing. OH MY!! Needless to say they did not last long in this house. 

          Since the banana pudding cookies that I shared with you last month were so good, I had to make another batch of those since I had a package of banana pudding left over. (Do you see my addiction to sweets?) This cookie recipe is so easy and the cookies come out so pretty and delicious. We did make these last at least a week. I hid the cookie jar in a cabinet and we rationed them, If I did not do that, we could probably down them in two sittings. If you haven't tried these yet, why not? 

     As I was cleaning out the freezer, I found that I had bought two packages of pie crusts. So, I thought why not make some chicken pot pie. I do not do a double crust with my chicken pot pie. I just do a top crust. I have a very simple recipe I made up in my head. I cook my chicken in the crock pot all day while I am at work. When I get home, I cut up or pull the chicken, add a can of potato soup, I usually fill the soup can about half full of chicken broth and add it. I then add a bag of mixed veggies and some poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Stir it up until it is as thick as you like it. Add more broth as needed then pour into a pie dish or a square baking dish. Then I roll out one of the pie crust and put it on top. Brush egg on top and cut a few vent holes. Once it comes out of the oven and cools, it has the best flavor. The secret is to cook your chicken slowly in the crockpot with seasonings. Our new favorite all purpose seasoning is Dan O's. We do not do the spicy, just the traditional. It is wonderful on everything including chicken, burgers, pork chops, baked potatoes, etc. 

     The next three items I am going to share were for my Mom's birthday. My sister and I planned to make soup and dessert for Mom's birthday and to take it to her and Dad so that they didn't have to get out in the cold. It always seems to snow on Mom's birthday and this year it snowed. I usually make Mom a chocolate cake for her birthday of some sort because chocolate is her favorite. But this year, I stepped outside the box and tried something different. I made a lemon blueberry cake with lemon curd filing and a lemon buttercream frosting. It was very good! I even tried to candy the lemon slices, but that was a fail. The insides fell apart. I followed directions I found on Pinterest, but don't know what I did wrong or if it was just because lemons are out of season. Here is the recipe link https://pin.it/2KHWiaI and I also made homemade lemon curd, which was a success. https://pin.it/24GmKHj

I think I baked the cake just a little too long, but it is difficult to get a cake just right for me. I always make it just a little too done. I am always afraid I am going to take it out too early and the center will be doughy. But the flavors are very good together. I used some of the blueberries I had in the freezer from the blueberry farm. I may try this again in the summer. 

my failed candied lemons

My beautiful Mom with her cake and birthday flowers.

          The other items I took to share with Mom for her birthday was a 15 bean soup. I bought one of those bags with all the different beans and legumes in it. I found a recipe on Pinterest for a bean and ham soup. It has Italian seasonings and a tomato base. It was not your typical ham and bean soup. It was very tasty. https://pin.it/AxTEbMM

     I also made some potato chip/chocolate chip cookies. My Dad is not real big on lemon, so I made a dozen of these to take over with the lemon blueberry cake. I used the kitchen sink cookies recipe that I shared last month. I just added potato chip crumbs, those little nuggets at the bottom of a chip bag and some chocolate chips. They were awesome! I am a sucker for the whole salty sweet combo. Yes, the chocolate chips were also left over from the holiday groceries. 

     As I mentioned above, our book club met this month for the first time since before Thanksgiving. We read Hamnet  which has a scene where Shakespeare and his future wife to be meet in the cellar and have a tryst which involves knocking apples off of shelves. So, since I am always in charge of the dessert for book club, I made apple crisp cheesecake bars. They have a shortbread cookie crust with a cheesecake filling then topped with apples and crumble. You then drizzle the bars with caramel after they cool or before serving. They were a hit! https://pin.it/7pQ3p2k

     The final item I will share with you involves my sour dough starter. I was going to get my starter out of the fridge to make some bread and it had gone bad. So I had to begin again. When making starter, it involves feeding it and then dumping half of your new starter and feeding it again. There are lots of recipes for the extra you dump so I found a recipe for homemade crackers. I have never made crackers before. This recipe called for sour dough and wheat flour. So, I thought I would try it. You can add any herb or seasoning you like to the crackers. I used the Everything bagel seasoning I had in the cabinet. The crackers turned our pretty good. I just made a small batch to try. They were easier than I thought they would be. I will definitely be trying to make more of these. https://pin.it/7eKyWwS

                                          

     Now you understand why I have to get back on the intermittent fasting wagon. I love to bake and cook and when I can't get out and walk or work in the yard because of the cold, I tend to pack on more pounds. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I hope you found a new read or a new recipe to try. Feel free to share books or recipes. I love both! 

Keep reading! 

  

Falling for New Releases

      For the month of October, I decided to try and read only things that were newly released this year. I think I ended up reading maybe one or two that were released last year in 2020. I also read a couple that have not been released yet. They are galley copies. Since I attend several online Library Journal webinars with authors, I have access to read some early copies of books. It is a little perk of being a librarian. So, let's get started. The first book I want to share with you is The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. This book came out in February of 2021. I know there are other books about the dust bowl and the Great Depression, but this book will stick with you long after reading it. It really is amazing how that generation made it through that time in history. Kristin Hannah does a good job with description and feeling. She develops her characters so well that you miss them once you finish the book. Like so many historical fiction books, I learned so much about this time in our history that I did not know. When a fiction book makes me do my own research, it is very compelling. I started listening to this book on the audiobook version and it disappeared on me before I could finish it. I immediately found the hard copy at the library so that I could finish it. This one is very much worth the read. 

     The Invisible Life of Addie Larue  by V.E. Schwab was released in October of 2020. It has been on my TBR (to be read) list for over a year and I decided to give it a try. It was not a disappointment. I love when an author has a unique idea for a book and goes with it. So many books are similar and just varied by location or characters. This is kind of a play on the Devil and Daniel Webster, but it has a very unique twist. It is very engaging and one that you will not want to put down. I have to admit that I had a difficult time getting into it at first, but I found myself worrying about Addie when I wasn't reading the book. The audiobook version of this one is very well done. 

     The next book was a nonfiction book and it is NOT a new release. It originally came out in June of 2006 but there is an updated version that came out in May 2020, Jesus Rode a Donkey: Why Republicans Don't Have the Corner on Christ  by Linda Seger. I have not read the updated version, however I ordered it after reading this version. I have been struggling with my beliefs over the last two years. I am a Christian and believe in God, but I struggle with being told that I can't be one political party if I am a Christian. This book has been comforting to me. There are some political topics in it from 2006, that really didn't  help how I am feeling now, but I passed the newer version on to my Mom and I will probably reread some of it with the newest updates. If you are struggling with how divided the world is today on various topics, this book may be helpful for you. 

     The next book I want to share is not a new release either. Virgin River  by Robyn Carr came out in March of 2007 but I have never read it. I have heard that the series on Netflix is pretty good, so I thought I would try it. It is about a young nurse practitioner from New York who wishes to get away from the rat race of the busy city hospital and get a fresh start in a rural, picturesque town after her husband is killed in the big city. However, the small town life is not what she thought it was. This is a cute drama with a touch of romance. The quirky characters make it a fun read.  

     The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb is another book that has not come out yet. It is a galley copy that I downloaded and read before it is released in February of 2022. This is a story of Ray, a black classical musician whose family heirloom violin is stolen right before he competes in a national violin competition in Russia. It addresses the struggles and the prejudice he faces being a young black male in the world of classical music. This is the author's first book and I thought he did a very nice job with the topic. The beginning is a little slow, but once you find out about his grandfather's violin and it gets stolen, the story picks up. I found myself cheering for Ray towards the end of the novel. 

     The Jasmine Project by Meredith Ireland is a young adult novel that was released in September 2021. I got to be on a webinar with the author and decided I needed to read it once it came out. It is a cute story about a young girl who is a senior in high school and she has dated the same boy all through high school. Her plan is to move in with him in an apartment once they graduate. However, he throws her a curve ball and says they need a break the summer after they graduate to make sure they are making the right choice. Her family decides to help her see she deserves so much better than Paul. Part of the story is a group chat with her crazy family made up of a mix of characters. Jasmine is a Korean adoptee and her family is a mix of Italian and Asian. They are overprotective and and love her, but sometimes they but in just a little too much. This story is a mix of The Bachelorette and  To All the Boys I've Loved Before. You don't want to miss this one. 

     Another audiobook that I really enjoyed came out last June in 2020. If I Were You by Lynn Austin is a historical fiction about two girls in England during World War II. Audrey is practically a royal with servants and a fancy house. The other girl, Eve, is the daughter of one of the servants. She becomes a scullery maid and she and Audrey become friends. Audrey, even though she has lots of money and privilege, she has a difficult time making friends. Eve is carefree and makes friends very easily. They both end up serving during the war. Their on again, off again friendship makes them both realize how much they need each other when they both need it the most. It is a wonderful story about friendship. 

     Made from Scratch: The Legendary Success Story of Texas Roadhouse by Kent Taylor came out in September of 2021. This was a very readable nonfiction. My husband and I enjoy Texas Roadhouse and we always comment on how crowded it is every time we go. There is ALWAYS a wait for a table. Then I realized that they do not advertise. How are they so successful? How did Mr. Taylor make it such a success? His methods were non conventional and he was told "no" many times. But, he never gave up on his dream. It is a very inspirational entrepreneurial biography. 

      What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris was another galley book. It will come out February 2022. This is a coming of age book about a young black girl who loses her dad to a drug overdose. Her mom has a difficult time with his death and KB and  her sister go to live with their grandfather over the summer. Her mom and her grandfather have been estranged and there is a lot of tension between them. During that summer, KB learns a lot about life as she and her teenage sister, Nia go through some growing pains and learn about racism, boys, and relationships. 

  The last book I wish to share is The Moonlight Child by Karen McQuestion. It is an audiobook that came out last year, September of 2020. This is a mystery about a young girl in the foster system that ages out and her advocate asks her mother to give her a place to stay and get on her feet since she just turned eighteen and aged out of the system. While Sharon,the advocates mother, is outside one night watching an eclipse, she notices a small girl washing dishes in the window in the house next door. She didn't think the Flemings had a young daughter. Who is this girl? Then, Nicki comes to live with her and notices a light in the basement window next door. Who is this child and why are the Flemings denying that she is there? Sharon and Nicki take on this mystery and try to solve it in their own way. This was an interesting story and it was great to see the development of Nicki and Sharon's relationship as a family, one that Nicki has never had before. 

     Along with the cooler temperatures comes the season of celebrating which involves lots of eating in America. Fall is probably the worst time to try and watch your weight or to diet. I have been blessed, or cursed, with a sweet tooth that will not go away. My Papaw Carman always loved sweets and my Papaw Lockard always had Little Debbie Cakes or cookies in his house. Once Autumn made it's appearance, along came all of the pumpkin spice followers. I have always loved pumpkin and I tend to eat it year around. My sister was craving a pumpkin pie, so I broke down and made a pumpkin pie for our sister's craft night. Neither one of our husbands are really crazy about pumpkin, so I made a pie so we could split it and she could take half home, so neither one of us would eat a WHOLE pie ourselves. 😋    

This is a new recipe I tried last year and it has become my favorite pumpkin pie recipe. Extra Smooth Pumpkin Pie is exactly that. The secret to it's smoothness is a little bit of cream cheese. It doesn't really have a cheesecake flavor, it is just a really smooth pumpkin pie. 

 

Then, apples start coming into season. We can buy apples at any time of the year here in the United States, but they really seem to be flavorful during the fall. A former colleague gave me a bag of apples from her brother's orchard. I had to find a recipe to encompass that wonderful apple, cinnamon or caramel goodness. The first recipe I made was apple hand pies or kind of like homemade apple pop tarts. 

These were really simple. You just cook your apples with cinnamon and sugar and then you use pie crust. Roll out the pie crust real thin and fill with your apple goodness then crimp, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar then bake. They are best hot right out of the oven. They remind me of the fried apple pies my Mamaw Carman used to make when I was a kid. It was a similar idea, but you make a dough, roll out small circles, then put in your filling and then fry them in a cast iron skillet on the stove. My Papaw Carman thought they were the best. He even dropped one in my grandmother's dish water one time and rescued it. I guess that gives new meaning to the 5 second rule. I tell ya the man had a sweet tooth.  The other apple dessert I made was Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars. These were delicious!! I made my first homemade salted caramel. Mine turned out a little thin and not as rich in color, but it tasted wonderful. I guess I will just have to try again 😉 My favorite part about these bars, besides the caramel, is the shortbread crust. I love anything that is shortbread, one of my favorite cookies. 

          To continue on with the pumpkin spice theme, I made a batch of my Mom's Two Week Refrigerator Bran Muffins. They are the best!! I know you are thinking...What? Bran muffins? Yes, they are so moist and tasty. You can mix a batch and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks and bake off of it . However, mine rarely lasts that long. For this batch of muffins, I added pumpkin and some pumpkin spice. They were delicious. I then sprinkled some pumpkin seeds on top before baking them. I love the crunch. You can add many types of fruit or flavors to these muffins, but pumpkin is my favorite add in. I also add in flax seed for extra nutritional value. 

     The last fall recipe I wish to share is a cookie recipe. I am a true cookie monster. I love a cookie of any kind and will most times choose cookies over other sweets. Something about being able to just pick it up and take a bite. While my husband and I were on one of our weekend trips, we stopped by a Panera Bread restaurant. I always get one of their iced shortbread cookies when I am there. They were out and offered me a kitchen sink cookie. I thought that sounded interesting, so I thought I would try it. First off, it was a BIG cookie. It had sea salt sprinkled on top. Once I took a bite, I was hooked. It had pretzel pieces, caramel, chocolate, and I am not sure what else. So, I did what I always do when I find something I eat out and really like it, I try to find a copycat recipe online. I found one and it makes a delicious cookie. Then, I did what I always do again, I made the recipe my own by  adding other ingredients. Since it was near Halloween, I call them Trick-or treat cookies. I used the recipe but I also added chopped up Reese cups, toffee chips, and m&m's. I think you could chop up any left over Halloween candy you might have and it would work as well. I made a double batch and sent some to work with my husband and took some to work myself. They were a bit hit. 

     My last pumpkin recipe, I promise, is a pumpkin latte recipe. The one I found on Pinterest was a Weight Watchers recipe, which is even better. I like this recipe because it not only has the spice, but it actually has pumpkin in it as well. It makes a delicious drink and if you are a pumpkin aficionado like me, you have to try it. 

 

This summer girl is trying to make the best of this chilly weather. It does not help my waist line which is why I have to stay active and keep walking and working out, but it gets me through these chilly days. Until I can get my toes in the sand again, I will make it work. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope you are taking time to enjoy  a good book and the taste of the season. Check back next month as I talk about my favorite gene, historical fiction. 

Happy Fall!!!