Meal Monday

Things have been quite around here. We haven't been doing much of anything. So I found sound new recipes to try this week past week so here we go.

• spaghetti -- this was something that didn't get made last week
• mac 'n cheese with tuna -- again something that didn't get made last week and got moved again in favor of some leftovers
• Chicken Wild Rice soup -- recipe found here. I really like this version, much better then the last recipe for this that I made
• Frozen Pizza -- I hate to admit it but a planned for this. I need a no fuss quick meal for Halloween
• Santa Fe chicken -- This got bumped to next week, as I forgot to take it out of the freezer and we ended up going and picking something up.
• Mediterranean Pork -- recipe found here.
• Hotdish

 Did you make anything good last week?

My Reading Life review

My Reading Life by Pat Conroy


Type: non-fiction


Synopsis: Pat talks of books and how they have shaped his life.


Review: This is another book that I didn't finish, not that it was a bad book by any means. In fact it was pretty good. I had a hard time deciding not to continue reading it. But it flowed along nicely. Nothing really stood out to me. I probably would have finished it if wasn't a library book, or if I didn't have half a dozen other books sitting at home waiting for me to read. I did in fact stop reading this book to read two other books that I just couldn't wait to read. There was nothing exciting or that enticed me to pick it up instead of watching TV. Would make a great filler book.

2 out of 5 stars

The Rose Garden Review

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Type: fiction

Synopsis: After her sister's death Eva returns to Cornwall, a place where she spent her childhood summers. Trying to find a place where she can call home. Some how she finds herself jumping back and forth in time, from her present time to 1715.

Review:  I loved this book. I finished it in just over 24 hours. It takes for all the things I love to read about: other places, other times, some danger/adventure, a little bit of magic and toss in some romance for good measure. Seem to make a wonderful book for me. This is a pretty light read, though. 

5 out of 5 stars.

October Best of Kid Books

We didn't get through a whole lot of kid books this month. I know we read but not a lot of them stood out. Some were just read because we needed something short. On the plus side Squirm who is now 2 and half, has decided she likes to be read to at bedtime. Granted it mean crawling into her bed with her and reading, as she doesn't like sitting still long enough to be cuddle up with a book in the living room. She also likes looking at book in bed when she supposed to be going to sleep. So come morning time there is often a dozen books or so in bed with her. Can't blame her I like going to bed with a book too.

This is one of the books that did stand out for me this month. ZooZical by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown. In brief its about what the zoo animals get up to during the long, boring winter time.

I liked it a lot. The pictures were cute and the story read like a poem.

So did you have any books that you or your kids enjoyed this month? I'm always looking for books to read with the girls.

Meal Monday

Good Morning! How was your weekend?

So we had a poor week last week. So this was a meal plan, using lots of things from the freezer or what we had on hand.

• lasagna -- which I had made a double of the week before and froze
• pork loin and fixed up mashed potatoes -- pork loin I had in the freezer from a buy on get one free deal, and the mashed potatoes were a left over that I spruced up with sour cream and cheese.
• tuna hot dish
• eggs and sausages -- another freezer find
• ham steak and scalloped potatoes -- had the ham steak in the freezer from when Hubby bought ham from the butcher shop. Scalloped potatoes recipe from PW found here.
• spaghetti -- this got moved in favor leftovers
• mac n' cheese with tuna -- this got moved in favor of grill tuna melts and grilled cheese sandwiches

See nothing real special but that's how we rolled this week. What do come up with for meal on a poor week?

Erak's Ransom review

Erak's Ransom by John Flanagan

Type: young adult, adventure, fantasy?

Synopsis: This is book 7 in the Ranger's Apprentice series. Timeline wise though it come between book 4 and 5. Will is at the end of his time as Halt's apprentice. And they are off on a new adventure to help their friend Erak, who has been taken hostage.

Review: I really like this series of books. They are a nice little adventure series, with knights and rangers and what not. This book would have been a lot better as the 5th book in the series, where it fits in the timeline. There is no worry about the characters because you know that the they all come out at then end, because they were in the previous books or at least mentioned. Still I really enjoyed reading it. 

3.75 out of 5 stars.

meal Monday

How was your weekend? We had a fairly quite one. The Hubby worked some OT Friday night and Saturday, so we made it a quite weekend.

Here's what was on my meal plan last week:

• lasagna
• roasted chicken
• Chicken spaghetti -- I used the left over roasted chicken. This one was from PW cookbook, will have to say I like the recipe that I got from Paula Deens magazine better
• pizza 
• red bean and rice
• hamburger rice
• french toast

I also made a treat last weekend. Peanut Butter Brownie cups recipe found here. They came out pretty good. Definitely will make them again.

See nothing special. But it was good. Anybody try anything new this past week. I'm on the hunt for some new recipes.