I am really excited to share an amazing cookbook with you guys!!!! Do you follow Danielle Walker from Against all Grain? If you are looking for healthy or paleo recipes, you need to add that site to your list. She shares all kinds of amazing recipes!!! Well, on September 27th, her new cookbook Celebrationscomes out. The blurb on the cover says, “A year of gluten-free, dairy-free, and paleo recipes for every occasion.” Ummm, yes please!!!
The second this book arrived on my doorstep I tore the package open and started flipping through the pages. First of all, the book looks great and has gorgeous pictures. What I love specifically about Celebrations is that the book is divided in to chapters of meal ideas for specific occasions. She covers everything from the bigger holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, to smaller occasions like Mother’s Day, Game Day, and BBQs. She also shares her top 10 tips for effortless entertaining, kitchen gear, and there is a glossary and substitutes for certain ingredients. There are a few basic recipes in the back for ketchup, ghee, etc, and even a conversion chart.
The recipes shared in each chapter give you great ideas on what to serve for those particular events, but these are recipes that can be used in your every day life as well! Each chapter covers everything from appetizers, the main course to dessert and drinks. Some of my favorite recipes I have seen and can’t wait to try (besides the tons of grain free cakes she shares) are….
Berry Tarte with vanilla bean custard
Ginger Ale (yes your own way to make it!!!!)
BLTA Burger with Special Sauce
Baked “Beans”
Eggs Benedict Strata
Salted Caramel-Chocolate Panna Cotta
Cabernet-braised Short Ribs with Parsnip-Turnip Puree
Carnitas on Tostones
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Mulled Wine
Sausage Breakfast Casserole
Annnnnd basically every other recipe in this book. I am telling you, everything looks so good!!!
I think this book would be a great addition to your collection, or the perfect gift for your grain free friends! I already have a few meals picked out to try in the next few weeks and I know this book will get a ton of use when I go back to Whole 30/Paleo after baby is born.
**I received an advanced copy of Celebrations through Blogging for Books for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**
You guys!!! I am happy to report that it is entirely possible to bake delicious cookies without flour! Who knew?? For some reason, flourless cookies sound more healthy right? Or at least in my head it does. Either way, these cookies smell like brownies when you bake them and are full of delicious flavor! Even if they don’t look like much….
What You Need
3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
12 tablespoons of liquid egg whites or 4 egg whites separated
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
What You Do
–Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
–Whisk together powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt.
–Stir in egg whites and vanilla.
–Whisk everything together until just moistened, then stir in chocolate chips.
–Drop batter by tablespoons onto parchment paper lined baking sheet. There will be spreading, so leave some space!
–Bake for 8-10 minutes and let cool for awhile on baking sheet before transferring to an airtight container.
(I didn’t wait long enough and my cookies stuck together, which is why there is lack of pretty pictures of cookies.)
It’s that time again!!! Show Us Your Books with Steph and Jana is my favorite day of the month in blog land. Last month I added quite a few to my TBR, as one tends to do! I also promised myself I wasn’t going to add any more books to my Netgalley shelf so that I could focus on clearing it out. And ummm while I did read a few books from it, I also added more. I CANT HELP IT! So let’s take a look at my books lately.
You guys know my love for Liane Moriarty, so I was really excited and anticipating the day that I could download this book on Audible! When I first started listening, I was a little bored and confused with all the jumping around. I just wanted to know what the hell happened at the BBQ?!?!?! You don’t really start to find out what happened until you are a good 8 hours in to the book. It is a loooong book! I did finally start getting in to it after the first few hours and enjoyed it. You really get to know all the characters. My favorite was probably Tiffany. I couldn’t stand Erika most of the book and Clementine got on my nerves as well. But even though I didn’t care for them, it was still a good read.
Bottom Line: If you are a Liane Moriarty fan, then you need to give this book a go! I will say, it is not my favorite by her though. I enjoyed What Alice Forgot and Big Little Lies much more.
Rating: 3.5/5
Audio Comment: I have listened to every Liane Moriarty book via audiobook and I have to say the accent for the neighbor (Vid) was just awful at times. I got used to it after the first few hours and it quit bothering me so much.
One of the main characters in this book suffers from depression. It is certainly a harder topic to read about because as in real life, those that suffer from depression make me feel so helpless. It is a battle within them and there isn’t really anything you can do to help them. This book alternates between four characters: Abby (the wife who is depressed), Ryan (the husband who is a football coach), Juliana (their daughter) and Lauren (Abby and Ryan’s college friend.)
To keep from spoilers, basically something happened in the past that keeps haunting Abby and when the truth bubbles to the service, it threatens to destroy them all. I feel like this book brings light to a topic that many people try to avoid, mental illness. It does so in a tasteful, realistic way. I didn’t mind the chapters skipping POV because it is important for the story.
Bottom Line:If you are looking for a heavier chic lit read, then this is for you. If you or someone you know suffers from depression….this book might either help you understand your loved one and perhaps make you feel not so alone.
Rating:3.5/5
I received an advanced copy of Where We Fall from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.
This one was on my TBR for awhile and so many of my friends gave it five star reviews so I knew I had to read it. I have to be in a certain mood to handle historical fiction, as it’s not my favorite genre to read.
This book! I had so many emotions and thoughts. There are two things that really stuck out to me in this book. At one point one of the characters wondered how this war could happen just because people worship different gods. Isn’t it crazy how this is still an issue today? And another thing is how people just assumed The Nightingale was a man because no woman could possibly do what The Nightingale did. In fact, the women were treated so badly in this book between prodding them like animals, stealing their food, whipping them, raping them. It is just crazy. I like to think we have moved forward as a society, but I still feel that women are not perceived as smart as men or as capable as men sometimes.
Reading about WWII is a heavy subject, but this book was written so beautifully. I really enjoyed it and had a hard time putting it down. You really get sucked in to the characters and the war from their point of view.
Bottom Line: Read it!!! This book is very enjoyable and I believe no matter the genre you prefer, you can take something from it.
Rating: 5/5
Audio Comment: I really enjoyed the narrator for this book, her voice is pleasant and her accents are on point.
I was drawn to this book because the premise reminds me of Grace and Frankie, a show that I really enjoy. The book starts out with a huge shock, Caroline’s husband Adam of 17 years has cheated on her with another man. We also find out he has other secrets too and now Caroline is questioning her whole life and everything she thought she knew.
I really loved the relationship between Caroline and her sister Ruby. And I was engaged throughout the book as Caroline tried to discover who she was as an individual. At times I felt the book was a little simple, like I wanted a little more about Adam and the why. There are certainly some deeper emotions dealt with, like Caroline having to work through her anger and grief surrounding the dissolve of her long marriage. Yet it was done simply. If that makes sense?
Bottom Line: I enjoyed reading this book and found myself thinking several times about how a person is supposed to handle such a shock like this. If you like chic lit, I would say give it a try.
Rating:4/5
I received an advanced copy of Results May Vary from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.
I felt like this book was a little repetitive and not a whole lot of action going on. The characters were alright, I didn’t hate them but I wasn’t super invested in any of them either. I don’t even really have anything else to say about this book. Your typical, shallow YA read.
Bottom Line: This book was alright, but I think her other books I have read were better.
Rating: 2.5/5
Audio comment: The narrator for this book is pleasant to listen to. The only thing I didn’t care for was her attempt at a New York accent. That was pretty terrible.
While I love Harry Potter and many other books and movies, I don’t really get the fangirling over things to the extent of writing my own stories and being so obsessed with everything that surrounds it. So that part of the book I didn’t relate to. What I did relate to, was Cath’s attitude about meeting new people and college at first. I remember wanting to stay in my comfort bubble that time of my life as well. I could have done without the readings from Simon Snow books before each chapter. While it sometimes related to the chapter material, I felt it was sort of a waste of time. I wish they would have focused even more on Cath’s relationship with Levi or her sister and less on the readings from her fanfic or the Simon Snow books. I was also somehow a little disappointed with the ending. Like I wanted more.
Bottom Line: I really loved Attachments, this one was just meh for me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the book but it wasn’t my favorite. It just sort of passed the time.
Rating: 3/5
Audio Comments: The narrator was decent to listen to.
I really liked the premise of this book. You basically bounce between present time and memories, which I liked the flow of. Mia is in a horrible car accident and she is sort of trapped between living and dying and has the decision if she should stay or not. I don’t really feel like the characters were very developed in this book. I enjoyed my time while I was listening to it, but it wasn’t amazing and I will probably forget about it soon. I did tear up during two different parts though, so I guess it did manage to tug at my heart strings.
Bottom Line:If you are looking for a decent read to pass the time, this has a different premise which I enjoyed.
This is a nonfiction book that is supposed to be taken as humor on being a woman and getting older. I related to some of her rants about maintenance of taking care of your hair and shaving and exercising, etc. And she was right on about all the ridiculous products we get sucked in to buying just to look younger.
Bottom Line: I related to many of the topics that were covered and at times it was entertaining. Nothing mind blowing. This is a quick read, about three hours. I think anyone from their 30’s and up could relate and laugh along to a few points in this book.
And someone we are about to be mid-way through September already. What?!?! I suppose it is hard to believe seeing as how it was 100 degrees here on Saturday. It is all they could talk about on ESPN2 during the Alabama game.
Friday I stopped and grabbed my first Sea Salt Caramel Frappuccino of the season! And a pumpkin sugar cookie because Friday. Duh.
For lunch, I ran over to Brookwood and had a philly cheesesteak and cheese fries, then perused Target as one does. I found the cutest little snow leopard print shoes for baby girl on clearance!!! Leopard is totally a neutral, so these will look so cute on her!
Saturday morning I was up early doing a deep clean in the house. You know the cleaning where you finally get that nasty white gooey stuff out to clean your flat top stove, wipe down cabinets, and clean extra good everywhere? Yeah that one. The rest of the day was spent watching football, of course!! My sister stopped by for a little bit and brought baby girl some books, a pair of Christmas pajamas and some safety items to start the long process of baby proofing this house.
I showed her all the stuff that was gifted to us from Chris’s company, the paint color we plan to get on the wall next week, and our crib which was delivered Friday!!! The color is perfection and I can’t wait to see it set up in that room! Chris and I thought it was a little weird that someone drew a baby on the crib box…
Sunday morning I put all the baby stuff in to the closet to get the room ready for painting, meal planned, grocery shopped and food prepped. Of course, I had to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a little sustenance. Is this not the saddest frosted donut you ever did see? Hardly anything on it!
I made potato corn chowder for lunches this week and some flour-less chocolate fudge cookies that I will share the recipe for soon! They were so good! The rest of the day we finished watching the rest of PLL for this season and got half way through season 8 of One Tree Hill. There was also lots of this.
I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Linking up with Biana.
Favorite Song: I am jamming to Mynga I’m Done. It’s sort of like a good angry song. I don’t know, it calmed me down at work this week.
Favorite Moments:
–On Tuesday, I met up with a friend for lunch at Shiki. It was so nice to just chit chat and not worry about the fact that it was Tuesday. Not to mention that their Masaman chicken is just the best!!! And coconut tofu soup. Always the soup.
–Yesterday, Chris’s company had a baby shower for him and he brought home so much stuff!!! I felt so overwhelmed and blessed going through it all last night. One of the things that they got was this book, Oh Baby! The Place You’ll Go. It is the sweetest book. I read it out loud this morning when I was sitting in her room surrounded by all the things and she started kicking around in there. I know she can hear me, it was seriously the coolest thing!!! This was the picture he sent me yesterday after the shower…
Favorite Recipe:Like seriously, how amazing does this look??? And caramel? Stop it!!!
Favorite Snack: I have had the Terra chips before and they were good. I think I have had the mixed bag of like beets and carrots and the Mediterranean ones. For some reason, I picked up a bag of the sea salt sweet potato ones three weeks ago and I cant stop with these! They are soooooo good.
And I am thinking that this top would be great to hide under until I can get my body back in shape after baby. I really love the Lush brand from Nordstrom, they have some great and affordable pieces. It comes in some seriously gorgeous colors I am thinking the one below and Fig would be just right for me!
Favorite Links:
–Just be basic already. This is a list of basic fall things, and most of these things I must do each year!
–Have you seen the lists that BuzzFeed does of the 21 things to add to your Amazon wish list. This is the most recent one, but if you google it there are a ton of them and they have the coolest things!!! Great for gift ideas too.
Favorite Funnies:
While watching homeless animal commercials…
When you see a flock of bratty teenagers out and about talking crap and you think…
When someone drives like an asshat and then you wind up next to them at the same red light…
My life..
Linking up with Amanda. I hope you all have a great weekend!
