Top Ten New To Me Authors I Read in 2012

I don't have a lot of blogging time this week, but it's Tuesday and this week's Top Ten list at The Broke and the Bookish sounded like one I could manage: Top Ten New To me Authors I Read in 2012: 

• Aimee Bender - The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
• Julian Barnes - The Sense of an Ending
• Julia Stuart - The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise
• S.L. Watson - Before I Go To Sleep
• Erin Morganstern - The Night Circus
• Diana Gabaldon - Outlander
• Sarah Blake - The Postmistress
• Ernest Cline - Ready Player One
• Julie Otsuka - The Buddha in the Attic
• Timothy Egan - The Big Burn

 Interesting. When I started going through my list of books read this year, I figured that most of them were new-to-me authors, but I did read quite a few from favorite authors also.  I enjoyed all ten of these very much and would certainly be interested in reading another book by any of these authors.

How about you?

What new-to-you authors did YOU try in 2012?

(For my list of new-to-me kid/teen/YA authors, check out my list at Great Books for Kids and Teens).

It's Monday 12/10! What Are You Reading?

Ahhhh...Monday morning and I am all alone in a quiet house.  We saw friends and had some fun on Saturday, but Sunday was a busy, exhausting day.  Ready to catch up today and start a new week!

I did have a satisfying reading week:

• I finished The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan just moments before my book group meeting.  Unfortunately, I was too sick to go to the meeting and was very disappointed because I loved the book and was looking forward to discussing it.  Here's my review - I still want to discuss it so be sure to leave comments!
• After that, I went back to my book-in-progress and...I FINISHED MIDDLEMARCH!  Woohoo!  Yes, it only took me a month, but I did finish this hefty classic...and enjoyed it very much.  Review to come this week.
• My reading strategy for the rest of the month is to focus on beefing up my 2012 Reading Challenges (especially reading from my TBR shelves) and reading as many books as possible to wrap up the year!  I was also craving some kids/teen/YA reading after my month-long relationship with Middlemarch.  So I am now reading Greetings From Planet Earth by Barbara Kerley, a middle-grade novel about a 12-year old boy in 1977 who is obsessed with space travel...and with learning more about his father who was MIA in Vietnam.  It's great so far.
• On audio, I went back to a middle-grade audio book I started many months ago and then set aside, Wildwood by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis.  I picked it up where I left off and am enjoying it so far.
• My husband, Ken, finished The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly. 
• Ken is now reading The Big Burn by Timothy Egan, after hearing how much I liked it!
• I think both of our sons have been too busy with school work for much reading lately.

I finally found some time and energy to catch up on blogging last week.  I posted two reviews:  The Big Burn by Timothy Egan and The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg.  I also posted my November Reading Summary and two wish lists: Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing Me and another Top Ten wish list for kids/teen/YA books. And finally, I posted my weekly Weekend Cooking post.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

Weekend Cooking 12/9

Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking.  This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!

I had a few bad days this week (due to chronic illness), so I didn't cook as much as I have been.  We relied a bit on left-overs and Chinese take-out.  But I did manage to cook a few meals, using mostly recipes from Cooking Light, as usual!

On Monday, we had a very simple, easy family favorite: Chipotle Bean Burritos.  I absolutely love anything with chipotle flavor in it.  Even though we've made this recipe many times, I still haven't been able to find the chipotle chili powder called for, so I always just substitute Tobasco's Chipotle Sauce (which is fabulous!).  We use whole-grain tortillas to boost the nutrition.

Friday night I was feeling better but we were still busy, so we had another quick and easy meal - Blackstrap Pork Chops, with a whole grain rice mix and steamed cauliflower on the side.  Oh, shoot, the recipe isn't available on the Cooking Light website.  Well, it is very simple.  You just pan-fry the chops (salted and peppered) in a skillet with cooking spray, then add a sauce of 1/3 cup molasses, 3 Tablespoons A-1 sauce, 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon Allspice, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper.  Cook for another 2 minutes, until sauce is reduced.  That's it.  It sounds like an odd combination of flavors, but it's very good.

And last night, I made Chicken, Leeks, and Plum Tomatoes with Linguini.  I added a couple of small zucchini (sliced) with the leeks to make it a complete meal.  It was good, but the recipe makes a lot - leftovers for lunch today!

And tonight, I am attempting Split Pea Soup for the first time.  College son loves pea soup - but only the Healthy Choice brand - so I am starting with a recipe from a magazine and making some tweaks to try to duplicate his favorite.  Wish me luck!

Hope you have enjoyed some cooking and good food this week, too!

Saturday Snapshot 12/8

At Home with Books hosts Saturday Snapshot.

We've had unseasonably warm weather this week, so on Wednesday, I got out for a short hike with a good friend at a local nature center and enjoyed the warm temperatures, the walk, and the company!  Though I miss the brilliant colors of fall, I found beauty in the winterish landscape:

Most of the leaves have fallen, except these that turned brown and stayed on the tree.

This huge sycamore tree is my sons' favorite for climbing

The stream and waterfall are beautiful anytime of year

Our beloved local covered bridge.

 Hope you got outdoors to enjoy nature this week!  Have a great weekend!

Nonfiction Review: The Big Burn

My neighborhood book group just read The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan, and though I wasn’t well enough to go to the meeting on Wednesday night, I did thoroughly enjoy reading this fascinating historical book.

Teddy Roosevelt’s love for the outdoors is well known, but I didn’t realize that he was the person who created the National Forest Service while he was President.  He also set aside large tracts of primeval land as National Forests in the last days of his office, in direct opposition to the Forest Service’s many enemies who wanted the rich reserves of timber for their own purposes.  The book also focuses heavily on Gifford Pinchot, Roosevelt’s Chief Forester and another key force in the creation and maintenance of our National Forests (and whom I’d never even heard of).

However, the center point of this story is the Great Fire of 1910, a raging inferno that destroyed over 3 million acres of forest and towns, an area about the size of Connecticut, spread across Washington, Idaho, and Montana.  Roosevelt’s and Pinchot’s fledgling Forest Service, starved of resources by its opponents in Congress, was helpless against a natural force so large and destructive.  But the forest rangers were the real heroes of this story, as they persisted against impossible odds to try to save the towns and people they felt responsible for.

Although this is a nonfiction book – history, even, the subject I found driest when I was in school – it reads like a novel.  Egan tells the story with the compelling pace of a good suspense story, with the fire serving as the unstoppable villain.  The historical background surrounding Roosevelt, Pinchot, and their drive for conservation of public lands is fascinating, especially for someone like me who loves the outdoors and spends her vacations in National Parks and Forests.  I had no idea that Roosevelt was a good friend of John Muir or that there was such opposition to the very concepts of public lands and conservation.  I was also fascinated to learn that the forestry concepts that Pinchot laid out for his rangers in the early 1900’s persisted with very little change until just recently.  These men – both the leaders and the rangers – created a lasting impact that still affects our lives today.  Why wasn’t history in high school ever this interesting and exciting?

283 pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Another excellent historical book about Teddy Roosevelt was The River of Doubt by Candice Millard.

     

Books Read in November

November was a lovely month here in Delaware, with bright colors in the trees and lots of blue skies.  It was also a good reading month for me, but a very unusual one.  I spent most of the month reading just one book!  Technically, I shouldn't include it on my November list because I'm not completely finished yet, but I plan to finish it this weekend, and I need to have something to show for the month of November!

This month I (mostly) read:

• The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian, my spooky Halloween read, finished in early November.
• The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, a middle-grade audio book.
• Middlemarch by George Eliot, read for one of my book groups, with still about 70 pages left to go now!

See what I mean?  Thank goodness I had an audio book going at the same time as Middlemarch or I wouldn't have finished anything in November!  As it was, I read one modern novel, listened to one kids' audio book, and have worked my way (almost) through one very hefty classic.  I enjoyed them all, though The Night Strangers was probably my favorite for this month.

I made only a little progress in my 2012 Reading Challenges.  I added New Hampshire (The Night Strangers) to my Where Are You Reading Challenge.  But I read nothing at all off my TBR shelves last month - very bad!

What was your favorite book read in November?

Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing Me

I haven't had the time to participate in The Broke and The Bookish's Top Ten Tuesday meme in quite a while, but I couldn't resist this week's topic: the Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing Me.  Wish lists are always fun, and though I don't actually want to receive 10 books for Christmas (just because I have so many good ones already waiting to be read here), I got into the spirit of dreaming about the books I most want to read:

• The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker - this is #1 on my list, just sounds right up my alley.
• The Light Between Oceans by M.I. Stedman - my book group is actually reading this for January, and I can't wait!
• Blog, Inc. by Joy Deangdeelert Cho - since my blogs have been a bit neglected this year and are due for an upgrade.
• Because You Have To: A Writing Life by Joan Frank - I just heard about this one yesterday from Melissa at The Betty & Boo Chronicles - it combines two of my favorite things: memoirs and writing.
• Love Anthony by Lisa Genova - because I loved Still Alice - I'd also like to read her novel, Left Neglected (does that count as 2?)
• City of Women by David R. Gillham - because it sounds like a different kind of WWII novel.
• The Red House by Mark Haddon - I have LOVED everything of his I've read.
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed - once again, I love memoirs and I also love hiking and backpacking.
• Love and Fatigue in America by Roger King - because it is so rare that someone writes a novel about my illness, CFS, and everyone says this is a wonderful novel.
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - it got so many fabulous reviews.

Oh, is that 10 already?  I take it back - I want them all!  Plus a month-long vacation snowed in a lodge with a warm fire, good food, and nothing to do but read.  Yes, that will do the trick.

What books do YOU want from Santa this year?

((If you are interested in the kids/teen/YA books I want to read, check out my list at Great Books for Kids and Teens).

It's Monday 12/3! What Are You Reading?

Whew...busy weekend!  I'm actually glad it's Monday, and I am alone in the quiet house.  I really need to do better at finding time for fun and relaxation on the weekends - I definitely have trouble letting go of the to-do list and just chilling.

We had a pretty good week, though a rough start.  I think we were all exposed to a virus during our Thanksgiving week visits, so my youngest son was home sick for several days last week.  Fortunately, it only affected my older son and I for a day each, though.  So, I felt like my week started on Thursday!  No wonder the weekend was so busy.

We did enjoy some reading time last week, though:

• I am STILL reading Middlemarch by George Eliot, though I had to set it aside a few days ago....just temporarily!  I am less than 100 pages from the end now, and I do plan to finish it later this week.
• Since my other book group meets this Wednesday, I decided I better start that book!  We are reading and discussing The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan. I bought this book for my brother-in-law last Christmas, and I am thoroughly enjoying it so far.  We are huge National Park fans, so this book is right up my alley.
• I finished the middle-grade audio book I was listening to, The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg. I enjoyed it very much and will write a review this week.
• My husband, Ken, is reading The Fifth Witness (a Lincoln Lawyer novel) by Michael Connelly and enjoying it.
• Jamie, 18, is still reading City of Fallen Angels, book #4 in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, I think...he seems very busy at college.  I'm sure he'll make up for it during his long winter break by reading non-stop!
• Craig, 14, has been reading short stories for his freshman literature class, including classics like The Most Dangerous Game, The Gift of the Magi, and one of my favorites, A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury (the story that coined the phrase "The Butterfly Effect").

I posted one review last week: Rule Number Two, an excellent memoir by a psychologist who served in Iraq and is also a wife and mother.

I also posted a discussion of the Washington Post's Best Books of 2012 list and the New York Times' 25 Notable Children's Books of 2012 as well as my weekly Weekend Cooking post (I did a lot of cooking this week!)

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

Weekend Cooking 12/2

Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking.  This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!


After returning from our Thanksgiving trip to visit family, I did a lot of cooking this week, including both old favorites and some new recipes, with a focus on quick and easy (as well as healthy and tasty!).


On Monday, with little fresh food in the house after our trip, I made a simple one-pot Rice and Beans dinner.  This is so quick that we often make it when we are camping, so it is a family favorite that reminds us of our camping trips!  I've included my recipe below.  The three of us were all craving something sweet (and my son was sick and craving comfort food), so I made up a new dessert, S'More's Pudding.  I made a quick microwave chocolate pudding (it's a Cooking Light recipe but so old it isn't available online!), crumbled graham crackers on top of the pudding cups, then toasted mini marshmallows in the toaster oven (use cooking spray or you can't get them off the foil!) for the top.  Sooooo good!


Tuesday night, we tried a new Cooking Light recipe, Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Peppers, from the most recent issue.  It was fairly easy and absolutely delicious, with a great blend of flavors.  I served roasted potatoes on the side. Everyone loved it - a definite keeper.


Wednesday, I used another Cooking Light recipe, for Mongolian Beef.  This one is super quick and easy, and a family favorite.  I add frozen broccoli florets with the scallions, to make it a complete one-dish meal.

I had two nights off from cooking; we ate out one night since we had to pick up my car from the repair shop.  The other night, my husband was at a work function for dinner, so Craig and I just ate quickie frozen meals from Trader Joe's.  Last night, I tried another new-to-me Cooking Light recipe, Jamaican Chicken Stew.  It was very tasty, but next time I might add a bell pepper and cut the cayenne pepper in half (my husband said it was a bit too spicy for him). Left-overs for lunch today!

And tonight, I am making one of our all-time family favorites, Beef Bourguignonne.  The recipe calls for a pressure cooker, but I have always made it in a regular dutch oven over low heat and just doubled the cook time.  The mix of flavors in this dish is SO GOOD!  I can't wait for dinner tonight.

Hope you are enjoying your food and cooking this weekend!  My Rice and Beans recipe is below:

Rice and Beans

Serves 4

Vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free

1 tsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium bell pepper, chopped

2 tsp minced or crushed garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 can chopped tomatoes

water (see recipe)

1/3 cup salsa

1 cup quick-cooking (10 min) brown rice

2 cans beans, rinsed and drained (any variety – I like to use 1 can of black beans and 1 can of pinto or kidney beans)

Fresh ground pepper

Shredded cheese (optional) – we like cheddar or Monterey Jack

1. Saute onion, bell pepper, and garlic in oil until soft. Add spices and stir.
2. Drain juice from tomatoes into a glass measuring cup and add water to make a total of 3/4 cup liquid, and add to pot, along with salsa. Bring to a boil.
3. Add rice and tomatoes, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes or until liquid is mostly absorbed.
4. Add beans, replace cover and heat through.  
5. Serve with shredded cheese, if desired.

© Suzan L. Jackson 2012 (Do not reprint or publish without written permission from the author)

Saturday Snapshot 12/1

At Home with Books hosts Saturday Snapshot.


We spent most of last week in Rochester, NY, my hometown, visiting all branches of my family and meeting up with friends.  It was a busy holiday weekend but lots of fun!  Here's a quick glimpse into our Thanksgiving weekend celebrations:

Laughing with family at old Seinfeld clips on Thanksgiving Day

Meeting up with old high school friends

The kids (the 2 oldest on the right are ours) with more cousins

Family portrait with my Dad and his wife

Hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Nonfiction Review: Rule Number Two

This year, in addition to its annual “all county read” book, my library system also selected a book in honor of Veteran’s Day, with lots of related events planned.  Since I participate in my library’s noon book group when I can, I read Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital by Dr. Heidi Squier Kraft.  Everyone in the book discussion agreed it was a fascinating memoir about the author’s time in Iraq.

Dr. Heidi Squier Kraft is a psychologist who spent nine years working for the US Navy.  In January 2004, she was deployed to Iraq to serve as part of the medical support team for a group of Marines stationed there.  She was given only 11 days’ notice, and her twins were just fifteen months old at the time.  This memoir follows her experiences in Iraq – the good, the bad, and the ugly – while counseling soldiers enduring unspeakable horrors and trying to maintain her own sanity.

The book’s title refers to a line from M*A*S*H (which taught most of us all we know of a wartime medical group): “There are two rules of war. Rule number one is that young men die. Rule number two is that doctors can’t change rule number one.” In her experiences in Iraq, Kraft found that many people – fellow medical personnel as well as soldiers – struggled to accept these basic rules of war.  At the same time, she herself was also struggling to compartmentalize the part of her that was a wife and mother.

She writes in a very direct and honest way, though she doesn’t dwell too much on any single case (other than one soldier’s death that especially haunts her).  Many of her experiences were things I had never even considered about war, like the isolating role of the soldiers assigned to prepare the dead for transportation home or the difficulty of hearing about problems at home during her very brief turns at the computer.  I found it particularly interesting to hear her perspective as a woman, since so many wartime memoirs are written by men.

Overall, it is a captivating memoir that shines a light on something that most of us probably never think about (and something that we may purposely try not to think about, if we are honest).  I felt enlightened as to the possible experiences of my nephew who served in Iraq in the Marines’ Special Forces.  It was certainly a very appropriate book to read near Veteran’s Day, to remember the sacrifice that so many Americans have made, whether you agree with the reasons for the wars or not.

243 pages, Back Bay Books

 

Washington Post's Best Books of 2012

It starts!

The Best of 2012 lists are beginning to trickle out already.

The first one I've seen is the Washington Post's 20 Best Books of 2012, which includes nonfiction, fiction, and graphic novels.  I have only read one of the twenty books listed - Drama, a middle-grade graphic novel.  I know, pretty pathetic that's it, right?  What can I say?  Too many books, not enough time!

Interestingly, one of their top nonfiction picks, Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers, was the "all college read" selection for my son's freshman class at the University of Delaware.  Jamie told me it was very good - I will have to borrow that one!

How about you?  Have you read many of the Washington Post's top 20 yet?  Do you agree with their choices?

For a peek at one of the first lists of best kids' books of 2012, check out Great Books for Kids and Teens.

It's Monday 11/26! What Are You Reading?

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.  We drove to Rochester, NY, (my hometown) for the long weekend, stayed with my dad and his wife, and enjoyed lots of visits with family and friends.  It was a very nice weekend, and it was great to see everyone!  Now we are back home, with lots to do!

So, we didn't have a lot of time for reading last week.  Unfortunately, I can't read a book in the car (I get sick), but I can manage flipping through magazines, so I caught up on months' worth of magazines that had piled up!  Besides those, here is what we all read last week:

• I am STILL working my way through Middlemarch by George Eliot.  It is a hefty one, and I am feeling ready to move onto something else....but I am still enjoying it and want to see what happens - 200 pages to go!
• My husband, Ken, is reading Michael Connelly's The Fifth Witness (a Lincoln Lawyer novel) and enjoying it.
• Jamie, 18, can read in the car (lucky!), so he finished City of Ashes (#2), read City of Glass (#3), and has started City of Fallen Angels (#4), in his quest to re-read Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series for the third time, in preparation for book #5 which was recently released.

Believe it or not, I did manage to post two book reviews before we left last Wednesday: Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian, a spooky, suspenseful novel, and The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman, a middle-grade/teen audio book.  I enjoyed both novels very much.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

Fiction Review: Night Strangers

I chose Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian as my Halloween week book, and it more than fulfilled my expectations of a spooky, suspenseful read!  This novel contains both supernatural and real-life scary elements, combining a ghost story and a psychological thriller.

Chip and Emily Linton move their family from Philadelphia to rural New Hampshire in an attempt to start over after Chip, an airline pilot, survives a horrifying plane crash on Lake Champlain after double engine failure.  Unlike his hero Sully Sullenberger, though, Chip is left to live with the deaths of 39 of his passengers.  With their twin 10-year old girls, Chip and Emily hope to make a fresh start in New Hampshire and begin by buying an old Victorian house on a hill near a small town.

While Emily begins working with a new, much smaller law practice in a nearby town, Chip spends much of his time working on the old house and trying to recover from PTSD.  He discovers a strange door down in the dirt-floored basement, sealed shut with 39 6-inch long carriage bolts.  Yes, exactly 39.  The coincidence is not lost on Chip, and he becomes a bit obsessed with the mysterious door and questions of who would lock it so completely…and why.

The town welcomes the family warmly, especially the twins, but Emily has some concerns about the close-knit group of women who call themselves herbalists and seem so interested in their girls.  She is also worried about her husband, who seems to be getting worse instead of better.  Is he losing his grip on reality?  Is he dangerous?

From that auspicious – and suspicious – start, Bohjalian builds the suspense.  This novel is completely unlike any of his others that I have read.  It is a true ghost story but also a thriller.  I found myself shouting at the pages, like you do (well, like I do) with a taut horror movie; in fact, the classic, “No, don’t go in the basement!” worked quite well in this case.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, especially during Halloween week, though I ended up staying up much too late most nights and having disturbing dreams!

375 page, Crown Publishers 

 

It's Monday 11/19! What Are You Reading?

Hello, Monday!  I am very happy to greet a new week because last week was a rough one.  My chronic illness flared up badly, so I was pretty useless all week (no reviews at all!).  But I seemed to have turned the corner yesterday, so I am ready for a new week.  I'm also excited for a Thanksgiving week filled with family, spending time with my sons and husband, as well as all the family members we rarely see. 

Reading was one of the few things I could manage last week, so I enjoyed my books:

• I am still reading Middlemarch by George Eliot.  It is a hefty book, and I didn't finish in time for my book group meeting on Thursday, but I am now more than halfway through and am enjoying it very much.  I have been pleasantly surprised by Eliot's writing talents - Middlemarch is clever and witty, and my book is filled with tabbed quotes that I loved.
• My husband, Ken, finished Neal Schusterman's Everfound, a teen/YA novel that we both enjoyed very much.
• Last night, Ken started Michael Connelly's The Fifth Witness ( a Lincoln Lawyer novel), a paperback I gave him for Father's Day.  He and I have both always enjoyed Connelly's novels, and this seemed like a good choice for a week of travel and holiday hectic-ness!
• Jamie, 18, is still reading City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare for the third time!  I'm sure he will use our long road trip this week to read.

 And that was it for this week!  No reviews, but I did write a Weekend Cooking post, with a recipe for a quick and delicious black bean soup, and a tribute to Robert Louis Stevenson on his birthday.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kids/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

Weekend Cooking 11/18

Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking.  This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!

My chronic illness was badly flared up this week, so I didn't cook as much as I usually do.  We relied on a few quick recipes, left-overs, and take-out.  I did manage to cook some simple dinners, including Crispy Fish with Lemon Dill Sauce and Sauteed Zucchini (another Cooking Light recipe!).  We've had this before, and it's very tasty, but our cod was a bit tough this time.

When the weather turned cold, I made some Black Bean Soup (my own super-easy recipe - see below) which we all enjoyed - warm and creamy, it was perfect for a cold, wet day.  I tried some Tofutti brand non-dairy sour cream on top, and it was delicious!  Now, I don't need to feel deprived of sour cream anymore!

And tonight, with college son home for dinner, I will make another old favorite recipe from Cooking Light, Americana Pot Roast, one of my sons' favorite Sunday dinners.  It cooks for 3 hours, but the preparation is actually quite easy and quick.  And we'll have left-overs for tomorrow!

Hope you had some good food this week, too.

Here is my Black Bean Soup recipe:

Black Bean Soup

(Serves 4)

This recipe is very quick and easy, resulting in a tasty, low-fat that is creamy-tasting and filling.  (vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free)

1 large onion, chopped

3 teaspoons minced or crushed garlic

1 jalapeno, minced

2 medium carrots, chopped small or grated

2 teaspoons olive oil

32 oz. (2 cans) chicken or vegetable broth

3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

Bay leaf

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Sour cream or non-dairy sour cream substitute.

Sauté onion, jalapeno, and carrots in oil over medium-high heat until soft.  Add garlic toward end of sauté.  Add broth and beans; partially mash beans with a potato masher, leaving some whole.  Add spices.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

At end of cook time, remove soup from heat, scoop out 2-4 cups and process until smooth in a blender (leave center of lid off to allow steam to escape) or food processor, then return to pot and stir.  (If you prefer the soup completely smooth, you can blend or process all of it; I prefer it with some whole beans and veggie pieces left).

Serve with a dollop of sour cream (regular or non-dairy) and freshly ground pepper on top.

© Suzan L. Jackson 2012

(Do not reprint or publish without written permission from the author)

Snapshot Saturday 11/17

At Home with Books hosts Saturday Snapshot.

We are seeing a last burst of fall color here, as the late bloomers light up the neighborhood with bright yellows, reds, and oranges.  This is my favorite tree in the neighborhood, a giant maple that is one of the last ones to change color in the fall:

I smile everytime I drive by this tree.  I will be sorry to see the last of the fall colors disappear in a few weeks.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend.

It's Monday 11/12! What Are You Reading?

It was a long, tiring week but a lot of fun!  After voting Tuesday morning, I drove to Connecticut to take care of my mom.  She had hip surgery three weeks ago and still can't do much for herself.  So, I was there to help, but it was also the first time she and I have had so much time alone together since...well, since my kids were born!  We watched movies, read, talked for hours, and ate some delicious food together (see my Weekend Cooking post).  We really enjoyed each other's company, in spite of the crazy weather last week.

I came home to a busy catch-up weekend, planning meals, getting groceries, picking up the house, etc.  Yesterday we had friends over for dinner.  More fun, but today is definitely a recovery day.

Despite the very busy week, I squeezed in some reading time:

• I am still working my way through Middlemarch by George Eliot.  Whew, it is slow going!  This classic novel is growing on me, and I am enjoying it, but I'm only on page 177 (of 799!!).  Not likely I will finish in time for my book group meeting on Thursday.  Yesterday, I began listening to it on audio when I am not able to read (free audio versions of classic books are available at LibriVox).
• All that driving time gave me lots of opportunity to listen to audio books!  I finished The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman, a middle-grade novel about a girl in 1960 Louisiana who goes back in time to meet her own ancestors in pre-War 1860.  I loved this book, and its historical details were fascinating - it made the miles fly by!
• On the way home, I started The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, a middle-grade novel.  It's good so far but different than I expected, using a 6th grade academic quiz bowl as the foundation to delve into the lives of four very different students.
• My husband, Ken, is reading Everfound by Neal Schusterman, a teen/YA supernatural novel that I recently finished and reviewed.
• Jamie, 18, doesn't have a lot of time for reading in college, but he is making his way through City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare for the 3rd time!

With such a busy week, I only had time to write one review, of The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka which my book group loved. And I posted my weekly Weekend Cooking summary.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kids/teen version hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.)

Weekend Cooking 11/11

 Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking.  This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!

It was an unusual cooking week for me - and lots of fun!  I drove to Connecticut to take care of my mom.  She had hip surgery three weeks ago and can not yet do much for herself.  We enjoyed watching movies and chatting, but I was also excited to cook for her because she and I like the same kinds of foods.  Also, it gave me an opportunity to cook some more exotic type dishes that my kids probably wouldn't like!

My mom is a partial vegetarian (she eats fish, seafood, and poultry), so we added that criteria to my restrictions of no dairy and limited gluten.  No problem.  As is typical, all of the recipes came from Cooking Light, and we had some delicious meals!

The first night I was there, I went for a super quick and easy old favorite that I have made several times before for my husband or friends when the kids aren't around (they're not too fond of either asparagus or coconut milk), Spicy Thai Coconut Shrimp.  This goes together in about 15 minutes and is sooo tasty!  My mom loved it so much that she told her visiting physical therapist about it, and she took the recipe home and made it that night!

Wednesday I had to get groceries before the (snow!) storm hit, so I went with another simple recipe, Miso-Glazed Salmon with Wilted Spinach.  You can see from the photo here that I over-wilted the spinach a bit, but it was still delicious!  On the side, I made a simple salad with all of my favorite ingredients:  Bibb lettuce with ripe pear sliced on top, dried cranberries, a sprinkle of blue cheese, and sugar-spiced pecans, with a balsamic vinagrette (I used Newman's Own light).  The pecans are also very simple:

• Heat a small frying pan or sauce pan over medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray.
• Add halved pecans (it only takes a tablespoon or two for each serving).
• Sprinkle with a half teaspoon of sugar and a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper and stir constantly to prevent burning.
• When pecans are toasted but not burned (watch carefully!), add to salad.

Both the main course and the salad were yummy!

I went all out on my last night there.  My mom and I both love Indian food, but I have found eating in an Indian restaurant upsets my stomach severely since I became dairy-intolerant because they usually add yogurt and/or cream to many of their dishes.  So, instead of take-out, I made our own dairy-free Indian dinner.  I made Red Dal and served it with brown Basmati rice (a favorite from Trader Joe's) with peas.  Although it isn't actually Indian, I also made Curried Cauliflower with Capers.  We both loved it!  I had never roasted cauliflower before; it was delicious, and I will definitely make it again here at home.  I wish I had taken a picture of the meal, but I was too excited to eat it and forgot!

So, those were my culinary adventures for this week!  Back at home, I returned to more basic cooking: grilled pork chops with roasted butternut squash, my son's favorite pasta dish.  We are having friends over for dinner tonight and keeping it very simple to save my energy for socializing - make-your-own soft tacos/burritos.  We will just grill some chicken breasts, slice them up and set those out with tortillas and a variety of other fillings like lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, refried beans, gaucamole, etc.  It's a great, easy meal for a crowd (especially one with a wide variety of food intolerances like tonight's group!).

Hope you also enjoyed some great food and cooking this week!

Saturday Snapshot 11/10

At Home with Books hosts Saturday Snapshot.

It has been a week of contrasts!

I drove to Connecticut on Tuesday to help take care of my mom who had hip surgery three weeks ago.  She and I had a wonderful week together (check back tomorrow for Weekend Cooking to see all the great food we cooked and ate), but the weather's been crazy!

The nor'easter that hit Wednesday brought lots of wet snow that looked beautiful Thursday morning (since we could admire it out the window and didn't have to go anywhere!)

The storm brought snow to CT.

By Friday morning when I drove home, the roads were clear and so was the lovely blue sky.  Though the trees near NYC were mostly bare already, just 100 miles further south, I admired the colors remaining in the trees along the southern end of the NJ Turnpike.

The last of the fall colors along the NJ Turnpike.

And now it's supposed to be in the 60's this weekend in Delaware and above 70 by Monday!  We've had a taste of 3 different seasons all in one week.

Hope you are enjoying this lovely weather this weekend.