Recipe ; Cranberry Balsamic Chicken Thighs

Have you ever gone on Pinterest in search of something and tried it out and it was a total fail? Well, this was not the case here. I had a big bag of cranberries that I hadn't quite finished off and didn't want to see go to waste and I found a recipe and dove in. I am just going to put it like it is.... This stuff is damn good. I found a recipe from www.cottercrunch.com and wow. I didn't follow that recipe exactly but this will now be something I make gladly in my kitchen often and I figured I would give credit where credit is due. If you are a fan of tangy, juicy, and just something different... give this one a try. (I used boneless skinless chicken thighs, I am looking forward to making this with skin on next time. Oh my goodness.) One pan dishes will always have me as a fan.

One Pan Cranberry Basalmic Roasted Bonless Skinless Chicken Thighs
(Now, that's a name. Haha)

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup of fresh cranberries
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
Sage (light sprinkle. A little goes a long way.)
Italian herbs (sprinkle)

1tbsp. Sugar free syrup
1tbsp. balsamic vinegar
(These two ingredients will be mixed and you want this amount listed above per piece of chicken you will be cooking to coat chicken with later in the cooking process.)

Marinade:
1/3 cup cranberries
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sugar free syrup
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder

DIRECTIONS:

Blend marinade ingredients until liquified.

Pour marinade over chicken and coat evenly.

Cover and place in fridge for 30 minutes or up 24 hours.

-----

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Add additional cranberries, sage, and Italian herbs to dish.

Spread evenly on and around chicken.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Brush chicken with syrup and balsamic vinegar combo you made.

Cook additional 10 minutes.

Spoon pan sauce and cranberries onto chicken when served.

-----

You can thank me later :)

Recipe ; Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

I have never been a big fan of having to scroll through a page forever to get to a recipe. Sometimes it's nice to read these cute and quirky and sometimes amazing stories that are attached to a recipe that has been post. That's not happening here today. I had an hour long class this morning, the normal stuff that housewives do and then it looks like we did nothing.. yeah I did a bunch of that today, I have been cooking for a few hours, I have kept my two dogs and toddler alive, and the house did not burn down or even come close to it. Success! I still have a lot to get done, as do most of the people who are reading here. This has been a quick and easy go to in my house for years. Maybe now it will be for you as well. Maybe it already was and this is a reminder of how much you like it and it's not getting made for dinner tonight. Let's get to it.

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 lb of ground beef
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 head of cabbage, chopped
1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 can of diced tomatoes (14.5oz)
1 can of stewed tomatoes (14.5oz)
1 can of tomato sauce (8oz)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper



DIRECTIONS:

Add oil to large pot.
Set over medium heat.
Cook beef until no longer pink.
Add onion and cook until tender.
Put in garlic and continue to cook for about 1 minute.

Put chopped cabbage and remaining ingredients into pot.
Bring to a boil.
Put your pot lid on and simmer for 30 minutes...
Or until cabbage is tender.

EASY AND PAINLESS AND DELICIOUS!




(Serves approx 6-8)

Book Review ; Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil

Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil
By: John Berendt

Synopsis:
Genteel society ladies who compare notes on their husbands' suicides. A hilariously foul-mouthed black drag queen. A voodoo priestess who works her roots in the graveyard at midnight. A morose inventor who owns a bottle of poison powerful enough to kill everyone in town. A prominent antiques dealer who hands a Nazi flag from his window to disrupt the shooting of a movie. And a redneck gigolo whose conquests describe him as a "walking streak of sex."

These are some of the real residents of Savannah, GA., a city whose eccentric mores are unerringly observed-and whose dirty linen is gleefully aired- in this utterly irresistible book. At once a true crime murder story and a hugely entertaining and deliciously perverse travelogue, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is as bracing and intoxicating as half-a-dozen mint juleps.

Now if you go somewhere out of town and are shopping and eating your way through the city and pick up a book that is in multiple shops. What do you do? When you are looked at multiple times by people who ask if you've ever read this book while conversing about Savannah, Georgia and your answer is "No." and they look at you in shock, what do you do? You buy the book. And in my case, you buy the book based in Savannah while shopping in Savannah. And you buy in on River Street. In between stopping at all the 5 places you will eat that day because the food is so good everywhere you go there isn't enough time to just eat like a normal person and go home after vacation saying you tasted Savannah.

Savannah is the place where they ask you if you want a sweet tea "to-go" when you're done with your meal. Hell, some places do it without even asking. They just know the answer is yes. If you don't eat your way through Savannah you are wasting a trip. Swear.

I mean it. You must eat everything.

Okay. I'm done telling you what to do in Savannah. And I'm not going to ramble about Savannah anymore. Maybe I will do an all Savannah blog post one day about my experiences there.

Annnnnd on to the book review...

Liked this book but wish I liked it more. It's full of southern charm and crazy. Drag queens and voodoo. Debutant balls and high tea. At times it was very dry and at other times I found myself laughing out loud. It did actually take me two tries, to not DNF this book. But I am glad I picked it back up that second time and saw it through. Mostly because I felt I needed to out of the love of Savannah. Not because I was going to regret not finishing the book for the sake of it being a book I started. It's a pretty good read that spreads out some scandalous happenings from an outsider who is amazed and not used to the south I know and love.

There were many characters introduced and some were underdeveloped. I think it may not have been so dry at times if they had been built up more personally. It is a true murder mystery and is written to give some sort of privacy to those involved but it's the south. I'm sure all these peoples neighbors know exactly who is who without having to google a darn thing. Thankfully, the south sure can gossip or this book that lasted 4 years on The New York Times Bestseller list would have never came to be.

"Rule number one: always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's thane you find out everything you want to know."

Book Review ; Girl In The Woods

Girl In The Woods : A Memoir
By: Aspen Matis

This book is about a rape victim who decided to find herself and her voice once again. The second night she was at college in Colorado she was raped and tried to struggle through her freshman year before deciding she needed to do something and have her fresh start. Her family hushed her attempts to reach out or speak up about the horrible thing that happened to her. She decided to hike the 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada and recorded her journey.

I feel semi uncomfortable reviewing a memoir. Especially when something traumatic has happened to the author. Who am I to give a rating to a victims story? So first off I will applaud Aspen Matis' journey to reclaiming her life as her own and over coming the many feelings and scars that are left behind for the victim to deal with once the dust has settled. I applaud each of her accomplishments.

The only thing about this book that I didn't like was that she was so repetitive about the fact that she had been raped. AND IT'S WHY THIS BOOK CAME TO BE. And how insensitive, right?! No. Not that she kept talking about it but HOW she kept repeating it. Say it every day. Scream it every single day so everyone knows what kind of person that boy is that did this to you! Don't let it be forgotten. Unless you are ready for that in your own personal time and choice. Don't be silenced though. Say it as many times as you need to.

Usually when a book is written it is written solely for its readers, correct? But this was also written as her release. If you are going to say it over and over and write a book about it maybe change up the flow, the approach, or the presentation of the words on the page a little. To be brave enough to write this book is amazing. I probably would have given it 4 stars on Goodreads instead of 3 if it had been not so repetitive. But then again, when something like that happens it is what it is. And you are the one who has to repeat the details in your mind for the rest of your life because they are real and unchanging. See, awkward to review... and I hope this book leaves some people with hope that life will go on after the violation of some scum that found their way into their lives. 

"No one causes rape but rapists."

NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT TELEPHONE HOTLINE

1-800-656-HOPE (4673)

Book Review ; Linger

Linger
The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2
By Maggie Stiefvater

(Breakfast and Linger on day 2 of reading)

I will start with I love Maggie Stiefvater's writing BUT Linger is basically like the first book of The wolves of Mercy Falls... but in a mirror... and in reverse. Sam is human and Grace feels like she's going to change constantly. Grace is smelling like wolf and running a fever pretty consistently throughout the book. Grace and Sam are hopelessly in love still. And is Isabela is logical when everyone else is being a basic dumb teen and twiddling their thumbs. Then there is the addition of Cole, the damaged rockstar.

There is much less wolf action than I expected in this book. I actually spent more time being pissed at Grace's parents than any other feeling I had from Linger. Most of the time reading this follow up to Shiver I was like okay maybe they'll get to the obvious issue on the next page. Did not happen until 90% of the book was read.

Even though it seems I may have been miserable and disconnected with the series at this point due to my gripes so far due to pace and my sudden annoyance with this teen romance, the pity parties, and suddenly out of left field super controlling parents, I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!

It took me 5 days to finish this 360 page book. One of those days I didn't read at all because I was not feeling well and my energy needed to be focused elsewhere. So 4 days and done. I really could not get through it fast enough. I had to know what happened.

Now, with all this said Maggie Stiefvater could probably write a book about shadows on the walls over the course of a week and I would devour the book because I enjoy her writing style so much. The addition of damaged rockstar Cole was great and I believe he will be playing an important part in book 3, Forever.

All in all, if you LOVED Shiver then I would absolutely recommend this book and of course if you just inhale the freshness of Maggie's writing I would say indulge some more. If Shiver left you not filled with the urge to grab Linger immediately I would say don't. As for me, I will be picking up the next book in this trilogy very soon. Forever is next.

Recipe ; Banana Pie

My husband and I first made this recipe back before Thanksgiving. We knew we wanted some kind of banana dessert but neither of us were really feeling the typical Banana Cream Pie or Banana Pudding recipe that everyone knows and loves. We were looking for something new but seemingly “safe”. Frugal is always nice as well. Which this pie certainly is. It was a hit at the family gathering. We will be making this for many years to come.

INGREDIENTS:

1- pre made pie crust

2- sliced bananas

1- 8 oz whipped cream container

1- can of sweetened condensed milk

Enough cocoa to sprinkle a dusting on top of pie

DIRECTIONS:

Fill large pot with water and submerge can of sweetened condensed milk. Bring to boil and let continue to boil for 3.5 hours. Add water as needed to keep can submerged. You will soon have Dulce de Leche.

Bake pie crust by following directions on packaging. 

Spoon sweetened condensed milk from can, once cooled enough to hold, into pie crust. Add layer of whipped cream and then add a section of sliced bananas on top. Repeat until pie crust is filled. 

Sprinkle how ever much cocoa your heart desires on top. 

In all honesty we didn't feel like going to the store for cocoa the first time we made it and cocoa is not something we used to keep in the pantry so we just used a packet of hot chocolate to sprinkle on top when the pie was ready to go. We now keep cocoa stocked but there's a lot of times a simple substitution and way to keep from driving to the store for that one ingredient you don't happen to have. I love taking advantage of recipe substitutions. Simple right? Enjoy!

Do you have any simple pie recipes to share or some favorite substitutions? Feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Bookish Survey

I came across this bookish fun piece called A to Z Bookish Survey that is hosted by Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner. Apparently it originally came from a BookTube video and has made its way into Blogs. The post I found it on was from the blog www.brinsbookblog.com and is from 4 years ago but I am going to play and get into these questions a bit.

AUTHOR YOU HAVE READ THE MOST BOOKS FROM:

If we are talking in a lifetime, it would be R. L. Stine. I was a Fear Street junkie. I could read three in a day with ease. Loved those books. I also read a lot of Poe back then too. It’s funny that I read so much of it and was asked last year if I could recite any of it and I realized I couldn't. FAIL. So luckily, my dad got me a massive Poe edition and this year I will be rereading a lot of his work. 

But if we are talking about since adult life kicked in and since I recently in 2017 just got back into reading I would have to say it would be Ellen Hopkins. I love her style and content. She writes about teens and young adults from all walks of life that hit hard spots in life. She formats her books as poetry. It’s genius I tell you! (And thank you husband for guiding me to these books in the used books store www.royaloakbookshop.com that day I dragged you with me!!)

BEST SEQUEL EVER:

I haven't read any trilogies or series in quite some time. I read Twilight when it came out. I read 50 Shades. More recently, The Collector trilogy, which includes The Butterfly Garden and Roses of May (book 3 is being released in the spring). And I am now reading the second book Linger, in the Shiver series. No sequel sticks out to me in any of these titles. That is unfortunate. BUT I am a huge fan of Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. And there was Scarlett. The, do I dare say it, “follow up” book by a different author by the name of Alexandra Ripley years later. Some people hate that this book ever made it to print but I loved it so I’m going to call this one “the best sequel” I ever read.

CURRENTLY READING:

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater who just happens to be a fellow Virginian.

DRINK OF CHOICE WHILE READING:

Coffee! 

E-READER OR PHYSICAL BOOK:

I got back into reading due to my e-reader and amazon prime. *tips hat to them* BUT I am a physical book girl. Always have been, always will be. Rebuilding my personal library has felt great and I will enjoy watching it continue to grow. I like the smell of a bookstore and the feel of the differences in them while I indulge in their pages. Yup, book addict anonymous here I come.

FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU PROBABLY WOULD HAVE DATED IN HIGH SCHOOL:

Well, I will say this while I am thinking on it… definitely not Sam from Shiver. That’s the guy you marry many years later down the road and you wonder why you didn’t meet him sooner in life. (Because you were a wild child and he would have ran and hid in a cave, Tonya. That's why.)

I really am thinking way too hard about this. Actually found myself looking at my GoodReads “read” list and can not think of any of them being like the type of guy I dated in high school. And I’m glad because boys in high school kind of sucked. And these guys I have read about, even if they “sucked” at life they were romantic and sweet with one lucky lady. And in high school, I was not that lucky or a lady. Yay for silly romance and an even bigger YAY to my husband for not sucking and for not meeting me any sooner than he did. How did this conversation even get here? Wow, Tonya. Haha. NEXT QUESTION PLEASE!

GLAD YOU GAVE THIS BOOK A CHANCE:

A Venom In The Blood by Eric van Hoffmann. This is not a book I ever would have bought. I was leaving a used book store www.mckayusedbooks.com and sometimes I will check their free book bin. Two women were also going through the bin and the other woman asked what's this book about? I am assuming the older woman had picked it up and cracked it open before i had walked up seeing as it had no book sleeve because she knew that it was about “a serial killer”. The second woman dropped it back in the bin and I picked it right up. This book was about the only serial killer couple of their sort. The man and woman were a couple and both took part in the assaults, abuse, and worse that were done to their victims. It’s a pretty messed up book. It’s real life horror. Real monsters. Kind of scary to be reminded that people like this aren't just made up from some off the rails imagination. It’s a sick book. Glad I read it.

IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR READING LIFE: 

Getting Amazon prime for one. That got me back into reading. Making a Goodreads account for sure because that encouraged me to read more books in 2017 than I had read in total for the past 10 years. Reading short stories online also got me back into creative writing since 2016. And in 2017 I turned my personal/low carb Instagram into mostly bookish posts for the last half of 2017. Finally, starting this new blog in 2018. It’s been a busy writing and reading time in my life since 2016.

JUST FINISHED:

I am getting tired of talking about Shiver. The book I finished before that was A Girl In The Woods. Loved it. A great memoir about getting back to yourself after a traumatic situation. 

LONGEST BOOK YOU’VE READ:

I read a massive collection of Poe that my uncle got me when I was younger. It was leather bound and beautiful. Probably close to 1,000 pages. Unfortunately I no longer own it. One day I will find it and replace it. No luck so far though. There are so many editions of Poe. 

MAJOR BOOK HANGOVER BECAUSE OF:

The Chemist - Stephanie Meyer. Oh my goodness. Glad I read it. But the hangover lasted about a week long. 

NUMBER OF BOOK CASES YOU OWN:

Right now, just one. Shouldn’t need any new ones until 2019 due to my “book buying ban”. Which I can get into more detail about at a later time. 

ONE BOOK YOU HAVE READ MULTIPLE TIMES:

War Of The Worlds - I have probably read this about 10 times in life. I used to have this oddly small paperback version and LOVED IT. I actually loved it to death, it eventually fell apart. I’d like to find a replacement for that one as well sometime. Great book.

PREFERRED PLACE TO READ:

My bed or couch.

QUOTE THAT INSPIRES YOU/GIVES YOU ALL THE FEELS FROM A BOOK YOU’VE READ:

Let’s go with some Harry Potter. I just watched all the movies recently for the first time and really liked them. “It is our choices Harry, that show us what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

READING REGRET:

Not reading Harry Potter when it came out. Now I am 32 and trying to get to it. Eventually, I will.

SERIES YOU STARTED AND NEED TO FINISH: (all books are out in series)

Shiver(read), Linger(reading), Forever(next). I don't think I have ever started a series and not finished it all the way through in my life. Not that I can remember.

THREE OF YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOKS:

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The Butterly Garden by Dot Hutchison

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

UNAPOLOGETIC FANGIRL FOR:

Ellen Hopkins, Stephanie Meyer, and probably Maggie Stiefvater if the rest of her books are as good as Shiver.

VERY EXCITED FOR THIS RELEASE MORE THAN ALL THE OTHERS:

The Summer Children by Dot Hutchison

&

A Sin Such As This by Ellen Hopkins

I can’t pick just one and you can’t make me.

WORST BOOKISH HABIT:

Probably dog earring my paperbacks and cracking their spines also. Paperbacks take a beating from me usually.

X MARKS THE SPOT. START AT THE TOP LEFT OF YOUR SHELF AND PICK THE 27TH BOOK: 

A Magical Touch by Jennifer Taylor. A bunch of old Harlequin Romance novels were gifted to me in 2017 and I have only gotten through less than a handful of them. Hopefully this year I will knock out about half of them. My whole top TBR shelf is totally full of them. 

YOUR LATEST BOOK PURCHASE:

Haven't bought a book in a while but picked up a book for my son yesterday out of a free book bin while I was running errands. It’s Lords Of The North by Bernard Cornwell. My son is really into historical fiction so I grab them whenever I see a great deal and what better deal is there than free?!

Zzz-SNATCHER BOOK (LAST BOOK THAT KEPT YOU UP WAY LATE):

Traffick by Ellen Hopkins 

Well, that was fun. You should give it a shot and tag me on Instagram or comment here with your blog link with your responses.