A to Z Book Survey

I saw this book survey over at Joyful Bookcase blog, and couldn't resist participating.

Author You've Read the Most Books From:

Hmmm...especially from when I was a kid. Lurlene McDaniel, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jane Austen, JK Rowling, Alison Weir, Georgette Heyer, Philippa Gregory, Wanda Brunstetter, Jean Plaidy, SE Hinton,Beverly Lewis, just to name a few that I can immediately think of.

 Best Sequel Ever:

 

Too many to think list!

 

Currently Reading:

 

• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• A Talent for Trouble by Jen Turano 
•  War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Drink of Choice While Reading:

 

I am not picky; tea, coffee with creamer, water, tea, etc.

 E-reader or Physical Book?

 

A real book even though I do have an E-reader. I can always take a regular book with me, and pass it on to family and friends. Most of my friends and family do not have an E-reader.

 

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

 

I have not a clue, hhmm...this took me a whole to think about, Charlie from The Perks of Being A Wallflower.

Glad You Gave This Book a Chance:

 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

 

Hidden Gem Book:

 

Born of Persuasion by Jessica Dotta

 

Important Moment in your Reading Life:

 

As a kid pushing myself to learn more words, so that I could understand books I wanted to read (especially books that were more than 100 pages), that were beyond my reading level at the time. I spent a summer working on it, and it was well worth it; loved books even more, a little more confident in my reading skills, and especially in pronouncing words.

 

Finding like minded people who loved books as much as me.

 

Just Finished:

 

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

 

Kinds of Books You Won't Read:

 

Political

 

Longest Book You've Read:

 

Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix by JK Rowling

 

Major Book Hangover Because Of:

 

War and Peace, trying to keep all of the characters straight!

 

Number of Bookcases You Own:
Two floor to ceiling bookcases, and then two half bookcases. I have books also on a window ledge.

 

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

 

Only one book? The Outsiders by SE Hinton. Throughout my life of reading this book, depending on what age I was, I would either relate more to Pony or his older brother Darry, then later on seeing both sides.

 

Preferred Place To Read:

 

Anywhere that is quiet and peaceful. Or that I can tune at noise to read.

 

Quote That Inspires You From a Book You've Read:

 

"We ought always to try to influence others for good," LM Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

 

 

Reading Regret:

 

 Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, ugh.

 

Series You Started and Need To Finish:

 

 The Hunger Games

 

Three of Your All-Time Favorite Books:

•  The Outsiders by SE Hinton
• Harry Potter series
• Grapes of Wrath

 Unapologetic Fangirl For:

 

SE Hinton, JK Rowling, Beverly Lewis, Jane Austen

 

Very Excited For This Release More Than All the Others:

 Sequel to Born of Persuasion by Jessica Dotta

 
Worst Bookish Habit:

 

Starting and wanting to read too many books at once.

X Marks the Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

 

The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper (I have never read any of his books before)

 

Your Latest Book Purchase:

 

The Far Side of the Sky by Daniel Kalla

 

 Zzz-Snatcher (last book that kept you up way late):

 

Born of Persuasion by Jessica Dotta

 

Whats On Your Plate This Week 11/25/2013

Last Week:

I ended up making three out of the four items I listed last week for meals. All of them were new to us, here are my reviews:


Marinated Teriyaki Chicken with Herbed Potato Pancakes and green beans:

 

 I forgot to take a picture of it. We really liked the chicken, which I marinated for about four hours. This will definitely be made quite a bit in the future!

Winter Squash Soup with Sausage Sandwich:

The soup was very good! I used smoked gruyere instead of just regular and used less chicken broth. I found a new smoked sausage brand called Curly's and it was pretty good. The soup made quite a bit, so we had it for several meals.

 

Chicken Tortellini Soup with Turkey Sandwich:

We were not fans of this soup, I ended up leaving out the chicken, but I still don't think it would have helped. It was way too watery and even with all the herbs all I could taste was chicken. So if I made this again I would replace the chicken broth with vegetable and use less.

This Week:

• Salsa Sloppy Joes and roasted vegetables with rosemary
• Turkey Day: Slow Cooked Herbed Turkey with Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Rolls, and Veggie Dish, and either Pumpkin Spice or Sugar Cookie
• Pork Sandwiches and Paprika Parsley Potatoes
• Roasted Red Bell Pepper Basil Soup and rolls

So what are you having for this week?

My Spin book is.......

 

The Classics Club has picked number 10 for the winner of the Spin List. So I will be reading Persuasion by Jane Austen! It should be a fun read, and I think it will be finished before the deadline of Jan. 1st. If you are participating in the Classics Spin, what book will you be reading?

What's On your Plate This Week? 11/17/2013

Last Week:

The previous week since was pretty busy so we had a lot of frozen leftovers. I did end up making the following:

•  Old-Fashioned Meatloaf  (Turkey is used to make it a healthier version) (From Mama's Table to Mine cookbook)with Roasted Vegetables and rolls
• Queso Blanco Velveeta Macaroni and Cheese with Green Beans

None of these meals are new to us, and I do make the meatloaf about once a month or so. The vegetables I used was butternut squash, parsnips and carrots with a little bit of rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Enjoy the pictures!

 

This Week:

 

Everything this week I am making, except for the herbed vegetable dish or turkey sandwich, will be new recipes for me. The herbed potato pancakes and Sausage Sandwich I do not have any recipes, but think I should be fine without them. I haven't decided yet if the sausage sandwich will either be Italian or another type.

• Marinated Teriyaki Chicken with Herbed Potato Pancakes and green beans
• Winter Squash Soup with Sausage Sandwich
• Chicken Tortellini Soup with Turkey Sandwich
• Brown Sugar-Glazed Meatballs with Roasted Rosemary Russet Wedges and Herbed Vegetable dish

I have a few ideas on how to use leftovers for the meatballs and herbed vegetable dish next week. Please share any recipes or what you will be eating this week by using Mister Linky below.

Classics Club Spin 4 List

 

 

The Classics Club is having another Spin! In the past previous Spins I have participated in, I had picked mostly a mixture of books I wanted to really read, so-so, or "scary" books. I need to read a good enjoyable and relaxing book, so I will only add books I want to read on my list. After all there isn't any official "rules", so it is all good. =0) I will find out on Monday what I will be reading and need to finish it by Jan., 1, 2014. Here are the choices it could be:

1. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
3. Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
5. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
6. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
7. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
9. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
10. Persuasion by Jane Austen
11. Larkrise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
12. North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell
13. Five Little Peppers & How They Grow by Margaret Sidney
14. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
15. Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
16. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
17. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
18. Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens
19. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
20. Private Yankee Doodle by J.P. Martin

Whats On Your Plate This Week? 11/12

 

As you can tell I didn't post yesterday, so far this week has been busy, and will be so until about Thursday. So we tried a few new items last week, some winners and some not.

 

Last Week

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a lot of pictures, but I do have at least some. I didn't make the Rosemary-Dijon Chicken or the new Herbed Veggie Skillet, those will end up being part of this weeks menu.  

 

Reviews:

Spiced Chicken: This was not a keeper by any means, it was way too sweet, and did not taste good at all. I only took about two or three bites, although my husband did eat about half of a chicken breast.

 

Rustic Italian Tomato Soup: Have you ever started making a recipe,  everything starts to go wrong in the process, and you end up making your own version or at least something completely different? That is what happened with this recipe. Our grocery store didn't have just a frozen bag mixed bell peppers, so I ended up getting one that was just roasted red bell peppers. I put the required ingredients in our food processor, when it started leaking, so much so that it barely had any of the chicken broth or sauce from the can of diced tomato. I apparently had filled it too much. As I wasn't sure how much of the chicken broth was actually left over from the leak, I ended up just guessing when I put everything into the pot. I ended up putting to much basil into the soup, as I used dried instead of fresh, however it was REALLY GOOD. However, did it taste like a Tomato Soup? No, more like Roasted Red Pepper Basil Soup, because of the ingredients I used instead. It was even better a day or two later, as the roasted red pepper taste was more flavorful. This is a very easy soup to make (make sure you don't overfill your food processor like I did!) and would be great to freeze. I do like recipes though, that with just a few changes you have another type of meal. Eventually, I will need to try just the original recipe, if I can find just frozen bag of mixed bell peppers. I ate over half of my soup before I remembered to take a picture.

 

 

 

 

Shepherd's Pie Pictures (From Mama's Table to Mine cookbook)

I made this last night and the few times I have made it is always good. I know it looks like it is mostly just mashed potatoes, but it does have ground turkey, carrots, rosemary, etc.

This Week:

As this week is really busy, I am relying on a few quick meals.We still have some leftovers of the Shepherd's Pie, and frozen leftovers from Potato-Lentil Stew. I didn't make a few meals from my list the previous week or two, as we had quite a bit of leftovers, so I will make them this week. They will be:

• Queso Blanco Velveeta Macaroni and Cheese with Green Beans
• Rosemary-Dijon Chicken with mashed potatoes and Herbed Veggie Skillet
• Old-Fashioned Meatloaf  (Turkey is used to make it a healthier version) (From Mama's Table to Mine cookbook)with Roasted Vegetables and rolls

What's On Your Plate This Week? Join me in finding new recipes and sharing your thoughts on dishes by using Mister Linky below.

Whats On Your Plate This Week?

Last Week:

 The Goulash was ok, I couldn't find the recipe that I used last time. So next time I will just change it a little bit.

 The Chicken Tikka Masala was good, but the sauce I purchased was a little spicy. I plan on adding some vegetables next time.

The potato Lentil Soup was good. The picture is of leftovers that I ended up freezing.

This Week:

Last week I didn't end up making the Veggie Bean Casserole or the Mac and Cheese, we either had leftovers or delivered pizza.

This week I want to try a few dishes I have never made before, either as a main meal or side. So I hope they taste good! You will just need to wait until next week to find out, what we thought of them. I have made the Shepherds Pie quite a few times from the past couple of months, and it is really good. Also, from the same cookbook I make a healthy Turkey Meatloaf that rarely is there ever any leftovers, it is that good.

• Spiced Chicken with Herbed Veggie Skillet
• Rustic Italian Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwich
• Rosemary-Dijon Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
• Cheese Tortellini with Pesto Sauce
• Italian version of Shepherds Pie (From Mama's Table to Mine cookbook)

What Is On Your Plate This Week? Share below what you will be eating this week, so we can all get inspired for other meals.