a great book discussion.

Guess what? I started a book club. I convinced a group of friends that I needed help branching out and discussing more grown-up books (I'd started out using the term 'adult books' and got a few somewhat worried emails back from the invitees wanting to know just what kinds of books I had in mind!) When the terms were made a little less hazy most people jumped at the chance and we held our first meeting earlier this week.

I've been attending a church organized book club for the last few years but several changes in congregational boundaries made it so there were very few people that I really knew. We also had to be a bit more selective on what we read (not that it's a bad thing but several times we chose a book that none of us had ever read before only to get a few chapters or pages into it and decide that we'd probably better pick something else.) Being in charge gives me the opportunity to pick who is invited and have a little more flexibility in what we choose.

I'd also hoped to develop my culinary skills a bit so I decided to serve a light dinner at the inaugural bash. I spent the day before chopping and prepping to make three different soups (this potato soup, a variation on this apple pumpkin, and my fave this tomato basil) a loaf of roasted garlic bread and some pear pomegranate crumble for dessert. (All recipes found via Pinterest.)

Because of so many rampant cold and flu bugs running wild at the moment we only ended up with 8 in attendance but 15 or so that are on the list and hoping to participate as we go on. Everyone was told to bring a few books to suggest (some favorite reads and some they'd hoped to read) and we had some great discussion at the outset. I think it bodes well for future gatherings.

Here are some of the books we discussed:

• The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker
• Possession by AS Byatt
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
• The Little Prince by Antione de Saint-Exupery
• Act in Doctrine by Elder Bednar
• The Chosen by Chaim Potok
• My Grandfather's Blessings by Rachel Naomi Remen
• Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer
• Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
• Daughter of the Forest by Juliette Marillier
• Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
• The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
• The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
• Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald
• Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
• Savvy Auntie by Melanie Notkin
• Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That by Henry Alford
• 1000 Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are by Byron Katie
• Zhuangze: Basic Writings
• A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
• Quiet: The Power of Intorverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
• Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Wild Swans: Three Daughers of China
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
• Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosentrach
• The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean

(If I was awesome I'd have linked all of these for you...sorry, I'm not!) Have you read any of these? Which would you recommend? We're each voting for our top 5 and then the host for next month will have the honor of choosing their favorite from the final three.  I'll let you know the winner when it's decided.

To go along with all of this I’ve recommitted myself to making more regular book posts, at least once a week. I'd also like to branch out beyond just book reviews so I'm going to try to include a few features found on actual book blogs such as story time spotlights, author profiles, and literacy news as well as keeping you abreast of our book club choices/discussions. And in an effort to drum up a bit more traffic here I’m going to be trying to comment on others' blogs at least once a week. There’s a great community out there and sometimes I still feel as if I’m peeking in the window watching instead of truly participating.

a taste of fall.

This past week since running my race I've fallen off the wagon as far as my healthy eating/diet is concerned.  I had been convinced that it hadn't made a huge difference. I felt a bit better but I wasn't necessarily getting more sleep or noticing any vast improvements and the emotional turmoil of avoiding so many things I enjoyed (including baking, social invitations and just plain old eating!) didn't seem to outweigh the slim benefits. So, I'd determined to add a few things back in but still eat primarily fruits and vegetables and avoid the processed foods and sugars in particular. Well, the best laid plans as they say...

I think I ate vegetables 3 or 4 times the entire week and let me tell you, it really did make a difference.  I feel super sluggish, I have much less energy and mental clarity and just feel overall bleh (yep, I just made "bleh" an adjective.)

This week will be a little crazy as we'll probably lose power so we've had to go the non-perishable grocery route but as soon as things are back to normal I vow to return to a cleaner way of eating. But, until then I've been enjoying some fall treats and they've definitely pleased my pallet, if not so much the rest of me.

Here are a few of my favorites: *

Roasted Brussels Sprouts I left out the barley 'cuz I didn't have any, but otherwise a winner!
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas tonight's dinner, delish
Pumpkin Pie French Toast pumpkin? french toast? what's not to love?! I poured a bit of buttermilk syrup over mine (thanks M, for the recipe!) and it was divine!!
Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies Oh, my, word! There are no words for how delicious these were. Eat them fresh out of the oven when the caramel is gooey or top them with some pumpkin ice cream or dip them in dark hot chocolate....so tasty!

Now I just need to get me a salted caramel hot chocolate and a hazelnut steamer from Starbucks and I'll be ready to purge my system again!

What are some of your favorite fall foods and flavors? Anything I should squeeze in before I launch back into reality living?


*All of the recipes were found on Pinterest originally.  How did I survive before without it? I shudder to think!

discovering a new taste sensation.

Those of you who have been regular followers of the blog (are there really any of you? oh well, let's assume shall we?) will know of my struggles earlier this year with some health issues involving my sleep. I had a serious bout of insomnia for a couple of months on top of some exhaustion and things were not pretty. I've always had trouble sleeping and even when I do sleep I rarely wake up feeling rested. Anyhow, this has been an ongoing battle for most of my life but particularly the last few months as I've not fully recovered from the hoopla earlier. What this amounts to is some desperation on my part to try just about anything to get a good night's sleep. I've tried melatonin and various and sundry herbal concoctions. I've used chamomile and other teas. I've taken hot baths and sniffed lavender and even tried my hand at visualization. Everything works a tiny bit for a tiny while but nothing has proven to be a saving grace.

The latest venture is a diet plan that is designed to target your hormones in helping you to lose weight. I'm not too concerned about the weight thing (though who doesn't have a couple of pounds or inches they wouldn't cry to part with) but the hormone thing caught my attention.

Supposedly whichever hormone is out of whack affects where you carry your weight and/or what symptoms you have.  For the first two weeks you focus on healing your liver which regulates all the other hormones in your body. If you can get your liver functioning properly it should improve the other things (for me it would be sleep, skin, energy, breathing) as well as helping to boost your metabolism and lose weight. Basically you eat just veggies and most fruits-no grains, no sugar, very limited protein.  Sugar is the great evil and the body doesn't recognize the difference between a sugar cookie and a bowl of pasta, it all turns into insta carbs and elevates the blood sugar and this strains the liver which then messes up the hormones. Too much protein is hard on the liver as well and so many of them are treated with hormones (meat, dairy, eggs) that they cause their own issues. The goal is to be super strict for 2 weeks and then depending on which hormone type you are you can add a few other things in sparingly but mostly you just stick to the vegetables.

I'm running a 5K later this month and figured that was a good goal line to work towards and a little beyond the inital two weeks. After the run I can gauge how I'm feeling and if I think it's made enough of a difference for me to stick with it or throw in the towel. I'm about halfway through and so far no great changes to report. I'm still tired, still not sleeping well, my skin, digestion and other things are about what they were before as well (and my pants aren't any looser!) but I'm hanging in there. Hoping for the miracle while simultaneously craving bread and chocolate!

But on the upside, I've discovered some foods I would never have given much thought to. Like beets.  Who knew beets could be delicious? I've come across some fantastic (and super healthy) veggie recipes that I thought I'd pass on so you can share in the joy of eating some tasty, healthy foods as well.

• White Bean and Kale Soup
• Oven Roasted Cauliflower
• Balsamic Roasted Vegetables
• Various Spaghetti Squash Incarnations
• Kale Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
• Roasted Beets with Lemon Vinaigrette

I'll revisit this after I've run my race and let you know what the final verdict is. But at the very least I'm practicing some self-control which I don't do often enough in my life. (I've even voluntarily eaten cauliflower three times in the past two weeks. That's huge!) Do you have any favorite veggie recipes you'd like to share?  I'd love to try them!!

Happiness is...dessert!

Truly.  Who out there doesn't enjoy a deliciously decadent dessert every now and then?  Raise your hands.  Good. Now that you've identified yourselves, kindly commit yourselves to the nearest insane asylum.  Even if your version of a decadent dessert consists of fresh berries with some thick, cool, lightly sweetened whipped cream we've all got a sweet tooth of some sort. 

Well, this weekend I indulged mine a little more than I should have.  But it was worth it!  I blame it on my friend (who insisted on inviting me to a cookie swap on Saturday) and my penchant for setting New Year's Resolutions (which lead to my wanting to try new recipes and impress whoever I happened to have invited to dinner this time) and take no responsibility for my actions at all! :)

My first excursion into recipe adventure was a tasty, homemade version of the Whoopie Pie (the cakey, Oreo-ish goodness I believe was invented by the Amish.) I found a fantastic recipe on Bakerella.com for a chocolate/peanut butter version.  You can see it much better in her beautifully professional photographs.  Maybe one day I'll be that good, but until then this is what you get...

 

You probably can't tell, but the cake was light and moist and just a bit crumbly, while the middle was creamy and oh so yummy!  I used crunchy peanut butter as it was all I had on hand so there were bits of peanuts in the middle as well and it had just the perfect amount of saltiness to balance the sweet chocolate...mmm, to die for!  And super, super easy.  I took them to my cookie swap and they were the hit of the party.  Everyone loved them!  So, if you've got an extra 45 minutes or so in your day with nothing to do, I highly recommend you make these.  You'll thank me, I promise!

My second adventure involved a cheesecake.  I've always presumed cheesecake was hard to make.  It's laborious and time consuming, yes, but it wasn't nearly as hard as I'd thought.  I'm a sucker for anything pumpkin flavored and didn't really get my fill this fall so I googled pumpkin cheesecake recipes and found this one.(recipe)  It turned out beautifully, just the perfect amount of cheesiness and pumpkin flavor, light texture and the crust was a great balance of spice and nuts, mmm!  

Again, you can't really tell from my horrendously lit photos (when I ever get my own house there will be lights and windows EVERYWHERE!!!) And I didn't think to take the photo until after we'd dished it up and enjoyed most of it, but here's what was left.  (And don't tell my mother, but I ate another piece for dinner tonight, smothered in whipped cream....mmm!)

I'm afraid I have a bit of a fixation with food, but I really do enjoy eating.  I love taking time to really savor what I eat; the combination of flavors, textures, smells as well as the ambiance of the environment and the presentation of the food.  I'm even coming to enjoy more and more the process of creating the food (though it still seems that the best food is the kind you don't have to cook for yourself!) 

Readers, what is your relationship with food? Is it something that simply fuels your body or something you find pleasure in? Do you eat a healthy diet or one based on convenience alone?  What are some of your favorite things to eat and/or make? I hope you find a bit of happiness in what is on your plate today. Me, I'm off to eat the last Whoopie Pie from the freezer.  G'nite!