Faith, Food and Family

Do you have an avid reader in your household? My daughter could just about live on books alone. LOL She was very interested in reading a book called Armada by Ernest Cline. When it arrived, she was excited to get started reading it. Usually, I review cookbooks and such but this time, my daughter wanted to review this book so I am letting her. Here is her review... I first heard of Armada by watching a booktuber and it sounded really interesting. I was excited to dive in and get started on the book. However, it didn't quite meet my expectations. The book is heavily based in gamer lingo and I had a hard time following all of it. If you're a gamer, this book might be more up your alley. While the story line was interesting, it just wasn't my cup of tea. I would recommend this book be read at age 14 and above as there was quite a bit of profanity and some other more mature topics in the book. You can find more about the author here . Disclaimer: I received this book...

Do you all remember when the first American with Ebola was brought to Atlanta to be treated? It seems like it's been forever ago in ways. Last year I kept up with all of the news information about Ebola. I had first heard of the disease as a child and I remember how much it scared me because of it's devastating effects and high death rate. One of the things that bothered me most about the disease is how you lose the ability to touch another person because you are so contagious. So when I saw that Ebola was raging out of control in West Africa and that two missionaries had contracted it and they would be bringing them here to treat, I was definitely uneasy. I followed Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol's stories closely. I was so thankful for their recoveries and when I found out that Dr. Brantly would be releasing a book, I was anxious to read it. His faithfulness and devotion to God in such a devastating situation was inspiring. His book, Called for Life, arrived at ...

Do any of you have any of Trisha Yearwood's cookbooks? I have one and just added another to my collection recently. It's called Trisha's Table and the recipes look so yummy! That is one thing I have really enjoyed about this book is looking at all of the yummy looking photos! They make everything look so tasty! Trisha includes a great recipe for breakfast burritos that would make a great on-the-go breakfast. I am hoping to soon make her recipe for Spinach Frittata as it looked so good! Some of the other recipes I hope to try is the caramelized onion dip, Mama's egg salad, wild rice and mushroom soup, cornbread chili casserole, chicken enchiladas and so much more! This book has lots of fresh ingredients that are great for healthy family dinners. As well as recipes for things like unfried chicken, to put a healthier spin on some old favorites. I look forward to trying some of these recipes soon! Do you all have any favorite recipes from Trisha Yearwood? Want ...

I don't usually have allergies but last week, something knocked me down hard. I know it was allergy based because of my symptoms but I think it also went to my sinuses. I was miserable for several days. I'm feeling better but still can't taste or smell 100%. I was very excited to look through the newest cookbook in my collection while I was sick though. It's called Pure Food by Veronica Bosgraaf. Her cookbook is all about eating clean with seasonal, plant-based recipes. She has actually laid her book out in chapters of the months of the year. So it gives you a good idea of what to fix during those months with the seasonal produce that will be available at that time. This book has many yummy sounding recipes with several pictures of the recipes situated right in the middle of the book. I do wish the pictures accompanied each recipe and that there were more pictures, but I am a picture lover when it comes to cookbooks. I feel with a cookbook, you never can hav...

I've mentioned that we have been trying to eat healthier. It's been baby steps but my ultimate goal is very little, if any processed foods. I'm not sure that I will be able to eliminate them completely but the fewer processed items we eat, the better. One idea that has completely intrigued me, is making noodles out of veggies. I'm sure many of you have seen them around in recipes online or cookbooks. The most common seems to be using zucchini as "zoodles" as some refer to them. My youngest won't eat many veggies and I am looking forward to trying zucchini noodles in his spaghetti. If he will eat them, I think most picky eaters will. I will definitely report back when I am able to make them. With my interest in veggie noodles, I was excited to receive the Inspiralized cookbook by Ali Maffucci. Ms. Maffucci goes into all the ins and outs of spiralizing your veggies. She gives some great pointers and lots of information on what veggies to use. The book...

I've been trying to eat healthier lately so I was excited when I received my new cookbook Lighten Up, Y'all by Virginia Willis. Many of the typical southern favorites aren't always the healthiest, so it was so neat to see a cookbook with the premise of making southern food healthier. I'm all about that! This book features so many beautiful pictures. Every recipe doesn't have a picture, but many do. There is a recipe for pimento cheese that I am anxious to try. The recipe for grilled potato salad sounds yummy and would be wonderful to try when it gets a bit warmer. There's even a recipe for Summer Squash Lasagna! That sounds really good. Flipping through this book definitely gets me excited about the warmer months and the yummy produce that follows, especially at the farmer's market. I can't wait! One recipe that I would like to make soon that would be good for these colder months is the Smothered and Covered Chicken and Gravy. Good comfort ...

This time of year, there is nothing better than some home cooked soup. It's good year around, but just even better in the winter. My newest cookbook to my collection is all about soups, so I was excited to look through and see what all there was. What is so neat about this book is that this group of ladies actually decided to form a soup club. Hence the name, The Soup Club Cookbook by Courtney Allison, Tina Carr, Caroline Laskow, and Julie Peacock. On page 11, they explain a bit more about how it works...."What we do is simple: We take turns cooking big pots of soup, enough to feed our four families. We drop off the soup, along with sides and garnishes, at the homes of our three other club members. This happens once a week, which means that we each cook our big pot of soup once a month. The other three weeks, we are treats to one another's home cooking". What a great idea! This book is full of so many different yummy soups! Soups like Lentil soup, Egg Drop ...