Chewy Brownies

Chewy Brownies

Makes about 24.

April Fools! These "brownies" are actually made with a cake mix!

Okay, that was kind of a stretch...

Either way, these are tasty. They are much more cakey than traditional brownies, though, so don't expect the dense, fudgey brownies that you may or may not prefer.

Source: 101 Things to do With a Cake Mix cookbook

1 chocolate cake mix

1/2 c. margarine, softened

3 eggs

3/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1 can chocolate frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together cake mix, margarine, and eggs until the cake mix is completely absorbed. Stir in chocolate chips. Press the stiff dough evenly into a greased 13x9" pan.

Bake 25-28 minutes. When cooled, frost and cut into squares.

Savor the Moment

Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts

This is the third book in The Bridal Quartet by Nora Roberts. I've read books one, Vision in White, and two, Bed of Roses, and like them all because they are quick, easy reads about love and weddings. Mac and Emma found love in books #1 and #2, and now it's Laurel's turn...

Product description from Amazon.com:

New Love takes the cake in the third novel in Nora Roberts's new Bride Quartet-in a stunning French flap edition

Wedding baker Laurel McBane is surrounded by romance working at Vows wedding planning company with her best friends Parker, Emma, and Mac. But she's too low-key to appreciate all the luxuries that their clients seem to long for. What she does appreciate is a strong, intelligent man, a man just like Parker's older brother Delaney, on whom she's had a mega-crush since childhood.

But some infatuations last longer than others, and Laurel is convinced that the Ivy League lawyer is still out of her reach. Plus, Del is too protective of Laurel to ever cross the line with her-or so she thinks. When Laurel's quicksilver moods get the better of her-leading to an angry, hot, all-together mind-blowing kiss with Del-she'll have to quiet the doubts in her mind to turn a moment of passion into forever...

Country Brunch

Country Brunch

Serves 6-8

Double this easily to serve a larger crowd.

Source: Ohio P.E.O. Cooks II cookbook

8 slices firm (or wheat) bread

1-1/4 c. cooked and crumbled bacon (about 1/2 lb.)

8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded

8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

3 eggs

1-1/2 c. whole milk

1/4 t. dry mustard

1/8 t. onion powder

Trim crusts from bread; cut slices in halves. Grease a 8x8" baking pan and layer as follows: Cover bottom of pan with one-half of bread, one-half of bacon, and one-half of each of the cheeses. Repeat a second layer. Combine eggs, milk, and seasonings. Pour over layers; refrigerate overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Buttermilk Scrambled Eggs

Buttermilk Scrambled Eggs

Serves 2.

Sometimes it's nice to switch things up a bit. The buttermilk in these eggs simply replaces the milk that is typically added.

6 eggs

1/6 c. buttermilk

Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a skillet over medium heat and coat with non-stick spray or a bit of melted butter.

Whisk together eggs and buttermilk. Add salt and pepper. Pour eggs into prepared pan and scramble by flipping and tossing eggs with a spatula. Serve with bacon, sausage, or toast... or all three!

The Higher Power of Lucky

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Every once in a while I enjoy reading young adult lit. Something about the simplicity of the writing, the ability to get through it fast, and the "younger" approach to adult topics is just a breath of fresh air. This wasn't one of the best I've read, but it did win a Newberry award, so it could be just what your grade-schooler is looking for!

School Library Journal review from Amazon.com:

Grade 4-6–Ten-year-old Lucky is sure that if she finds her Higher Power she will gain special insight into her life, just like the people she eavesdrops on at the Anonymous meetings. Lucky knows about the uncertainty of life because she lost her mother in a sudden accident two years ago and her guardian, Brigitte, is homesick for France. Hard Pan, California, population 43, is a unique and sometimes harsh place, but Lucky loves life at the edge of the desert with people that she knows and loves. The youngster wants to be a scientist and has so many questions in the crevices of her brain. Her motto is to stay alert and to carry a survival kit at all times because things happen when you least expect them. When she thinks that Brigitte plans to leave, Lucky knows she has hit rock bottom and must run away, although things don't turn out the way she plans. Narrator Cassandra Campbell brings Susan Patron's Newbery Award-winning novel (Atheneum, 2006) to life, giving each character a slightly different, expressive voice. Brigitte's soft French accent and Lucky's earnest longing and unique view of life are especially captivating. The novel addresses difficult topics such as death, absent parents, and addiction with realism, humor, and wonder, making the overall message one of hope and love.–Teresa Wittmann, Westgate Elementary School, Edmonds, WA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Italian Chicken Sub Sandwiches

Italian Chicken Sub Sandwiches

Makes 2 sandwiches.

A hit with the mister!

2 hoagie rolls

Olive oil

1 chicken breast

1/4 c. Italian dressing

4 slices provolone cheese

4 slices Genoa salami

Creamy Italian dressing

Marinate chicken breast in Italian dressing for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Split open hoagie rolls and brush insides with olive oil. Set aside.

Cook chicken breast in a skillet over medium heat until cooked through, flipping halfway through. Thinly slice chicken breast and separate into two portions.

Assemble each sandwich by layering two slices of salami, chicken, Italian dressing, and topped with provolone cheese. Top with other side of bun and wrap sandwich in foil.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and sandwich is warmed through.

Bacon Crescent Appetizers

Bacon Crescent Appetizers

These must've been a hit, because they went fast!

Source: Kraft Food and Family magazine

Makes about 64 bite-size appetizers.

2 cans (8-oz. each) refrigerated crescent rolls

1 (8-oz.) block cream cheese

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 c. finely chopped onions

2 T. chopped fresh parsley

1 T. milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all ingredients except crescent roll dough.

Separate each can of dough into 4 rectangles. Cut each rectangle into 8 triangles (you will have 64 triangles between the two cans of crescent roll dough). Spread each triangle with a small scoop of the cream cheese filling; fold over, as shown in picture.

Place on baking sheet and bake 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

The Other Woman

The Other Woman edited by Victoria Zackheim

An interesting read... a combination of viewpoints from women involved in situations with "the other woman." Some are written by the cheaters, some are written by the cheated-on. An interesting highlight is an entry by Mary Jo Eustace, the woman left behind when she was replaced by Tori Spelling with husband Dean.

Publishers Weekly review from Amazon.com:

The Other Woman may be a topic of eternally prurient interest, but the main attraction of this strong collection of 21 personal essays is the top-drawer writers such as Diana Abu-Jaber, Laurie Stone and Susan Cheever. Narrated from the point of view of the marriage wrecker or that of the wife who suffers the anguish of triangulation in a trusting relationship, these tales drip with the bitterness of experience. In "Palm Springs," Mary Jo Eustace records the shattering moment when she was stranded on vacation with her small children, and her husband revealed he had fallen in love with his movie co-star. Jane Smiley's terrifically funny "Iowa Was Never Like This" describes the incorrigible but enchanting litany of love's fickle nature. Dani Shapiro's "The Mistress" recreates her several years' affair with the much older stepfather of her college friend—and the lies she finally uncovered by hiring a detective. And in her plainspoken "The Uterine Blues," Connie May Fowler wonders when women are going to smarten up and stop sabotaging one another by sleeping with each other's husbands. The anthology features tales from women of all ages, lesbians and women who have been abused physically: it is a candid and truly fascinating look at how men and women love and hurt.(June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Original Chex Party Mix

Original Chex Party Mix

Makes 12 cups, about 24 servings.

A long-time party favorite. The bagged stuff is addicting, but THIS is even better.

Source: Chex.com

3 c. Rice Chex

3 c. Corn Chex

3 c. Wheat Chex

1 c. mini pretzels

1 c. peanuts or mixed nuts

1 c. bagel chips, broken in 1" pieces

6 T. butter (I round up to 8 and just use a whole stick)

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1-1/2 t. seasoned salt

3/4 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. onion powder

Oven directions:

Heat oven to 250°F. In large bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels and bagel chips; set aside. In ungreased large roasting pan, melt butter in oven. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in cereal mixture until evenly coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Microwave directions:

In a large microwaveable bowl, combine cereals, pretzels, nuts, and bagel chips; set aside.

In another microwaveable bowl, microwave butter on high for 40 seconds, or until melted. Add Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. Pour over cereal mixture; stir until evenly coated.

Microwave, uncovered, on high for 5-6 minutes, thoroughly stirring every 2 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, or use my lazy-man's technique -- leave in the bowl and stir every 30 minutes or so until cool. Store in an airtight container.

New York-Style Crumb Cake

New York-Style Crumb Cake

Makes one 13"x9" cake.

Serves 24+, depending on how you cut it.

It's my birthday today and I'm celebrating the big 2-7. Besides some traditional (and necessary) birthday cake, this coffee cake is a wonderful way to start my day.

Source: Martha Stewart Living magazine

For the crumb topping:

3-1/2 c. cake flour (not self-rising)

2/3 c. granulated sugar

2/3 c. packed dark-brown sugar

1-1/2 t. ground cinnamon

Coarse salt

2-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

For the cake:

1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan

2-1/2 c. cake flour

1/2 t. baking soda

Coarse salt

1 c. granulated sugar

2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks

1 t. pure vanilla extract

2/3 c. low-fat buttermilk

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Make the crumb topping: Mix together flour, sugars, cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Pour warm melted butter over mixture, and mix using your hands until medium to large clumps form.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Make the cake: Butter a 13"x9" baking pan. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl.

Beat butter and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs and yolks, 1 at a time, then vanilla. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Continue to beat until well combined.

Spoon batter into pan, and spread evenly using an offset spatula. Sprinkle crumb-topping mixture evenly over batter.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Let cake cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Makes 3 dozen.

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband! These cookies are one of his favorites!

Source: back of the can of The Farmer's Market Raisins

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened

1/2 c. shortening

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla extract

1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon

3 c. oats, uncooked

1 c. raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, shortening, and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; mix well. Add the flour combination to the batter and mix well. Add the oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes or until light golden brown in color. Cool one minute on cookie sheets, then place on wire cooling racks. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Water For Elephants

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

This is a fantastic book, and here's more reason to read it: the movie for it will be in theaters this April. We all know most books are better than their movies, so quick! Read the book first, be amazed, and then go see the movie, and hopefully be equally impressed.

Amazon.com review:

Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.

Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.

The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely. --Valerie Ryan

Unbearable Lightness

Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi

Wow. What a read. This memoir is commendably honest, almost painfully so. Portia really bares her soul and past as she talks about her battle with anorexia, self-image, and being gay in a straight world. I had trouble putting this book down because I just wanted to keep reading more! You'll cringe, you might cry, and you'll be fascinated by the extremes Portia goes to.

Publishers Weekly review from Amazon.com:

The author, an actor in movies and TV, (including Ally McBeal, Arrested Development, and Better Off Ted), model, and gay rights advocate, writes that "playing the role of heterosexual while fantasizing about being a homosexual had been my reality since I was a child." It's one she played into her 20s, when she was for three years married to a man. Now, she is married to Ellen DeGeneres, whom she met in 2001 after recovering from anorexia and bulimia. De Rossi nicely chronicles the years in between, during which she starved herself to 80 pounds. She artfully draws the reader into the tension of a life lived in secrecy: did anybody notice she lunges rather than walks, the better to burn calories? will anyone guess she is gay? when she nearly fainted, was anyone around? While some details could be viewed as anorexia how-tos, they make it possible to comprehend the twisted logic of de Rossi's frantic daily pursuits, and grasp the enormity of her achievement in overcoming her problems. The path de Rossi took to her happy ending is well worth reading about: her story is a cautionary tale, an inspiration, and a triumph. (Nov.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Pimento Cheese Spread

Pimento Cheese Spread

Makes 1-1/2 cups.

This was a great dip... and so easy to throw together! Add it to a meat and cheese tray and your friends and family will be even more impressed.

Slightly adapted from: Martha Stewart Living cookbook

1 (8-oz.) block cream cheese, softened

2 oz. grated cheddar cheese (3/4 cup)

1 (2-oz.) jar pimentos

1/8 t. Tabasco sauce

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Crackers, for serving

Combine all ingredients (except crackers) and mix until well-combined. Transfer to a serving bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Spunky Spinach Dip

Spunky Spinach Dip

Now I know what the "spunky" means... the salsa gives it quite a kick!

Source: Gooseberry Patch cookbook

2 c. salsa

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

8-oz. cream cheese, softened

10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ingredients together and place in a baking dish. Bake, covered, for 25-30 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips or your favorite dipper.

A Note From The Little Lady: I halved the recipe, so keep that in mind when checking out my pictures.

Father of the Rain

Father of the Rain by Lily King

This book got great reviews, but it didn't do much for me. I was interested half the time and wanting to skim pages the other half. I think if it was the same story in half the pages, it would be a better book. But obviously I'm in the minority, so it might be worth your time.

Publishers Weekly review from Amazon.com:

Whiting Award–winner King (The English Teacher) captures with easy strokes the bold and dangerous personalities lurking inside the mundane frame of domestic drama. Her third novel, narrated by the clear-eyed daughter of an alcoholic father, follows their evolving relationship. The opening scene-- with 11-year-old Daley and her father wreaking delirious havoc by streaking naked at a martini-fueled pool party in the sleepy Boston suburbs-- brims with Daley's love for her father and desire for connection with him, but is also tinged with the repercussions of a charismatic man divorced from the role of parenthood, unlike Daley's socially responsible mother. Daley watches her father's continued degradation, but after years of self-imposed cultural and emotional distance from him--she flourishes at Berkeley and builds a loving, stable relationship with an African-American man she knows her Waspish father will despise--she eventually returns to her father's side after he is no longer capable of living alone. While Daley's perfect romance with her strapping, intelligent suitor is simplistic though sensual, King's latest is original and deftly drawn, the work of a master psychological portraitist.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pierogi and Kielbasa Bake

Pierogi and Kielbasa Bake

Serves 4-6.

This definitely falls in the "comfort food" category. It's rich and satisfying and delicious... and pretty heavy in your stomach too!

Source: Lemons and Love

2 lbs. pierogies (homemade or store-bought)

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 oz. cream cheese

1 lb. kielbasa, cut into small pieces

1 c. chicken broth

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Arrange the pierogies in a 13x9 baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray. Scatter kielbasa evenly overtop.

Warm cream cheese, garlic, and pepper in a saucepan, and cook for one minute, or until cream cheese begins to melt, stirring frequently. Gradually add chicken broth to pan, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Stir in tomatoes. Pour the cream cheese mixture overtop pierogies and kielbasa. Top with shredded cheddar. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly and heated through.

Tortilla Crusted Fish Filets

Tortilla Crusted Fish Fillets

Serves 2.

I used cod, but next time, I'll use a thinner white fish, such as tilapia.

Slightly adapted from: Better Homes and Gardens cookbook

2 tilapia fish filets (about 1/2 lb.)

1 beaten egg

1/2 c. crushed tortilla chips

1/8 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 t. salt

Dash black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Thaw fish, if frozen. Rinse fish and pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 2 serving-size pieces, if necessary. In a shallow dish, combine beaten egg and 1 tablespoon water. In another shallow dish, combine crushed tortilla chips, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Dip fish into egg mixture; coat fish with tortilla mixture. Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake, uncovered, for 4-6 minutes per 1/2" thickness or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

The Pact

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

I couldn't put this book down! And for a few reasons... 1) Right from the beginning, you're thrown in. There are no drawn out introductions to characters or lengthy plot developments that leave you wondering, "When will I feel hooked?" 2) The book switches back and forth from present day to flash-backs, which totally keeps my interest, and 3) There's the main story, but a few underlying stories that keep you from ever feeling bored. Nice work, Jodi Picoult.

Publishers Weekly review from Amazon.com:

Teenage suicide is the provocative topic that Picoult plumbs, with mixed results, in her fifth novel. Popular high-school swimming star Chris Harte and talented artist Em Gold bonded as infants; their parents have been next-door neighbors and best friends for 18 years. When they fall in love, everyone is ecstatic. Everyone, it turns out, except for Em, who finds that sex with Chris feels almost incestuous. Her emotional turmoil, compounded by pregnancy, which she keeps secret, leads to depression, despair and a desire for suicide, and she insists that Chris prove his love by pulling the trigger. The gun is fired in the first paragraph, and so the book opens with a jolt of adrenaline. But Picoult stumbles in delineating both sets of parents' responses to the tragedy. Unconvincing behavior and dialogue inappropriate to the situation (plus, most importantly, the fact that the parents fail to discuss crucial topics) never touch the essence of bereavement and thus destroy credibility. Picoult redeems herself in flashbacks that reveal the two marital relationships and the personalities of both couples; and she sensitively explores the question of how well parents can ever know their children. After Chris is accused of murder and jailed, the narrative acquires impressive authenticity and suspense, with even the minor characters evoked with Picoult's keen eye for telling detail. The courtroom scenes (reminiscent of Picoult's 1996 novel, Mercy), are taut and well paced. Readers may remain unconvinced, however, that an intelligent young man like Chris would not have sought some help rather than respond to his lover's desperate request. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections; foreign rights sold in Germany, France, Poland and Norway.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Colossal Cookie

Makes 1 (12") cookie.

Posting after 7pm on Valentines Day... Better late than never right?

Here's a great big cookie for your sweetheart!

Source: Current, Inc.

1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened

3/4 c. packed light brown sugar

2 T. light corn syrup

1 T. sugar

1 large egg

1-1/2 t. vanilla extract

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl at medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and sugar until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. At low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Grease a 12" round pizza pan. Place dough in center of pan and press evenly to within 1/2" of edge.

Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until edges are firm and center feels slightly firm.

When cool, decorate with frosting.

I use the buttercream frosting posted here.

Easy Slow Cooker French Dip

Easy Slow Cooker French Dip

Makes 6 sandwiches.

Everyone should make this... except those vegetarians out there, but I'm doubtful I have many of those readers. This is EASY, this TASTES GREAT, this TAKES 5 MINUTES TO PREPARE (although 7 hours to cook), and this is something YOUR FAMILY WILL LOVE. Do it, do it now.

Slightly adapted from: AllRecipes.com

4-lb. sirloin tip roast

1 (12-oz.) bottle of beer

1 (10.5-oz.) can beef broth

1 (10.5-oz.) can condensed French onion soup

garlic salt

6 French rolls

6 slices Provolone or Muenster cheese

butter

Trim excess fat from sirloin tip roast; place in slow cooker. Season roast with garlic salt, and then add the beer, beef broth, and French onion soup. Cook on low for 7 hours.

Shred meat using two forks (it will pull apart super easily) and let sit in sauce while you prepare rolls.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Split French rolls; spread with butter and top one side with a slice of cheese. With rolls open (buttered sides up, obviously), bake for 5-10 minutes, until cheese is melted and rolls are heated through. Top with meat and serve with sauce for dipping.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers

The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano

Your heart will ache for the characters, but you'll be compelled to read chapter after chapter.

Booklist review from Amazon.com:

Giordano’s deeply touching debut novel immediately thrusts the reader into the lives of two individuals, at the moment when each of their young lives takes a sharp turn toward painful solitude: Alice has been crippled in a childhood skiing accident, Mattia is consumed by guilt after playing an unintended but key role in his twin sister’s disappearance. Upon meeting in their early teens, they develop a frequently uncomfortable yet enveloping friendship. What follows is a beautiful and affecting account of the ways in which seemingly inconsequential decisions reverberate so intensely as to change a life forever. Translated from the Italian, this is a book about communication: in lacking a facility for self-expression, our stunted protagonists exist almost solely, and safely, in their own minds. Despite its heavy subject matter, it reads easily, due in part to the almost seamless translation. A quietly explosive ending completes the novel in just the fashion it was started, as an intimate psychological portrait of two “prime numbers”—together alone and alone together. --Annie Bostrom

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Serves 3.

A simply roasted, yet flavorful, potato side dish.

Source: Everyday Food magazine

1 lb. fingerling potatoes

2 sprigs oregano

1-2 t. extra-virgin olive oil

coarse salt and ground pepper

2 t. fresh lemon juice, if desired

Toss potatoes with oregano and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Toss halfway through. Transfer to a serving dish, and toss with lemon juice, if desired.

Slow-Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Slow-Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Makes about 5 sandwiches.

These didn't have a strong buffalo flavor, which isn't a bad thing, necessarily, but I think it's worth pointing out. I was expecting a stronger buffalo flavor, reminiscent of buffalo chicken dip, but this was much more subdued, and the crushed tomatoes in the recipe tamed it and gave it a new taste altogether. Don't shy away from the recipe if you're a buffalo fan, but know that you may need to increase the hot-pepper sauce and decrease the crushed tomatoes to reach your desired flavor.

Slightly adapted from: Everyday Food magazine

1 t. extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, diced small

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced small

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

coarse salt and ground pepper

1/2 can (7 oz.) crushed tomatoes

1/8 c. hot-pepper sauce, such as Frank's

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 T. yellow mustard

1 t. unsulfured molasses

5 hamburger buns

Sliced cheese, such as provolone, if desired

Place chicken breasts in slow cooker.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and bell pepper and cook, stirring constantly, until onion is translucent, 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to slow cooker.

To slow cooker, add crushed tomatoes, hot-pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and molasses; stir to combine. Cover and cook on high until chicken is very tender, 4 hours. (You could also cook on low for 7 hours.) Shred chicken and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve on buns with sliced cheese, if desired. Oh, and Ranch dressing is great on these sandwiches, as well!

Not My Daughter

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

Probably the best Barbara Delinsky book I've read so far (the other two were: Coast Road and While My Sister Sleeps). With teen pregnancy on the rise, this was an interesting modern day read. There's a large focus on mother-daughter relationships, and if you're a knitter, you'll enjoy those references as well.

Publishers Weekly review from Amazon.com:

Delinsky proves once again why she's a perennial bestseller with this thought-provoking tale of three smart, popular teenage girls who make a pact to become pregnant and raise their babies together. Lily, Mary Kate, and Jess also happen to be the daughters of best friends Susan, Kate, and Sunny, and the mothers are thrown into a tailspin by this unexpected news. Susan, the principal of the town's high school, has the most to lose, when the schools superintendent and editor of the local newspaper question her abilities as a leader and mother, and other parents prove quick to blame her—a single mother herself who got pregnant as a teenager—as a poor role model. But all three women must come to grips with where they failed as mothers, how the dreams they had for their daughters are disappearing, and scathing smalltown judgment. Timely, fresh, and true-to-life, this novel explores multiple layers of motherhood and tackles tough questions. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.