Recipes
1. Sugar Cookies, 5 Stars for sure
One of my friends told me about http://www.ourbestbites.com/. I love this cooking blog! I started looking at their blog in April. However, for the month of April I was experimenting with a diet. I was counting my calories and increasing the intensity of my workouts to lose a few pounds I had gained over the winter. So I looked at all these recipes and waited til May. This is one of the first new recipes I tried. It is super easy and they taste decilious. Click here for their recipe. The only thing is I didn't do the special glace icing because I didn't have light corn syrup. I used store bought icing.
2. Caleb's Birthday Dinner (Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos, Quick and Easy Black Beans, and Cilantro Lime Dressing): 4 Stars
Again these recipes came from http://www.ourbestbites.com/, surprise! I've wanted to try these taquitos for awhile. I only suggestion I have is use flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas. I did not get along with the corn tortillas, it was too difficult to keep them from cracking.
The quick and easy black beans were just as their title suggests. Tasty but easy to put together. Same for the Lime-Cilantro Dressing, for that recipe you throw the ingredients into the blender and then let sit to thicken, SO EASY (although it's makes a LOT so think of something that will also be good with the leftovers). And the dressing is a great dip for the taquitos.
3. Pizza Rolls: 2 stars
So far this is the only recipe off http://www.ourbestbites.com/ that I didn't love. They were fun to put together. And the taste was okay but I didn't feel so great afterwards (and that's possibly because I went running and those rolls felt like rocks in my stomach).
Books
(FYI: Most of the books I read are young adult novels, but not all of them. I am a huge fan of libraries and usually wait until I can check a book out instead of buying it. But if I love it (and I mean absolutely LOVE it) and think I'll read it again I put it on my list to purchase)
1. Demonglass (Hex Hall #2), by Rachel Hawkins
This is the sequel to Hex Hall. And I don't often say this but I enjoyed the sequel better. Not a bad read if you're into the young adult supernatural genre.
2. Girl at Sea, by Maureen Johnson
A fun young adult novel. But not a must-read.
3. Last Little Blue Envelope (sequel to Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes), by Maureen Johnson
A fun young adult novel. But not a must-read.
4. Enchanted Ivy, by Sarah Beth Durst
Interesting concept (the supernatural and normal worlds living in parallel), I just didn't love it. But it was good enough to finish reading.
5. Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson
If you're into fantasy/sci-fi this is a great read. I got the idea to read it from a friend's blog (shout out to Zippi). I love the idea behind Allomancy (if you read it you'll know what that means) and I always wonder how writers come up with their ideas. Warning: It's long (over 600 pages). I've got the next one in the series sitting at home trying to get up the courage to start it.
6. These is My Words, by Nancy E. Turner
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Read it. And I just discovered that there are sequels! I've requested the next one from the library and I hope they're as good as the first. This one is a maybe for my purchase list. I'm not sure what genre this would fall under, it's about a young woman and her life in the southwest.
7. Friendship Bread, by Darien Gee
It took me about 50-70 pages to get into this novel. But once you get to know the characters the story draws you in with the details of their lives. I think it's one of those books that's perfect for a rainy day curled up in a blanket with a cup of something warm. It's a comfort read. And makes you feel good, mostly. It follows the lives of three women in different stages and trials of life.
8. I Am Number Four, by Patticus Lore
I watched this movie recently and coincidentally had the book checked out from the library at the same time. So I read the book. Not a bad book. Fun young adult adventure.
9. Water Wars, by Cameron Stracher
Another young adult novel, surprised? This wasn't a page turner for me, but it was a quick read. I felt like it was a little too political. I mostly read books to take a break from life. But this one seemed to push it's agenda to the point that it was distracting from the story.
This month I averaged one book every three and a half days. I'm thinking maybe I should get some new hobbies.
Any suggestions for what I should read next month?
