Cookbooks

Who knew that cookbooks could be so entertaining to read? Since we moved, we don't eat out as often so I started looking through my cookbooks and Taste of Home magazine to find some new things to try. This week I've been reading through them constantly! The other night I found a recipe for homemade tortilla soup that was really good (I found it in the Better Homes & Gardens book, you know the red and white checkerboard one?). Today I started in on the actual Taste of Home cookbook - everything looks amazing, I'm just not sure my culinary skills are quite up to snuff for some of it yet. Anyway, that's what I've been reading a lot of this week. Here are some of my favorite cookbooks, enjoy :)

I just love this one, called Cheap, Fast, Good!, by Beverly Mills & Alicia Ross. It's all very budget friendly and meals you can make in under 30 minutes. Our personal favorites are the sausage pepper pasta, loaded baked potato soup, and the thrifty chicken with broccoli skillet, mmm......

I'm also a big fan of the Better Homes and Gardens one, especially for baking. This is where I learned to make fruit pies that so far everyone has loved! Honestly, what housewife doesn't have this cookbook in her kitchen? If you don't, you should. We actually got two of these for our wedding, and I hadn't even registered for it. Apparently people know their stuff... :) It's a great place to start - I love that it has a glossary of terms and all kinds of information that other cookbooks might just assume you know. Definitely a good teaching tool.

I like the Taste of Home Cookbook, but things in it are slightly more advanced/fancy than I normally get with my cooking. I think a lot of the stuff is meant more for entertaining than every day stuff, but there are still some yummy looking recipes in it. I haven't made much out of it yet, simply because I haven't had the time to really peruse through it, but that's actually what I'm doing now (It's currently sitting open on the couch next to me and is what inspired this post!). One big plus with this cookbook? It came with a free year's subscription to Taste of Home magazine! I love the magazine version, I've found a lot of good things in it and I always look forward to getting it in the mail. I liked it enough that I even started paying for it - I'm currently on my 3rd subscription, and it's really reasonably priced. Generally around $10.00 for the year I think.

Another Taste of Home publication, the Simple & Delicious cookbook is pretty similar to the Cheap, Fast, Good one that I posted above. It has a lot of great simple recipes in it that are nice for a quick meal, and it also has some really yummy fast deserts in it :) Our favorite thing that I've made out of this one so far is the spicy hamburgers - we don't even make regular burgers anymore, we like them so much, and our friends seem to like them pretty well too!

So those are my favorite cookbooks - I've actually been having a lot of fun trying out new recipes since we moved. Before we moved I never seemed to have the time or energy to branch out much, but now that I'm subbing and home a lot more often I figured why not? My husband and I were just talking that over the summer we want to make goal to see how many new things we can learn to make before school starts. We'll see if it happens, but it could be a fun summer project for us to do together since we'll both be home. He likes to cook too, so hopefully we don't gain too much weight! Lol! What are your favorite cookbooks?

Audio Books

My husband and I have recently discovered that with all of the driving we do (we're 25 minutes from work and 30-40 from the nearest decent shopping!) that we really love listening to audio books in the car. Most public libraries in Nebraska have a service called Overdrive where you can "check out" and download audio books to play on your iPod. The downside is that it still has a somewhat limited collection and it's been so popular that there always seems to be a waiting list for different titles, but it's been a great way for us to experience a new book together for free :) We recently just finished The Hunger Games (I've read it before but he hasn't, and he loved it!) and he has been bugging me about getting the next one ever since. It's currently all "checked out" and there's a pretty long waiting list for it, so for something short to fill in the gap I downloaded The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. I know they recently made a movie of it, but I really haven't heard much about either the book or movie. Has anyone read it or seen the movie? I'm interested to hear what you think!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Last Olympian

Since the 4th Percy Jackson book was so good, I decided to just go ahead and finish up the series with the 5th book, The Last Olympian, and I wasn't disappointed! It was maybe a little predictable (I noticed a lot of similarities to Harry Potter throughout the entire series), but it was still fun to read. I think I would have enjoyed reading these books more if I would have followed them from the very beginning like I did with Harry Potter. The anticipation really adds to the enjoyment of the story in some cases, and I also read these books so fast back to back that it seemed like the characters aged in super fast motion, lol! Overall, I would definitely recommend this book, the story is thrilling and very funny at the same time. I actually laughed out loud quite a bit - like literally lol'd. I've noticed a lot of my 5th and 6th grade students reading these, so they're really popular. There are a couple of other series books by Riordan, and one is actually a spin-off of Percy Jackson called the Heroes of Olympus that is just coming out. I think I'll read the 1st one (The Lost Hero) and hopefully follow the series as it comes out (The second book is due out this fall). Now maybe I can get back to Darkly Dreaming Dexter, it might be nice to read an adult book for a change... or will it?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Battle of the Labyrinth

I managed to get to Target over the weekend, so I put off Dexter and read the next Percy Jackson book. I started it on Sunday, and finished it by Monday night, it was just as good as the others. Possibly my favorite so far. In this book, there is a growing threat that the Titan army will attack Olympus, and the evil lord Kronos will bring an end to Western Civilization as we know it. It's up to Percy and his friends to figure out what they're up to and warn Camp Half-Blood in time! These books follow a similar pattern as the Harry Potter books, with the characters aging one year with each book. This is the 4th book in the series, and the characters are now 14 - the perfect age for a cute little teenage love triangle to begin surfacing. I'm anxious to see where they take the next one! Speaking of the next one, since I'm going to Lincoln this weekend I'll be able to pick it up. Next on my list - Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Last Olympian.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Since I still need to get to a bookstore to buy the next Percy Jackson book (and who knows when that will be), I might start reading another one that I just ordered from Amazon. Are you ready for this? It's not a children's or young adult book - not by a long shot! (Pauses for gasps). Shocking, I know... Alright, how many of you out there are fans of the hit show Dexter on Showtime? Right, me too - hubs and I are completely addicted, thanks to Netflix, and we recently caught up on all of the seasons. Little did I know, it was a book series before it was a t.v. series! So, in addition to the next Percy Jackson book, another one on my reading list is now Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay.

If you're not familiar with the books or the show, Dexter works as a blood spatter analyst for Miami Metro Police forensics. The catch? He's a serial killer, who lives by a code - he only kills really bad people. (I told you it wasn't a children's book!) The series follows Dexter as he tries to lead a normal life and blend in with society, all while keeping his "dark passenger" satisfied. There isn't a single episode of the t.v. series that hasn't dropped my jaw or made me scream because of insane plot twists and crazy murder mysteries, so I have high expectations for the book! We'll see....l

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Titan's Curse, pt. 2

So, nearly 2 months later, I finally got around to finishing it: The Titan's Curse. School has been crazy busy, and still is for that matter, so it took way longer to read than it really should have. I have to say, this was probably my favorite one so far. New characters were introduced in the series that were way fun, and there's an interesting revelation about one of them at the end that dropped my jaw! I can't wait to see where the author goes with it! I can't say much more than that, other than read the series. They're fun books, and unless you're crazy busy with school like I am, they're a quick easy read with lots of suspense and humor. I would give all 3 of the books I've read so far a 4 out of 5 stars. Up next on my list, I figure why jump around: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth. Part of the first chapter was at the end of the 3rd book, and it already has me hooked. Stay tuned for more!