The more I stay at home the more I read and I’ve always got a wish list going, always. A month ago when I did a job I treated myself to a book allowance and purchased used, but in great condition books on Amazon. The result? Pure book heaven. Especially lately, because when I am stressed and can’t stop worrying it’s my biggest escape. I’ve been reading books in a week or less lately, it’s a problem. Especially for my overcrowded bookshelves, but I can’t let go of them, they are a part of me.

I love it when you read a book(s) that are perfect for you at that very moment, the dosage you just needed. These books are just that. So inspiring and they really have touched me; even cried at certain points. They all touched me in different ways and for various reasons, but there is one great theme. All of these women in their stories, memoirs are in their late 20′s, lost and just trying to find their place in life. With the exception of Bitter is The New Black, they all include recipes at the end of each chapter. Really yummy ones at that, can you say hungry?

Eat Pray Love

It’s safe to say that just about every bookworm with estrogen has read it or heard about it, enough said. Who can resist? I loved her story, just amazing and so inspirational. The Italy section was my favorite, surprise. I literally would have dreams about it while I was reading it. My girlfriends and I that read the book are going to go see the movie next month, we’re big Julia Roberts fans. Can’t wait.

Bitter is the New Black

Jen Lancaster has quite a few books out, they are not a series so you can pick up any at any time. I happened to pick this one because I felt it was the story I could most relate to. A woman finding her way after being laid off from a 9-5 corporate job who starts a blog and becomes a writer-nice! I often had to cover my mouth when I read it in bed because she is so funny and I was afraid my outbursts would wake up Kris. She puts the pro in sarcasm, highly recommend.

I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti

This one took a bit to grow on me, but loved her humor and could really feel the emotions she went through. Even better her recipes are super easy and her titles are cute humorous.

Lunch in Paris

I love this one! It takes place mostly in Paris and it’s her memoir. A great story of her finding her way through the culture in Paris, learning the foods of Paris (yum) and finding her career all the while falling in love. Her tone is a lot sweeter than most of the authors in these books, but this girl still has a witty sense of humor. For sure a must read!

A Homemade Life

I’ve still got a few chapters on this one and I’m sad to end it. It’s so good I don’t want it to end. She’s a writer who now runs a restaurant in Seattle with her husband and is also the writer of the awesome and famous Orangette blog. This is going on my top ten list of all time. She even has great ideas and questions for a cooking or reading club, fantastic. It is very sweet as she dedicates it to her father who has passed. This one really made me cry a few times. She’s a really brilliant writer, it shows right away. Also very witty and smart. Her background is awesome, the woman has three degrees, still writes and runs a restaurant-SUPER WOW!

So there you have it, I hope you check them out if you’re a reader and they bring as much joy, laughter and meaning as they did for me. True gems sitting on my bookshelf. Of course my best friend, Annie and I mostly read the same books which is great because we have an unofficial book club going. I highly recommend it, it makes for great book swapping and conversation.

On the wish list now:

The School of Essential Ingredients

A Vintage Affair

Happy reading!

Priscilla started the group so a big shout out to her, what a great hostess and leader. Thank you!

For this time around we did just main dishes, appetizers and desserts with no theme in mind. However, the next one is Mexican and Italian, just because we want to. Hey, it’s our club so we’ll do what we like, right? As Priscilla said ” we all love cooking or have special people we want to cook for” and so with that I show you the fruits of our labor from the first meeting.

Cheers to our Cooks’ Club and cooking alongside with other cooks and foodies!

In the recent reunion I attended I decide to bring this as one of my contributions to our potluck and thought it was worthy enough to share and spread the love.

1/2 large watermelon cut into medium squared pieces for the blender

1 cup of crushed ice (if too pulpy just add more ice or a bit of water)

1-2 teaspoons of pure cane sugar if desired (some fruits are really sweet and don’t need it)

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until it’s all crushed and blended. I personally don’t mind it with the pulp, you get more out of it, but you could use a sifter and remove the pulp. Just be prepared to give up lot’s of it. Taste for sweetness, place in a pitcher, garnish with lime or fresh mint. Serves 5-6 glasses, keep refrigerated for a few days only since it’s fresh fruit juice.

Enjoy, sit back and relax.

1 lb Raw shrimp

2tbls Smoked Paprika

4-6 cloves of garlic, chopped slivered like garlic chips

2 tbls olive oil

Cilantro or shredded cabbage with lime for dressing

4-6 corn or flour tortillas

Makes 4-6 tacos depending on how “beefy you make them”

In a bowl, toss the smoked paprika with the shrimp. Heat up a sauté pan on medium heat and add the olive oil, once heated add the garlic and saute for a minute, add shrimp and cook until done… usually about 6-8 minutes. That’s it, warm up your tortillas and dress with shredded cabbage, cilantro & lime.

I love serving it with beans on the side, guacamole as a dressing or on the side. It’s really hard for me to write these recipes because I was taught by my parents and they are home cooks too, you know they’ll say use a dash of this and a dash of that. I don’t measure when I cook, but this is pretty accurate, just be flexible. The garlic is a preference, I like to chop it like slivers so you get nice golden garlic chips, we love garlic! I love shredding the cabbage and cilantro with some fresh lime juice, it makes for a great topping, plus you get a little veggie in there.

On this night I happened to be craving a bean dip so I made that on the side. I had leftover beans from the previous night, avocados and tomatoes that I need to use as well, plus it is so rare that I have sour cream in the fridge that I had to make it. Kris loved it and we had lot’s of left overs, which I enjoy for easy lunches the next day.

Hope you enjoy and let me know how you like it.

As promised I thought I’d share some photos of our typical juicing night. We’ve been juicing for about 3 months now for about 2-3 times a week and I’ve got to say that we both do notice the health benefits, mostly in our energy level. Plus, if you’ve never had fresh carrot juice, you just haven’t lived! My parents had a juicer when I was younger and used to make it for us kids, you wonder where I get it from? I forgot how much I missed it. I’ve always loved crunching on carrot sticks at lunch or as a snack and I love that too, but I love it in juice form ten times more.

So far the favorites include carrot juice, our most favorite, orange juice, green juice: zucchini, spinach, parsley, celery and 2 apples which is not pictured here, but will post next time. We love, love the watermelon and rasberry juice. Also love the pineapple juice, but you don’t get much out of it, so we’ve decided it’s best to be eaten only raw, at least for now. A few summers ago Annie had gifted me an amazing juicing book full of great recipes and I am finally able to put them to use. We even had Annie taste the green juice the last time she was over and she loved it, oh the veggies I make her consume.

Somehow I usually end up gathering all the veggies and or fruits, rinsing, peeling or cutting ends off and Kris juices. He loves that juicer, men and their toys! However, he is so awesome that he does end up washing all the dishes afterwards, another reason he’s a keeper. On nights when we don’t juice it’s usually because we still have some from the night before, but occasionally when we’re just busy or too tired we crave it and long for it.

I know many people don’t like to juice because they think it’s expensive to purchase the produce, especially if you’re a firm believer in organic produce like we are. Honestly, it hasn’t been a problem for us at all. We have been able to find amazing deals at our local farmer’s market’s and local health food store. Plus, I’d like to think of it as preventive health care and that is priceless.

When we began the juicing we thought of it as just an additional way of getting our daily dosage of fruits and veggies, but the more we enjoy it the more it feels like dessert. We’ve always enjoyed fruit after dinner and we still do, but now we have options.

Up next is my garlic shrimp tacos recipe, you wont want to miss this one, so simple and delicious.

Here are a few pretties that are on my wish list and items that I’ve invested in because they keep my cooking foodie soul alive.

I love cookbooks, they bring so much inspiration and it makes it so much easier to do my meal planning for the week. I typically make 2 of my all time favorites that are my own recipes then try 1 or 2 new recipes from these cookbooks. It keeps my cooking fun and creative without feeling overwelmed.

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

I’ve checked it out at the book store and fell in love with quite a few of the recipes, definitely worth buying. We usually cook at least 2 vegetarian meals a week and I don’t have any vegetarian cook books, what’s wrong with this picture? Perfect excuse, right? It’s pretty high up on the wish list.

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones

She is the cook that discovered Julia Child, I love her simple style and balance of a mediterranean diet. I figure I can just duplicate the recipes, like her cheese soufflé… yum.

Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson

She is also the blogger behind the very popular food recipe blog www.101cookbooks.com, I love that she finds ways to offer substitutes for flour, sweeteners in a more natural way like not using corn syrup for baking, but using natural can sugar and agave syrup, you get the drift. Also love how she evens out the types of foods so you’re eating a good range of all the good foods we should eat from grains to veggies. Definitely not your cook book if you like super rich carb & heavy foods.

Mango Splitter

We love eating mango’s in this house, especially during the summer. We have the pineapple cutter and we use it frequently. Genius, anyone who has cut a mango knows the pain of cutting them, plus I always feel like so much of the fruit is left on the seed, not anymore with this gadget. Totally getting this soon!

Cuisinart Food Processor

I have borrowed my dear friend and neighbor’s food processor to make pesto and veggie burgers in one of these, love at first sight and I must own one in the near future.

Williams Sonoma and their Technique Classes

The best part about these classes is that they are free to the public, yes FREE and I have yet to take advantage. Mostly because they are Sundays, but I must go to at least one next month, their May schedule is looking good, not available online yet, but you can get them early on if you sign-up for their emails. You can look them up by store and they also offer cooking classes, but those do include a fee. They do sound like a lot of fun though since they are theme based, like Cuban cuisine would be one they offer and of course you get a taste of it and a certain percentage off any item at the store that day. Not a bad deal.

Lunchskins

A few months back we invested in these because using and buying plastic sandwich bags gets old and  it’s bad for the environment so these dishwasher safe, certified food safe, hand sewn and quick drying light cotton lunchskins were the perfect solution. We liked these better than the lunch boxes with the containers because these are more roomy, plus we can both use them. Kris uses them for his packed lunches for work, I use them when on the go and running errands to pack nuts and fruit and we both use them when packing snacks for hiking. Yes, I did get those colors. There are other alternatives, I like these at this Evelyn Fields Etsy Shop, definitely cute and serve the same purpose.

Lavender Ice Cream

Source

Ever since watching It’s Complicated and watching Alec Baldwin eating it (wish they had a photo of him eating it, so amusing), I knew I had to have some… since I don’t have an ice cream maker I’m thinking I’ll have to search for a gourmet shop in LA that will carry it or I might need to just order some online and shipped to me in dry ice, um yeah, craving at it’s fullest. You can get the recipe clicking on the source link. And if you haven’t seen the movie and you’re a foodie then netflix it ASAP and watch it, seriously, you’ll be drooling and the chemistry between Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin is amazing.

Breville Juice Extractor

Kris and I had been wanting a juicer for years, we finally invested in one a few months back thanks to a gift card… so worth the investment. We now juice 3-4 times a week. Our favorite combos are the green drink which contains: spinach, zucchini, parsley, celery, sprouts and 2 apples to sweeten it up, delish! Our favorite fruit one so far is the pineapple and orange one, can’t wait to have small juice tastings when more friends come over. I will soon post juicing photos and Kris the juice master working this machine. It by no means takes away the nutritional value of eating raw fruits and veggies, but it’s another great way to get the daily fruit & veggie intake, plus it hits your blood stream right away. What I love most about juicing besides the nutritional value is that it’s something we do together that we both enjoy and makes for some good bonding time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post as much as I did, I’m thinking this needs to be an ongoing series for me.

Cheers to healthy cooking and eating with a side of foodie shopping!

I’ve always wanted to make it myself and not sure why I didn’t earlier because it was so yummy and easy to make. With all the cooking I’ve done in the last year I’ve mentally noted what  the main ingredients call for and made my own version of it. I can not follow a recipe 100%… it’s not in my blood. I learned the principles and pleasure of cooking through my parents and I always had a hard time remaking their recipes because they’ll say “I used a dash of this and just cooked it” and then expect you to understand how to reproduce it. Now I get it because once you start cooking a lot and are experienced in the kitchen, you can reproduce just about anything even without a recipe. There’s nothing better than cooking for your loved ones (I’m glad my parents taught me this) and I think this makes all my meals that much better, it makes me a better cook.

• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 tomatos, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can of kidney beans, soaked & drained
• 8-10 cups of chicken stock or vegetable stock
• 1 cup rigatoni pasta
• Parsley, chopped
• Thyme, few sprigs if fresh or 1 teaspoon if dry
• Sage, 3-4 leafs if fresh or 1 teaspoon if dry
• 2 bay leafs
• salt & peper to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 rind of parmesan cheese (the secret weapon)

Dice all your veggies, make sure they are all the same size so they cook all at the same time. Heat up your pot to a medium heat and add oil, sauté the onion, garlic and celery until soft and cooked. Then add the carrots, tomatos, zucchini, thyme, sage, salt & pepper, cheese grind and stock and bring to a boil at medium to high heat for about 15 minutes. Once it starts boiling after 15 minutes or so add the kidney beans and rigatoni and boil for another 10 minutes. Turn off and add the chopped parsley, fresh works best. Top with parmesan cheese and serve with garlic bread. Makes 4-6 servings.

I hope you enjoy.