A Long Time

It has been a long time since I've posted on here and probably won't be doing it anytime soon.

If you want to keep up-to-date with what is going on now, you can read here:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tirens

Fire & Smoke: Book Review

This cookbook was a fine cookbook, it included some fun items and like drinks and appetizers. There is a variety of recipes available so there should be something that pleases everyone. It gave good instruction and has nice images. We will probably try a couple of recipes from it, but I don't think it'll be one we reference often or would actually buy (I was given a copy to review). There was nothing extraordinary about - not that it was bad. It didn't make us want to quickly get outside and grill and we've grilled several times since getting it without glancing at it. Not inspirational, but if as I said there were a few recipes we'd like to try and if we were trying to figure out what to grill or how to grill something, we'd reference it for sure. Enjoyable, but not 5 stars :o)

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review

Lunchtime

Evangeline made sandwiches for lunch today (PB&J).

I Quit Sugar: Book Review

I was quite interested to read "I Quit Sugar" as less sugar is one of my food goals for the year. She explains her journey to wanting to quit sugar and how she was surprised at where sugar was hidden, then provides what she calls a "flexible and very doable 8-week plan" to quit sugar, followed by a lot of recipes.
There were several points she made that made sense to me/I agreed with but then there were a few items that I disagree with the main being fruit. She says since fruit contains sugar it should be part of the quitting and only a small amount added into your regular diet after quitting, if you really need/want to. I don't agree with that in the slightest - fruit is a whole food, highly nutritious, and although they do contain natural sugars I do not agree that makes it bad for you.
Not many of the recipes appealed to me, mostly because almost all of them contain nuts or nut flours (I'm allergic) so that section was pretty useless to me.
Now, her plan to quit is actually pretty good. She takes two weeks of doing less and then on week three you dive into cutting it all out. She claims that by the end of the 8th week you are no longer craving sugar, you can reintroduce small amounts every now and then into your life, and you will feel great. I'm considering doing so sort of version of this, but I won't cut out the staple of fruit.
Overall it was an interesting read, she includes a lot of science and research which is helpful to read. If you're able to eat nuts some of the recipes sounded nice. The organization and layout is nice and the pictures are lovely.


I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Fireflies or Lightning Bugs

We kept the girls up late Sunday night and took them outside to catch fireflies. I didn't get any pictures during as we were too busy running around catching them and trying to put them in our container without letting others out. The girls caught some on their own and we ended up getting at least 40. They are currently in the girls room serving as a summer night light :o)

In other news, Wyatt was not too helpful folding laundry with me today ;o)

The Big-Flavor Grill: Book Review

The Big-Flavor Grill

Summer has started and so Ryan has been grilling and I was given the opportunity to get this book to review. I'm looking forward to trying out a couple of things from it. The book is broken down into sections based on protein - steak, lamb, pork, chicken, and shrimp & fish. There is also two bonus sections of vegetables and drinks. All the recipes are presented in a 3 "step" process of prep, grill, and toss - their idea is to spice up, grill, and then toss with other vibrant flavors to add to the taste. It certainly seems like a no-hassle way grill (as they claim right there on the cover). Some of the recipes aren't really us, but there are a few that we should enjoy. The authors prefer not to use a gas grill, but they say all recipes will work fine with a gas grill, and at the beginning of the book they provide tips, tool suggestions, etc. They have recipes that include grilling a few things that I didn't know you could, like avocado. The pictures are nice and there are a good amount. We'll have to try some of the recipes before I could say if I recommend it or not, but I'm looking forward to giving it a go!

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review

My Parents: Day 2

My parents left this morning, but we had another day of fun yesterday as seen below (first picture is of the girls looking out their window waiting for them to arrive). We're missing them like crazy already and can't wait to see them again.