Peaceful Reader

Spinach and Feta Lasagna wins over chicken

The chicken was tender and good but the hands-down favorite at last night’s dinner was The Grit Restaurant’s lasagna so I decided I would share the recipe here so everyone else could make it too! Today was our day to eat leftovers and my husband and son both ate the leftover lasagna, which I had planned on taking for lunch tomorrow-that’s how good it was. I was really incredulous since they are the big meat eaters!! Now I will be combing through this cookbook looking for other delicious recipes to tantalize them.

Spinach and Feta Lasagna

6 ozs lasagna noodles, freshly cooked
4 quarts water
1/2 block firm tofu, crumbled
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
1 pound frozen spinach, thawed and drained
4 cups Grit Marina (I used two jars of organic sauce-no time to make the sauce, this time.)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp dried parsley, oregano, and basil

Preheat oven to 350. Oil a 9 x 13 in.baking dish.
Boil lasagna noodles in water until barely tender; Drain and seperate the noodles, set aside.
Combine tofu, soy sauce, mustard, pepper, feta cheese and spinach in a large mixing bowl.
Lightly coat bottom of prepared pan with marina sauce. Cover the sauce with layer of noodles, running the long way. Spread 1/2 of spinach-feta mixture, 1/3 of the marina sauce, and 1/2 of the mozzarella. Cover with second layer of noodles and on up, repeating but this time put the noodles crossways (so you have to cut them to make them fit). Cover with a third layer running the longway and top with remaining marina. Sprinkle with Parmesan and parsely mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until well browned on top. Cool slightly before serving.

I do usually make my own sauce when I make other lasagnas but this time since I was preparing another meal practically with the chicken/roast potato combination from Jamie Oliver, I just didn’t have the time. I also used fresh parsley mix on top and I did not have any dry mustard so I just squirted in some stone-ground mustard from my refrigerator-it worked out fine. I never preheat my oven until I’m almost finished with a recipe-it just doesn’t make sense to have it on for the 30 minutes or so it takes me to make a recipe. Viola-it was easy to put together and even easier to eat!
Our evening with friends was great even though it was snowstorming outside. We were toasty warm inside with our wine, food and holiday music playing. Our Christmas entertaining is off to a fantastic start. Through the weekend I did manage some reading; I finished Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay and stared the Everafter by Amy Huntley, which I am fascinated by! I need to review Sarah’s Key as well as A Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

Buy The Grit cookbook at their website-you won’t be disappointed!!

I am an IndieBound affiliate and some of my links will take you there. I’ve earned nothing as of yet from this association but one can always have hope.

In other news-we have a two hour school delay so I wll be sleeping in and reading in my toasty bed. I may pad down to the kitchen and whip up some German Pancakes for my children if I feel up to it. I would love it if they would just cancel the whole day-it is FREEZING out there!

Next week’s topic-fresh bread!

Holiday Traditions

Teenage Boy, Groovy Girl and two friends, after tree search.

We always get our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving at a lovely tree farm, Kris Kringle’s, and they serve hot cider and have a fire in an outside pit. It makes for a lovely few hours and two years ago we invited another couple and their children to join us, so we’ve added to our celebration.

That is what I love the most about the holidays-it seems we make more time for friends and family. We are having friends over tomorrow night just because we ran into them recently at my husband’s play and decided we needed to get-together for dinner and before Christmas is really upon us. They are coming for dinner tonight and I’m making a chicken. If you’ve ever read my sidebar list it says I’m a vegetarian that eats locally-raised meat (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver changed my mind) but not frequently. I met a farmer (through a friend) who raises chickens and other cute farm animals as well. He started doing it 10 years ago for just the same reason I didn’t eat meat-he didn’t trust what was happening to our corporate- produced meat sources. I’ve only been back to eating meat about a year now.

I digress-this post is supposed to be about food and friends-not cute farm animals, who might be friends also. My mother used to make this rosemary and goat cheese chicken so I searched around a little last night, looking for something similar and came up with a roast chicken recipe at Jamie Oliver’s website. He, like Kingsolver and Alice Waters, is making a difference in how people eat and I admire the work he’s doing with the British school lunch program. That would be my dream dinner party-cooking together with Barbara, Alice and Jaime! Thrilling!!

Tonight will have the roast chicken, mashed (home grown) potatoes, spinach and feta lasagna, brussell sprouts and a small salad. Half the group is vegetarian thus the reason for the lasagna which comes from this fabulous cookbook from The Grit, in Athens, Georgia. We’re starting off with champagne, with pomegranite seeds tossed in and will move on to a lovely bottle of red, which I haven’t purchased yet or I’d mention its name as well. Thinking about wine makes me think I should check my old version of The Wine Trials to find a perfect (and reasonable priced) wine!

Could I mention any more food links? Well, most definetely Yes!, but I’ll stop there. This is how things go at my house-inviting two people, one couple, for dinner has led me to all these dining spots, recipes and brought up all these whirlwind ideas.Like now my mind is thinking about a post debating hard copy cookbooks vs. online. My mind on food. Don’t ya just love the holidays!! Tonight will be filled with good conversation and good (hopefully) food and my mind will chill.

Happy eating and reading! Cheers.

p.s. last week’s Morrocon-Style Lentil and Chickpea soup was a huge hit with my family. We ate it simply, soup and fresh-baked bread. Yum.

***This food-related post is linked to Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Pop over there and read about Crescent Dragonwagon, a writer of children’s books and cookbooks, and her new Cornbread book. My husband might need this for a Christmas gift. He loves cornbread but makes it from a box. Hmmm.

Seriously, Have a Happy Saturday!

Muliticultural Winner!

Oh, okay so I’m a little behind in my life but I eventually get around to it. I recently finished Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by the amazing Grace Lin, which was a Newberry Honor Winner in 2010. Even though it took me a long time to get to it, it was definetely worth reading. I loved the mixture of folktales into this family/friendship story. Reading this book could make you a better person, really and the message of being true to yourself will come through even for elementary students. The message is subtle though even with the wonderful fairy tale-like ending.

Book Synopsis:

In the Valley of Fruitless Mountain, a young girl named Minli spends her days working hard in the fields and her nights listening to her father spin fantastic tales about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Minli’s mother, tired of their poor life, chides him for filling her head with nonsense. But Minli believes these enchanting stories and embarks on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon and ask him how her family can change their fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest.

Grace Lin, author of the beloved Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat, returns with a wondrous story of happiness, family, and friendship. A fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a timeless adventure story in the classic tradition of The Wizard of Oz.

My thoughts:

I loved Minli’s character as she was all good things, brave and kind, but not too perfect. This is the type of book I want to save on the shelf for Groovy Girl to read as her chapter book skills improve. As a struggling third grade reader she wouldn’t make it all the way through it herself but one day soon and I want it to be waiting on the shelf with Beverly Cleary. I should have read it aloud to her but I used it as my school chapter book-reading it to myself to model good quiet reading to 4th and 5th grade students (and read it during my own lunch time) and now I have several students in mind to pass it on to for their own reading enjoyment.

I loved the images in this book-the goldfish man, the brilliant red dragon, the mountains-I would love to see this made in to an animated movie (a good one, of course) because I can picture it all so well in my head. I’ve enjoyed Grace Lin’s other books and use them for my lunch time book clubs with 4th and 5th graders but this book, in my mind, is a whole new level of excellence on her part! Way to go, Grace Lin!

Random Quote:

Feasting on juicy peaches, Minli and the dragon walked through the woods for many days. At night, when the dragon slept, Minli missed Ma and Ba. “But this is for our fortune, so they don’t have to work so hard anymore,” Minli told herself when she thought about the worry they must have been feeling. “When I get back, Ba can rest and Ma will never have to sigh again. They’ll see.” But the lonely moon never seemed to gaze comfortably down on her. [88]

If you have a young person needing a gift for the holiday season~this would be a wonderful book to receive!
I am an IndieBound affiliate and will earn a small pittance if you buy it from this site-Click on the title here….Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

What's Cookin'

What a lazy Saturday I’ve had. Somedays you just want to curl up and stay inside. Today was one of those days except we started out with ice skating at 9:00, had a brunch date with some distant cousins in town and had to do a little Christmas shopping for school families. I did get to spend the afternoon home and somehow I lost my bag with my book in it for the entire afternoon so I didn’t exit to my room to read like I often do on a lazy Saturday. I ended up knitting (and napping) to some sappy tv Christmas movie my daughter was half watching as she played around the family room. While I’m sad about not reading-I’m reading Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay-it was nice just to hang loose. The book is very good but not an easy read so taking a break was okay except I have a sappy Christmas book to read for book club Monday night.-gotta get going on that one also and I’m having trouble mixing the two.

This is what I’m making right now to feed my family tomorrow. Lazy but prepared is my motto.

Morroccan-Style Lentil and Chickpea Soup

1 T. olive oil
1 med. sized yellow onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
3 small garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp. peeled and minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 cup dried lentils, picked over and rinsed
One 14.5-oz can plum tomatoes, drained and chopped (I just used diced)
1 1/2 cups slow-cooked or one 15.5-oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
6 cups vegetable stock
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 tsp. harissa sauce, to taste, plus more to serve
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and garlic, cover, and cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, tumeric, cinnamon, cumin, and cardamom, stirring to coat the vegetables.

2. Transfer the onion mixture to a 4- to 6- quart slow cooker, add the lentils, tomatoes, chickpeas and stock, cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

3. About 10 minutes before serving add the lemon juice and harissa and season with salt and pepper. A small bowl of harissa may be placed on the table for those who want to add more. (I’m not adding the harissa-a spicy chili mixture as it will make it too spicy for my children) if you want the harissa sauce recipe leave me a comment and I will get it to you.

This serves 6 and I’m hoping for leftovers so I can take it for lunch a few days this week.
Rewritten from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker .
This is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
Happy Cooking and Reading!

November ReCap

Turkey Lamp from Just Because you don’t need it blog

November is gone and December has rolled in on an icy wind. We have some white stuff floating in the air just to prove winter is here. Time to hunker down by the fire or at least wrap yourself in a large blanket and read the day away. I prefer to stay in bed with the electric blanket turned to high.
I have several books lined up to read in December but first let’s finish off November.

I read eight books for personal reading.

1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
2. Me and the Pumpkin Queen by Marlane Kennedy
3. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
4. My Abandoment by Peter Rock
5. Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson
6. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
7. Evangeline Mudd and the Golden-Haired Apes of the Ikkinasti Jungle by David Elliot
8. A Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

I haven’t reviewed them all but they were all very good. I think my favorites were #2, # 4, #5 and #6. I enjoyed reading the classically wonderful Fahrenheit 451 but I didn’t love it and the story started to drag for me. The message is an all-important one though. One of my challenges (451) finished in November and sadly I failed-I read four out of five titles. I didn’t finish my quota but thankfully they are not coming to cut out my tongue or chase me down by helicopter for not finishing. The last book I was to read for this challenge got left behind by accident at my brother’s home. Ooopsie! I did get to read several classics though-and for me that was a win so all is not lost.

I’m going to read at least this many in December to finish off other challenges and just because I want to. I like reading-what can I say…
Thank you November…I have much to be thankful for, my blessings surround me.

Happy December!!

Forge (2010) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Did you read Chains (2008) by Halse Anderson?
Oh, it was a good read! I liked it because it was a serious look at the Revolutionary War through the eyes of Isabel, a slave. What a perfect paradox: Americans fighting for their freedom from King George while enslaving Africans into intense labor.

Good Reads Summary:

In this compelling sequel to Chains, a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson shifts perspective from Isabel to Curzon and brings to the page the tale of what it takes for runaway slaves to forge their own paths in a world of obstacles—and in the midst of the American Revolution.
The Patriot Army was shaped and strengthened by the desperate circumstances of the Valley Forge winter. This is where Curzon the boy becomes Curzon the young man. In addition to the hardships of soldiering, he lives with the fear of discovery, for he is an escaped slave passing for free. And then there is Isabel, who is also at Valley Forge—against her will. She and Curzon have to sort out the tangled threads of their friendship while figuring out what stands between the two of them and true freedom.

My thoughts: I have to admit at first I was a bit disappointed with the heavy focus on Curzon and all the fighting. I missed Isabel’s character and the mystery and intrigue of the first book, but as I kept reading I enjoyed learning about the Valley Forge experience. I did not know, for example, that the soldiers had to build their own cabins in the snow. Curzon’s story follows the battles closely and they end up at Valley Forge. He is constantly tormented by some of his fellow soldiers and yet, remarkably, he manages to maintain his dignity throughout. Thankfully Isabel eventually comes back into Curzon’s life, demonstrating how tenous life is for both of them, rounding the story out nicely for me.
This is a perfect book to help young people understand the horrors of war, slavery and the importance of friendship throughout adversity. I’m now anxiously awaiting the third installment, Ashes , in Halse Anderson’s Seeds of American series.

Some books I have to really search for the perfect quote to share, not so with Halse Anderson’s work because every page has something worth sharing.

Random Quote:

The last lad was John Burns. His rude manner declared him my enemy the first time he clapped eyes on me. Burns had white skin that turned red when he was angry (a frequent condition), dirt-colored hair that never stayed tied back in a queue, and small eyes like a badger’s that were forever seeking a way to avoid work. He spat at my feet whenever I walked by. He accused me of stealing my new hat. He said the crudest kinds of things about my parents and grandparents, and he convinced the Barry brothers to join him in his foulness. (54)

Read Abby (the) Librarian”s review.
Find the author’s website and blog here-Laurie Halse Anderson
Enjoy this great article (Publishers Weekly/Shelf Talker) about a school visit

I’m an IndieBound affiliate.
Buy Forge from an IndieBound

German Pancakes

My sister-in-law made thee most delicious German pancakes for us while we were visiting over Thanksgiving. My kids loved them and she said they were easy to make so I googled and found a great recipe on a blog called Adventures in the Kitchen by Cheri. I read around a bit on her blog and found other recipes I liked so now you can find her on the right-hand side bar Food and Wine section. Thank you Cheri-I used your recipe tonight and my children ate them all up.

We did have a very relaxing holiday with my mom and two of my brothers (oldest and youngest) and their families. My youngest brother and I love to cook-a skill we attibute to both our mother and grandmother. Throughout my childhood we had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner at my grandmother’s house (over the snow and through the woods to Amity Drive we go) and she cooked up a storm. She used an old gas oven in the basement to keep up with the demandsof cooking a turkey, sweet potatoes, bread and pies for many of us. It has always been tough to get down her timing of getting everything to the table at the same time. We did it this year though between my mother, sister-in-law, brother and myself. Yeahhh, Grandma Bruch-we did it. And then we sat down and ate it (almost) all up.

The holidays of my childhood will live on through this yearly celebration but I still miss her and her cooking terribly. My grandmother was somewhat of a health nut but she was definetely a meat and potatoes women. She balanced it out with oatmeal every morning. My brother and I tend to cook more vegetarian now but we did have a 13 # locally-raised (right here in Iowa) turkey so the little ones, my husband, teenager and my oldest brother’s family would not miss the big bird. It was yummy-all of it. Yes, I tasted a little of everything. Even the dressing was worthy (thanks Mom).

Okay, I digressed from German Pancakes to our holiday time but we did have such a good celebration and it was all food-related. I didn’t blog once while gone as I just enjoyed my extended family. I hope you had a lovely holiday time as well.

Patricia Polacco's In Our Mother's House-A Celebration of Love

Published in 2009, this book is a perfect showcase of how any set of parents, be they male or female, gay, lesbian or straight can bring love to children. As a teacher I see children who need and crave that exact unconditional love good parents can provide-so many children are missing out on what joy a real family can bring. Patricia Polocco is one of my favorite authors and I’ve written before how easily she can make me tear up. This book not only makes me teary (I had to stop reading at one point and my Groovy Girl took over reading, patted my hand and said ‘it’s okay, mama’:) but it brings a very timely message to the table.

This is what the end note has to say: ” Polacco has met many children with parents just like Marmee and Meema. She saw a true need for books that celebrate these children’s wonderful, yet untraditional, families, and created this heart-warming story in their honor.”

The book begins: “When my mothers told me about how they brought me home to live with them shortly after I was born, their eyes would shine and glisten and they’d grin from ear to ear. They told me how they had walked across dry hot deserts, sailed through turbulent seas, flew over tall mountains and trekked through fierce storms just to bring me home.”

I count several sets of same-sex parents as friends (is that like saying I have lots of friends who are black?) and all provide such happy, unconditional love to their children. I wish Iowa had not ousted our judges who chose to uphold the law thus providing same-sex couples with the right to marry as U.S. citizens. I consider this the civil rights fight of our time. When will we see that love is just love and worthy of celebration. This book shares the life of one couple, two mama’s and the three children they raise together= a happy family and I’m glad Patricia Polacco made the choice to write about this controversial topic.

Find the synopsis here at Patricia’s website.
Mary Ann reviews it at Great Kid Books.
and the Children’s Book Guide talks about it too.

Linger by maggie stiefvater

What a beautiful cover, holding together a breath-taking story. I read it quickly over the course of one weekend, snuggled in my bed. Now I have to wait a long time for Forever to arrive-it will seem, well, like forever!

Good Reads Synopsis:

In Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

My thoughts:

I had no idea what Stiefvater had planned for Grace and Sam in this second installment but I hoped it wasn’t just lovey stuff. It wasn’t and in fact the direction it took was so perfect because it involved Grace’s parents, who were never around much in Shiver. Her parents, in classic parental form, decide to ban Sam from her life, which doesn’t work. Never does. All of this could be quite cheesy love stuff but in Stiefvater’s hands it is brilliantly written. Extremely poetic and one chapter leads to another and another until you’ve devoured it all.
The story, like Shiver, is told in alternating point-of-view between Grace, Sam, Cole and Isabelle, changing sometimes right in the middle of a chapter and this worked really well. I despised Cole’s character and fell more in love with Isabelle, making their attraction an interesting combination. Grace and Sam weathered their storms, but not easily and I’m now quite anxious to read Forever, #3 in The Wolves of Mercy Falls. As a former Minnesotan I can relate to the setting and think she’s portrayed the cold, the seasons and the landscape so well. If you haven’t picked up this series yet-I highly recommend it, even if your not from Minnesota.

Random Quote: ” Later, I thought of the things I could have added to the list of resolutions, things I’d wanted back before I realized what being a wolf meant for my future. Things like Write a novel and Find a band and Get a degree in obscure poetry in translation and Travel the world. It felt indulgent and fanciful to be considering those things now after reminding myself for so long that they were impossible.” (27-Sam)

Other reviews:

See Michelle Read reviews it and has some good points.

Read Presenting Lenore’s review.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

I saw it! I loved it!

We went last night at 7 with teenage boy. He sat between us so he could hold the popcorn bucket. There were scary parts and swooning parts. I didn’t realize they were breaking it up into two parts but that was okay. I liked the introspective flair to it-it wasn’t just rushing from scene to scene although there were a few times I was like, oh, hurry up and speak. There is one storytelling scene that blew our minds-we all agreed it was our favorite-it looked like paper cut-outs and puppetry combined. I thought it was inspiring and really showed the acting growth of all three major players. Luna and her father were luminescent in their secondary roles.

I haven’t had a chance to read much about it in the blogging world yet as I alternated this weekend between relaxing to get well and working. I was a little sad we didn’t see it on Thursday night but for number 6 we did go to the midnight showing with both teenagers and well, (said sheepishly) I began to nod off at some point. [My husband says my elbow slipped off the armrest]…, really?? Even though I love Harry, Ron and Hermione it was way, way past my bedtime so this time we opted for an easier viewing time for all of us.

HP Clip

post note: I realized upon further contemplation that this is the perfect HP comparison to teenagers-the feeling is moody, troubled and tangled.