The Happy Camper Book Review

I have read other books by this author and decided that this sounded like a fun new addition.  I knew nothing about it but how can you pass up on the cover.  Doesn't it look like so much fun?  Happy Camper by Melody Carlson came in the mail and I was excited to get to start reading it as soon as possible. 

Home is the place to heal, right? At least, that's what Dillon Michaels is hoping as she leaves her disappointing career and nonstarter love life behind to help her grieving and aging grandfather on his small Oregon farm. The only problem? Her eccentric mother beat her there and has taken over Dillon's old room. After a few nights sleeping on a sagging sofa, Dillon is ready to give up, until she receives an unlikely gift--her grandfather's run-down vintage camp trailer, which she quickly resolves to restore with the help of Jordan Atwood, the handsome owner of the local hardware store.

But just when things are finally beginning to run smoothly, Dillon's noncommittal ex-boyfriend shows up with roses . . . and a ring.  Full of quirky characters, family drama, and sweet romance, The Happy Camper will have you scouring Craigslist for your own diamond-in-the-rough camper to restore and haunting your local hardware store for a handy guy to help your dreams come true.

I thought that it was a good book.  Dillon is the main character and she is living the life that she thinks that she thinks she is supposed to be living.  She ends up breaking up with her boyfriend after he is late again for a date and it is the last straw because he didn't even answer any of her calls or texts.  Dillon gets called into work and tells her boss that she can't come.  She ends up quitting her job right over the phone and decides that she is going to change her life all together.  She packs up all her stuff and fills her car with everything she owns and heads back home to where she grows up.  Things are changing quickly but she feels better right away like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders so she is excited to start on the next chapter of her life.  You meet lots of people like her grandfather who is her biggest supporter, her mother who is her most difficult to deal with and all the people from her childhood.  She lives on her grandfathers couch until he gives her an old camper which she remodels and this starts her new life in the small town where she grew up but gives her some independence.  There was a little bit in the middle of the book where it seemed that they were pushing religion in where it wasn't a good fit.  I thought that it would have been better to not be so pushy because it seemed strange and made me stop and wonder if it was a good book.  It quickly got past that part and overall, I thought it was a good book.  I was interested to see what happened to the characters.  It finally got to the part that it was going to be at the resolution and it ended very quickly.  Overall, I thought it was a good read but I don't know if it was as good as other books that she has written.  Check out the book for yourself and let me know what you think!

**A copy of this book was provide for my review but all opinions here are my own

Taco Rice Recipe (Hamburger Helper Crunchy Taco Copycat Recipe)

I have been on a mission to use up things in the freezer and pantry.  I bought Minute Rice awhile back when they were super cheap.  I use it to add to soup and other things but really haven't used a lot of it so I precooked some ground beef and set it aside to make this quick meal when I was doing a big freezer cooking of chili, salsa sloppy joes and sausage sauce.  I forgot to take a picture before I started cooking but I also pulled out the taco seasoning packet that I had in the pantry from my free stockpile from Giant awhile ago.

I added the amount of water to the pan called for with 2 cups of rice on the package.  I stirred in the package of taco seasoning and added the rice.

Since the ground beef was already cooked, I added the ground beef and stirred around in the pan to make sure that I had enough water, seasoning and beef.  I left the heat on even though that wasn't the recipe for the rice but I wanted the ground beef to be heated through.  I put the top to steam the rice and meat together.

I covered it with cheese and put the top on so that it would be nice and melted.  I used cheddar and Oaxaca because that is what we had in the house and it was a perfect blend.  This is the same thing that we used to do with the Crunchy Taco Hamburger Helper because my husband hated the cheese sauce that came in the box.

We served with tortilla chips on the side for a crunch if wanted.  There were leftovers which I thought I was going to put into enchiladas but we actually ate them before I even got a chance to see how those would be.  We just heated in the microwave and put on some more cheese.

This was a super quick meal and I thought it was a great way to stretch the ground beef because I didn't use a whole pound of ground beef but you can add as much as you want.  I will totally make this again because we enjoyed it!  I think that I will add it to the menu plan in the coming month to use up the rest of the rice.  Then I will have to figure out if I can recreate with normal rice.

Taco Rice

2 cups Minute Rice or Instant Rice

1 package Taco Seasoning

1/2-1 lb Cooked Ground Beef

2 cups water

Cheese to Taste

Add water to pan and stir in taco seasoning packet over medium heat.  Add 2 cups of instant rice and stir and cover.  Add cooked ground beef and reduce to low heat.  Cover for 20 minutes.  Top with cheese and cover until melted.  Serve hot with tortilla or corn chips. 

The Teacher's Bride Book Review

I got a book at the library and then went searching to see if there were others in the series.  I found that it was a little confusing because it says 2 books some places and 4 books other places.  These books were for sure just one book between these covers so I was confused.  The Teacher's Bride (An Amish Brides of Birch Creek Novel) by Kathleen Fuller was the first book in the series.  However, the series was after the other series Amish of Birch Creek (which I can only assume doesn't have brides).  I was excited to get to read this series and might even go back and check out the other series as well.

     A fun and heartwarming Amish rom-com where opposites really do attract.  If there is one thing Christian Ropp will not allow in his classroom—or his life—it’s chaos. So why is he drawn to Ruby Glick, a woman who seems to bring mayhem wherever she goes?  Christian Ropp moves to Birch Creek to accept a teaching position in the rapidly growing Amish community. He’s determined to put the rambunctious school in order as well as check another task off his list: finding a wife. Of course, that would be much easier if women were like textbooks, straightforward and logical.  When an accident puts Christian out of commission, a new community member named Ruby Glick takes over his classroom. But Ruby’s exuberant teaching style clashes with Christian's careful methods and he worries his students will never be the same.  With a track record of catastrophe, Ruby always feels too clumsy, too distracted, too ... much. Desperate for a chance to prove that she can do more than make mistakes in her life, she throws herself into her new teaching position. But when Christian can’t seem to stay out of her way, she finds herself slipping into old, chaotic tendencies.
What she doesn’t anticipate is that Christian's heart is slowly catching up with his mind—and she, too, must decide whether to follow logic or love.

I thought it was a good book with a lot of information about the new town and the new people in the series without getting too far off track of the main characters.  Christian Ropp was the town teacher who was very strict in his class and his specific way of speaking that put many people off.  Ruby Glick comes to town to visit her brother with the intention of staying.  However, they both find that they are looking for a spouse.  Christian gets tongue tied whenever a women is around that he is interested in and Ruby makes clumsy mistakes so they decide to work together to help each other.  Their agreement grows to so much more and they become friends.  Christian has a problem and ends up not being able to teach while he is recovering so Ruby takes over.  There is no end to the funny things that happen but I don't want to ruin the book so you have to pick it up for yourself and find out.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did and I can't wait to find out who is featured in the new book on my reading pile soon!

Menu Plan Monday 3/16

Penne Pasta with garlic bread (maybe ravioli or meatballs)
Tacos
 Simple Fried Rice with Egg Rolls
Spicy Honey Mustard Chicken with mac and cheese
Leftovers and/or Homemade Flatbread Pizza
Steak and Potatoes
Chicken Fries, Chicken Wraps and homemade french fries

We had a crazy warm Monday so we decided to have Roast Beef Sandwiches and mac and cheese.  We did Penne and Beef Ravioli with garlic bread Tuesday.  Wednesday we had the Chili with corn bread.  Thursday was Flatbread Pizzas, both pepperoni and buffalo chicken.  Friday was leftovers and we used up a bunch from the fridge with buffalo chicken mac and cheese for my husband, Penne for my son, chili with potatoes for me.  Saturday was going to be Steak but my husband was still not feeling his best so we put off the steak again.  I made leftover Baked Potato Soup for me, Chili with chips for my husband, and Pancakes with whipped cream for my son.  Sunday was my son's favorite dinner with Chicken Fries, Chicken Wraps and homemade fries.  So this week was a little wacky but surprisingly schools shut down and had my son home which is the beginning of our month at home.  I know that we have tons of food to eat through so I am sure we are going to have a great time doing that but I can't believe we have a month off school and it isn't summer yet!!  How are your meal plans going??

Fix Freeze Feast Book Review

I decided that I was going to look at a few freezer cooking books from the library.  Fix, Freeze, Feast, 2nd Edition: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family; Stock Your Freezer with Ready-to-Cook Meals; 1... by Kati Neville was the first one that I read.  I was excited to hear what the book was going to say about the process and some ideas for recipes.

With this updated second edition of a best-selling cookbook, you can have it all — great tasting, nutritious meals that don’t break the bank or your daily schedule. Cook one recipe in bulk and stock your freezer with three nights of homemade dinners for your family. Updated recipes incorporate plenty of fresh, seasonal produce, along with bulk grains and beans. From Asparagus and Potato Frittata and Lemon Blueberry Strata to Tomato Basil Soup and Berry-Roasted Chicken, the 150 tasty options span the menu. Filling the freezer with healthy, ready-to-cook meals is more delicious than ever.

I thought it was an interesting and quick forward about the the process before the actual recipes.  I thought it was an interesting break down on the recipes to ones that you could make to eat the day of and others that were better to freeze.  I guess the first thing that I should say is that I hate curry.  I had a bad experience and that is not something that I want to eat ever in my life and my family isn't big fans so it is something we stay away from.  There are lots of recipes that I wouldn't make since that is the main seasoning.  We also don't eat beans.  I would love to say that this is something that I thought would change but we really aren't big on them so we don't do recipes with beans.  There was a cherry chicken recipe that sounds amazing but the hardest thing for me to do is stay out of dried cherries so I guess I would have to make it right after buying them so that I didn't snack on what we needed.  I was just talking about wanting to make Cashew Chicken Stir Fry so I might try a variation on their recipe but I have to get fish sauce which is something I have never used... we don't do seafood so I haven't checked out the sauce to even see what it is made of but I guess adding that to the list of things I need to figure out. The possibilities are sweet and sour meatballs,  beef fajitas, shanghai stir fry but we don't have beef that often so I guess we will see on that too.  I thought the lemon Caesar dressing and the raspberry vinaigrette sounded interesting too.  There was also a recipe for ginger cookies which sounded like it might be something to try.  Downside, is there were no recipes that I thought were so amazing that I had to make them right away but there were a few that had possibility for sure.  You might disagree with this and really love some of them so I hope that you check it out if you are interested in making freezer meals and seeing what they are all about.  I hope that you find a few that might be tasty for your family.

Christmas by the Sea Book Review

I picked up Christmas by the Sea by Melody Carlson from the new release section of the library because the cover looked good and the author sounded familiar.  I think that I have read something by her before and I realized that it just came up as a new book to be released that I might get to review.  I was excited to read this book and see what it was about.

When Wendy Harper inherits her family's beachside cottage in Seaside, Maine, she sees it as a way to finally pay off the debts that have mounted since her husband died. But before it can be sold, the neglected property must be renovated. She and her 12-year-old son Jackson move in--temporarily, she reminds him--in order to do the work themselves, even though Christmas is coming. The charming town, along with local craftsman Caleb Colton, pulls on both Wendy and Jackson, who even registers himself for school in a bid to get his mom to move them there permanently. Wendy knows that the most responsible thing to do is to sell the cottage and return to Ohio, but the lure of the sea is hard to resist.

Wendy inherits a beach house that she used to go to as a child.  She decides that she is going to fix it up and sell it in order to pay off her husbands debts from his long illness.  Her son, Jackson, gets very excited about leaving the town that they are in and starting over in the beach town.  Jackson enjoys everything about the small town and makes friends quickly.  He registers himself for school so that he can convince her to stay.  Wendy enjoys being in the small town and fixing up the house but she knows that she just can't make it work without a job.  She meets Caleb when she is in town and he runs his own small business.  Caleb says that he is going to show her arts at his shop so that she can sell them so she makes a driftwood mirror and Christmas ornaments and more.  After a few things sell, she thinks that might help carry her through the renovations but things change quickly.  I thought it was a great story but it ended quite abruptly and I would have liked a little more story at the end.  I hope that you check out this book and tell me what you think. I don't want to give away any secrets but I hope that you pick it up and let me know what you think.

February Reading Review

I am trying to do better this year of tracking the books that I have read over the month so that I can keep to my goal of reading over 100 books a year. Here is hoping that I can keep better track this year of the books that I read every month.

Below are the books that I have read and you can click on the title to see my summary and original review to see if it is something you want to add to your list.

The Protective One

By Shelley Shepard Gray

Wrapped Up In You

by Jill Shalvis

Love With The Perfect Cowboy
by Lori Wilde

Meant to Be Yours
by Susan Mallery

Raising the Challenging Child

Jackson
by Emily March

Confession Club
by Elizabeth Berg

How the Cowboy Was Won
by Lori Wilde

To Tame a Wild Cowboy
by Lori Wilde

January     8
February   9

Total Books Read 17

Currently Reading: