Hush Money Book Review

Hush Money (Spenser Mysteries) by Robert B. Parker was the next in the Spenser series that I had on my list.  It was the 26th book in the series.  I can't believe that I only have 12 books left after this one!!

In this book, Spenser is working two cases pro bono (how does he make money to live when most of his cases he doesn't get paid??).  The first is a favor for Hawk to help figure out why a college professor didn't get tenure.  This seems to involve the fact that he is black but conservative and possibly gay.  It is a hard road but Spenser reveals the truth.  The second is a favor for Susan to help her friend KC identify and loose a stalker.  During the process, KC hits on Spenser and starts stalking him. 

Spenser worked both cases at the same time resulting in upsetting many people.  His car was blown up and thugs came to his office to threaten him.  He stuck it out through the cases and resolved both of them.  He likes a good fight and likes to see cases until the end. 

I thought that this was good book although not really the best Robert Parker book that I have read.  It added some interesting layers to both Hawk and Susan with them reacting in ways that they have never done in the past books.  I would recommend it especially because I like reading the books in order from start to finish.  It was a great pathway to the next book.

All that being said, I couldn't pass up picking up the next book in the series immediately.  I know that I am going to read through the Spenser series and be really sorry when it is over.  Especially since I have already finished the Sunny Randall series and the Jesse Stone series.  I can't wait to find out what mess Spenser gets himself into next!!!  I hope that you pick up a book and check it out for yourself :)

Harris Teeter Trip

My mother and I went to Harris Teeter and I got a chance to take advantage of the Saturday special of the Cottonelle 12 pack toilet paper for $5.97 each (limit 2 per card).  The crazy part is the regular price is $10.15!!  Can you believe it?? 

I had all my coupons in hand and was super excited that the Cottonelle sale was at the same time at the Cottonelle coupon because that doesn't happen very often.  I was really surprised to see that the store still had stock since it was the end of the day.  Everything was coming together for the fastest trip to Harris Teeter ever :)

I grabbed 6 12 packs from the shelf!!  I bought two on my card.  My mom bought two on her card and we bought the last two on my mother in laws card.  I know that I am stocked for a long time now and super excited that I got such a good price even if it wasn't my lowest possible stock up price.  Obviously by the fact that we were almost out, my stock up price really hasn't been available in awhile.  Most of my months budget went out the door in this trip but I hope it will last for the rest of the year!!
Total OOP $10.28 x 3= $30.84
Total Savings $10.56 x 3= $31.68

Thrifty Thursday: Cheaper to make or buy??

I was trying to figure out if making things homemade was cheaper than buying them at the store.  My husband always makes fun of me because I refuse to buy store bought bread when I can just throw it in the bread machine and 3 hours later- a miracle happens and we have a loaf of hot bread.  He used to really like soft store bought bread but I have worked really hard on my recipe and I think that he is starting to really like the homemade stuff too.  But the question remains, is it really cheaper?

A loaf of store brand white sandwich bread is between $0.99 and $1.87 at most of the stores around here.  I am sure this is one of those things that varies around the country but I hope that most people are getting a similar price.

On the other hand, making a loaf of my sandwich bread uses the following ingredients:

3 1/2 cups bread flour

1 cup warm milk

1/3 cup warm water

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine

3 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons salt

1 envelope (about 2¼ teaspoons) instant yeast

I have a hard time figuring out the price of these items but I know that I have a range from the shelf price to the sale price with coupons on what I pay for things.  For example, bread flour is usually $3.99 for a 5 lb bag but I got over 10 bags for $1.97.  The other thing is to figure out how many cups are in the 5 pound bag.  I am assuming that I get 17.5 cups of flour from each bag (based on some number from the internet).  I don't usually pay for butter or salt with sales and coupons.  The honey was a gift from my parents so the high price is totally made up because I don't know how much it would cost or how far the big jar would last.

                       Low       High

Bread flour     $0.39     $0.80

Milk               $0.00     $0.25

Water            $0.00     $0.00

Butter            $0.00     $0.06

Honey           $0.00     $0.12

Salt               $0.00     $0.00

Yeast            $0.19     $0.25

Total             $0.58     $1.48

With the low prices, it only costs me $0.58 to make a loaf of bread.  That is a super great price on a healthy loaf of bread.  That is a nice price because just in case I don't have free butter or milk that week, adding in just one more item at cost will still keep the price under $0.99 per loaf.  The bonus is that I am making my family something fresh without preservatives at that price.

On the high side, the cost would be $1.48 which really isn't bad for on demand fresh, healthy bread but maybe higher than I would be able to buy at the store some days.

This was a really valuable exercise for me because I didn't really know which was cheaper.  Of course that doesn't bring into account the cost of a bread machine but I have had mine for years.  Plus, I use it for making pizza dough and other items.

I hope that you take a minute to figure out if what you are doing is saving money for your family.  It helps to figure out where you can save money and what things aren't helping you save.  How much does it cost you to buy bread at the store?  How much does it cost to make it?

Second Chance Pass Book Review

Second Chance Pass (Virgin River) by Robyn Carr is the fourth book in the Virgin River series.  I went to the library with my son to pick up a video that I put on hold for him that came in.  He is into Diego now and we only have one Diego video so straight to the library website, I went to find some.  Luckily, the paperback section is right next to the hold section so I went in quickly and grabbed this book!

This book is about Vanessa (called Vanni by her friends) dealing with the loss of her husband and conflicted feelings about moving on with his best friend.  She decides to date another man that her mother in law set her up with and ends up being more confused.  In the end, it all works out and she picks the best match for her.  There are lots of other surprises through the book like new babies being born and houses being built.  Watching the town and people develop from book to book is a wonderful process.  By the end of the book, I had used up quite a few tissues and if it was a movie I probably would have been yelling at the screen.  It was really intense at the end of the book!!  This was my favorite one yet (of course, I always say that about the last book that I read so take that with a grain of salt).

I started this book in the afternoon while my son was taking a nap and read it again at bedtime.  I woke up the next morning with my coughing little man and finished reading it all before I got in the shower at 7 am.  Here is wishing that I got more books with my one day snowed in :)  I am going to have my hands full with my little guy but hopefully I will get to read a few more library books during this snow storm.  I highly recommend the Virgin River series or anything by Robyn Carr whether you are trapped by a snow storm or not.  They are super great reads that are really hard to put down!!  I have read 4 of them in the first 6 days of the month while trying to read one other book that I can't seem to get into.  I might not want to get the next ones out of the library so that I can still have a life or try to get another few books read this month :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Scones

I saw this recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal scones and I was ready to eat them off the screen.  Check out the original recipe from.  I was out of breakfast treats after finishing off my last Nutella Oatmeal Breakfast cookie so I decided that it was time.  With my stomach growling, I pulled out all the ingredients.  I thought it would be a good reason to use up two open peanut butters since we had just opened the third container the other day!!

I mixed all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Then, I cut in the butter with my fork against the side of the bowl.  This had the added benefit of smooshing up any clumps in the brown sugar too because mine was a little clumpy for some reason.  I had so many bags and I think that one got pushed to the bottom over some newer ones.  The good thing is that I go through all my baking ingredients so quickly that it doesn't matter :)

I scooped out the peanut butter into my measuring cup.  I had a little more peanut butter because I was clearing out the two containers so I just scooped the rest into the cup which is why it is overflowing :)  In the liquid measuring cup, I put the milk and added the egg yolk.  Save the egg white in another container (wait and see pictures below).

I mixed the liquid ingredients with the dry ingredients.  It mixed up to a really thick batter.  I mixed in the chocolate chips and it made a easy to handle dough.

I used my whisk to froth up the egg whites to coat the scones in. 

I flatten out the scones on my baking sheet and then covered with the egg whites.  They make the scones shiny.

I shook about 1 tbsp of granulated sugar across the top to coat.  It soaks in quickly and it is really up to your taste.  The first time that I made scones, I used the coarse sugar and my husband wasn't a fan. 

After they are baked, they come out nice and brown.  Since the dough was already scored, it is super easy to cut and lift out with a spatula.

Try one for your self soon!!!  My husband and mother in law said that they were amazing so I know that it wasn't just me.  These were amazing and really hit the spot.  I wish that I could make them more often but we don't have that much peanut butter and if I made these, my son wouldn't be having his peanut butter sandwiches :)  Check out the great sugar topping!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Scones

Ingredients

·  2 C all-purpose flour

·  1 C quick oats

·  ⅓ C brown sugar

· 1 tsp baking powder

· 1 tsp baking soda

·  ¼ tsp salt

·  ⅓ C unsalted butter or margarine, cold and cut into pieces

·  ¾ C milk

·  1 egg, separated

·  ½ C peanut butter

·  ⅔ C chocolate chips

·  sugar (granulated or coarse), for sprinkling tops

Instructions

1.                Preheat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper.

2.                In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in cold butter, using a pastry blender or two forks, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3.                In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and milk. Add egg mixture and peanut butter to dry ingredients. Using a spatula gently incorporate wet ingredients to dry ingredients just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

4.                Turn dough out unto prepared cookie sheet. Pat dough into an 8 inch round. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with sugar (or coarse sugar). Score into triangles.

5.                Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until just golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake.

6.                Allow scones to cool for 5 minutes before re-slicing the scones to separate.

Shared on Homemade Mondays

Time Keeper Book Review

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom was calling to me from the new book section at the library when I was with my son.  I grabbed it and put it in the pile to check out.  I have all of the Mitch Albom books on my shelf and I have read them all at least once.  I love them all so I was super excited to try this new book!!

In this book, there are a few different stories going at the same time.  The first person is Dor who turns out to be Father Time.  He is punished to a lifetime alone in a cave (at least 6,000 years) because he asked for more time when his wife got sick.  He realized that he didn't need more time if he was going to have to spend all that time without his wife and children. 

The other person is Sarah Lemon, a high school senior, who is working hard to get through school and get into college.  She is quickly thrown off track by falling in love with Ethan, someone who doesn't return her love.  Sarah has decided after being embarrassed by Ethan that she is going to kill herself by locking herself in her mothers car on New Years Eve.

The last person is Victor, an older gentleman who dying of cancer and kidney failure.  He has decided that he is going to freeze himself so that he can be brought back to life when the medicine is able to fix his current ailments.  He has decided that he is going to send his wife to a banquet and go to the facility to kill himself.

When both Sarah and Victor were ready to end their life, Dor stepped in and showed them what their life would be like without them in it and how their actions affected the people around them.  During the time Dor was showing them their futures, he started coughing and getting sick. 

The end of the book was the best part of the whole book.  It started off really slowly and it was a little confusing to follow.  It does all come together by the end with the resolution to all three peoples problems in different ways.  I would recommend all of Mitch Albom's other books before I would recommend this book but it does leave you thinking about life and time.  If you do check it out, let me know what you think.

Menu Plan Monday 3/18

Monday- Leftover Chicken Fingers
Tuesday- Caesar Italian Grilled chicken with chicken rice
Wednesday- Buffalo Sliders with tater tots
Thursday- Olive Oil Pasta with pizza dippers
Friday- Homemade Calzones
Saturday- Leftovers/ Grilled Cheese
Sunday- ????

Leaving Sunday open to hope that you use that time to make a new dish but who knows if that is going to happen with a busy weekend.  I am going to have to go through the cupboards and see what interesting creations await.  Hope that you have a great week!!