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Sunday, March 31, 2013

HAPPY EASTER and Recipe



Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
Prep/Total Time: 30 min.   Yield: 10 Servings

Ingredients
¼ cup sugar
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1 bunch romaine, torn
1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 cups halved fresh strawberries

Poppy Seed Dressing:
½ tbsp poppy seeds
3 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp kosher salt
1/3 olive oil


or you can just buy poppy seed dressing from your local grocery store...

Directions: For dressing - In a dry skillet cook poppy seeds for 1 minute; transfer to a bowl. Whisk cider vinegar. Honey, Dijon mustard, and salt together with poppy seeds. Gradually whisk olive oil into mixture.
For Salad - In a small heavy skillet over medium-low heat, cook and stir the sugar until melted and caramel in color, about 10 minutes. Stir in almonds until coated. Spread on foil to cool; break into small pieces.In a large bowl, combine the romaine, onion and strawberries. Combine the dressing ingredients; drizzle over salad and toss to coat. Sprinkle with coated almonds. Yield: 10 servings.

Nutritional Facts: ¾ cup equals 112 calories, 7 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 2 mg cholesterol, 35 mg sodium, 12 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 2 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 vegetable, 1 fat, ½ starch.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Book Review: Pushing the Limits

"No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again."


Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I first started reading “Pushing the Limits” I wasn't sure I liked it, or that I would grow to like it even... but for some reason I couldn't put it down either. That probably has to do with my impatient personality (never did I meet a spoiler I didn't like) as well as the fact that I began to fall in love with Noah, Echo, and Isaiah.

At first I thought it was the authors "tone" of writing I wasn't connecting to, but then the more I read I switched to how the characters sometimes spoke; now that I've finished the book I’ve decided that it was simply because I'm not in high school anymore and it can be difficult to place myself back into that mind set, if I was ever there to begin with.

Even though I had some difficulty adjusting to how the characters sometimes spoke as well as thought; I actually loved their different journeys from the beginning of the novel. Usually I’m not a fan of amnesia type story lines, but with Echo it was more than that (I mean at least she still knew who she was for starters), and the struggle Noah went through with opening up and trusting that the word isn’t always out to crush you. Not to mention both of them having to come to terms with their home lives and that their both worth loving.


View all my reviews

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Movie Review: The Greatest

There are so many words I could use to detail how much I love this film and yet they all seem inadequate; or rather impossible to form...  which is funny considering I go into full on geek mode when I begin to tell someone about it.

The film was first screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, it is an American drama film written and directed by first time director/screenwriter Shana Feste; who in my opinion did a fantastic job with guiding the viewer through the tragedy of losing a love one and trying to find a way to continue living after said tragedy. Starring Pierce Brosnan (also an executive producer), Susan Sarandon, Carey Mulligan, and Michael Shannon.


"The Greatest" stars Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon as Allen and Grace Brewer, a grief-stricken couple trying to cope with the death of their older son, Bennett (Aaron Johnson), When a young woman, Rose, (Carey Mulligan) arrives on their door step announcing that she is pregnant with Bennett's child, the Brewer's take her in upon hearing she has nowhere else to go. At first, Rose's presence threatens to tear the family even further apart but, eventually, her interaction with each of the Brewers proves to be the very thing that brings them back together.