Straight up Tasty

Straight Up Tasty cookbook by Adam Richman is a beautiful cookbook. And it is full of recipes from his travels. Many of them look absolutely wonderful. I haven’t used the cookbook yet but I can’t wait to try the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes and the Spaghetti Pie.

The quality of the cookbook is excellent. The pages are thick and bound in a hardback cover. It is full of gorgeous photography of food that will make your mouth water.  There are some recipes that I am not at all interested in trying but there are enough that would make this a keeper.  There are breakfast recipes, sandwiches or lunch meals, snacks, dinners, sides and salads, sauces and of course sweets.

I would say there is enough diversity that there a recipes for many different pallets. If you want to add a cookbook to your collection I would recommend this one.

I received this cookbook from www.bloggingforbooks.com at no charge in exchange for an honest review.

You can purchase a copy here

 

 

Jesus Calling for Little Ones

I loved this little devotional book for the wee ones. It is a board book with the cutest illustrations. There are 13 devotions with scripture that covers 2 pages. They are easy to understand and kept my 2 year old still while I was reading them to him. I am so glad I got this one for him. He loved the pictures and the book is very sturdy and very high quality. its the perfect size for little hands.
I feel like this is a good way to start introducing devotions into the little ones lives. I believe it could extend beyond toddler years to children a little older too.
I received this book at no charge from www.booklookbloggers.com in exchange for an honest review.

Willie Out West

This was a cute book. Wille is bored and in my opinion whiney but maybe we can say most small children will experience the same thing from time to time. I have to say the book somewhat held my toddlers attention. I wish it could have been an interactive story but the illustrations were descent.

His mom sends him to "relax" by watching TV where he falls asleep and dreams he is helping fight crime in the Big West. when he wakes up he wonders if his adventures were just a dream or if they were real.

It is a cute story that teaches kids to be happy with what they have. I have to say it was good but not the best that I've ever read

I received this book at no charge from www.booklookblogger.com in exchange for an honest review

Twenty Dinners

I enjoyed this cookbook. I has included recipes and plans for 20 dinners from beginning to end including drinks. I don't believe this will be my go to cookbook though. There aren't a lot of recipes that look appealing to me and not necessarily my taste but I'm sure many will like them. It is a very nice hardback book with beautiful photography throughout. If you are a foodie I believe you will like this one. I personally have a southern pallet and this doesn't cater to that. Maybe I will venture out of my comfort zone and find a recipe that I like.

 

You can purchase this book here

Daily Painting

 

Daily painting by Carol Marine is an instructional art book. She wants everyone to enjoy their painting. I chose this book because my daughter loves art and is always looking for things to help her learn more. The author of this book really seems to want to reach out an help artists whether they are just beginning or have painted for years. Her book is broken into different sections she explains things such as value, composition, proportion and many more. She also discusses the rule of thirds. I found this interesting because I’ve never thought about in the form of doing painting I have learned to use this concept in my photography. It was a duh moment for me.

The author tries to help those who may be suffering from painters block due to painting becoming more of a job than a joy. She is teaching the concept to paint small and paint daily choosing art that can be finished quickly. She has listed materials that she uses and gives a lot of tips and techniques throughout the book. The illustrations are gorgeous and are really well done.

My daughter is really enjoying this book so I would definitely recommend it to those who paint or want to learn. I received this book at no charge from www.bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an honest review. You can purchase this book here.

The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book

I love my pressure cooker and I have been looking for a good cookbook with some really good recipes that even I would like. This cookbook has 500 recipes in it. There are several I really want to try but there are a lot that I probably will never make. That being said it is worth it to have it.

The first part of the book is dedicated to explaining how to use a pressure cooker and helping people to get over their fears of using them. I really enjoyed this part of the book. The one thing that I didn't see in the recipes is how to adjust the recipes to the different sizes of pressure cookers. I have a smaller one and I'm afraid that some of the recipes will be too much for my cooker. Maybe I over looked the instructions pertaining to the size. The cookbook is full of information. I will go through it again and look.

The recipes are broken up into types of foods. There is a section for beef, chicken, pork, soups and desserts etc. I'm glad to have this cookbook in my collection and look forward to making some of the recipes. As of right now I haven't fixed anything from the cookbook so it is hard to say how the food will turn out but looking at the ingredients and with what experience I do have with pressure cookers I believe the recipes should be pretty descent.

I received this book at no charge in exchange for an honest review from www.bloggingforbooks.com.

Prison

 

 

I wasn’t sure about the book Prison by Toni V. Lee when I first saw it but decided to read it. I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed the story and wasn’t disappointed.

Sonja Gray is an undercover detective in narcotics. She attends a church where a drug dealer has set up his “business” thinking the cops wouldn’t suspect a thing. Sonja is paired up with Max Trent another detective that really gets under Sonja’s skin. They start their investigation in her church him posing as her nerdy fiancé.

Sonja doesn’t have any family but 2 elderly ladies have “adopted” her and are her aunties. These 2 women are so funny and they tend to butt in everywhere. They even “force” the drug dealer “Rock” to attend services by taking him in Sunday after Sunday.

I know that the book had to get a lot of things but there were a few things that probably could’ve been left out. There were a couple of characters who were introduced and then just dropped maybe they were there for a sequel I don’t know but I felt like too much emphasis was put on them only to be left out of the story in the end. Also, there were a few things that weren’t what I would call believable but overall the book was enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a little action and a little romance

I received this book at no charge by www.booklookbloggers.com in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

Serving Up a Sweetheart

Serving Up a Sweetheart is a Novell by Cheryl Wyatt. It’s a story about Meadow Larson who owns a catering business and Colin McGrath who just moved back to Havenbrook. He and his friends tormented Meadow when she was in high school and now he is living right across the street from her.

Meadow’s kitchen is destroyed by a cave in and Colin comes to her rescue offering her his kitchen and offering to repair hers. She is skeptical but allows him to do so. This is your typical wedding novella. I loved the characters. And I liked the fact that the author showed us through God and with his help we can forgive others.

This is a short read only requiring a couple of hours but it was enjoyable just as most of the others in this series have been. I like these books when I need to clear my mind and just need something light to read. I would recommend it anyone who loves romance stories.

I was given this book at no charge from www.booklookbloggers.com in exchange for an honest review.

Genius Recipes

Food 52: Genius Recipes by Kristen Miglore is a beautiful cookbook. It is filled with recipes from various chefs in one collection. Each recipe includes a brief introduction to it and a “genius tip”. I haven’t prepared a recipe yet but it appears that most recipes are straight forward and easily followed. The ingredients are readily available in most grocery stores.

The cookbook includes 100 recipes that have somewhat unique techniques to make them “stand out” quality. Professional chefs who have found tricks to make their food taste better and they are shared with us in this cookbook.

It is beautifully illustrated with delicious looking photos that make the food look mouth watering. I can’t say that this will be my everyday go to cookbook but it will definitely be one that I keep in my collection and plan on using.  I would recommend it to anyone who loves to cook. It has plenty of recipes in it that look great. Unfortunately at this time I’m going to have to depend upon the “looks” of the ingredients and not my actual experience of the taste.

I received this book at no charge from www.bloggingforbooks.com  in exchange for an honest review. You can purchase this book here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Stories

 

 

Easter Stories: Classic Tales for the Holy Season is a collection of stories by various writers. Some are well know like C.S. Lewis, Leo Tolstoy, and Oscar Wilde and some are less known at least by me. The collection begins with a poem by Jayne Tyson Clement called Carol of Hope and it is followed by 27 more short stories that make great devotionals leading up to Easter but could also be enjoyed any time of the year.  They are written like fables and have an underlying meaning about Christ and his love for us. One of my favorites was Robin Redbreast by Selma Lagerlof. It was a story about a Robin waiting on its red breast and wondering why he was gray, a story about God completing us when He is ready.

If you are looking for a good family devotion to teach your children the true meaning of Easter, to teach them it’s not about eggs and Easter bunnies this would be a great book. Each story is short enough that it doesn’t take a long time to read and discuss. It is also good for an individual devotion time just to prepare your heart and a time to reflect on just what Christ has done for us.

I received this book at no charge from Handlebar Publishing in exchange for an honest  review.