Books

Side note: All books listed as read in 2012 and after were checked out from my local library because I am on a self-imposed book-buying ban. I still buy books for others as gifts, but I don't buy books for myself.



Amanda's 2016 book montage

The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
The Battle of Darcy Lane
The Walls Around Us
The Death Cure
The Scorch Trials
The One
The Elite
The Selection
The Maze Runner
The Devil's Arithmetic
Everything, Everything
Savvy
We Were Liars
Before I Fall
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
Far Far Away
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies
The Tail of Emily Windsnap
Saving Lucas Biggs


Amanda's favorite books »


Popular posts from this blog

Good-bye April, Hello May!

Image
April's finished . . so it's time for a goal update. Read an old book: I read The Little Prince and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats . And several other "older" books are still on my hold list at the library. It was a nice change of pace to read something in which there's no mention of the internet, cell phones, or television. Take 200 photos: This was certainly made easier by the fact that my husband came home   (I think he needs a blog nickname, haha) and I live with two adorable cats.  Read 168 Hours:  Bleh. This review nails it. Craft something: Craft something, indeed. My mom and I made a quilt for my husband (at least 90% were her efforts). I'll be sharing more in a separate post! My goals for May? I'm taking a break and keeping it simple: GO OUTSIDE. This time of year is some of my favorite weather (not too hot, not too cold, medium amounts of rain and breeze, the air is filled with lovely smells). I adore it every year and...
Read more

Yummy Vegetarian Dumpling Soup

Image
Soup is one of my favorite foods (alongside rice) and such a versatile food that I never get sick of it. So I'm always on the look out for new soup recipes or ideas. (One I'm not sure I have the gumption to try -  cold soup . Have you had it?) Enter this Chickpeas & Dumplings soup  by Kiersten.  my small first helping - it smelled strongly of thyme and I wasn't sure I'd like it! It's the vegetarian version of Chicken & Dumplings soup, one of my top 5 favorites. We had almost all the ingredients on hand, so I made this the day she posted it. It was amazing! Even Mr. G, who was pretty certain he didn't like dumplings, loved this soup. The first picture is when I had just dropped in the dumplings. Second picture is 20 minutes of simmering later. So cool! I made a few small changes to the recipe: left out the chickpeas because we didn't have any in the pantry (thought about substituting edamame in their place, but the soup was hear...
Read more

Vegetarian Version of Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Image
I love Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi Soup.  Love, love love!  In the past, I would gladly eat two bowls of it, about 5 breadsticks, and take my whole meal home!  But I've had to skip it since becoming vegetarian and that sucks.  So I found a copycat recipe online , and tweaked it to make it vegetarian.  (I am so grateful for copycat sites!) Surprisingly enough (not), the original recipe calls for chicken ... I added boiled potatoes to take their place.  You could probably cook the potatoes right in the soup - just make sure to add them early enough that they finish cooking before everything else goes soft.  That might be too much potato in one soup for some people (is that even possible?).  :)  You could bump up the amounts of the gnocchi or other veggies in the recipe, or add corn, bell peppers, or soy "chicken" if the extra potatoes don't float your boat. Any other ideas for taking the place of the chicken? Start by chopp...
Read more