Off Topic Day

For today's post, I want to share with you the last couple of days in the life of Lisa K, your favorite blogger. (I am, aren't I? 😉)  

Most of you all know that I love winter, and snow. I mean, LOVE it. We've had two big snows so far this winter, and the snow fall from those two surely adds up to more than we have had then the past couple of years. I am one happy me! 

As I was waiting for that second snow to come (we had a big ole storm that started Friday night), then, Thursday evening, the unthinkable happened. My heater in the house went out! Stopped working! No warm air! 

I called the landlady and she called her heater guy (I don't like that man, but I was at his mercy). He couldn't come until Friday. What?!?! 

Now, it wasn't as dire as I make it sound. I mean, yeah, it was freezing in this house, but we could have gone to our sisters' house. 

Well, long, story short, we had heat Friday, maybe an hour before the snow started. Yay! 

I spent the weekend snowed in my warm house, and loving every minute of it!

 

As much as I love the snow, that's how much my sisters dislike it. I have a hard time convincing them of how wonderful it is. To see the beauty in it. I'll keep trying though. If I can't convert them, I'll figure out something something to do with them. Maybe buy them tickets to Florida. Nah, too expensive. I have to do something so I don't have to keep hearing their complaining. Hmmm, I have just the thing . . .

My friends, you heard nothing, you saw nothing, you know nothing, you'll say nothing. 

Whoa! That took on a dark note. Maybe too many cozy mysteries in my life? Nah!

Enjoy your day my friends. Stay warm, stay safe. 

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

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 It's another take over today, and I thought it might be fun to explore what we are good at, stuff and things. In this and future take over posts.

Today I am sharing that I am good at Cookies, making them, eating them....

As I sit to write this Sunday take over, it is actually Saturday night still here on the West Coast, but I am up late, and was craving cookies so sharing something good is my family recipe, ok it is my sister Bre-Anne's Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe...

She lives in England, and it is Sunday there too, she should be waking up just about an hour from the time I am writing this, long after I have baked and eaten the cookies from the recipe I am about to share.

The Gibson Girl's Family Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe is as follows...

 

1 cup of butter

1 cup of peanut butter (don't use crunchy peanut butter, let's not make things weird, ok?)

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups of flour

1 cup of chocolate chips

Keep it simple! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Place the butters, sugars and eggs in a mixing bowl, beat together until all combined. Add the vanilla and the baking soda, and chocolate chips. Add the flour one cup at a time. 

Shape into balls (I use a cookie scoop), on to a parchment lined or sil pat lined cookie sheet and press the dough down with a fork in a crisscross pattern,  Mom (God Rest Her Soul!) used to do this so I still do. Bake for 8 minutes and pull out of the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before eating.

My sister swears by the 8 minute rule and her cookies are always perfect, mine I like a tad crispier and I get distracted way easier so mine are usually more crispy...

Mine are almost out of the oven as we speak, and I only am baking 6 of them, or I will eat all of them. So I used my cookie scoop and scooped the rest of the dough into balls, put them in a ziplock freezer bag and into the freezer, so that I can pull them out when I want or need and bake a few at a time. Also there is always cookie dough in the freezer for those really stressful long days and a quick no mess after work/school treat.

Well here you have it my Gibson Girl Peanut butter Cookies...A perfect Sunday Take Over Recipe and End of the Weekend treat. 

Thanks for tuning in today, here is my would you rather question:

Would you rather stay home and sip your favourite cozy beverage, consume cookies and your books or

Hit the slopes, come home and warm up with hot cocoa and a plate of warm out of the oven cookies? 

Do let us know below! 

It's 

Cozy Food Friday

It's still cold (I love it!) outside here in Delaware, and colder still where many of you live. We need some to take the chill off. I have just the thing! 

SCALLOPED POTATOES

photo property of www.simplyhomecooked.com

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

3 garlic cloves, finally chopped

4 8 to 10 ounce russet potatoes, thinly sliced

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

½ cup Monterey Jack cheese

2 tsp salt

half tsp of pepper

4 scallion (green onions) only the greens, for garnish,  

   (add the whites to the recipe if you love and oniony taste)

photo property of www.applesforcj.com

Directions

   Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 

   Use half of the butter to grease a 15 x 10 (or close) baking dish.

   Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the flour, and cook, stirring continuously, for 2 minutes. 

   When incorporated, whisk in milk and bring to a simmer. 

   Add garlic and a pinch of the salt (you can add the whites of the onions if you're going for the oniony taste).

   Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, set aside.

   Layer half the potatoes in the baking dish. 

  Season with half the remaining salt, and half the pepper. Then top with half the sauce, then half the cheese.

   Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Sprinkle top with half the scallion greens. 

   Bake in the preheated oven for about an hour. Top should be browned, and the potatoes are fork tender.  

   Let rest for around 10 minutes to set. But don't let them get cold!

photo property of www.theprettybee.com
 

Oh. My. Goodness!

Did you just hear my stomach growl?

Or was that yours? 😉

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

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upper right hand corner of this page (on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click "View web version". Then follow the above directions.

What's Cooking?

The question you should be asking is . . . 

Where's the beef?

🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽

Where’s the beef? It’s on the dinner table tonight! This focused collection of recipes offers 50 tasty ways to serve up protein-rich beef meals without a lot of fuss. Flavorful beef suppers (Cheeseburger Soup, Shepard’s Pie Mac & Cheese) are featuring along with new classics (Sheet Pan Steak Fajitas, 20-Minute Mongolian-style Beef ), salads (Southwest Steak Salad w/ Chipotle Ranch and Steakhouse Salad w/ Blue Cheese), quick hits (Empanada Hand Pies and Beef Satay with Peanut Sauce), and the tried-and-true burgers, steaks, and chili. Juicy photos provide the inspiration and confidence cooks of all levels need to deliver on the promise of a great meal every time.

MY REVIEW

BEEF IT UP! starts with a table of contents that will make any carnivore drool. Truly, you’re going to want to jump past the first 24, informative-as-they-are-on-all-things-beef pages (go back and read them while you eat), and go straight for the first recipe.

You’ll find amazing recipes such as . . . Spice Hand Pies, Beef Wellington Tartlets, Winter Beef and Barley Soup, Red Wine Beef Stew, Taco Salad with Ranchero Sauce, Chopped Beef Salad with Spice Peanut Satay, Shepherd’s Pie Mac & Cheese, Gouda-Stuffed Flank Steak, Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches, Life-Changing Panfried Steak, Quick Garlic Aioli, Fresh Herb Sauce, and more!

Great color photos accompany most of the recipes in this beefy cookbook. There’s something for every beef eater in your family. Vegetarians stay away because this book does indeed BEEF IT UP!

Releases May 24, 2022

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 

upper right hand corner of this page (on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click "View web version". Then follow the above directions.

Hi there my friends!

The word jumbles over Christmas didn't work out due to the fact that no comments were getting through.

Every Tuesday for the month of January I'll post a new book and/or cozy mystery themed word jumble. Leave your guesses in the comments. February 1, I will randomly draw a winner from those who answered correctly.

Winner will receive a . . . 

Today's Jumble is . . .  

Things related to Valentine's Day

No longer accepting entries

OMCREAN

DIPCU

CAEOOTLCH

REEJYLW

NSIGSKI

PPLOARSO

WFERLSO

AMAHGECPN

SRBVOILDE

STOLUESMA

CMOSEHOS

ORNOTWDEFIRN

SRSETETWEHA

ESLDNOSTESMREMGO

TNEMNGEAGE

IRRPSESUS

TALRNCSEAEVNID

ERTYDBDEA

NIMIRDGNOAD

LVEEOPOM

CSRYIONNOVTAECAADRENHT

SYNAAYPIVAPTNDHEEL

Remember to leave your guesses

in the comments. I'll post them two

days later.

GOOD LUCK!

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 

upper right hand corner of this page (on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click "View web version". Then follow the above directions.

ENTER

 

Check out these giveaways at GoodReads!

There could be a mix of print and eBooks, so make sure to check before you enter.

Use the link below each book for a chance to enter.

📚📙📚📘📚 

ENTER

ENTER

ENTER

ENTER

📚📙📚📘📚

I know Goodreads giveaways can be hard to win because of the volume of people who enter them. But stick with it. I have won a few titles, and you can too.

Since it can be hard to win, 

I'm giving one you an extra entry!

I have entered each giveaway I have posted today. If I win a book, I will have a giveaway here and one of you will have another chance to win the book . . . from me! I like knowing that your my friends will have that second chance to win. 

So, GOOD LUCK to you! 

And wish a GOOD LUCK to me (for you)!

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 

upper right hand corner of this page (on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click "View web version". Then follow the above directions.

 

Thanks to Lisa K for having me back again today. I am back to share that I finished reading my first book of 2021! This is a huge feet for me. Since my dad got sick in 2018 I have really struggled to read, he passed away in 2019 and well, that coupled with life, the pandemic and pretty much grief, depression and personal growth with changes, made reading something I did rather than something I could say I do. 

However in early November I was walking through my London Drug Store (Much like your Walgreens/CVS) which also happens to also be my post office drop off and I can not leave that store ever without making I swear like $50 in purchases, that is why they put the post office at the back! While I was picking up teas, small Christmas gifts and chocolates, I found a book and thought I had to have it. Which is really saying something because my to be read pile is enormous. 

The book was called The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke. Now If you are not familiar with my old blog A Cup of Tea and a Cozy Mystery, I very often buy my books based on the cover and well like the sucker I am this one grabbed me and yelled take me home.... So I did, even though I knew it have been many months since I read anything.

Something to know about me, I love Lighthouses and Witches so honestly it was not a hard sell, its like saying hey you like cookies? I put extra Chocolate in them and so I simply can't refuse...I hope you know what I am saying. Anyway last week I was teaching a kindergarten student how to do the Bunny Hop into a Hula Hoop and well, it had been quite sometime since I last did that myself and as I landed I thought, "Well that's not good" and limped through the reminder of the day, elevated and iced it when I got home, only to find a few hours later I could not put any weight on it so off to Urgent Care I went, sent home with a thought to be fractured foot and a heck of a good story to tell. By Friday the xrays revealed that I did not have any bone fracture that could be seen and that I had just a bad sprained ankle. So in a boot and with nothing but time on my hands and bruised ribs from the crutches, I found myself reaching for the book. 

 I started reading it and before I knew it I was 100 pages in, and I was oddly loving it but also spooked by the premise of this book!  It was so different from anything I have read before and had a somewhat complicated and yet very compelling format. It told the story from three different time frames and several different points of view. Not a cozy, but a suspense novel with a cozy ending.

I said more than a few times to my boyfriend, "um I am not sure if I like this book I am finding it somewhat more scary than my normal reads, and yet I just can't seem to put it down I need to know what happens next..."

Well I pushed through it and am I ever glad I did, it was such a great read, It had me up and down and sideways. It had me so engrossed in the story line that I was so shocked when I finished reading it. I loved it, it had the coziest ending for the most compelling of reasons even though it was far more suspenseful (scary to me) than I had bargained for.  I am so glad I bought the book, that I read it and now I can't wait to find someone to pass it on to. I will post the Publishers Weekly synopsis  below...

In 1998, artist Olivia Stay and her daughters—Sapphire, 15; Luna, 10; and Clover, seven—move to Lòn Haven, a Scottish isle, after Liv is hired to paint a strange mural inside the Longing, a 100-year-old lighthouse built on the site of a prison for alleged witches. Liv scoffs at rumors regarding a curse, but then tragedy strikes. Flash forward to 2021 when all Luna remembers about living on Lòn Haven is that after her sisters went missing, Olivia abandoned Luna and vanished. Luna is elated when the Scottish police report that Clover has finally been found and taken to an Inverness hospital, but upon arriving at Clover’s bedside, Luna finds not the 29-year-old she expects, but a child for whom no time has passed. Cooke skillfully intercuts the two timelines, maximizing tension, while occasional passages from a 1662 grimoire provide history and context. Nebulous plotting abounds, but breathless pacing, evocative prose, and a hopeful denouement leave readers feeling gratified. Supernatural suspense fans will be well pleased.

That is all for me for now so I shall log off but leave you with this lovely visit from Lisa K's special friend Emma...

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