Sunday, March 15, 2015

Sunday Blatherings - New Books and a Recipe

Good Morning Readers! How was your week?  I'm happy to report that we didn't have ANY snow in the last 8 days, so I'm hoping that means that Spring really is around the corner. With 3 days of mid 50's temps we saw lots of snow melting, and although there is still plenty of dirty snow to be found, patches of grass can be found here and there.

This week I finished the audio verion of Andy Weir's, The Martian. It's a book I never imagined I would enjoy, but it was terrific. If you like audiobooks, try this one.  I am deeply engrossed in, A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara, which is one of the best written works of literary fiction that I've read in a long while. It is a story about male college friendships, but focuses heavily on one of the indivivuals who had a horrific childhood. An extremely dark story, a hefty tome (700+), that I read in small doses ---it's so so good, but hard not to dwell on afterward. This book is sure to my my tops list this year -- so powerful and such a talented author.



A few new books arrived by mail last week. Have you read any of these?

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Finally, I thought I would share this recipe. I made these healthier version of oatmeal cookies yesterday, adding dried cranberries to the recipe and they were delicious.  I used qiuck-steel cut oats.


Healthy Honey Oatmeal Cookies


Photo
Photo by Daffachoolapip
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 25 mins
  • Serves: 10, Yield: 30 cookies

About This Recipe

"These are easy to make! and healthy for you too (small amount of butter & sugar), but still so very sweet and wholesome. The cookies are chewy and go great with any other add-ins (raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, etc.) Courtesy of FoodNetwork.com"

Ingredients

    • 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
    • 1/2 cup brown sugar
    • 1/4 cup honey
    • 1 egg
    • 1 tablespoon water
    • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour ( all-purpose is good too)
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 1/2 cups rolled oats ( aka oatmeal)
    • chopped dates (optional) or figs (optional) or raisins (optional) or currants (optional) or chocolate chips (optional) or chopped nuts, etc (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray (just for convenience :]).
  2. Using a mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter, brown sugar, honey, egg and water thoroughly.
  3. Sift together the dry ingredients then stir in the oats. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. Add any additional ingredients you've chosen.
  4. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.


49 comments:

  1. I even walked outside this week! yay! If you feel like it, you could link your recipe up to this week's Weekend Cooking (on my blog). No worries if you don't. :)

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    1. We are not at the sidewalk walking stage yet, but soon:) posted to your weekend cooking, just now.

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  2. I really liked The Life We Bury. Part of it is the location which is familiar, but I am looking forward to Eskins' next book. And I wish my library would order the Meg Donohue. That one looks good, too.

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    1. I had been eying The Life We Bury for a while, so happy when it came available on pbs.

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  3. Spring has been teasing us off and on. The next few days will be in the 80s and then it's back to the 50s. Enjoy your new books!

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  4. Replies
    1. Yes Boston broke their old records with 105" of snow this year!

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  5. Yay for no snow! Spring seems to have settled her for a little bit for which I'm very happy. It's nice not to be freezing! Looks like you got some great books this week. I haven't read any of these but am intrigued by The Cake House.

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    1. Katherine, so looking forward to springtime weather! Have a great warm week.

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  6. I'm wanting more snow, hoping it kills some of the pollen in the air. The cookies look absolutely yummy!

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    1. Sorry about your allergies, but just don't wish Boston more than the 105" of snow they already received 😺

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  7. It's great to hear that you are enjoying A Little Life! I think I'll read her first book later today.

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    1. It is unbelievable Jackie. I now want to read People in the Trees as well. Hope you do get to read both. Have a great week.

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  8. I borrowed the DoG Crazy book from the library. Can't wait to read it. I like the books in your mailbox!

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  9. I usually don't read any books as big as 700+ pages, but A Little Life keeps grabbing my attention. I have Dog Crazy, and want to read The Life We Bury.

    Those cookies look so good, and easy to make. I haven't made cookies for years, but think I might try them.

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    1. Hope you do try, A Liitle Life. The cookies are a nice, not too sweet treat with tea or coffee. Have a great week Vickie

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  10. A great collection of books, I look forward to reading your thoughts on these! The cookies look delicious too.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and hoping that you are enjoying some good books as well.

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  11. I have enjoyed Meg Donohue's books...so Dog Crazy looks really tempting...and so do the cookies!

    Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

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    1. Hope Dog Crazy is as fun as it seems. Enjoy your week Laurel.

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  12. We're enjoying beautiful weather, too. We were in the mid 70s this past week, so my husband and I got a few walks in after work. Yay!

    Thanks for sharing your new books. I'm very interested in Alice Eve Cohen's memoir, The Year My Mother Came Back. I read a few reviews on Amazon and see that Abigail Thomas (author of Three Dog Life) gave it high praise. I'll have to keep my eye out for it!

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    1. Lucky you to be in the 70s, were are not there yet -40s this week.

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  13. Diane, enjoy your books, and thanks for sharing the wonderful recipe. Oatmeal-raisin cookies are one of my favorite kinds.

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    1. I do love oatmeal cookies, generally use walnuts, but wanted to cut calories so left them out.

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  14. Aaah - A Little Life....still having a hard time getting that one out of my head. My likely make my best of the year list as well!

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  15. Spring was in the air earlier this week, but today is is cold and snow again - boo! I keep hearing raves about A Little Life... just downloaded a sample to my kindle.

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    1. I hope you do read A Little Life JoAnn, about 1/3 through and so good. Our weather has been 50s last week and windy and cold this weekend ugh

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  16. Spring is sprung in a lot of places, it seems. Those cookies look really good.

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    1. Anxious for some 70 degree days, but not for a while it appears.

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  17. The Life We Bury is intriguing to me, the title and the cover. Thanks for the cookie recipe! I'll throw some dried cherries in!

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    1. Hi Peggy. The title, The Life We Bury, is calling me too. Enjoy the cookies.

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  18. Healthy and cookies, you don't see that too often! I'll have to try those.

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  19. I am a littl north of you right now (Toronto) and when we came here last week, there was a lot of snow in the grounds here but now it's all gone and the place is looking prettier. Hope Spring is really here!

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  20. No snow for you. That's probably a good thing. We had 90 degree temps. I can deal with 90 degrees but a few degrees above that and I just get crabby.

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    1. 90 is too hot for me. What happened to those ideal year round Southern California temps:) Just jealous here.

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  21. Yay for no snow! Like Ti, temps in my area have reached 90. Not very March like weather at all.

    Enjoy your new books, Diane. Have a great week!

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  22. I'm not familiar with any of your new books, so I'll look forward to your thoughts. I'm thinking about spring, too, as we had lots of rain on Saturday that melted most of the snow. I was so happy to see my tulips coming up!

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    1. Our tulips are still buried, but soon they will pop their tops..LOL

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  23. Great recipe Diane. I can't believe there is such a small amount of butter and sugar. I have to try this one,

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  24. A week of warm weather after the crazy winter has been such a relief. I couldn't take one more cancellation and reschedule without going insane.

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  25. My goodness am I seeing A Little Life on a lot of blogs and people are loving it, just as you are. Just popped over to add it to my wish list.

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  26. So glad to see your snow is disappearing. There has been waaaaay too much of it this winter.

    Birds are singing in my yard so spring must be here. :)

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  27. Yes, we still have our dirty snow piles AND they said we might get a snow/rain mix tonight :(
    I need to get to The Martian.

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