Ha!!! Hilarious but beneficial. Here is what I made (I literally was cooking until 10:30!)

Kale Chips: These are really good…and addicting! There is a fine line between crispy and burnt. Burnt a batch but the rest turned out great. I have decided that I do not like the way they make the house smell (kind of like cooked broccoli) but they are tasty. They are just Kale pieces, rubbed in olive oil, sprinkled with salt. They actually do kind of taste like potato chips….

Feta, Blue Cheese, Pepper, crushed pistachios, & vinegar reduction dip (got the recipe from the guy at lola): Delicious!  But made a HUGE mess. Mixed in food processor, too sharp tasting, added some cream, too runny and lump, transfer to bowl, realize bowl is too small for whipping, transfer to third bowl, drop whisk and spray counters with runny lumpy green mess, get out hand beaters, add some room temp cream cheese, whip, spray counters once again with green mess (turns out bowl still to small), transfer to fourth bowl, whip to tasty perfection. Make a balsamic vinegar reduction, decide to sniff while cooking, very potent!, about pass out… won’t do that again.  All in all the dip is very good and I ate some for lunch. If I made it again I will put in less pepper and a smidge less cream cheese so it’s a tad sharper.
Almond Flour Crackers: Super easy to make batter. Could have made them thinner, the thinner they are spread out the crispier they are. Nobody told me (and I don’t consider this common knowledge) that wax paper should be peeled BEFORE cooling. Had to throw first  batch out because they were stuck to the wax paper. Tasty little things…kind of like the nutty wheat thins.
Nut Crackers: I like these best and they turned out tasty. Definitely a fine line between done and maybe 2% too toasted. They taste like toasted nuts. I had a few with lunch that maybe had a hint of “too done” but all in all a great cracker. I like them better than the almond flour ones. I will make them again but will roll them thinner and not cook them as long. The recipe called to bake them at 360 but that was too Smokey and I had to open the windows! Not my fault…. I was following directions…

Peanut butter whipped mousse: Made this as a filling for my chocolate crepes (coming soon). Used the organic peanut butter as I figured it would be okay in something. It was not. Even my whip cream does not like organic peanut butter. It made it turn lumpy and foul in seconds.  I threw it out and started over with Jiff. It’s super yummy!!!
Gluten Free, Carb Free, Sugar Free Bread: Here is where things got tricky. I did not want to use all of almond flour for bread so since I had coconut flour I decided to go half and half. Who knew that coconut flour is SUPER absorbent and ate up my eggs and milk like a no other! Turns out (according to chef google) that  coconut flour has to be used quite sparingly. For example, a loaf of bread made with almond flour takes 2.5 cups of almond flour.  A loaf of bread with coconut flour takes 1/4 cup of coconut flour! So here I am with my 1.25 cups of coconut flour, and 1.25 cups of almond flour trying to make a “batter”.  I just kept adding eggs, cream, and water and figured I would just see what happen! I had to cook it twice as long. Smelled good, looked like bread, sliced like bread but it was so DENSE, I had to drink a glass of water just to get it down. Tried toasting it, it just crumbled. I saved it and will try to make French toast with it but I am going to have to call that a do over. Gluten Free Carb Free Bread = 1, Jamie 0.

Last but not least the Gluten Free, Carb Free, Sugar Free crepes. Delicious!! I made them for breakfast this morning and was quite impressed with myself. No trying tale to tell. Everything went as planned. They looked like crepes and they tasted delicious!!! I got 3 crepes from (1) egg and (1) TBS of coconut flour. I whipped a TBS of cream cheese, with a couple scoops of cottage cheese, added  a TBS of Splenda, and a TBS of Lemon Juice for the filling and topped with fresh smashed blueberries. They were quite tasty!!! Next time I will use fresh lemon and ricotta but I had to work with what I had avab.

All in all here is what I learned:
-Doing that many dishes really dries my hands out

-Coconut flour has super powers

-Some times thing catch fire and it’s not my fault

-I need to purchase a taller bowl suitable for hand whipping
-Cooked Kale smells like dead feet but makes a tasty treat

-Jiff PB only has 30 more calories, 2 grams more fat, and 2 grams more sugar that organic…and worth it!!! A person can burn that off with 40 jumping jacks!

I am going to try and make crepe lasagna tonight….maybe….

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I picked this book up and couldn’t stop reading. Read it straight through, despite the lack of sleep. Ms. Liu is a master story teller and it is easy to be swept away into a world of her making. I loved that she didn’t make the ocean a “safe” place, even for the creatures that live in it and I totally loved the idea of a being older than time lulled into a peaceful sleep by the dreams of the Guardians. If any one has ever heard of the “theory” that a huge shift is going to happen to the Earth and what was land will be under water and what was once under water will be land – then this story puts that theory into a very real perspective of possibility. Of course, you’d have to believe in the possibility that there are those among us who are rare, different and chosen the shape the world we live in too but I’m okay with that.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

If your whole existence was killing werewolves and you suddenly became one but no one would kill you to put you out of your misery what would you do? If your whole mission in life was to torture and then kill the woman that had killed your wife but you find instead that desire overrules that mission, what would you do? If a killer was out there, stalking both of you…would you allow the things that divide you to separate you even more or would you bond together and fight for survival? This book answers all those questions. The story line itself was pretty good. I wasn’t really sure I believed the whole “magic” that the hero Julian possessed. That part would have probably been more believable if the people he made wolves exhibited similar traits, even if not to the same level as he had them. Otherwise it was a fast read and I really enjoyed it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Untouchable - 
I must admit I had no idea how Kresley Cole was going to bring the lovers together when the heroine cannot be touched by anyone. Imagine for a moment…having a strong physical need to be intimate with another person and knowing that if you touch them it not only would bring you pain but could actually kill either of you. Now that is a dilemma. As I read the story it just seemed more and more unlikely that there was a solution but it wouldn’t be a romance if there wasn’t a way for love to triumph.

Tempt Me Eternally - 
Okay, so I am a Gena Showalter fan and probably not capable of giving a non-biased opinion of her work but I’ve yet to read one of her stories and not ended up loving it, including Tempt Me Eternally. I loved Aleaha’s ability to take on the identity of anyone she touches and I love that Breean can see the real her under any image she projects to others around her. I also loved that even though she was in love with Breean Aleaha did what she had to do to protect her people even if it meant losing him forever.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I’m a big one for tension between my heroes and heroines so this book fit the bill. I really enjoyed the story of two people who have been in each other’s lives for thirty years discovering a deep and abiding love for each other even though they were both blinded to aspects of it by the very history that connected them. And isn’t that what we all want? A love that can withstand fears, doubts, tragedy and the baggage we often bring into a relationship from our past?

Side note: I found myself wanting to know the outcome of Sandra and Walter….perhaps another book?

My rating:4 of 5 stars

To be honest, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the Harmony series until Dark Light caught my attention at the library. Within minutes of opening up the book I was hooked right back into the high-rez, psi-world. I have to be honest that I was a little disappointed that Fontana and Sierra didn’t get to experience the effects of the highly lustful after-burn of handling psi-energy but overall it was a great read. I will say this though, one of the things that makes the book so much fun is the ever present Elvis. Wondering how Elvis plays into all of this? Pick up the book and find out.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2546171-trina

It wasn’t until I was in my late twenties that I developed a friendship with someone who knew how to do her hair (in multiple ways) and knew how to wear her makeup (perfectly) and knew more about fashion and what made her body look its best than anyone I had ever met. Becoming her friend was like being given a pass into a world I never realized I had been missing. It was the beginning of an interesting journey.

By my mid-thirties I thought I knew how to dress myself. Thought I had learned how to wear my hair. Thought I had discovered what makeup looked good on me. I was comfortable with who I was and felt confident with the woman I was. Then I got this job, in an office full of women that “were women” and gloried in their femininity. I was on the next step of my journey to me and didn’t even really know it.

Over the course of five years around those women I learned things like the importance of a pedicure, the amazing results of pampering myself, the joys of facials, massages, buying jewelry, playing with makeup and yes, even what growing my hair out and learning how to use a flat-iron could do for my self-esteem. I looked back at who I was before that and I thouht…”wow – you thought you knew so much and really knew nothing.”

Today, as I look back on the difference between who I am today and who I was two years ago when I thought that, I am amazed at how much I have actually changed since then. The thing was, I didn’t realize how much I had been changing until one day when my husband took me shopping to get a few new pieces of clothing.

My husband had always been able to buy me anything…from purses to accessories to clothing and it would always be something I loved. It was a surprise to both of us that everything he picked out for me got responses like: ‘Oh, that is okay.”, “mmm…I don’t really think so.”, “yeah, its cute but not really what I am looking for”, etc., etc. It boiled to a  head when he, rather frustrated, put a top back on the rack and snapped, “I don’t even know you any more!” The sales attendant standing close by started laughing and responded to him, “Few men will admit that out loud to their wives but it’s a wise man that is willing to learn.”

I’ve been pondering that thought over the last few months and realized that, indeed, my husband no longer knew what my tastes were, what colors I was drawn too, what type of jewelry I prefered, what style of shoes I adored, and why I was never satisfied with just any purse. How could I expect him to know me when I was still unearthing the real me…the 40 something me that was truly comfortable in my own skin.

In September 2010, I was gifted with a make over and to say that it changed my life would be an understatement. Away went the long, straight hair to welcome in a semi-short, sassy hairdo that was sleek, styling, flirty and sexy - all in one.The color changed from dark brown to a deep, rich red. I was actually taught the basics of hair care and the art of applying makeup so that it enhances and looks natural.  Then I paid to work with a fashion consultant/personal shopper and discovered I actually have a style. One that makes me feel good about myself even if I need to lose weight.

I look in the mirror today and I know that who I am right now is someone I am truly happy with. This journey of self-discovery has taken almost 20 years but in the mining of me I have discovered a lot about myself and even though I expect to keep learning I am truly happy with the face in the mirror. I know lots of women who would benefit from admitting they lack self-confidence in the personal style arena and I hope that I am a walking, breathing billboard for the value of facing their fears and internal inadequacies to “sit at the feet of the masters” and humbly learn a thing or two.

It’s never too late to find yourself.