Husband’s Secret

Author: Liane Moriarty

I absolutely loved reading this book! I can’t pinpoint exactly what we it was but I just wouldn’t feel like keeping it down – it was so interesting! I think it seemed very real, very next-door and easy to read. At the same time, you were always curious to know what would happen next.

The story involves three different families. A mother, son, daughter-in-law and her grandson. The mother’s daughter was murdered when she was a young girl and the murderer was never found. So the mother never got a closure and is always haunted by those memories. Her grandson seems to be compensating for her daughter who’s no longer there.

A successful husband, his equally successful and a very organized wife and their three lovely daughters. The wife comes across a letter written by her husband to her and to be opened if he’s dead. However when the wife comes across it and mentions it to her husband, it makes her husband very uneasy. This propels the wife to open the letter despite everything; and guess what? It was like opening a can of worms!

The last family: a husband, wife and their son. The husband admits to having an affair which tears apart the family. It gives the wife the license to do things she never thought a married woman should do.

Of course, these families are not independent of each other. They cross each other’s path every day. it is how their lives are intertwined and how they weave through the issues in their life which makes it quite engrossing to read!

Yummy granola bars!

I’m always on the lookout for some nutritious and tasty snacks; that can be stored; which don’t need refrigeration… I know so many qualifications! You know snacks that are perfect for your afternoon cravings and don’t make you feel guilty that you just gorged on half a bag of chips! Instead they make you feel that you just did something good for your health. So I thought why not make some granola bars that suit my taste. While searching for granola bar recipes I came across this recipe from Minimalist Baker. It was perfect! I liked all the ingredients, I had all the ingredients and it was simple to make. I was a little apprehensive on whether it would indeed be bars or would it crumble; but it turned out fine. These are more of the chewy kind of bars are not the crunchy ones. I love them whatever they are! I added a very small amount of chocolate chips so that they please my chocolate-craving senses!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup peanut butter (I make my own)
• 1 1/2 cup instant oats
• 1 cup chopped and toasted almonds
• 1 cup pitted Medjool dates
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. Toast the oats: Preheat oven to 350. Spread the oats on a baking sheet lined with silicone mat (or parchment paper). Bake the oats for around 15 minutes.
2. Puree the dates: Mix the dates in the food processor till they come together and form a ball.
3. Mix the peanut butter and honey in a saucepan and heat it over low heat. Just warm the mixture, don’t boil it.
4. Put the toasted oats, almonds, chocolate chips and dates in a big bowl.
5. Pour the peanut butter and honey mixture on top of it. And mix. I found it easiest to miz by hand but suit yourself.
6. Line a baking pan with wax paper and spread the mixture. I used my brownie pan for this. Put a sheet of wax paper on top of the mixture and then press it using the heel of your palm t spread it in the pan.
7. Refrigerate it for half an hour or so.
8. Now you’re ready to cut your bars!

Note: I love them as it is but the next time I’m going to try and increase the oats by 1/2 a cup or less and also add some chia seeds. I’ll report back on how it goes!

Choice Theory

Disclaimer: I never got around to completing the book but I’d almost read 90% of it.

I liked the topic of this book but felt like the author was going on and on describing the same thing in different words. If I were to summarize the book, the author says that where you are in life is your choice. Often times you may not realize so but that is what it is. The best example (according to me) that he uses is of a person who is depressed. He explains that the person is not depressed because of circumstances or external factors; but because he chooses to depress. He chooses to not to do anything about it.

It’s definitely a good book to read and gives you a new perspective. In essence, it tells you to stop blaming external entities for where you are or what you’re doing. You and you alone are responsible for it. The more I read it the more I agreed with the author. If you’re not happy with your life then change it. It’s all up to you. If you don’t change it, then it means you’ve chosen to live the way you are.

Apple Muffins

There are very few things in this world that are healthy and tasty; and I’m happy to announce that I found one of them! These delicious apple muffins! They’ve the goodness of apple and whole grains (in the form of whole wheat flour!).

The recipe is from King Arthur Flour. Yes I’m a huge fan of theirs and the more successful I’m at trying their recipes the bigger a fan I’m becoming! I followed the recipe as it is except that I substituted the egg with ground flaxseed.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, divided
• 1 large egg 1 tbsp ground flaxseed in 3 tbsp water
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (I used the Indian atta)
• 1 cup Unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups peeled, cored, and chopped apples; about 2 large apples, about 3/4 pound whole apples

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease and flour a 12-cup muffin pan, or line with papers and grease the insides of the papers.
2. Mix together the butter, granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar, beating until fluffy.
3. Add the flaxseed mixture and mix well, stopping once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
4. Gently mix in the yogurt.
5. Stir in the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
6. Fold in the chopped apples.
7. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar on top.
8. Bake the muffins for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
9. Remove the muffins from the oven, cool them for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn them out onto a rack to finish cooling completely.

Croissants

Who doesn’t love croissants?!?! That too warm, flaky fresh from the oven!! Ooh yummy! I tried to bake croissant for the first time and let me tell you, DH and I were very happy that I did!

Look at all those layers! How I wish I had some in my oven RIGHT now!

Can you see little specks of chocolate brown in between the swirls? DH put some chocolate chips in between to make something similar to pain au chocolate. It tasted really good! Ok enough of drooling over the pictures! How did I make them? I followed the recipe from King Arthur Flour to the T. I did halve the recipe because the original was a lot! If this is the first time you’re trying it then let me warn you – it’s going to be tedious but well worth it!

I made really small bite sized ones and hence the increased quantity. The baking sheet above is a half sheet so you can figure out how small the croissants must be to fit ~15 of them

Factory Man

Author: Beth Macy

While the world is dominated by sweatshop-goods, I wanted to read about the story of Bassett furniture to see how it had survived this domination. I’ll be honest here – I never completed the book. Before I could finish it I had to return it to the library. That is not to say that if I’d had it I would’ve finished it. It’s kind of slow, really slow in the beginning. The author begins at the beginning. Right from when the first Basset factory was setup, the family feuds, the social geometry and so on. That was not what brought me to the book. I was more interested in reading how exactly had they survived this era of sweatshop-goods when left, right and center I see all manufacturing units shutting down. Whenever given a chance, I like to promote goods made in the country. Why? Because I know that people who worked hard to make these goods were given their due wage so that they can lead a decent life. That’s why I was curious to read what is that Bassett did, that others didn’t. However I’m sad to report that I don’t know the secret. Maybe someday I’ll give it another chance. Till then wait for my next book review

Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar

Author: Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

I recently go this book from the library to see if I liked the recipes. I was able to try two of the recipes and was very impressed! One of them was banana cookies – which everyone devoured and the other was chocolate biscotti (again a hit!). Below is a picture of the chocolate biscotti made using the recipe from the book.

Of the two recipes that I tried, both were really good! So the recipes seem like a keeper. The ingredients required seemed to be there in my pantry – another thing I liked about the recipes. The instructions are clear and the book covers almost every type of cookie – from breakfast cookies to decadent cookie bars. Needless to say this book is now on my wishlist and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for vegan cookies!