Why Did I Buy Pie Crust? And Why You Should Read Mrs. Claus & The Santaland Slayings!

 Sometime in late October, I thought 2020 would be the year I made a pie from scratch, or rather the year I would buy premade crusts and then make the rest of a pie from scratch. I was thinking of pumpkin or sweet potato or apple.  I never got around to it, in part because I don't even like those pies that much.

Fast forward to now and I have pie crust that is going to expire in January and no desire to make any pie. I asked my Facebook group, Let's talk about food, beverages, books and more and a few members suggested quiche.  I didn't feel like doing a whole quiche so I looked around until I found an easy mini quiche recipe. What is nice about Add a Pinch's recipe is that it included instructions on how to start with a premade crust or you can use her recipe if you want make your own crust.   Here is the recipe

What I did was make 6 mini quiches with 3 eggs, 1/2 a cup of almond milk, and 1/2 a cup of mozzarella cheese for The Hubs who doesn't like much dairy.  Then I made 6 with 3 eggs 1/2 a cup of heavy cream and 3/4 cup of shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese.  In the almond milk quiches, I added bacon bits (fake bacon) and all the quiches have diced mushrooms, onion, and celery. 

 Here is one of my mini quiches served with a serving of shaved Brussel sprouts & spinach salad. The salad is tossed with olive oil/freshly squeezed lemon, salt, and pepper.  Using the premade pie crust is a very handy shortcut and if you prefer you can make the quiches crustless.  A nice weekend breakfast or lunch or brunch without spending a ton of time in the kitchen. 

Christmas week is here!  Do yourself a favor and pick up this holiday mystery, I know you will like it--heck judge it by its cover! 

 

Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings by Liz Ireland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I hope that Liz Ireland had as much fun writing this cozy mystery as I did reading it. Ms. Ireland takes the stories of Rudolph, Frosty, Santa so many of us grew up with and creates Santaland. April is the fish out of water, having married Santa himself just three months and is not used to the cold, or the expectations of being a Claus. Add to that the bizarre murder of an Elf, and the whisper campaign that Santa is the killer, and we are off on a wild ride.

Sometimes in the first cozy in a series, readers can be overwhelmed by the size of the cast of characters. Liz Ireland avoids that problem here, and I don't know how she manages to do it, but she gives each of the side characters enough time on the page that they are fully fleshed-out characters.

And for foodie fans, there is a wonderful Croquembouche scene. Good stuff!

If you like Christmas movies or Cozy Mysteries, you have to read this book!

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I Had No Idea Making Cheesecake Was So Hard!

FOUR STARS

Before reading this book, I thought making cheesecake was a piece of cake. Now I know that's is time and labor-intensive!  You have to cream ingredients by hand, you have to smash cookies to make a crust.  You have to let it cook and rest and cook and rest! So much work involved that I never appreciated. Now that I know what is involved, I'll just stick to baking cookies! 

I read this book for the September edition of the Cozy Mystery Book Club on YouTube. You can check out this great online cozy mystery book club here: https://youtu.be/NZoDjjRymbQ First of all the main characters in this book are - Jacobia /Ellie--- Oh I know a Blues Brothers reference when I hear one! Jake and Elwood! This book was not just a standard cozy mystery, it was a  cozy mystery thriller! The tension was high and the clock was ticking the whole time- how are they going to get all those cheesecakes made? Is the storm going to hit the town or pass it by? I think I might have been more invested in the cheesecake deadline than exactly who the killer was- The characters in the book and the coastal town of Eastport are so enjoyable that I would have read a whole book about the storm and the cheesecakes even if no one was found dead. This book was a nice escape, and if you are looking for a book to read during the 4th of July holiday, add this to your TBR pile and read it for the 4th (l

Link to my review on goodreads 

They Don't Tell You Having Cancer Never Ends

Since I finished active treatment six months ago, I have had three follow-up scans. This is what I mean when I say cancer never ends.  The first scan I had was to follow up on all the treatments; and was used to compare the new post-treatment me, to the scans I had before treatment.  Then the next scan (a PET scan) was to get more info on a couple changes found in the CT scan and then the most recent scan was to see if anything changed from the PET scan.

First and foremost, nothing changed!!! Nothing is more wonderful than hearing your scan was unremarkable! That means the initial couple of weird things found in scan 1 and seen on the PET scan were due to changes from radiation. I hear that many people have cancer treatment and go merrily on their way, no follow up scans necessary.  I, however, get extra close treatment because I'm BRCA-2. 

On the one hand, I'm grateful to have close follow up in that if anything showed up, then it would be smaller and able to be treated faster.  On the other hand, scans cause major anxiety for many cancer peeps, like me.  It's a very stressful time that brings back all the worries of when you first found out you had cancer and all the worry that this scan is going to say the cancer is back and spreading.  That's what no one tells you, once you have cancer, you can never go back to not having had cancer.  The only way you know that you have "beat" (and I do not like that term) cancer is if you die of another cause. Otherwise you just never know what the future holds for you.

The key is to figure out how to balance having very valid worries and living life.  That's one tough key.  Because of the COVID-19 virus, many people now know more about living with uncertainty.  So welcome to my world, it's a bummer to be here. Let's hope there is a great vaccine for COVID-19 soon and some amazing new treatments in the world of cancer that turn advanced cancer into a treatable disease that doesn't shorten lifespans.

Below is a review of a fun book.  Books are a great escape when life is filled with uncertainty. I like mysteries and romances because I know the killers will be brought to justice and the lovers will get their happily ever afters.  When life is uncertain, stories can give you certainty!

xoxo

The Diva Takes the Cake by Krista Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second installment in this series and both Sophie and I made a very silly mistake. My mistake was reading this book while hungry. Oh my goodness Krista Davis is masterful at writing about food preparation. I wanted to eat the book! And it doesn't end there, the book is also full of discussion on how to set a table for festive events.

Sophie's mistake, I'm not going to spoil that for you. Suffice it to say, she overlooks a really obvious clue--but that is understandable, she has a lot going on! I enjoyed the wedding backdrop for this story. I missed June and the Colonel--and Francie! I do not know why Humphrey is the way he is but I hope he finds what he is looking for!

This book just keeps me turning pages. Oh by the way I loved that in the advice columns Krista Davis includes links to actual websites. Too funny. My only complaint is that Sophie doesn't stand up for herself more when she is dealing with Natasha, her mom, or Hannah.

You can read this as a stand-alone, but book 1 "The Diva Runs Out of Thyme" is very enjoyable so add that to your TBR!


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Where Do I Go From Here?

What do you do when you get to the end of a book series, or TV series, or podcast series you love? Look for another one to love or reread?  I'm a look for another series to love. There are so many good stories out there, and only so much time. 

I'm a little sad today to say goodbye to Kate Daniels, she was funny and she was smart and she was really good with a sword! I'll miss spending time with her! If you are looking for a relatively long series with a great heroine, this is an excellent series to read.

Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A very fitting end to a wonderful series. If you haven't read Iron and Magic already, read it before starting the finale in the Kate Daniels series. Once again I was amazed at how well Ilona Andrews balances snarky humor and drama.

I loved how this fantasy series is really about Kate finding family and being family for other people. The mythologies used in the stories are always fascinating and I would love spinoff books featuring Roman and his family.

One of the reasons I so enjoyed this series is that Kate and Curran build real, solid love. There is some drama and there are worries along the way but there aren't dramatic fights added as a device just to keep the couple apart so I keep reading. I think it's a testament to Ilona Andrew's world-building that we have a central couple and so much action, drama, and interesting side characters that we never get bored.

When I was reading and saw there were only 50 pages until the end of the story, I was very worried about the ending, I shared Kate's concerns, I didn't see how my favorite people could survive and how everything could be resolved in 50 pages. And yet, there was resolution and a very satisfying ending. So well done!


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