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Cold today, especially since we’d turned the corn stove off thanks to an all too brief warm-up. Perfect day for reading, and I have had the privilege of reading four awesome books this past month. Last night I finished Tricia Goyer’s Valley of Betrayal…all I’ll say about that is this story is even more beautiful than its cover art! I’m to review it here on the blog in April as part of her blog tour, so rest assured I’ll share more in the near future!
If you haven’t gotten your hands on Deborah Raney’s Remember to Forget, what are you waiting for? Heroine Maggie’s carjacking provides the impetus she needs to disappear from life, and Trevor is a hero that will linger in your heart and mind long after you put the book down!
My oldest blessed me with the morning off! She took my six year old to the kitchen table and proceeded to do more than two hours of schoolwork with her! They worked together so well, giving me and toddler some one on one time, and also letting me dip into a new read: Allison Pittman’s Ten Thousand Charms. Wow. I’ve been reading as many “first” books by authors as I can get my hands on this year, and this one was amazing! I can’t wait to read her next book! The other one of the four was Kristen Heitzmann’s Freefall. In my opinion, this was Heitzmann’s best book yet, and she’s written some exceptional reads. Plus it’s one of those big thick ones that you can’t put down!
Okay onto the recipe for Broccoli-Cheese Soup…one of the only meatless soups my dh eats and enjoys! And great for this winter-like day…plus, it’s souper easy and takes very little time from prep to table. I’ve often thought I’d like to try substituting cauliflower or asparagus for the broccoli…but broccoli is one of our favorite vegetables…
Broccoli-Cheese Soup
- 1 diced onion
- 1 stick butter
- 3 cups water
- 1 bag frozen broccoli florets, or 2-3 stalks broccoli, chopped
- 2 cups broken dry egg noodles
- 1/2 box Velveeta cheese
- 3 cups milk
- Dash of garlic powder
Saute onion in butter. Add water and broccoli and noodles. Cook till done. Add Velveeta and Milk. Add a dash of garlic powder. Heat until cheese is melted.
I love broccoli cheese soup but I guess I’d have to de-butter and limit-noodle it so my glucose and blood pressure won’t scream. Ha. God has given me His control over appetite (you know how I love food) so I know I could have it just as the recipe states it except that I’d have to have maybe 1/2 cup only. THAT’S no fun!
I thought FREEFALL was unreal…not in the sense that it was unbelievable but that the plot kept me scrambling. I can’t help trying to figure out the plot as I read (like just who is the real bad guy here) but Heitzmann had elements of intrigue and danger that really made for constant ‘seat of your pants’ reading.
I read your blog at 9 last night, Mary, just 2 minutes after you wrote it…sometimes these cyber postings really move! I was ready to call it a day so I waited til this morning to write.
Mom, I hadn’t even thought of how anti-diabetic that recipe is! It’s so easy and tasty–seems everything “bad” for us is! 🙁
Thanks for sharing what you thought of Freefall! It’s a romantic suspense that has all the elements you could want in a good story. I especially loved the Hawaiian setting…it was woven into the characters, the dialogue, the beauty…I love books like that!
Mary, you are a chip off the old block… my own Mom (for whom you were named) loved the Zane Grey books because of his ability to describe the scenic beauty of the West! I loved Kauai when I was there in 1972 so that content in Heitzmann’s book really appealed to me too.
Hey…I made soup yesterday too! Mine was lentil and sausage. It was just a soup day. The broccoli-cheese sounds good, but, please, please go with ‘cheese’! 😉 Velveeta is one of those non-food items…only mentioned it because of my blogs…you can tell me to go away now!!LOL
I haven’t read Tricia’s book yet. I am still in the middle of my Star Trek Voyager book and a few others that I checked out at the Library.
I love Broccoli and cheese soup! Yummy!
Mom–I’m going to have to pick up a Zane Grey book one of these days…I used to love his books in high school, Twin Sombreros to name one!
Deborah, I’ll never tell you to go away! The only thing I use Velveeta in is this soup…but hadn’t thought about it much. I’ll have to try to substitute it for Colby-Jack next time. Thanks for the head’s up. 🙂 Your lentil-sausage soup sounds yummy, btw!
Leticia, it’s so good. I think Tricia touched on almost every human-type and emotion possible in a historical fiction!
Hi Mary! Love your new site! And I will have to try the broccoli and cheese soup because it sounds scrumptous (how sp?) even though it’s probably way bad for the diet.
That recipe sounds really really tasty! I am going to have to make it sometime!
Good, Colleen, I hope you do. 🙂 My kids squealed out loud when they’d realized what I’d made…yum, yum! I’m so glad they like broccoli!
Hi Georgiana! Missed you while you were off writing! (but good for you, I haven’t gotten any fiction writing done in a month at least, argh!) Got any new Honey-do posts for us?
🙂
Mary
mmmm that sounds delicious! Seeing as it’s so cold here I might just have to make that recipe this weekend 🙂
Cold where you are? I thought it’d be hot and summery!
It is hot and summery here! You must have stumbled onto one of my archived posts. I have a plug-in that recycles them into the blog. So the third post on each page is from my archives. Keeps some new stuff up!