Day: February 3, 2020

MJ Monday-Meals: Leftover Tacos/Quesadillas/Wraps

I have an unusual way of dealing with leftovers.

I turn them into tacos. Wraps. Quesadillas.  Actually I’m not sure what to call them, but my husband is always amazed at what a good idea these concoctions are.

I take a tortilla. I spoon the leftovers onto the tortilla, sprinkle with an appropriate cheese, then microwave for a minutes. Roll it all up and voila!

Example 1: my extended family served meatballs over the holidays, with plenty of leftovers for everyone to take home. We ate traditional meatball subs one night. Then I ran out of rolls. So I halved the meatballs and plopped them on a tortilla:

Then I smothered them with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Voila! Meatball quesadillas.

Example 2: With only two of us at home these days, I usually have leftover chili. So one night, I did the tortilla thing, but used shredded Mexican cheese (Mexican cheese is what my local supermarket changes calls a four-cheese blend of cheddar, Monterrey Jack, asadero, and quesadilla cheese–that’s what the package says.)

If I’m feeling particularly domestic, I’ll cook these in a cast iron frying pan to make them more quesadilla-like. My husband likes them just fine heated in the microwave. And there is no extra cookware to clean.

Various kinds of shredded cheese and a package of tortillas are “pantry” staples at my house. Cheese freezes beautifully.  Leftovers don’t get boring if you switch up how they’re served.

 

 

MJ’s Musings: SEP-Dream a Little Dream

Dream a Little Dream is my least favorite of the Bonner brother/Chicago Stars books. I don’t like Gabe (hero), I don’t like Rachel (heroine), I don’t like Edward/Chip (Rachel’s little boy). I don’t like that a favorite character from Nobody’s Baby But Mine  was dead. Maybe Rachel and Gabe’s respective backstories are too bleak and dark and need the comic relief the dead character provided in Nobody’s Baby. I don’t know.

The humanizing of Gabe is well done. My heart breaks for him. But he’s not a romance hero. Rachel’s return to the scene of her late-husband’s crimes is well-motivated, but I still can’t warm up to her.

I’m the first to complain when so many romance novels conflicts seem trite (to me), so I’m not sure why the grim premises of this story bother me so much. It is a testament to the author’s skill that I feel this so strongly.

There were things about the book that I did like: I liked that the evangelical huckster got his (before the story opened); I liked that Gabe’s parents weren’t in the book (Jim & Lynn Bonner from Nobody’s Baby But Mine), and I loved Gabe’s brother Ethan and the subplot involving him and his secretary.  I love that God speaks to Ethan with Oprah’s voice.

Three stars.

MJ’S Monday-Meals: Mediterranean Buddha Bowl Salad

I recently needed to come up with a dish-to-pass for a family gathering. Since most others were bringing some sort of pasta slathered in mayo, I figured it was up to me to come up with something a little healthier. And thus the Mediterranean Buddha Bowl Salad was invented.

Start with quinoa. I boiled two bags.

I let it cool in the refrigerator over night.

The next morning I added:
torn baby spinach

three chopped cucumbers

some chopped red onion

halved Kalamata olives

about 1/2  of a 12-oz jar of deli-sliced roasted red peppers

crumbled feta cheese

 

I tossed it all together with a roasted red pepper vinaigrette.

And it was very, very good. No leftovers good.

 

 

MJ’s Musings: SEP-Kiss An Angel

In 2019, my Thursday Thoughts blog will feature a review of a Susan Elizabeth Phillips novel on the first Thursday of every month.

This month’s review is one of my top three favorite SEP books: KISS AN ANGEL. My paper copy disintegrated, so I purchased it on Kindle.

When I learn people who are SEP fans haven’t read this story, I am shocked. The excuse I hear most often is, “Isn’t that the circus book?” accompanied by a wrinkled nose, as in, “Eww.” Really? You would pass up an wonderful story because the backdrop is a circus? The setting isn’t merely a backdrop. It is also the device that explains a huge part of the hero’s behavior and is the driving force behind the heroine’s growth. The circus–a traveling mud show–is a character; a living, breathing entity.You accept a football universe. Why not a circus, which is more varied?

This book makes me cry every time I read it. It is a marriage of convenience story combined with on-the-road elements. DAISY is coerced into marrying  ALEX by her father, who claims his only child needs to “grow up.” That he has an ulterior motive for the match shouldn’t come as a surprise. How, you ask, can a father in a contemporary novel force his daughter to do anything? SEP has that covered.

Alex and Daisy’s individual growth toward Happily Ever After is deep and emotionally moving.

As in all of SEP’s novels, there is a secondary romance. I’m not a huge fan of many of those romances. Some feel a touch creepy-icky to me. The one in KISS AN ANGEL is borderline icky, but it suits the characters involved, and plays a major role in Daisy and Alex’s HEA.

If I were to give out stars on a 1 to 5 scale, KISS AN ANGEL would receive five.

#UpbeatAuthors: Thriftiness

The #UpbeatAuthors theme for the month of December is thriftiness. It’s a timely enough topic, what with the major gift-giving season upon us.

My family–parents, sibs, nieces/nephews–came up with a way to have holiday fun without breaking the bank.  Once a person hits the age of 21, there are no more individual gifts. They become part of what we call a White Elephant. I don’t know if what we do is a true white elephant, but we have rules and we have fun. The point is, no one goes broke buying gifts for everyone. After the final unwrap and stealing has happened, we then try to guess who purchased the gift we ended up with.

The true joy comes from finding a gift that everyone wants to steal. (There’s a limit on how many times an item can be stolen.) And no one goes broke.