Where is the Jump to Recipe button?

 I wanted to post about this little blog, Give Peas A Chance. I am the most inconsistent and random blogger. It has ebbed and flowed with my life. I started this blog to store recipes for my kids to have. That was in 2009. 2008? Something like that. I also blogged school lunches for a long time. Now my kids are all grown up. I've gotten rid of Bento Boxes, lunch boxes, lunch packing tools. Ebb and flow. Now, I blog book reviews. Perhaps not consistently.  I guess that is the point. Whatever is posted ebbs and flows with what I am doing most at the time. ADHD translation: It changes according to what I am hyperfocused on at the time. An early 2000's type of blog. It just is what it is without the bells and whistles. Just a mom with a creative outlet. Not really meant to gain followers or be seen by many. I don't make money here. I never have. Unless you count the one time I won $1000.00. There were times I did reviews and giveaways. That was fun for a while. Then it wasn't. Again, ebb and flow. 

 The thing that sparked this post? I wanted to blog, so I did. But the recent photos of the food. WHEW.  I have looked at them and thought to myself, "You shouldn't post that. It looks horrible." They do. I know it. I am simply taking quick photos. I sometimes take photos of food to post on Instagram or Facebook. Not that many people use Facebook anymore, but I do. I don't take them for the purpose of blogging. Lately, I have enjoyed the creative outlet. Putting up simple posts. Going through the 50 post drafts I have. Posting some of them. Deleting others. Just quick snapshots of food. Many times the lighting is so bad you will wonder why I didn't do something about it. The answer is I don't have the energy, and I don't care(I might later, but that is for later). If blogging is going to be a creative outlet, just for me, then I will not pressure myself to set up shots. To check lighting. To think about what color dishes I should use. Correlle Winter White is what it's going to be.  I have gotten rid of over half of my dishes. This is low-spoons blogging for my mental health. Once it no longer serves me in a positive way. I will simply step back and not pressure myself to keep up. Ebb and flow.

I don't even have a jump-to-recipe button. Trust me, I know how heated people can be about not having a jump-to-recipe button. The demand from readers to "just give me the recipe I came for". "I don't want your life story".  That's a whole other post, isn't it? The thing is, this isn't that kind of blog. This is for me. I've invited you into my space. We don't pay those bloggers and food creators for recipes. The least we can do is help them by giving them a click. That was a tangent. Anyway, I don't have the button. Do you know why I don't have that button?  Simply because I don't know how to add one. That's it. I don't have the know-how, and I don't want to pay someone with the know-how. Not because they are not worth their time and talent. This just isn't that kind of blog anymore. There's even a small icon under each post on the left-hand side at the bottom that says "Pin it" that I don't know how to remove. I've clicked on it, and it does nothing. I don't know how to remove it. It irritates me every time. There are even Twitter buttons. I don't even use Twitter anymore. All that is to say that if you're looking for a real blog. This isn't it. 

Will I pick up my camera again? Maybe. If I can find the battery charger. If it brings me joy to do so. I might not even blog about food for more than a few months. Ebb and flow, right? I stopped blogging recipes for a long time. Who knows how long this streak will be for. This is simply a creative outlet, hobby, and place for us as a family to look for recipes we have enjoyed. I have made wonderful friends through this blog. I am thankful for that. If you've gotten this far, thank you. You're welcome here, of course. Everyone is welcome. Just don't expect too much.

Thank you for being here. Have a blessed day.

 

Tomato Pie

This is a Southern style Tomato Pie. It's simple but it makes for a great lunch or dinner with a side salad. Enjoy those summer tomatoes everyone.

Tomato Pie

3 tomatoes sliced, seeded, salted and strained
1 Pie crust blind baked for 10 minutes at 450 degrees
1/2 onion sliced into thin rings
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
pepper
6 slices cooked bacon,chopped

  Whisk the wet ingredients and spices together-
1/2 teaspoon thyme (or basil)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
Hot sauce (optional)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 egg

1. Rinse the tomatoes with water and pat dry. 
2. Layer the tomato and onion slices evenly into the blind baked pie crust, sprinkling with cheese and bacon after each layer. 
3. Pour the whisked wet ingredients into the pie crust 
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 350* for 30 to 40 min. Place a sheet of foil on top of the top gets too brown at the end. 
5. Cool. Serve room temperature.

Thank you for being here. Have a blessed day.

Peasreads: A Turning Tide Christmas by Serenity Bea

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Five stars for this novella. Cozy and fun. The banter between the two main characters was funny and entertaining. The pacing was great. Sometimes novella's can seem so rushed but this one had great timing.

 I've never read anything by this author before, but would not hesitate to pick up another read from her. 

Scones

I haven't made scones in a long time. I saw some Double Cream at the grocery store and grabbed some, thinking it was a great time to make scones. I have been running around and so busy trying to stay afloat that I just haven't slowed down to enjoy simple things. Always in motion, trying to get the next thing done on my list. It's s simple but these scones gave me a breather. Making them. Enjoying them with a cup of tea, in an actual teacup, with a book. Simple. None of that will negate all I have on my plate right now, but it gave me a good respite. 

Red Beans and Rice

I apologize for these photos. They were taken quickly in the evening before dinner. This recipe for Red Beans and Rice is simple. I add carrot but I don't think that's traditional. This may not even be a traditional recipe but it's good. It also freezes well  I like my beans really soft and mashed but they can be left whole.

Kaffir Lime Leaves and Lemongrass

I posted this Larb gai yesterday and thought I put this picture in that post. I didn't. My mom grows these Kaffir leaves so she brings them to me to put in my freezer. I love them. So fragrant and fresh. Great in soups, Thai beef salad, marinades, curries and more.
They can also be dehydrated. Just wash, dry, and put them in my dehydrator.

(Living in Texas I now have my own tree and I love having fresh leaves year round)

Peasreads- For Ever More Sue Lynn Tan

 

What a great conclusion to Never Ever After. Yining is back home. She is settling in with her family and her people. She is learning the customs and traditions of her people. It is a world that is so unlike the Iron Mountains that she grew up in. While she is settling in, she juggles her feelings and her vow to Jin to help him save his people and his land. And then there's Prince Zixin. Both these male characters are complex. Jin is noble in his quest to save his land; no one can fault him for that. Yining still struggles with trusting him after he made her make the vow to help him. The Prince is ready to fight his sister back for the Kingdom that is rightfully his. Could his story be a redemption arc? After all he did?  Has he learned from the past? Can a person really change? 

Is this a fantasy with romance? Or a romantasy? I can't really say. I do know that I loved the story. I  loved the setting. I loved this conclusion. 

 In For Ever After, this epic fantasy finds Yining on the run and fighting to save her family and her kingdom. 

Order now and receive the SPECIAL FIRST EDITION while supplies last—featuring a designed case cover under the jacket and illustrated endpapers, in addition to shiny foil and embossing. This must-have special edition is only available in the limited first printing.

After the explosive events of Never Ever After, Yining flees the Iron Mountains with her unlikely allies, seeking the truth about her newfound powers amid the secrets surrounding her ancestral home. But with a traitorous queen ruling the Three Kingdoms from a stolen throne, nowhere is truly safe, and Yining must decide whom to trust to keep her family—and her heart—from harm.

Praise for Never Ever After:

“Rich and layered and deliciously transportive.” —Renée Ahdieh, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath & the Dawn

“Tan has crafted a jewel of a fairy-tale retelling and each prism is lustrous with sinister wonder.” —Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of the Gilded Wolves Trilogy

“A lush and effervescent, masterfully crafted fantasy.” —Elizabeth Lim, New York Times bestselling author of Six Crimson Cranes

“I absolutely adored it and cannot wait for the sequel!” —Allison Saft, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wings of Starlight

 Find more book reviews here under Peasreads.

Amazon reviews Katereviews.

Goodreads reviews.

I received this egalley from NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers., and Hatchette book group. I was under no obligation to give a review. All opinions are my own. 

Peasreads: Between You and Us

Between You and Us By Kendra Broekhuis

What a good read. Heartbreaking. But so beautiful. I always think I know what I will do when put into situations when it comes to my children. What a ride this book is!

Reading the author's take on this impossible choice was so interesting and heartbreaking. 

Book Description

When a grieving woman unexpectedly steps into a different version of her life, she must choose between the husband she loves and the daughter she lost in this brave, gripping novel.

“A beautiful story that will make you rethink all the moments you’ve wished for a different outcome.”—Johanna Rojas Vann, author of An American Immigrant

Two possible lives to live. One impossible choice to make.

When Leona Warlon heads across the city to meet her husband, David, for a rare dinner out, she hopes they can share a moment of relief after their year of loss. But Leona quickly realizes this is no ordinary date night. She hasn’t just stepped into an upscale ristorante; she’s stepped into a different version of her life. One in which her marriage is no longer tender, in which her days are pressured by her powerful in-laws, and in which her precious baby girl lived.

Now Leona must weigh the bitter and sweet of both trajectories, facing an unimaginable choice: Stay in a world where tragedy hasn’t struck but where the meaningful life she built with David is gone? Or return to a reality that’s filled with struggle and sorrow but also deep and enduring love?

Find more book reviews here under Peasreads.

Amazon reviews Katereviews.

Goodreads reviews.

I received this egalley from NetGalley and Penguin Random House I was under no obligation to give a review. All opinions are my own.