Saturday Vittles

 

My daughter and I are trying to eat healthier, so I am sharing some of the dishes that we are eating each week. 

Baked Zucchini Chicken Patties and Swiss Chard

You will need

1 lb ground chicken

3 TBSP diced Cilantro

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 medium sized zucchini)

2 diced green onions

1/4 tsp Chili Powder

1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika

salt and pepper to taste

1 bunch Swiss Chard

1 avocado

2 TBSP lemon juice 

No calorie cooking spray

1/2 tsp. McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning

Add the grated zucchini to a cheese cloth or clean kitchen towel and twist it to remove most of the moisture from the zucchini. Set aside.

Mix together the chicken, zucchini, cilantro, garlic powder, green onions, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, and drop by large spoonful onto a baking sheet. Flatten out a bit so they look like patties. Cook in a 425 F oven for 30 minutes or until done. They will release some liquid while cooking, just pour it off about half way through the cooking process.  Serve with guacamole dipping sauce. 

Recipe for Guacamole

1 ripe avocado

1TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp mayonnaise

salt to taste

Peel the avocados and mash them. Add lemon juice, mayo and salt. Mix well. 

I love making these ahead of time and having them as a snack or lunch.

To make the Swiss Chard

Trim the stems of each leaf, cut the stems away from each leaf, chop into small pieces. Add no calorie cooking spray to a sauté pan, add the chopped stems, cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes. Chop the Swiss Chard leaves small and add to the pan with the Montreal Chicken seasoning, cook on medium for 10 minutes. When it's done pour on 1TBSP lemon juice and mix well. 

Spread a little of the guacamole onto the chicken patties and enjoy.

Serving size = 3 patties, 3 TBSP guacamole and 1/2 cup of Swiss Chard. 

Each serving has 530 calories and 20 carbs. 

Would you eat this?

Freebie Friday

 

Welcome to another weekly Freebie Friday post, where I tell you what free samples and full-sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things.  I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

A sample of Rodan Fields face serum. 

It made my face feel soft, that's about it. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: The Magical Mocha Latte by R.A. Muth

 

Book Description

I thought a free latte would be the highlight of my day. Instead, it changed my life.

What was supposed to be a simple errand for my aunt—a quick delivery to a nearby town—spirals into a whirlwind of magical mishaps, suspicious detours, and way too much fur when I accidentally adopt a dog… much to my cat’s dismay.

Now I’m dealing with enchanted caffeine, a missing family member, and two talkative pets with a lot of opinions. The only person who might be able to help? My ex-high-school sweetheart, Jones—the last person I want back in my life.

But with danger brewing and long-buried secrets bubbling to the surface, Jones may be my only option. Mockingbird Springs may be a small Southern town, but something big is stirring—and if I don’t figure it out fast, this latte might just be my last.

My Review

Zip is off to make a delivery for her aunt but what should have been a very easy thing to do turns into one surprise after another. On her day full of problems, she comes across a stray dog who she ends up bringing home to keep. But a magical drink makes it so she can talk to both her cat and the new dog. Zip decides to get help from her, only to find the aunt missing. 

Jones, her Ex-boyfriend, gets a call from Zip hoping for help finding her missing aunt. They might be ex's but they're still friends. They try to figure out why Zip's aunt went missing and where she might be. Along the way they encounter some strange happenings and more questions. 

The cat and dog are so funny since she can talk to them. I sometimes wonder what my dog is thinking and now I have to wonder what's in his head when he looks at me. The animals were so much fun. 

This is a fun read for sure. I found myself laughing quite a bit at this one. 

While this isn't my usual type of read, I won this book in a giveaway and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

This was at 3PM, in the middle of the day, that cloud was so big and so dark. I mistakenly took this picture with my flash still on.

This is the same cloud as above, but I turned my flash off. This is what it looked like to me as I saw it. This storm blew past and we didn't even get any rain from it.

Lots of cloud cover.

That night the sunset was so pretty though. I couldn't get the entire sunset in my picture but the picture below is the other side of this sunset.

Another fiery sunset.

Book Review: Fated To The Alpha Bear by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

The man they sent to rescue me looks more dangerous than my captors. Bodhi Lennox hasn't spoken a full sentence since he arrived, just watches me with dark eyes and growls at anyone who gets too close.

He's massive, barely speaks, and is supposedly here to protect me until my brother pays his debt.

But the way he looks at me? Like I'm already his. Like he'd tear apart anyone who tries to touch me.

I should be terrified of him. Instead, I'm wondering what it would take to make a man like him lose control.

******

Three months in fur. Three months avoiding everyone I know. Then Chase Walker drags me back to civilization for one last job, protect a woman being held as collateral for her brother's debt.

Simple. Get in. Guard the asset. Get out.

Then I recognize her. My mate. And I know I'm in trouble.

Every instinct screams to claim her, protect her, keep her. But she thinks I'm just hired muscle. Another dangerous man in a house full of predators.

She has no idea she belongs to an alpha bear who's more animal than man.

She has no idea I'll burn the whole world down before I let anyone hurt what's mine.

A wild bear shifter romance with a possessive alpha hero, fated mates, and a guaranteed HEA. No cliffhangers.

My Review

Emma can't believe her brother, Jake owes around $80,000 to a loan shark and is asking her for a loan. It's not like she's rich and has the money to bail him out. His gambling is out of control and now he owes the wrong people a lot of money. Those bad people come looking for Jake and they find him at Emma's place. Now the loan shark decides to take Emma as collateral until Jakes can pay off his debts to him. But all the loan shark can see are dollar signs when he finds out that Emma is a virgin. 

Bodhi is a bear shifter and works with his brother's in their security company. Jake goes to them to ask for help getting his sister back but Bodhi is in bad shape and doesn't know if he can keep it together to help them. Once the plan is set and he looks at her picture, he knows right away that she's his mate, that fact almost blows the entire plan because he wants nothing more than to just go in there, pick her up and take her to safety but he can't, not yet. Bodhi is sent in to just be more muscle for the bad guy and he plays his hand well.

Being around her once he gets in as more muscle for the bad guy, is hard for him. He wants to let her know that he's going to get her out of there, but he can't let her know it yet. Emma knows she only has a few days of freedom left because the bad guy is auctioning her off to the highest bidder soon. 

When something happens to make the auction not happen, there's a flurry of changes that happen all at once and Bodhi doesn't realize that the bad guy knows something about him now that puts Emma in danger. With the danger at its highest now, Bodhi does the only thing he can and tries to save Emma. But afterwards, he thinks that he's a monster and that Emma might not be able to look at him and see any kind of forever. So of course, there's a time when they are apart and they both have hard feelings about it because not talking about what they are both feeling is coming between them. 

I really love this series. It just gets better and better. Bodhi is a grumpy bear shifter who's childhood was hard because of an abusive father who was frightened by and probably jealous of how big and powerful Bodhi was growing up to be. When Bodhi shifts, his bear is 800 lbs of muscle and that scares some of his clan because of what his father made him do and how he feels about himself because of it. But in reality, Bodhi is a nice guy with a troubled past and abusive father who treated him bad and kicked him out of the clan when he was just a teenager. Bodhi and Emma both have bad things happen to them and they deserved to be happy and be together finally. I loved the ending of this book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"The Rat President having some cake with a friend."

*All pictures are courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #405

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 27 years that I've lived here, and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 27 years here in a weekly blog post.

A lot has been happening around my apartment complex this week. Last week we had an inspection with the fire marshal to make sure that the smoke detectors were all working. When he found out that the last owner had the apartment manager put fire extinguishers under the sink, he went and looked at mine and didn't like it being under there and talked to the manager about it while she was in my unit. The maintenance was supposed to check and replace all the smoke detectors, but they didn't and it's been rescheduled for Monday. That's what the notice above says. 

It also says they will be removing all the fire extinguishers from the apartments because the Fire Marshal told them to. She came over to me last week when she saw me outside and told me that the Fire Marshall thinks we're all idiots and if we have Fire Extinguishers in our apartments that we will try to use them and put out the fire ourselves instead of getting out and calling 911. So now they all have to be removed, but what she doesn't know is that I have 2 fire extinguishers of my own that are hidden and they aren't taking those. The fun never ends.

This is the tiny fire extinguisher they are worried about. Say goodbye. 

----

Maintenance has been really busy making upgrades to both my complex and the complex right next to mine. I found out that the new owner bought not only this complex but that one too. Maintenance has been installing these lights along the top of all the buildings. I guess the street lights aren't bright enough for them at night. They are spaced about 20 feet apart along the top of the buildings. 

The lights haven't been put in them yet. I'll try and get a picture of how bright they are when they are installed. 

I'm going to have a light near either side of my window, so I might have to invest in better blackout drapes for my window depending on how bright they are. 

---

After last week when I told you maintenance was removing 2 of the trees and placing plastic sheeting under the rocks this is what it looked like before they put in new rocks and the plastic. 

This is what it looks like now with the plastic under the rocks and the new rocks placed on top of the plastic. It doesn't look bad, just very plain. 

---

Then one day I finally got a picture of this dog. The owners live just around the corner but they let this dog out offleash all the time. I see him around here all the time. He never gets close to me but he says hi to Falcor.

He would run close to Falcor and then run away and come back. He's a fast little guy. I worry he's going to get hit by a car one of these days though.

Then he came over to say hi to Falcor who was happy to say hello to him. 

The high this week was 63F/17C

The low this week was 38F/3C

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Saturday Vittles

 

My daughter and I are trying to eat healthier, so I am sharing some of the dishes that we are eating each week. 

Baked Chicken Breast with Stir Fry Vegetables

I baked a chicken breast with McCormick Mesquite seasoning, salt and pepper. I put 3 slices of the chicken on my plate along with the vegetables I stir fried. 

While the vegetables aren't a true stir fry because I didn't use any oil to make this dish a little healthier and low calorie, it still came out good. 

Vegetables I used:

2 Carrots, 4 asparagus, broccoli, Swiss Chard, and cauliflower. 

I used a little no calorie cooking spray to get the vegetables started then I added 1/4 cup of water with 1 tsp. 0 calorie chicken broth powder, McCormick Herb and Garlic chicken seasoning, Mesquite seasoning, And Montreal chicken seasoning. I stirred it really good, added a lid and let it simmer on medium heat with a lid on until the vegetables were softer. You can cook them to the doneness you like. 

This dish has 200 calories and 15 carbs. 

Would you eat this?

Book Review: The Squeaky Clean Skeleton by R.A. Muth

 

Book Description

Hi! I'm Tori Madison, and I hate scrubbing toilets, which is unfortunate because my BFF Hazel and I own Bubbles and Troubles, Beach Plum Bay's premier cleaning service.

When Mrs. Livingston asked us to sort through the contents of her attic, however, we thought our toilet-scrubbing days were over. That is...until we found her corpse.

As if finding our client's body stuffed in a steamer trunk wasn't enough of an upset, someone needed to save her cat from being sent to a local high-kill animal shelter. That person, as it turned out, was me. I had no sooner set up the critter's litter box in my guest bathroom when he revealed another side. A six-foot-four, hunky, Irish side that only I can see.

Before I could come to grips with my new feline friend's secret, Mrs. Livingston's relatives, eager to claim their inheritance, asked Hazel and me to solve the murder. And the amount of the reward was many times over what their aunt owed for the job she hired us to do. Soon we had a plan that included Rune, my new housepet-turned-houseguest.

The more I got to know Rune, the more I wanted to confide in Hazel. But was I risking our lives by keeping my cat's secret as we went through with our crazy plan to catch a killer? Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice.

My Review

This is my very first cozy mystery!

I won this book in a FB giveaway and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did because it was a fun read for sure. 

Tori and Hazel own a cleaning company, and they start sorting through an attic only to find a dead body. Tori feels awful but the surprises just kept coming. After bringing home the dead lady's cat, the cat turns into a very hunky man (Rune) that only she sees. This book had me hooked at that point. How could I not love this now?

Of course the family comes out of the woodwork to get what they can out of their deceased family member and then ask the cleaning crew to help solve the murder for a very hefty amount of money. My first thought was why are they asking the house cleaners to solve the murder mystery but I just went with it. 

This story made me laugh on more than one occasion and had me scratching my head a few times at what was going on with these characters. I knew who the murdered was after a while. But the murder mystery was fun to follow along with. This book definitely kept me entertained while I was reading it. 

If you like a fun cozy mystery, then you will like this book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

I finally got a picture of Falcor and Boy, his tiny Chihuahua friend. Yes, his name is, Boy. They love seeing each other.

I caught this colorful sunset right before it disappeared.

We had some cloudy days.

I love all the big, puffy clouds.

Another sunset.

Book Review: Rejected by the Kagethi Lord by Starr Huntress

 

Book Description

Nina

Cinderella, I'm not.

I've been matched to a Kagethi Lord, but he wants nothing to do with me.

Reo is grumpy.

Rude.

Sometimes a downright jerk.

But there are flashes of kindness in his eyes.

And when we touch nothing else matters.

Reo

My mate. My heart.

My blood burns to claim Nina, keep her.

But more than the Suhlik threaten the peace here. If the forces ranged against the peace ever learn how much Nina means to me, she'll be in danger.

And I will do anything, everything, to keep her safe.

Even from myself.

My Review

Nina is matched with Prince Reo of Kagath. A treaty between Earth and Kagath has Nina giving up her life to travel to another planet and marry a Prince. The first thing that goes wrong is the teleporter device sends her out in the jungle on Kagath instead of the palace. Prince Reo comes to aid her back to the palace but Nina thinks he's just one of the guard, which gives them some time to chat on the way back to the palace. Reo doesn't tell her that he's the Prince until she finds out after they get to the palace and he rejects her as the one he'll marry. 

Nina doesn't realize that he's grown to actually like her and is trying to protect her by rejecting her because there are those at the palace that don't want him as their next leader since he's a half blood. So Reo is trying to keep her at arms length so no one realizes how much she actually means to him and he thinks that will keep her out of danger for the time being. 

Reo's mother knows there's something between her son and Nina and so she pushes them together time and time again which was good because they're meant to be together and they realize that while on a trip his mother sends them on. 

Reo and his mother are betrayed by someone they should have been able to trust but things have a way of working out for the best. I really liked this book and liked how it ended. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday

 

"I brought exact change for the gumball machine" 

*All pictures this week are courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #404

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 27 years that I've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 27 years here in a weekly blog post.

I noticed something this week. Maintenance has taken out the Air Conditioner is Xavier's vacant apartment and used Stucco and a metal mesh to patch up the hole where it used to be. They left a small hole and put a tube in there. I realized that they put a smaller air conditioner on the roof and are using the tubing to bring the air in the apartment. They used the same metal tubing they used for the gutter wall drain. Not sure this is the right kind of tubing they need for an AC vent but who knows.

Weird, Right? Another person in my courtyard got a new AC and they did the same thing in her apartment too. The AC part of the unit is inside the apartment and the motor is on the roof. It's quiet in the apartment and seems to work well so that's good. 

They did the same thing with the office AC and now the smaller AC is on the roof of the office. I guess these are the new thing because now that I know what they look like, I've seen them on other houses around the neighborhood.

---

I noticed the woodpecker is back. He was way up in the tree which is why my picture isn't as clear as I would have liked. But he's hanging upside down in the middle of the picture. 

---

I found out a few days ago that the neighbor who moved away 2 years ago that I used to refer to as, "My elderly neighbor" passed away. Her daughter told my daughter it was congestive heart failure. That's sad, she was only 10 years older than I am. We were still friends on Tiktok and I talked to her every now and again. 

---

 

Maintenance cut down a couple of the dead Pine Trees in my courtyard. I took a short video of this one right in front of my living room window coming down. They tied a strap to the top and tugged it down towards the center of the courtyard. I'm just glad it didn't land on top of my apartment because that was a huge tree. 

This is the first tree they cut down. He was standing on the branches to cut the taller branches off.

They tied a strap to it to make it fall the way they wanted.

Here's one of the guys pulling the other end of the strap when it started to fall.

Timberrrr!

The branches made a mess in front of my window, but they cleaned it all up pretty fast. So much for any shade in the Summer time now though.

The high this week was 71F/21C

The low this week was 42F/5C

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Saturday Vittles

 

My daughter and I are trying to eat healthier, so I am sharing some of the dishes that we are eating each week. 

Baked Chicken, Sweet Potato and Black Bean bowl

We tried baked sweet potato for the first time with this dish. Neither me or my daughter liked it much. I doubt well be eating sweet potato again. 

In the bowls was:

1/2 cup of Baked Chicken

1/2 cup of black beans

spinach

1/2 cup of baked sweet potato 

You can use whatever seasoning you like on the chicken before baking it. 

This dinner was 300 calories and 30 carbs. 

Do you like sweet potato?

Freebie Friday!

 

Welcome to another weekly Freebie Friday post, where I tell you what free samples and full-sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things.  I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received: 

Perfume and cologne samples from Macy's. 

I like most of the scents. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Dark Cure by Cynthia Sax

 

Book Description

A warrior seeking forever faces a medic living in the moment.

Gisella, the Refuge’s medic, is dedicated to her role. She doesn’t have the space in her lifespan for love, a mate, or children. Healing is her entire focus.

But she’s also a female in her prime. She has needs, wants, cravings…especially for a scarred, long-haired barbarian warrior temporarily residing in the settlement. One fierce, soul-blasting, passion-filled encounter is all she is willing to give him before she returns to her duties.

Oghul, a Chamele Warlord’s Second-In-Command, has waited his entire lifespan to find his gerel, the being fated to be his. He’s thrilled to discover she wants him as savagely as he yearns for her.

His little human medic appeals to his primitive possessive side. Greatly. He wants to stamp his ownership all over her bountiful curves, take her back to his home planet, claim his fiery female permanently.

When Carinae E’s solitary sun rises, two determined beings with very different desires find their lifespans entwined. Their battle for emotional supremacy will span systems and alter destinies.

The universe will never be the same.

My Review

Gisela is the cities head medic. She's a tough woman and she has to be because she works around the very rough criminals. Gisela takes her job very seriously because she's doing what she loves, healing people. She has no time in her life for love or family right now. She doesn't want to end up like her mother. 

Oghul, the leader of the Chameles, comes to where Gisela works to see his brother, and the sparks fly between the two of them because Oghul knows right away that Gisela is his mate/gerel. Now he has to find a way to break through her tough outer shell and show her that things could be great between them if only she'll give him a chance. 

After an encounter in a bar like establishment where Oghul stands up for Gisela, she invited Oghul back to her quarters. She believes that a quick one night stand is all she's about to get because she knows Oghul is going back to his own planet soon. So this was meant to be a one time thing even though Oghul knows she's his mate and changes his plans about leaving when he finds her. But because she was impatient to be with him, he didn't have the time to explain to her what being together would mean that they were bonded forever. Only after their encounter did he try explaining what has just happened between them. 

To say that Gisela wasn't taking the news well, is an understatement. She didn't realize that their bonding was a forever thing for a little while, but she slowly came to realize that not only did she want to be around him, she actually wanted to compromise her strict rules about not finding someone to love because of him. 

He was able to slowly show her that being with someone was not an all or nothing type situation, that they could compromise on things and still do what made them happy. Oh and I love Oghul, what an alpha warrior he was. But underneath it all, he was a real marshmallow for her. 

I had so much fun reading this book and getting to know Oghul, his warriors and later on his family. 

The pace was rapid, and the tone is quite intense with so much fighting, killing and needing a medic to re-attach body parts. This has a very character driven storyline that has quite a few steamy scenes. The characters are very engaging and at times funny. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Falcor's Leg

 

Falcor likes to stretch his back legs out when he's out for a walk. He's not doing it in this picture, but I wanted to share this one because I liked it. lol 

But in these other pictures you can see him stretching out one back leg or another. He just stands there with a back leg stretched out. He's always done this.

He's a goofy dog for sure. lol 

I hope you enjoyed Falcor's Leg. lol