Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos

September 11th, 2015

Make ahead and freeze these breakfast burritos from MomAdvice.com

Here’s one of our favorite breakfasts that helps our mornings run smoother – easy burritos that can be pulled from the freezer whenever you need them. It doesn’t hurt that they’re delicious and customizable, too!

Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos

Back-to-School requires a lot of planning and getting back on track with a healthy breakfast is one thing I want to work on this year.

Today I wanted to show you a recipe for Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos that can be made ahead and also created for your gluten-free or dairy-free family members.

One batch of these freezer breakfast burritos can yield 15-18 burritos, depending on how you stuff ’em, and they are filled with everything your kids need to start their day on the right foot.

I am partnering with Walmart on this back-to-school idea today so you can snag all the supplies you need right at their store.

Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos

What I love about these burritos is that they are not only filled with fresh whole foods, but also that they are inexpensive to create.

With kitchen staples like eggs, cheese, potatoes, and tortillas, it is likely you already have a few things on hand for this back-to-school breakfast.

Create an assembly line of ingredients in the kitchen and have your kids jump in on the fun.

The potatoes are tossed in paprika and garlic powder for a tasty topping to the eggs.

I love a little Italian turkey sausage, red peppers, and cheddar or colby cheese for these burritos.

You can create your own flavor combinations or consider clearing out items from the fridge and making a unique combination all your own.

Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos

Be careful to not overstuff the burritos so they can be wrapped easily and place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet to place in the freezer until frozen.

Once these are frozen you can tuck them in a freezer bag and just grab them when you need them.

Do you know how to wrap a burrito?

If not, I love this tutorial for perfectly wrapped breakfast burritos!

Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos

With one kid in middle school (GASP!) and a daughter who prefers not to eat in the morning, I am hoping that these burritos will be the perfect way to get them motivated to eat a healthy breakfast.

Just grab one from the freezer and wrap it in a dampened paper towel for the microwave for three minutes (flip it halfway through).

Wrap in foil and let them eat them on the way to the bus or in route to school.

These also make a great after school snack, after sports activities, or an impromptu dinner with their pals while doing homework.

To make them dairy-free substitute the cream with almond milk (which is what we did) and add a vegan cheese to them or leave them cheeseless.

For a gluten-free burritos, Walmart offers this option in their stores.

We hope you love this delicious breakfast as much as we did.

We have already started raiding our make-ahead breakfast burritos for quick lunches this week.

I am shocked how beautifully these reheat and taste.

There are no excuses why you can’t tackle a healthy breakfast.

Be sure to check out my recipe for Slow Cooked Honey Crisp Apple Oatmeal for another fun breakfast treat!

Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos

Recipe Type: Breakfast

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 18

A make-ahead breakfast burrito that you can tuck in your freezer for a healthy breakfast, snack or meal.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
3 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
salt & pepper
1 lb Italian Turkey Sausage
1 dozen eggs
2 tablespoons cream (or milk substitute)
1 red bell pepper, cored and diced
1/2 pound cheese of your choice (or vegan cheese)
18 tortillas, soft-taco size (8-inch), whole-wheat, flour, or gluten-free tortillas

Instructions

To roast potatoes, preheat your oven to 475 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle diced potatoes with oil and season with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. Toss the potatoes together to evenly coat in oil and seasonings, and spread out into a single layer on the parchment. Roast until browned on the bottom and tender, about 20-25 minutes.
Brown your sausage. Once it is cooked through, set aside in a large bowl, leaving about a 2 tablespoons of drippings in the pan for the eggs.
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the cream (or milk substitute) and pour into the sausage skillet. Cook over medium heat until just set, stirring as needed. season with salt and pepper and stir to combine, and transfer to the bowl with sausage.
In the same skillet, cook your red peppers over medium heat until fragrant and softened, about 10 minutes.
Make an assembly line- tortilla, cheese, followed by a small handful of potatoes and a scoop of the egg/sausage mixture. Roll the tortilla up.
For freezing, place burritos on a wax- or parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer until firm, at least an hour. Transfer to large freezer bags and keep frozen for up to one month.
For reheating, place a frozen burrito in a dampened paper towel and microwave for three minutes, turning halfway through.

Recipe Adapted From: Dinners For Winners

Easy freezer recipe for breakfast burritos from MomAdvice.com

Make ahead and freeze this easy breakfast burritos from MomAdvice.com

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Make Ahead and Freeze Breakfast Sandwiches

Honey Sweetened Applesauce Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins

Quinoa Berry Breakfast Bowls

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Tags: Freezer Cooking, How to Wrap a Burrito Tutorial, Make Ahead Breakfast, Make Ahead Breakfast Burrito, Make Ahead Freezer Burritos
Posted in Breakfast, Kid Eats, Main Dishes, My Work, Sides | No Comments »

Minimize Morning Stress With an Organized Command Center

September 10th, 2015

Minimize morning stress with an organized command center

When we created our small space entry DIY command center, my goals at the time were simple: create a space for the kids backpacks and keep their school paperwork off our counters, as well as have a place for basic entry items (space for keys, glasses, etc.). It ended up working great for the space as well as our family AND gave an added bonus:

It has minimized our whole family’s weekday morning stress levels and has helped our morning routines run a lot more smoothly!

Use any space to organize for better mornings!

As I shared, we started with a simple corner in our living room right around the corner from our front door that was a place we naturally dropped our things anyway – that’s the best place to start, right? Figure out what’s already working and then make it work better. And prettier, of course.

Mirrored coat rack

We added a functional and decorative mirrored coat rack, perfect for tying on a scarf before heading out the door as well as holding coats and small purses. We also moved a seldom used storage ottoman here to hold the backpack and briefcase clutter and finished off the mirror area with a large basket for storing our magazines and umbrellas.

DIY_Command_Center_7

To catch the school paper clutter that always seems to be on the brink of becoming out of control, we use an upright file folder organizer and colorful file folders for organizing the whole family. It has become one of the best things to keep the morning stress level down!

Set Up a File System to Minimize Morning Stress:

1. The kids each now have an IN and OUT folder. If they need something signed, they put it in the IN folder for me for signatures and I give it back to them by putting those items in the OUT folder, that they can check before they leave for school.

2. Special memorabilia that is worth saving still resides in their decorative boxes in their rooms.

3. Mom and dad each have their own files for paperwork that needs to be dealt with before filing or recycling.

4. Taxes has a file for receipts and other items that tend to pile up waiting to be filed.

5. There’s a general “kids” file for any items that we need to take care of (things we want to file, or waiting for a meeting, etc.)

DIY_Command_Center_8

The other thing we added that has helped with our morning routines, almost eliminating the last-minute-trying-to-get-out-the-door search for ________ (fill in the blank: keys, watch, glasses, etc.), is a long, narrow compartment organizer for keys, sunglasses, and other things rests on this half moon table for easy finding and grabbing in the morning. Best. Thing. Ever.

Another crucial element to our daily routine is found above the table: our family calendar. We can keep track of important events at school, doctor’s appointments, business travel, and more – the calendar is usually filled to the brim!

Free-Family-Management-Binder-Printables-Header-2

I also love using our family management binder in this command center, especially to check out the menu before we head out the door to know if there is something I need to pick up at the store. (Oh, and we’ve recently revised the cover so that it now comes undated so that it can be customized by you – I love this binder and hope you do, too!)

If you don’t have your own family binder copy yet, grab one by using the handy form in our sidebar to sign up for our weekly newsletter – a recap of all the happenings for the week and will make sure you never miss a post. Then you’ll be eligible for this and other free printables we offer ONLY to our VIP subscribers.

I had hoped our small family command center would help our mornings run smoother, of course, but it wasn’t one of our main goals, just a happy bonus, and has continued to renew our commitment to living small. Even if you have a small home, you can make any space a functional space for your family!

How do you minimize morning stress?

Tags: Better Family Mornings, minimize morning stress, organized command center
Posted in Home & Organization, Minimize, The M Challenge | No Comments »

Amy’s Notebook 09.09.15

September 9th, 2015

Breakfast Tart via Spoon Fork Bacon

Source: Spoon Fork Bacon

What a beautiful breakfast tart!

Life. Made.

Buttery smooth foundation tips.

The summer of yes– I am so inspired!

Oh, this takes salads to a whole new level.

Influence. You already have it.

Style resources for transitioning from summer to fall.

Thinking outside the square– finally!

Finger Knitting Wall Art via Camille Styles

Source: Camille Styles

This knitting without needles project is incredible!

Cheesy chicken enchilada dip anyone?

Why Facebook makes your images look like crap, and how to fix it.

Slow cooker chicken stock– hello, homemade pho!

Will you read it?

Portobello tacos with creamy vegan jalapeño sauce – yes, please!

Lice tips– may we never need these. Amen.

I hope you enjoyed our notebook, a collection of gathered links to DIY crafts, food projects, thrifty ways to spruce up your home, and thoughtful reads. Nothing brings me more joy than to highlight other fabulous bloggers. Follow me on Pinterest for daily inspiration!

Tags: Amy's Notebook, Crafting, DIY, Food & Recipes, home decor, Reads, Recipes
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Parenting a Child With ADD: The Diagnosis (Part 2)

September 8th, 2015

Parenting a Child With ADD: The Diagnosis (Part 2)

With my son’s blessing & permission, we are sharing our story of what is like to have & be the parent of a child with ADD in this continuing series. To read Part One of our diagnosis story, click here. We welcome your comments and hope our story helps other families facing the same challenges.

Testing day could not come quickly enough, but it first required a session with the psychologist to explain our concerns. We didn’t just talk about his inability to follow through on tasks and disorganization (although that was frustrating). Our biggest concern was the emotional outbursts and anger that we were dealing with. We knew we weren’t handling these situations well and were concerned that not only were we dealing with a possible ADD diagnosis, but that maybe something emotionally was wrong too.

I remember that the doctor said that often by treating the ADD that these emotional outbursts lessen because the child is not so frustrated. I certainly didn’t want to pin my hopes on that, but wouldn’t it be incredible if we were able to help both elements of our struggles as parents?

He said he would get us scheduled with some weekly visits for the anger issues though so we could get that under control.

Good, we needed it!

Testing, Testing

Testing day had finally arrived. We had lots of questionnaires to fill out and even ones to pass on to our teacher to share about how our son performed in the classroom.

Testing can be done in a variety of ways (every family needs to explore those options with their own doctor/psychologist) and the psychologist we chose diagnosed through an IQ test. I remember nervously dropping him off with a big snack and a kiss for the morning.

Once the test results were done, we got to come back in and chat with the psychologist about the diagnosis.

What did the results show us? He was incredibly smart (you don’t have to tell us that!), but his memory/processing/sequencing (I apologize that I don’t remember the specific category) was extremely low. Since those numbers don’t correlate, he had every characteristic listed on every ADD site we ever visited, and the questionnaire filled out by us and by his teachers supported this theory, the psychologist said that he felt confident that our son had ADD.

Parenting a Child With ADD: The Diagnosis (Part 2)

He has ADD, Now What?

Hallelujah! We have an answer! In my mind, someone gives us a prescription and we go along on our merry way and live happily ever after.

It wasn’t like that though.

The psychologist gave us the paperwork and we had to set up an appointment with our physician and then the doctor had to outline the treatment and then we had to go back to the psychologist.

Of course, we haven’t even touched the anger issues so we need to set up appointments for that.

Oh, and loop in our teacher and the school system.

Instead of relief, it felt like a million more pounds of stuff I needed to do.

First, we contacted our doctor and he had a complete physical that gave us information about where we were starting at (particularly his height & weight) and then she recommended a medication that we could try, letting me know that we could start a small dose and then increase the dosage based on what we needed. Since I know nothing about medication or dosage, I left this piece of the puzzle in the doctor’s hands.

She assured me she would keep a close eye on things since I would be seeing her once a month now.

WAIT, HOLD UP. I have to go to the doctor with my kid every month for this?

Granted, I know other moms who have had a much harder time with their kids and medical issues so this feels really ridiculous for me to feel like this is a burden, but the idea of going to the doctor monthly for physicals and having to have a handwritten prescription every month that I could not just get filled annually, but have to bring in a physical prescription every four weeks seemed like a lot to deal with on top of our counseling appointments.

It goes without saying, but the cost of all of these tests, medications, and physicals were also unexpected.

Pass the wine! But just the boxed stuff because BILLS.

Treatment Begins

This is probably the hardest part of our journey and this journey can look so differently for so many families.

This was the part of the journey that Ethan wanted me to share specifically with you.

The struggles with figuring out the right medication and the right dosage for our child were extremely difficult as were the side effects that he experienced. Remember how I said I left the medication piece of the puzzle up to our doctor to figure out? We had no idea that the dosage was too high for our son because we had no idea what an appropriate dosage would be.

Although it is typical to experience side effects from medication as your body adjusts to it, our child did not even resemble my child anymore.

He could not sleep at night.

He barely ate.

He seemed like a robot.

After the first day in school on his medication though, he told me something though that nearly brought me to my knees.

“I finally feel smart.”

This beautifully bright boy had never felt smart until now and that just about broke me.

I was still riddled with the guilt of yelling at him and feeling like I failed him as a mom. What if I would have caught this sooner? What if I could have helped him feel smart years ago? The guilt and the part I played in this story really bothered me.

We headed to our weekly therapy appointments to deal with anger.

Guess who sat out in the waiting room?

The kid with the anger management issues.

Guess who went to therapy?

My husband and I!

Oh, that made me so mad…

I wonder where he got those anger issues from.

As the doctor had suggested though, Ethan wasn’t angry anymore. We didn’t experience emotional outbursts, but we wanted to be prepared if they started back up again. My husband and I headed to anger management class and my son sat out in the waiting room reading his book, unaware how cool we were going to be after all this training.

Parenting a Child With ADD: The Diagnosis (Part 2)

nancy lary studios

Go With Your Gut

Even though Ethan felt really smart, I did not love the side effects of this medication he was on. I went along with the the plan despite my misgivings. I regret that I did not speak up sooner for him and for our family.

After a year of living with a zombie, we ended up needing to switch doctors and I got a referral into one of the best doctors in our town. He immediately put him on the lowest dosage available and also selected a pill that would have very few side effects. Instead of changing my kid, it would just act as a little aid to help him tap into those smarts that he already possessed. I started to see my boy again and I knew we were on a better path.

What I learned from that experience was that I may not be a doctor, but I need to always be an advocate for his treatment. If I’m not comfortable with how things are going, I need to speak up about it.

Since he is growing like a weed now and doing so well with this pill, we don’t have to meet with our doctor monthly, but we still have several meetings a month where our doctor talks to him about school and learning to tune in to the things that he experiences with his medication and learning how to utilize those cues as life skills if he doesn’t want to continue a medication later in life. This is a conversation that the two of them have and I chime in as needed. It’s a good place to be in when you have such a great dialogue with your physician.

Now that we got through our biggest hurdles, we still had to address how we handled everything at school. Next week I’ll share what it has been like going to bat for Ethan in the school system and what I have learned from this experience together!

Tags: ADD Medication Options, ADD Signs and Symptoms, How to Get ADD Diagnosis, Parenting a Child With ADD
Posted in Early Childhood, Education, Family, New Parents & Babies, Teenagers | No Comments »

Warm Up Your Outdoor Space for Fall

September 8th, 2015

Warm Up Your Outdoor Space for Fall from MomAdvice.com

This post is sponsored on behalf of BHG at Walmart.

Fall is just around the corner and today I wanted to share a few ways to personalize your outdoor space for the autumn season by bringing in some warm textures to your outdoor decor. This month I am partnering up with the BHG Live Better Network to show how we personalize our outdoor space with a few items that you can find at your local Walmart store.

Warm Up Your Outdoor Space for Fall from MomAdvice.com

The first step towards warming up our outdoor space was selecting an outdoor rug to go underneath our picnic table. Outdoor rugs have come such a long way, as I discovered when creating my own little she-shed this past year. They really hold up well to the elements and they add such warmth to the space that it almost feels like you are dining inside with these beneath your feet. After endless browsing, I settled on this BHG Medallion Rug in an 8×11 size, for just $159.

Warm Up Your Outdoor Space for Fall from MomAdvice.com

I’m pretty terrible at caring for plants, but I am a collector of pumpkins. To anchor the corner of my table, I filled this 16″ Bombay Decorative Planter with a few pumpkins from my growing faux pumpkin collection. I love the twiggy pumpkins against my DIY dollar store thumbtack pumpkins that I made last fall. To prop them up, I filled the bottom with paper so the pumpkins could peek out a little higher in this pretty pot.

This pot is the ultimate fake-out too because it looks like a heavy breakable ceramic pot and it is, in fact, PLASTIC and unbreakable. I can’t wait to fill it with plants that care for themselves in the summer!

Warm Up Your Outdoor Space for Fall from MomAdvice.com

Of course, nothing says warm and beautiful like the twinkle of outdoor lights. I did a ton of research on how we could mount outdoor lights over our picnic table when we didn’t have any trees to anchor them. I read this fantastic article and then was like, “I need pipe and a clasp.” I then hit myself in the head and remembered that we had two fantastic poles that were already ready on our lemonade stand that I could detach and use to hang our lights, clasp even included!

Have you ever hung outdoor lights over your table before? I’d love to hear how you anchor them if you don’t have trees! For now, this set-up worked out beautifully and you can’t beat the fact that I didn’t have to buy anything.

Warm Up Your Outdoor Space for Fall from MomAdvice.com

I am a big fan of utilizing the items we already have to charm up our outdoor space for guests. This knitted leaf centerpiece made from my yarn scraps continues to be a favorite in our home and it adds the perfect Fall touch to our outdoor table.

Warm Up Your Outdoor Space for Fall from MomAdvice.com

I hope these ideas inspire you to warm up your own outdoor space for Fall! I love these sweet and simple affordable touches that can be found at Walmart with a few of my favorite handmade accessories! I hope they inspire you too!

In accordance with the FTC Guidelines, I am disclosing that I received compensation from BHG at Walmart for my time and participation in the BHG Live Better Network. Although we have material connection to BHG, any publicly stated opinions of BHG and their products remain my own.

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Tags: Autumn Outdoor Decorating Ideas, BHG at Walmart, Fall Decorating Ideas, Fall Outdoor Spaces, How to Hang Outdoor Lighting Without Trees, How to Hang Outdoor Lights, How to Hang String Lights
Posted in Home, My Work | No Comments »

M Challenge: Focus On Better Mornings

September 7th, 2015

m-challenge

September is in full swing and this month we will be focusing on better mornings in our m challenge series. I am so excited to talk about this with you because I am a former morning person hater (yes, HATER!) and now I am one of those annoying people that pops out of bed and is ready to grab the bull by the horns and just tackle my day. This transition was forced by motherhood, but even in the summer months, I maintain my morning schedule and routines because I just feel so much better if I am on a good routine.

This month I am sharing how I maximize my mornings and we will be sharing many great breakfast recipes you can share with your family at the kitchen table. I also have a few other guest posts in the works for you so be sure to follow along!

Our book this month will be, The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. I have heard so many good things about this book and it has such excellent reviews that I am REALLY excited to dive in and plan to purchase this one on audiobook so I can be doing my morning thing and learn in the process! I hope you will join me for this selection too and learn how you can maximize those morning hours!

I am excited to see this month’s topic on better mornings unfold!

Tags: Better Morning Routines, Better Mornings, Hal Elrod, M Challenge, Maximize Mornings, The Miracle Morning, The Miracle Morning Book Club
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August 2015 Must-Reads

September 4th, 2015

August 2015 Must-Reads from MomAdvice.com

I hope you guys had a great month of reading this month! I am excited to share with you my favorite reads from the month of August! I think this is the first month that the Sundays With Writers interviews have been ahead of my round-up, but with the back-to-school craziness, I was falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and couldn’t even get in a few pages in the evening. Has anyone else been doing this too?

I have been trying to read one book off of the What the World’s Top Authors Say You Should Be Reading list and I am discovering that these are often meatier and lengthier than the ones that are usually in my stack. I can admit that I find it is stretching me a bit out of my usual genre, but in really good ways!

This month I tackled a book that was over 500 pages of the world’s tiniest font.

Magnifying glass font.

No joke.

I am pretty proud that I still snuck in a few other books to share this month despite all that tiny font!

A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts & opinions.

I am going to start with this one because I have still been thinking about this storyline and how good it was. I could not put this book down! This was such a deeply satisfying read that tackles the struggles of every working mother who is trying to balance it all. Egan creates the perfect balance of humor and heartbreak as Alice tries to navigate the tricky terrain of being an employee, wife, mother, and daughter to her ill father.

In A Window Opens, beloved books editor at Glamour magazine, Elisabeth Egan, brings us Alice Pearse, a compulsively honest, longing-to-have-it-all, sandwich generation heroine for our social-media-obsessed, lean in (or opt out) age.

Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.

Despite the disapproval of her best friend, who owns the local bookstore, Alice is proud of her new “balancing act” (which is more like a three-ring circus) until her dad gets sick, her marriage flounders, her babysitter gets fed up, her kids start to grow up and her work takes an unexpected turn. Readers will cheer as Alice realizes the question is not whether it’s possible to have it all, but what does she―Alice Pearse―really want?

This book got me in the all the feels. I highlighted many a passage in this sweet story of Alice and found her to be one of the most relatable characters I have read this year. I also teared up at many of the moments in this story because the struggles of being in the trenches as a working parent were ones that I have experienced myself. Alice tries hard, but it’s an impossible juggle and you feel like you are spiraling a bit with her as the story unfolds.

Fans of Where’d You Go Bernadette & Wife 22 (thanks to the hilarious correspondence between colleagues & family) will really love this one!

You can read our interview with Elisabeth Egan this month in our Sundays With Writers series! I can’t recommend this book enough!

5 Out of 5 Stars

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

I selected this book to read this month from our recommended reads list from our weekly author interviews. This book was over 500 pages so it was definitely a commitment for me to sit down with, but I closed the book and felt so inspired by it that I can see why everyone recommends this one as a must-read!

There is so much good in this book about the power one person can have over another. Peekay endures terrible cruelty from his peers that most children would never pull through bravely. It is through the influence of one great man after another that his life is transformed from a victim to a fighter and we are reminded how with one small gesture or a few words of motivation, you have the ability to transform someone’s entire path. Lots of big life lessons in this novel that are so inspiring. I doubt you could read it and not feel transformed yourself by Peekay’s beautiful journey!

You get to witness the heartbreaks and triumphs of boyhood in this beautiful coming-of-age story. It would lend itself well to a book club discussion and would be an incredible book to read with your teen!

5 Out of 5 Stars

Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.
The Good Girl made my top ten this past year and was one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time. I’m so happy to say that Pretty Baby delivers the perfect punch, once again, that made me fall in love with Mary Kubica.

Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman: she works for a nonprofit, takes in stray cats. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Disheveled and apparently homeless, this girl could be a criminal—or worse. But despite her family’s objections, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home.

Heidi spends the next few days helping Willow get back on her feet, but as clues into Willow’s past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide how far she’s willing to go to help a stranger. What starts as an act of kindness quickly spirals into a story far more twisted than anyone could have anticipated!

This author has an incredible gift for creating an unstable environment where you never feel like you can trust any character in the book. The storyline kept me up into the wee hours of the night and guessing until the final page. On a personal note, I have also discovered the author is as genuine as they come and I’m so thankful to have watched this book unfold through social media as she has created it! I hope you can snag this one soon- it’s a good one!

Be sure to check out our interview with Mary Kubica on her first book The Good Girl too!

5 Out of 5 Stars

Where All Light Tends to Go by David Joy

Where All Light Tends to Go is Southern Grit at its finest in this dark debut novel! Joy creates a compelling coming-of-age story about a teen boy growing up in the Appalachian Mountains whose father deals meth in their small town.

The area surrounding Cashiers, North Carolina, is home to people of all kinds, but the world that Jacob McNeely lives in is crueler than most. His father runs a methodically organized meth ring, with local authorities on the dime to turn a blind eye to his dealings. Having dropped out of high school and cut himself off from his peers, Jacob has been working for this father for years, all on the promise that his payday will come eventually. The only joy he finds comes from reuniting with Maggie, his first love, and a girl clearly bound for bigger and better things than their hardscrabble town.

Jacob has always been resigned to play the cards that were dealt him, but when he botches a murder and sets off a trail of escalating violence, he’s faced with a choice: stay and appease his kingpin father, or leave the mountains with the girl he loves. In a place where blood is thicker than water and hope takes a back seat to fate, Jacob wonders if he can muster the strength to rise above the only life he’s ever known.

If only life were that simple. This story is beautifully told and the ending was a strong one, despite the feeling of hopelessness for these people.

You can read my interview with David Joy on the blog this month! I particularly loved how immersed he was in his own genre of writers and the recommendations he offered for books!

4 Out of 5 Stars

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

It has been such a treat this summer to read the Little House books with my own little girl. Little House on the Prairie follows Laura and her family as they leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and set out for Kansas. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their little house on the prairie. Soon they are planting and plowing, hunting wild ducks and turkeys, and gathering grass for their cows. Pioneer life and the daily struggles of food, farming, and the dynamics between Laura’s family and the Indians were powerful themes to talk about together.

Now we are moving along and started On the Banks of Plum Creek together where the family moves into town and learns about what is like to live in a community and go to school! We are pretty excited to dive into this next book together.

5 Out of 5 Stars

Amy’s 2015 Bookshelf (join me on GoodReads):

2015 Books Read

Read With Me This Year:

January 2015 Must-Reads

February 2015 Must-Reads

March 2015 Must-Reads

April 2015 Must-Reads

May 2015 Must-Reads

June 2015 Must-Reads

July 2015 Must-Reads

What should I be adding to my library bag? Leave your suggestions in the comments below! Looking for book ideas? Check out our entire Book section of the site! Don’t forget to friend me on GoodReads! xo

*this post may contain affiliate links- I only recommend what I love though.

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Tags: 2015 Book Club Picks, 2015 Book Reviews, A Window Opens Review, August 2015 Must Reads, Little House on the Prairie Review, Pretty Baby Review, The Power of One Review, Where All Light Tends to Go Review
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Amy’s Notebook 09.03.15: M Challenge Meal Planning Syllabus

September 3rd, 2015

As a wrap-up of each month’s M Challenge theme, we will be using the last Notebook of the month as a sort of “Cliffs Notes” edition of the challenge – a place where you can find a list of all the articles we’ve published for the challenge, as well as more inspiration and links from the web around the challenge theme. Our hope is that this will be something that you can refer to in the future as well as catch up on in case you’ve missed anything!

August M Challenge: Focus on Meal Planning