Big, huge, exciting news!

I've got some big news and I can't wait to share it with everyone.

I'm just going to put this here and you can guess what it is...

Okay, I'll tell you, it's my book cover!

Christian at Covers by Christian designed it and he did such a wonderful job. I couldn't be happier.

There's the magic trailing her down her dress. The forest ambiance. The font! I mean, that's one beautiful font.

Also, in another bit of exciting news, Betrayal and Yearning is up for pre order on Amazon. Click here to see it in all its glory and pre order if you want! It'll also be available on Kindle Unlimited on April 24th. Eeks!

I've also got an author page on Amazon, which I still don't quite believe. But you can click here to read all about me!

And, if all the above wasn't enough, I'm currently in the top 2% for Kindle sales. So... that's cool. That's what's called playing it cool. To be honest, we're playing a numbers game with Amazon so people will actually see the book. The higher your ranking... you get it.

So, if you're looking for a read that has it all, romance, danger, heartbreak, steamy love scenes, then please give Betrayal and Yearning a try.

Still sticking to a budget

Not quite four months in, I'm sticking to my grocery budget of $200 per week.

Turns out, I don't hate it, and it's encouraged me to do two things; one of which I should have done twenty years ago.

1. I'm switching to the Mediterranean diet which I feel is a healthy diet. I've always felt yogurt, oats, grains, greens, and legumes were the right way to eat. Turns out, it's a thing.

2. I am also wasting less food. For example, I had par-boiled some beans the other day, to have on hand for easy cooking. Promptly forgot they were only par-boiled and when I asked The Mister to make chili for dinner... Ahem. Well, they it was some mighty toothsome chili. I might've thrown it away, before, but today, Sunday, I am cooking my chili so it's ready to go for tomorrow.

I'm also making Ham and Bean Soup (Click here for the link) with the leftover ham from The Mister's lunches, and inviting my siblings over. And making homemade bread with slightly expired bread flour. Shh, don't tell. And making yogurt! Dang! Who put a bee in my bonnet?

Add to that some writing on book two of the Changeling Desires series, grooming the dogs, and grocery shopping. Well, I'm not sure the dogs are going to get groomed. We'll see how productive I really am.

Okay, back to sticking to my budget, I've found going to the grocery store only once a week doesn't really work for me. In my effort not to waste food, I don't want it to go bad waiting for me to cook it. And as I'm not always Johnny on the spot, if the veggies are particularly perishable, I wait to buy them until the day I'm going to cook them.

Perfect example of this: I was planning on making pad Thai last week. But, I thought, bean sprouts and cilantro are very finicky and I shouldn't risk it. Turns out, pad Thai never happened. Phew. This week, though, oh, it's happening. But, if I'd bought my veggies, just look how mad I'd be at myself.

Well, that's it for now.

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Chickpeas in Creamy Pink Sauce with Runny Eggs and Ham

In my quest to eat more vegetarian fare and Mediterranean-style meals, I find myself branching out more than I used to. And that's saying a lot because I've always been an adventurous eater. But the results aren't always noteworthy and this was one of those meals.

I tried something new, it was from Bon Appetit's March issue and they called it Spicy Creamy Chickpeas with Runny Eggs and Prosciutto. It's not vegetarian and not exactly Mediterranean, but I felt there were enough aspects of both that I'd give it a try. After all, I can pick the ham off.

I changed up my title as I didn't find this dish spicy in the least. I put 'creamy' after chickpeas as it wasn't the chickpeas that were creamy but the sauce. And, I used ham instead of prosciutto.

While The Mister didn't question whether this is a dish I would try, or not, he did briefly question whether he wanted to go out for a burger.

Turns out he liked it better than anyone else.

I love runny eggs. I like pink sauce on pasta. I really enjoy chickpeas. And, I like ham. But all together? It just didn't work for me. We ate it with toast instead of the flatbread the recipe suggested and that was the best part of the meal.

It burned on the bottom of the pan, so I had to avoid scooping too low. It called for a TON of cream. The eggs took a lot longer to cook to runny than the recipe suggests. Two minutes? More like 12.

So, while the husband enjoyed this meal, and my kids pondered moving in with Grandma (this normally doesn't affect whether I'll remake something), I decided this is not something I'm adding to the rotation. I did however learn something valuable from this recipe. If I need a lid for a skillet and don't have one, I can use a sheet pan. Genius!

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