Kristin Hannah’s Home Front Book Review

HOME FRONT is an excellent fictional story by Kristin Hannah. I previously reviewed and loved Hannah’s The Nightingale, which sent me looking for more titles by this author.

It is a relationship story and a war story. It features a husband and wife who seem to be perfectly situated with a wonderful marriage, great careers and lovely children. However, as happens, they have drifted apart and are headed for disaster and when she is sent overseas to Iraq and the rift is almost too much for this family to bear.

This novel presents an interesting role reversal with the mother a helicopter pilot and the man trying to maintain order at home. What happens is dark and dreadful and presents a mountain for this family to surpass.

Here is the official video book trailer. In this trailer, I think the book is represented in a very light and fluffy manner especially given that divorce and military service are not easy things to deal with.

I believe that this second video, in which Hannah Kristin discusses the book, does a better job of representing the issues faced by the family in Home Front and by families in the same situation.

Hannah calls the book “the best, most emotional book she has ever written” and goes on to say that it is about “love, honor, duty, commitment, sacrifice.” I agree that it was an emotional book. It is RECOMMENDED by me and yes, you will cry. For what it is worth, I preferred the book The Nightingale.

Have you read either book? What did you think?

If you are interested, you can see all of Kristin Hannah’s books including Home Front on Amazon here.

See you
at the book store!
Brenda

Quick Links:

Buy Home Front from Amazon.
See all of Hannah's books on Amazon.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON:

IKEA Food Reviewed

And You Thought It Was A Furniture Store!

IKEA image courtesy of pixabay.com

We recently visited the new store that just opened in our area and were surprised that IKEA food was even an option. My husband and I were prepared to see interesting types of furniture in the huge store. Well, let me rephrase that. We had heard from others that we should be sure to try the meatballs while there.

To be honest, I had envisioned something like Costco or a weekend at any given grocery store where there are people offering samples of food to try. I wasn't sure why IKEA would offer samples other than a sort of hospitality type gesture. Perhaps I thought that it was a way to celebrate the Swedish culture and their style of meatballs. Was I in for a surprise? You bet ya!

It seemed like there were miles and miles of furniture. The place is huge! Let me tell you the place is a virtual maze of interesting vignettes of ideas for the home or office. I oooed and ahhhhed at every corner, but I digress. There are signs overhead to guide you to different areas and at one point I noticed that the sign showed that we were on a path that would lead us to the restaurant. I said to my husband, "These people have thought of everything! Since this place is so enormous, they know a person can get hungry from all of this walking. So, they feed you too!" I should probably mention that upon entering the store we saw an area for parents to drop their children off so that they could shop in peace. Anyway, we headed for the restaurant...

It appeared that others had entertained the same thought, the place was packed with people. We got in the cafeteria style line and quickly got waited on. I chose the meatball dinner and my husband chose the salmon dinner, both were very reasonably priced. Oh my word! The food was really good. My meatball dinner included five or six meatballs, mashed potatoes and a vegetable dish of carrots and cauliflower. The potatoes and meatballs had a gravy like sauce over them and there was this other stuff next to the meatballs that almost looked like cranberry sauce. Well, I was in heaven! 

I really liked the gravy like sauce that covered my mashed potatoes and some of the meatballs. I said to my husband that I would really like to get some of it to use at home. Turns out, I could get some right there in the store along with frozen meatballs and all sorts of other food items. Who knew, right?

IKEA Cream Sauce

For some reason I only purchased one packet that day. Silly me! I was delighted to see that there is an option to get the cream sauce online!

Oh, and that stuff that looked like cranberry sauce on my plate. First of all, it was extremely good and tasted great when I dipped a piece of meatball in it. It was not a Swedish version of cranberry sauce but instead it was Lingonberry jam. This stuff is awesome! Kind of sweet but also tart much like cranberry sauce. I enjoy it with meat but it is also good on a piece of toast in the morning.

So, here is the deal. If you find yourself close to an IKEA store, you need to go inside. Prepare to spend some time there because there is a lot to see. Treat yourself to some of their food! I'm telling you; you will not be disappointed! By the way, the salmon that my husband had was wonderful. You can buy it frozen in the store, too. 

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON:

Reviewing Barbacoa Sauce by Frontera

Barbacoa Sauce by Frontera

I have just returned from a camping trip. During that camping trip I used the Red Chili Barbacoa Slow Cook sauce with roasted tomato and chipotle by Frontera. These little packets of sauce are my favorite. I use it in roasts, soups, tacos, quesadillas, and tamales. If you like Mexican foods and Mexican inspired recipes, I think you would like this barbacoa sauce.

Beef Barbacoa Red Chili Slow Cook Sauce

I learned about these sauce packets from my son, who typically likes food that is spicier than what I can tolerate. However, he thought I'd like the flavor of the soups he makes with this sauce, and he was right. It is spicy but not too spicy - the label lists it as "mild". In my opinion (and I am not a chef) it has a smokey, spicy, rich flavor.

He calls them soups, but to me they are thicker and richer, more like a beef stew. We both make these soups with a variety of ingredients; beef, carrots, hominy, potatoes, yams, onions, peppers, and so much more. Basically, you start with a base of beef and the barbacoa sauce, then add what you have on hand.

While camping, I only brought along the packet of barbacoa, and roast, and some potatoes. I slow cooked it in an enameled pan on top of the wood stove. What a wonderfully easy and delicious meal.

Delicious barbacoa roast with potatoes

Frontera Foods

Frontera Foods may or may not sound familiar to you. But the

click for more information

name Chef Rick Bayless may sound more familiar. He appears on a public television cooking show called Mexico - One Plate at a Time. Also, Chef Bayless has written several cookbooks. 

I enjoy watching his shows, I like his recipes, and am very thankful for this sauce that helps me easily create meals with an authentic Mexican flavor. In fact, thanks to a lesson from my son and this wonderful barbacoa sauce, I recently made tamales in my own kitchen. 

Where to Buy Frontera Beef Barbacoa Sauce

I have trouble finding the sauce in the stores local to me. I am fortunate that my son always stocks up on packets and saves them for me. He easily finds them at his local Target store. They are available on Amazon and the Frontera Foods website has a list of participating groceries. My local groceries, that are not on the list, carry the Frontera products in a hit and miss fashion.

Side Notes: 

For more information about The Shack (my current camping trips and my future retirement/homestead plans) take a peek at my blog Treasures, Travel, and Tales. Also, the pan in the photo may look familiar. I purchased it for The Shack and wrote a review about it in February 2016. I still believe that Enameled Cast Iron - Pricey but Worth It. Unfortunately, it looks like these little pans by Martha Stewart are a little more difficult to get. Good thing there are many other brands still easily available.

A few of the cookbooks by Rick Bayless on his Amazon author page

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON:

3 Ways to Add Color to Your Wall Without Painting

Three Ways to Add Colors to Your 

Walls Without Painting
Photo by: Funkthishouse.com

Colorful décor comes in many funky ways, simple but true.

If painting the walls just isn't in the cards, but adding color is, you can do it by including wall and furniture items that hold colorful, necessary home accessories.

Use Your Nail Polish as a Colorful Wall Art Display - Featured Below

Instead of having a drawer filled with a collection of colorful and expensive nail polish, display them in a stylish metal rack on the wall. 

The functional dual purpose of a nail polish wall rack makes it an original accessory for a washroom, dressing room, vanity desk area, or the bedroom.

The racks themselves are fairly reasonable in price so acquiring a couple to fill a large nail polish collection won't break the bank. Best of all, with two metal wall racks you have double the wall art. 

Don't hesitate to give a nail polish wall rack as a gift. These items tend to be labelled 'perks' that most people won't bother treating themselves to, so receiving one would be a treat. If there's someone in your life who's known for their massive collection of nail polish, this item could be a hit!

Wall Unit Plant Stand for Multi-Colored Plants - Featured Below

Plants add energy, freshness and style to a room. Often times we want to add plants, but after looking around the room, come to the conclusion there's no place for them.

If you use a wall to feature a Ladder Plant Stand, you're able to locate that stand in one appropriate place in the room to display multiple plants.

Most importantly, you've added color to the room without painting the walls by using multi-colored flowers and plants. How nice is that ... instead of toxic paint, you have lovely air freshening plants.

A Spice Rack: Use a Decorative Rack in the Kitchen- Featured Below

New kitchen's normally have spice drawers, and older kitchen's tend to have spice cupboards. Who says you have to use either. 

If you're not one of the fortunate who have a modern pull-out spice cupboard located along side of the oven, then you're free to take all your colorful spices and feature them on the wall by using a Spice Wall Rack.

The metal spice racks are particularly stylish. They fit with virtually any décor style; modern, rustic, country, contemporary, and traditional. Place it for all to see, as you would any piece of wall art.

And there you have it, three easy-peasy ways to add color to the walls without painting.

Bird & Tree Black Round Metal Wall Mounted 5 Tier Nail Polish Rack / Organizer Display - AradHOMFA Metal 4 Shelf Bookcase, Multifunctional Ladder-Shaped Plant Flower Stand Rack Bookrack Storage Shelves, Black4 Tier Black Country Rustic Chicken Wire Pantry, Cabinet or Wall Mounted Spice Rack Storage Organizer

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON:

Easily Increase Your Vegetable Intake with a Spiralizer

Image by Lou of Lou's Designs

If you're looking to increase your vegetable intake or reduce some of the heavy carbs like pasta from your diet then a spiralizer could be the answer.  Let me review why I think you'll adore having a vegetable spiralizer - I personally love mine, I don't know why I didn't get one sooner.

At the time of writing this I'm doing the Arbonne 30 Day Plan to Healthy Living and Beyond and basically that means that (for this month at least) I can't eat pasta, I can eat zucchini however ... enter zoodles! 

I have been meaning to try and made zoodles aka zucchini noodles for ages which is the whole reason I purchased my vegetable spiralizer.

Making the zucchini noodles was so easy and I'm now seeing lots of other recipes using other vegetables in place of pasta.  What a cool way of getting your child to eat more vegetables than to make their spaghetti bolognaise with zoodles?

So my vegetable spiralizer came with three different blades like the Paderno World Cuisine one below, but you can also get them with 7 blades, Amazon's best selling vegetable spiralizer comes with 7 blades and is the second one featured.

 Paderno World Cuisine 3-Blade Vegetable Slicer / Spiralizer, Counter-Mounted and includes 3 Stainless Steel Blades Spiralizer 7-Blade Vegetable Slicer for Healthy Low Carb/Paleo/Gluten-Free Meals With 3 Exclusive Recipe E-Books …

The actual one that I have doesn't seem to be available online which is why I've given you two alternatives.  Now I've only used the blade to made noodles so I'd just get the 3 blade one personally, but...

They were super easy to make you simply placed the zucchini (or vegetable of choice) on the spiky guard, making sure that the other end is in the middle of the round thing that is going to basically core your zucchini so that it looks like a very weird toadstool after the noodles are all made.

The next step is to simply turn the handle, however if that is all you do you won't get very long noodles, you'll just get little curls (they don't say that in the instructions).  What you need to do is as you're turning the handle you need to also be applying a gentle pressure inwards (towards the vegetable) then it will work beautifully.

It is super quick and I simply popped the zoodles into boiling water for a few minutes - basically treating them like fresh pasta noodles.  I've since been told of other ways of cooking them that involve almost sauteing them in coconut oil, but I haven't tried that (and probably won't).

Image by Louanne Cox, Arbonne Independent Consultant

I would recommend starting with zucchini as it's quite a bland vegetable which makes it ideal to replace spaghetti.  I would also recommend a pinch of salt in the water when cooking it, I didn't do this the first time and it was much better when I did do it.

You can use sweet potato, carrot, parsnips and who knows what other vegetable, just use your imagination.

I will be trying out sweet potato next as I think that will go really well with a number of dishes I enjoy.

Have you ever tired zoodles or thought about making them?  If so then why wait, just do it as Nike would say!

Let me know in the comments if you've tried any other vegetables as I'd love to hear how they went.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON: