Sugar Free Cake

Our answer to any kind of celebration is to bake cakes, cupcakes, cookies, or some similar sugary treat, but not everyone that we know is able to have sugar.  Sometimes it can be difficult to know what to bake for these people.  It just doesn't seem like a real birthday without cake, so our solution was to make a sugar free cake.  I'm sure that you can find recipes for sugar free cakes, but we decided to keep it simple and buy packaged cake mix from Pillsbury.

To make the cake even more fun, we added cookies around the cake's edges.  Hershey's makes sugar free chocolate chips, so we used the recipe on the back of the bag to make our cookies.  Although the cookies don't taste quite like normal chocolate chip cookies, they do make a close substitute.

I think in the future we'll try to make sugar free desserts from scratch instead of from cake mix, but it's nice to know that the mix does make good cakes if we are in a hurry.

Book Review - The Help



The summer is almost over, and I’ve only managed to read one of the books that I put on my list at the beginning of the summer.  If you're looking for suggestions for reading, you can still look at my summer reading list.  Of course, I read plenty of books that weren’t on the list, but the only one that I read from the list was The Help by Kathryn Stockett.    

I’d heard good things about the book for about a year before I read it.  Since it’s set in Jackson, Mississippi, and Kathryn Stockett is originally from there as well, I knew that I would have to read it eventually. 

I wasn’t certain what to expect when I first started reading the novel.  It’s a story told through the voices of three different women.  Two of them are black women who are working as help in homes of wealthier people, and the other is a white woman who is a part of this upper society. 

I think that the best parts of the book are the characters and the different voices that tell the story.  I can see why the book has become a bestseller, and I would definitely recommend reading it. 

There’s also a movie based on the book coming out on August 10th which I will be interested in watching.  I’m hoping this will be a case where the movie is as good as the book.  I do know that they filmed the movie in Mississippi, so I will be looking forward to seeing that part.

Enjoy your weekend!

Easy Chicken Skillet Recipe with Onions

I got this recipe from the All New Diabetic Cooking Cookbook from the one dish wonders sections. This is a great cook book if you’re cooking for someone who is diabetic or want to cook healthier and avoid calories from sugar. Every recipe has a count of calories and nutrients per servings. I tried this recipe one night because I was looking for an easy to fix meal, but I didn’t have all the ingredients so the recipe became chicken skillet with onions instead of chicken skillet with pearl onions. I’ll include the ingredients they recommended and the ingredients I substituted. I thought my improvised version turned out well. I hope you enjoy!

Makes four servings

Ingredients:

2 cups of water

1 pound small new potatoes (or 1 pound small potatoes*)

8 ounces fresh pearl onions, blanched and peeled, or frozen pearl onions thawed (or 1 small regular onion sliced*)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder*)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon basil*)

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Put water, potatoes and onion(s) and water into a large nonstick skillet and bring to a boil. The burner should be on medium to high heat. Once it comes to a boil cover and boil for about 12 minutes. You may need to reduce the heat a bit to make sure it doesn’t boil over. After 12 minutes stick one of the largest potatoes with a fork. If the potatoes is soft and easily pierced then it’s ready. Drain the potatoes and onion(s) and set to the side.

2. Mix salt, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper or chili powder, and basil or oregano together. Sprinkle the mixture over both sides of the chicken.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet you just used for the potatoes and onions over medium-high heat. Once the olive oil is heated, add the chicken. Cook the chicken for 5 minutes then turn. Add the potatoes and onions back into the skillet with the chicken and drizzle the rest of the olive oil over the mixture. At this point I added a bit of extra water to make sure the chicken would stay moist. Cover the skillet and cook for five minutes or until you are satisfied that the chicken is not pink in the middle anymore. Let everything stand for 3 minutes and then serve

Book Review - Swiss Watching: Inside Europe's Landlocked Island

I found a new book to review from Netgalley that I thought all of you might be interested in.

Swiss Watching: Inside Europe's Landlocked Island by Diccon Bewes offers a look into Switzerland that goes past the clichéd ideas that we have of the country.  Bewes looks at things like the history of Switzerland and how it has played a part in the way that the country is today.  The British writer has lived in Switzerland for several years so his perspective of that of a person who is familiar with the country and the people, yet can recognize the things that those outside the country would find remarkable.  

One of my favorite parts of the book was the inclusion of cultural points and customs after each chapter.  I didn’t know too much about Switzerland before I read this, but now I know more beyond the mountains, cheese, and cuckoo clocks.  There are still many things about the country that weren’t covered in this book, I’m sure, but it gave me enough to enjoy the book without being overwhelmed.  I was interested in reading this book because I am fascinated by Switzerland as I think lots of other people are.  If you are one of those people and you haven’t read too many other books about the country, I would recommend this book to you.

Now, I want to start planning my next trip to Switzerland!  

Hair Inspired by Rihanna

During the hot summer months, especially in Mississippi, it’s nice to have your hair off your neck and out of the way. (Plus updos do a great job of highlighting your pretty face.) Rihanna’s cute updo inspired us to try the updo with the scarf look.

Photo from becomegorgeous.com

We found that this style is ideal if you have longer wavy hair with layers around the face. Here are our steps for the look:

1. Make a side part.

2. Section off shorter layers around the face. If you’re like Elizabeth and do not have shorter layers then leave out some hair like in the above picture.

3. Pull the rest of the hair into a high ponytail and secure with an elastic. You want to make sure the hair under the ponytail is tight and there is little slack.

Tip: At first we had trouble deciding how high to make the pony. We figured out that if you place the pony where it creates a line from the ear to the chin it seems to sculpt the chin and accent the face. We tried to show the yellow line the picture above.

4. If you had to create faux bangs, now is the time to pin them and incorporate them into the bun you’re about to make. Loosely twirl hair around the ponytail base to create a bun. Secure the hair with bobby pins or u-shaped pins. The bun should be slightly messy.

5. Now come the fun part! After you’ve made your bun you get to add the cute head scarf or head band.




Here is our finished look!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Book Review

This summer at my freshman orientation I got the assignment to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks . I thought who is this Henrietta Lacks and why is she so special that we have to read a book about her. It turns out that Henrietta Lacks is a HUGE deal. I would conservatively say that she has affected everyone living in America and the possibly the world. How is it then that no one knows her story?

Rebecca Skloot, the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks wondered the same thing around the same time in her life that I and my fellow college freshman are at now. Her curiousity led her to research the life of Mrs. Lacks and her family. This book not only tells their story but brings to light questions about ethics in the medical research field that few people are aware of but should as everyone who goes to the doctor could potentially become the next Henrietta Lacks.

Skloot does a wonderful job of presenting the information without throwing blame, thus lending credibility to her writing. She allows the readers to develop their own opinion on the topics she presents. Skloot also masterfully wrote the true story in a way that reads like a fiction book instead of a bland biography-style. I could not put this book down and was stunned by what I found out. I definately was impressed and would recommend this book to everyone.

Favorite Blue Things

Happy Fourth of July!  Or if you aren't in the US, then happy Monday to you!  Today, we're finishing up our Red, White, and Blue series.  It's the last one, and we're sharing some of our favorite blue things with you.

wehearit

We love blueberries in the summer.  Since we have blueberry bushes in our backyard, we have fresh ones all summer long.

weheartit

Blue jeans. 

weheartit

One of most women's favorite shades of blue.  Almost everyone gets excited for a Tiffany's box.

pinterest

I think these sparkly blue Toms are so cute.  They're from the wedding collection so you could wear them as your something blue.  I just want them to wear every day though.

Enjoy the celebrations and have a lovely day!