Delicious & Healthy Fish Chowder

I got this recipe off a Bermuda sherry pepper sauce years ago and just love it. As a word of advice don't use shellfish like shrimp or scallops because they get tough. I forgot to add the water once & it still turned out great, so I guess the water requirement depends on if you like your chowder like a soup or a stew. The original recipe called for 4 quarts of water and 10oz beef broth.. I changed it to how I like it.. so feel free to switch it up!

4 cups water
3 lbs fresh fish filets ( I use salmon & tilapia or mahi)
1/2 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp peppercorns (or ground for milder)
Red pepper flakes if you can handle it :)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 tbs butter (or EVOO is even better)
3 lg onions, chopped
8 celery stalks, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped ( I use 3)
3 green peppers, chopped
1 lg can whole tom (28 oz)
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes
1 carton (32oz) beef broth
1 cup ketchup
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 tsp lemon juice)
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced (about 5)
6 carrots, peeled and diced

Lightly parboil potatoes and carrots, set aside. In a large pot saute garlic, onions, celery and peppers till slightly tender. Add tomatoes (use large ladle to smush them while cooking), broth, water & remaining spices & ingredients (excluding potatoes, carrots & fish). Simmer 30 minutes. Add de-skinned & chopped chunks of fish fillets (will break up when cooking) and now the potatoes and carrots. Cook for another 30 minutes. You will see the fish breaking apart when you stir.. there is your cue it's ready! Soooo sooo good & healthy to boot!

Room written by: Emma Donoghue

Another AMAZING book that kept me up till 3 am which is a big problem when you wake up everyday @ 6am. I am soooo exhausted today and I really have to stop doing this but it was seriously sooo good I just HAD to finish it to see what was going to happen. I have to admit I was actually STRESSED OUT reading this book and I truly felt the adrenaline and my heart was pounding!!  Funny huh? That is the definition of a good book! In the beginning I didn’t think I was going to like it and was wondering why the author chose to write in the voice of an uneducated 5 year old boy but boy did I get it by the end. It gave me such insight and a new perspective by looking at things through the mind of a child.  This book is about a 19 year old woman who was kidnapped and held hostage in a small shed in her captor’s backyard for 7 years.  She is continuously sexually assaulted by the man resulting in the birth a baby. This child lives in the horrible conditions of this room for 5 years with his mom and never knew there was an outside world until his mom gets him to be brave to trick the kidnapper and free them both. But their struggles only get worse from there….. Wonderful wonderful book!

My fav homemade lunch on the run...

This is so great to pack for lunch or for a quick after the gym snack and it is sooo super easy & quick to make.. not to mention healthy! All you have to do is boil a box of whole wheat pasta, chop up a red & green pepper & 1/2 a red onion. Add a package of feta cheese and kalamata olives and drizzle with yummy EVOO and a quality balsamic vinegar. Mix & your ready to go!!

speaking of favorite new things...........

While we are on the subject if favorite new things.. check out the amazing painting I stumbled across while having breakfast at our neighborhood cafe. The owner is an artist and hangs all of her paintings for sale. When I saw this I was love struck and just had to have it!!  Not only does the little one look just like my youngest but the man looks just like my husband. He wears that same exact clothing from head to toe daily for his business, right down to the same colors. He comes straight from work to the field.. so this painting truly feels like it was made for me :) There is nothing hotter than a involved good daddy and now I have this moment/memory frozen in time to warm my heart for years to come :)

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

I read this entire book not knowing it was an autobiography & now that I know it is I almost want to re-read it! WOW! This book is so complex and so intense that it in almost indescribable... all I can say is READ IT, READ IT, READ IT!

Please Look After Mom- by Kyung-Sook Shin

So I admit it took me a while to get into this book due to it's translation and every other chapter being written in the second person... but I am sooooo glad I kept on. New Years Day night I stayed up till 2 am reading and crying until I finished this book. I dont know what it is about me, but I sure do LOVE books that make me cry. This book follows the life of the Korean mother born in the 1936 that was married off to a man against her wishes out of which she bore several children in horrible conditions often by herself.  She cultivated and worked her fingers to the bone for her family, always putting herself last.. viewing it as her duty. She was never given the value and respect she deserved until she was gone. After all her kids grew up and left,she was left to her old age and deteriorating health & mind which noone took the time to notice. On a trip to visit her children in the city she got left behind at the subway. The remainder of the book is the families remorse and the memories brought to the surface while they are in search of her. The last 2 chapters fill you in on so much of her life and emotions that she kept to hidden. It dives deep down into the dark feelings many mothers feel but never speak of. The perspective of each character coming to terms with the loss of their mother and how they treated her, what they learned from her ect. is so deep and intense that I find it unmatched! I highly recommend this book.

Whole Foods Copy-Cat Recipe!!

I did it!!  I did it!!  I managed to rock out one of the Whole Foods prepared food section's salads!!  I attempted to make 2.. the brown rice salad & the smoked mozzarella pasta salad. The latter of the two needs a bit of work. The texture of the parmesean cream sauce was not right.. I am thinking they used a greek yogurt instead of a mayonaise base. I also could not find smoked mozzarella anywhere and used smoked gouda instead... soooo that one is still a work in progress. I might have to go in there and sneak a picture of the ingredient list HA!! 

But the rice salad on the otherhand WAS DELICIOUS!!!  I was AMAZED how refreshing and good it was.. but BEWARE it is only good the evening you cook it as it dries out. I am not sure if it's because the brown rice absorbs so much or if it was because I had it in a Pyrex dish with a non-air-tight glass lid... but anyhow - just an FYI to you. Also.. this recipe is ALOT -next time I make it I plan to cut it in half. Oh & olives might be good in this as well :) Enough blabbering.. ...here she is .... enjoy!!

3 cups brown rice
1 can chick peas
3/4 cup finely chopped feta
2/3 cup diced roasted red peppers
1 diced cucumber
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
3 scallions

SAUCE
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup EVOO
s&p