#EmptyShelf 2015

Last year John Acuff started an "empty shelf" at the beginning of the year, then filled it with the books he read throughout the year.  Like many others, I loved the idea, but really only read ebooks... so I tried a digital version, here on my blog.  I didn't keep up with it - but I left the post up thinking sometime this year I might go back and finish it.  

For 2015 I'm starting again -  I'll stick to just text links without pics for those books that were not my favorites, that might make it simpler.  

5 Stars - Books I Recommend to Everyone 
    
  
These are all books I couldn't put down - but The Nightingale, The Good Girl, & Wonder have been my favorites so far in 2015.  They are 3 very different books - The Nightingale is historical fiction, about two sisters during WWII in France, and how they survived the war.  Wonder is a young adults novel that is simply a GOOD read.  The Good Girl is a thriller - it's everything The Girl On The Train is hyped up to be, but was not.
4 Stars - Good reads, solid favorites
The Magicians Lie - by Greer McAllister  (Described as Water For Elephants meets the Night Magician - it was very good.)
The Julian Chapter - RJ Palacio(Almost good enough to be a stand alone book without the Wonder book - this was VERY good.)
In The Blood  - Lisa Unger ( A good thriller.  one of those that I didn't love, it even annoyed me at times, but I could not put down)
A Memory Of Violets -Hazel Gaynor  ( More historical fiction, this one about the flower girls of London. VERY good)
Private Vegas - James Patterson (one of the Patterson Series that I enjoy)
Confessions Of A Prayer Slacker - Diane Moody 
Queen Of Hearts - Rhys Bowen (Royal Spyness #8) (One of my favorite series - a cozy mystery)
No Biz Like Showbiz (Lexi Carmichael Mystery #4)
No Test for the Wicked (Lexi Carmichael Mystery #5)by Julie Moffett
A Wedding On Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball  (Charming Series - one of my favorites)
Before Amen - Max Lucado (A great quick read on prayer)


3 Stars - A Good Read, I liked it but not enough to really recommend it
Kissing In Action (Lexi Graves Mysteries #7) by Camilla Chafer
Gator Bait (Miss Fortune Mystery, #5) by Jana Deleon
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Detoxing from Church (Some great sound bites, but not really a good book)

2 Stars - I didn't necessarily hate it, but I was severely disappointed.  (These usually end up being series books that I keep reading, even though they really aren't good anymore)

Throw in the Trowel (A Flower Shop Mystery #15) by Kate Collins
Double Fudge Brownie Murder by Joanne Fluke 
The Best Yes by Lysa Teukherst
Dress Shop Of Dreams - Menna Van Prag (not a horrible book - just not something I enjoyed. )
Angelas Ashes by Frank McCourt

1 Star - Ugh.  Yuck.  
Mercy Snow by Tiffany Baker
The Girl On The Train  by Paula Hawkins (I hated Gone Girl too.  For this type of book done WELL, try The Good Girl by Mary Kubica)


Haluska

We first had this at a street festival, when the kids were little - and since then I have seen it served a football game concession stands.  It's so simple to make, and it's really a cheap meal - I usually serve it with hot sausage sandwiches. I do not usually make it look purple, but last night I used purple cabbage and a purple onion, and voila - it's purple.  :-)  Purple is not my favorite color for anything but food.  Purple potatoes, purple string beans, purple tomatoes, purple carrots..  there is something about growing purple food that makes me happy.


This is a typical Haluska Recipe:
1 stick of butter (some websites even say "margarine".  Run from those sites.  )
1 16 oz bag of egg noodles
1/2 an onion, sliced thin
1 small head of cabbage, sliced thin
Salt & pepper to taste
Cook the egg pasta, drain and set aside
Melt the butter in a large skillet or pan, large enough to hold the chopped cabbage.
Saute the cabbage and the onion in the butter until glossy and tender.
 Add salt and pepper.
 Cover and let the cabbage mixture simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.
Mix the pasta and the cabbage & onion together
Serve - optional, serve with sour cream

How I Make Haluska
1 16 ounce bag egg noodles
1 sweet onion sliced thin
cabbage sliced thin
1 to 1 1/2 cups of butter
chicken broth (maybe a cup?  I just mix a little Tones Chicken base with some water.  Tones is $4.28 a tub at Sam's club, and I use both the beef & chicken a LOT around here)
Salt & Pepper
Put water for the pasta on to boil, slice the onion thin
Put a stick of butter in a skillet to melt on low heat
Start slicing the cabbage
Add the pasta to the water once it is boiling, cook it
Add the onion to the skillet with the butter
Keep slicing cabbage.  I used about 3/4 of a small head of cabbage this time.  Fill the skillet to heaping - it will cook down.
once the onion is cooked, add the cabbage on top of the onion, then add more butter.
Saute for a bit
Add some chicken broth - 1/ a cup or so to start, then put the lid on the skillet and let it cook on a low heat
Drain the noodles
Once the cabbage mixture has cooked down to "clear and translucent", toss with the noodles.
Note - purple cabbage doesn't become quite clear and translucent.  Just cook the cabbage until it is obviously cooked and not crunchy.
Then sometimes I add more melted butter.