All about sourdough!

I’ve been meaning to write this for a while, so here it is finally, Gidget’s Guide to Sourdough! 😉

I’ve been baking with sourdough for almost four years now, after taking a local class from the amazing Min Kim. My sourdough starter, affectionately known as my “other pet” and named Bianca, is a living organism that I feed (daily ideally) and use to make all kinds of delicious creations. This is not an exhaustive guide, but simply my basic methods, tools, and some links for those who might be interested in giving sourdough a try. It is definitely a commitment, but once you get in a groove, the maintenance isn’t that big of a deal, and the amazing payoffs make the time spent more than worth it.

Necessary Tools

for starter:

glass crock (with lid, or a plastic plate works fine if you break your lid like I did)

digital scale

flour and filtered water (see below)

for baking:

dutch oven (if you don’t have something like a Le Creuset French oven, this Lodge combo cooker is a super-affordable option that is great because you can also use both parts separately on the stove for other uses)

scoring knife (there’s quite a range of these from simple to fancy, I’ve linked to the midrange one I currently use)

bench scraper

bowl scraper

baskets or brotforms for proofing (1-2 to start)

flour sack towels

bonus: dough whisk (not necessary but awesome)

really good oven mitts that go high on your forearms as you will be baking at high temperatures (look for ones resistant to 500 degrees)

Maintaining a Starter

I received my starter as a baby from Min’s class four years ago so I really don’t know how long it had been living before I got it. As anyone who has one will tell you, the starter grows so fast that a sourdough baker pretty much always has some to spare and share. Sourdough starters are very resilient and can often be brought back to life even when you’ve been very negligent. You can also make your own starter from scratch (the first two main resources below both detail how to do that), but I love the idea of sharing the love by passing on starters between bakers.

I feed my starter 1-2 times a day depending on the weather and my laziness. * insert shrug emoji * I have a “Feed Bianca” reminder on my phone at 9 a.m. and p.m., and I try to feed it around those times. In the winter I can get by with once a day or even once every day and half but in warmer weather I try to do it twice regularly.

There are lots of ways to maintain a starter it seems. I essentially use my own variation of Min’s method. Here’s how I do it:

• I set my crock of starter on my scale and zero it out/press “tare.”

• I add 50 grams of filtered/alkaline water, and 50 grams of organic all-purpose flour. It’s not always exactly 50g but I make sure to use the exact amount of flour to match whatever water I poured in. I almost-exclusively use Bob’s Red Mill Organic AP and Bread flour for all my sourdough baking and maintaining. I get it at Sprouts usually.

• I stir it up with a wooden chopstick, making sure to mix all the dry clumps in and to scrap the sides as clean as I can. I rinse the chopstick in cold water and set it in my dish strainer where I always leave it. 😉

• I recover the starter with a flour sack dishcloth, a rubber band around the edges, and a plate on top to cover.

• Every so often I transfer the starter to another container temporarily and clean out the crock with hot soapy water.

• I leave Bianca on the counter (it needs to be a good distance away from any other ferments like kombucha or sauerkraut, be sure to research that if you do more than one kind).

• If I’m leaving town or going to be particularly busy, I put it in the fridge (after feeding it a larger amount and letting it sit for a bit on the counter). It’s good-to-go in the fridge for at least a week (it can be fed and put back) but I’ve let it go for 2-3 weeks and it’s been fine. I’ve heard of people leaving theirs in the fridge for surprisingly long times and it surviving! There are maintenance methods where it basically lives in the fridge most of the time and only comes out to feed and bake with, but I like to have mine always out and ready to go.

• If you keep feeding and not using enough of your starter, it will get too big and will have to be “discarded.” Luckily there are loads of recipes of what to do with discarded starter so you don’t actually have to throw it out. These are everyday-type recipes that usually don’t require any proofing time (read: just mix and cook/bake). I’ve shared some below. Each week I usually bake bread and then make 1-2 other things with my starter. The more you use the starter, the happier it will be. It will smell sour but not rancid or too vinegary if it’s healthy and being fed and used regularly.

Baking

This is, again, just an overview of my standard methods. It seems like there are endless resources and recipes out there for sourdough (yay for the internet!), so I’m always finding new ideas and things to try. I’m not giving any actual instructions for baking because I feel these top two resources cover pretty much everything you need to learn. Watching a friend do the actual steps also helps if you have someone nearby who can help (like me, if you’re a local friend! 😉 ).

• For the most traditional, nourishing, gut-friendly method to bake bread, I highly recommend Min’s simple ebook. (it’s well worth the five bucks!) This will include more details on starter maintenance, her full bread-making recipe and method, and also a way to convert her bread recipe into pizza dough (the best). Unfortunately this method takes a good amount of time at home and planning ahead so I don’t make her bread as regularly as I used to (life!). But it’s the best-tasting and best-texture bread though, hands down.

• Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa (The Clever Carrot): This book changed my life, literally! I got it for Christmas in 2017 and sat down and read it cover to cover. Since then I’ve made countless recipes from it, and make her Everyday Sourdough or High-Hydration recipe at least once a week on average. It really can be made in about 2-ten minute stretches of time (plus baking time), one late at night, and the second the next day before baking. Her bread is not as fermented as Min’s recipe but it is still made with simpler, better ingredients than store-bought bread, and tastes great. Her recipes are really easy to follow with lots of pictures for learning technique. This book is my number-one used resource.

• Sourdough (and also Toast & Jam) by Sarah C. Owens: Most of her recipes are way “fancier” than what I regularly can handle but they’re beautiful books, and her buttermilk biscuits (in the book Sourdough) are a staple in our house.

• Oh-So-Fluffy Pancakes: if you have a cast iron skillet or two, this recipe is the best, easiest way to use up extra starter and feed the whole family in a shorter amount of time than it takes to make regular pancakes. This recipe is from Traditional Cooking School, a blog which is a fantastic recipe for sourdough and other nourishing foods.

• My favorite scones, I’ve been making my own variation (i.e. choc chips instead of raisins & lemon) of these fairly regularly and they are amazing.

• Here’s my Sourdough Pinterest board where I collect recipes I find online.

I keep a journal (pictured above with my well-loved copy of Min’s recipe) where I record what I make and when, especially when I’m making a recipe with various proofing/resting/active steps to keep track of time and to reference when I’m deciding what time to start a various recipe.

Get Inspired!

And finally! Sourdoughstagram! (okay, I made that word up.) I follow a handful of sourdough bakers on Insta and their pictures are inspiring (who knew bread could be so pretty??) and educational (especially videos). Here are my favorites:

• @minskitchen

• @theclevercarrot

• @mylifeinsourdough

• @sarah_c_owens

• @maurizio

• @sourdoughmadre

• @pragerbrothers (my favorite local bakery)

• @mydailysourdough

• @joseybakerbread

• @wayfarer_bread (2nd favorite local baker, haven’t made it down to her new bakery yet though)

• @tartinebakery

• @cocobakes

• @apieceofbread

• @lbrownbakery

• @thesourdoughpodcast (haven’t listened yet to this)

• When I post about my sourdough creations it’s on my @nicole_vbennett account and tagged #nicolesadventuresinsourdough

Oh! And if you want to read a fun novel that puts a techie spin on the art of sourdough baking, check out Robin’s Sloan’s Sourdough.

So there you have it! Feel free to leave questions in the comments if you have any, and happy baking and eating! Don’t be shy with the butter and salt. 😉

This post includes some affiliate links, thank you for your support.

Homemade Magic Shell ice cream topping

As we come to the end of National Ice Cream month, I still have a couple things up my sleeve. One is a delicious, non-processed homemade version of an old favorite. I only recently really discovered the fun of the classic Magic Shell ice cream topping. A friend brought it to one of our Ice Cream Sundays and I have been enjoying it ever since.

If this fun candy-like topping isn’t something you’re familiar with, it’s basically a chocolate sauce that “magically” hardens when you pour it on your ice cream. Then you are left with a lightly crunchy chocolatey mix-in.

The process certainly had me curious, wondering what was the secret ingredient that made the Magic Shell so magical…

…and I was surprised to find that hidden amongst the preservatives and fillers was the simple yet ever versatile coconut oil. As our bottle was nearing its end, I remembered that my friend Mare had a recipe for a homemade version in her ebook, Just Making Ice Cream. Sure enough, hers is a coconut oil-based recipe, yet without all the extra fillers.

She was gracious enough to allow me to share that recipe with you today!

makes 1 cup

1 cup coconut oil

1⁄4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 – 4 Tbsp honey or other sweetener (I actually used about 5 Tbsp of honey)

2 tsp vanilla

pinch of sea salt

In a small saucepan, gently melt everthing together over low heat or use a double boiler. Stir throughout to prevent burning. Taste and adjust the sweetness if needed.

Store in a cool place (not in the refrigerator).

And I personally recommend trying it on vanilla ice cream doused with the morning’s leftover coffee– the perfect afternoon snack!

For more tips on how to adapt and experiment with this topping, be sure to check out Mare’s ebook(only $12 for over 70 recipes). I’m not exaggerating when I say that every homemade ice cream maker should own her book.

I’m not an affiliate, just a big fan of her delicious, nourishing recipes and all the research she put into her book.

What’s your favorite ice cream topping?

Homemade pizza nights {+ whole wheat pizza crust recipe}

There was a lot I loved about the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but one of my favorite ideas I got from that book was regular homemade pizza nights.

Friday nights are always pizza-movie nights. Friends or dates are welcome… We always keep the basic ingredients for pizza on hand… All other toppings vary with the garden and personal tastes.

~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Not a day goes by that my five-year old, Gigi, doesn’t ask if someone can come over to eat with us. The girl lives and breathes community and hospitality even at such a young age.

I, too, love having guests over, but logistically some nights and meals are easier than others. As a family of five, we do have to stick to a budget that requires that not every meal makes enough for extra mouths.

But pizza… now there is a meal that it is easy to share. It’s a tasty meal any time of year if you ask me, but long summer nights are just begging for friends to come over and share in the feast.

I find that homemade pizza is the perfect meal to invite friends or family over to enjoy with us. My recipe makes two decent sized pieces and it will easily feed two families of five (with young kids, that is).

There are so many recipes for making pizza dough. Amy from Mom Advice follows the same tradition with her family, and she shared a few different recipes on her blog, where she also details the ridiculously awesome savings that could result from making pizza from scratch rather than ordering out every week. And if you’d like, you can even try Barbara Kingsolver’s recipe.

I’ve found the perfect recipe that works for me and my KitchenAid mixer, combining two recipes and figuring out how I can avoid rolling out the dough on a floured surface and kneading it (I always cringe at doing that step). I cook mine on two Pampered Chef stones.

I like to serve my pizza with a salad and my favorite Buttermilk Ranch Dressing. And maybe some homemade ice cream for dessert.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

makes two 10-12″ pizzas

adapted from Bob’s Red Mill Baking Book and the KitchenAid Stand Mixer Instructions and Recipes

Ingredients:

1/8 tsp. sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

1 3/4 cups unbleached white flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp. salt

4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Dissolve the sugar in the water. Sprinkle the yeast on top and stir it to dissolve. Let stand for five minutes until foamy.

2. Add 1 1/2 cups white flour, 1 cup wheat flour and the salt to your stand mixer. Mix with the bread hook or paddle on Speed 2 for about thirty seconds or so until the flours are mixed. You’ll see that it makes a natural well in the center.

3. Add the olive oil and water/sugar/yeast mixture and using bread hook, mix on Speed 2 for about one minute. I usually use a spatula to scrape the sides down and into the middle.

4. Add the rest of the wheat flour and continue mixing on Speed 2 about two minutes or until the dough cleans the side of the bowl and clings to the hook. Let it mix/knead for a couple more minutes. If necessary (too sticky), add the remaining 1/4 cup of white flour, little bits at a time (you may not need all of it).

From Bob’s Red Mill Baking Book: You want your dough to be “smooth and shiney, with good elasticity. The dough should feel springy and be slightly moist. Too much kneading may result in a tough crust.”

5. Grease a large bowl with olive oil. Afterwards, rub that oil into your hands before you wash them– bonus mid-baking moisture treatment! Place the dough in the bowl and cover it with a towel. Place it in a draft-free place (I usually warm my oven for a few minutes and then turn it off and put the bowl inside). On a warm day the counter is probably fine.

6. Let rise for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size.

7. Punch down and use within two hours. You can also wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it but I haven’t had great luck with this.

To Bake:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees with pizza stones in the oven. After ten minutes of preheating, carefully remove stones and set on potholders on counter (my stones have racks they sit on which helps a lot). Sprinkle cornmeal over the stones.

Divide your dough in half and stretch and spread it out on the stone (very carefully; they are super hot!). Work quickly so the bottom of the dough doesn’t cook too much on the stone. (I find that without the hot stones, the dough doesn’t cook all the way through.)

Spread with your toppings of choice! (That’s my dad sneaking Gigi a pepperoni). I often like to use pesto, pizza or marinara sauce (leftover from earlier in the week works great!), mozzarella, bacon, red onions, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, fresh basil, red peppers or whatever I happen to have on stock! I also like to sprinkle more cheese on top of my toppings.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is nicely browned.

Do you make homemade pizza or have a weekly invite-someone-over tradition?

Getting started with homemade ice cream

When a Simple Homemade reader, Kate, recently told me she was given an ice cream maker bow, and asked if I had any tips for her, I figured it was time to share my story.  

I’m coming up upon my three year anniversary with my love affair with homemade ice cream. I got my ice cream maker bowl a little while before that, but it was my twenty-ninth birthday, in February of 2010, when I really got hooked.

Who says you have to be served on your special day? My birthday was coming up, and I wanted to throw a party for some of my dearest friends. I’d always loved ice cream, and even tried to make it myself once or twice– what better way to get acquainted with my ice cream maker bowl, and do something special to celebrate, than to pick a few recipes, and create a little spread for celebrating?

I hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface of the plethora of homemade ice cream recipes out there in the world yet, so I simply went to the woman who knows something about everything in the realm of Homemade, Martha. I picked up her Classics cookbook, and chose three fruity flavors that would bring a summery flair to my winter birthday.

I planned out how many days I would need to make three flavors… each flavor would require time to defrost the bowl afterwards for at least a night, and then a good fifteen hours to refreeze it before I could use my bowl again. So about a week before, I got started on my first flavor.

The recipes were a bit intimidating, with lots of steps, and I was nervous at first– how would I know when the custard was done? Would my ice cream thicken and freeze nicely, or remain liquidy and get icy? There was no way to know if I didn’t buy the milk and cream and go for it.

When my first few batches turned out as a success, I was on the hunt for more flavors to try, natural sweeteners to experiment with, and recipes to tweak and make my own.

At night, when my daughter, almost three at the time, was asleep, I would bring out the mixing bowls. Because most of the recipes require cooking the mixture to some degree, it would often sit in my fridge chilling, until morning until Gigi would drag a chair to the kitchen counter to watch me pour the mixture into the frozen bowl.

I’d drape my Kitchen-aid with a towel to help keep the cool air in around the bowl, and we’d listen, impatiently, to the whir of the mixer as it churned my creamy mixture into dreamy, rich ice cream.

And that’s the thing with homemade ice cream. It is amazingly rich and creamy. It’s what a dessert should be like, honestly. A small bowl with a tricolor selection of homemade flavors satisfies the palate in ways that no commercially-made, store-bought ice cream ever will, because of its richness, it’s creaminess, and the freshness of flavors.

Many friends and family members have experienced homemade ice cream now because of my experimenting, whether by way of Ice Cream Sundays, as a gift, or just dessert after dinner, and it’s a simple pleasure I’m happy to share.

I won’t say I won’t indulge in a large bowl of whatever my parents have in their freezer (I’m only human), but after three years of developing a love for homemade ice cream, I’ve become quite the connoisseur of high-quality ice cream. P.S. When I’m not eating ice cream I made? I keep Trader Joe’s ice cream on hand. It’s made with simple ingredients and is akin to something I might have made.

Ingredients I can’t pronounce and artificial colors simply will not completely satisfy me now that I’ve tasted and seen the faint hue of green in milk that’s been infused with real mint leaves, or the hint of coral-pink that ensues from pouring freshly-squeezed blood orange juice into custard.

Flavors melding, texture developing, mixing, heating, cooling, freezing… there’s truly an art to homemade ice cream– it’s called artisan oftentimes for a reason– and while I’ve always loved eating this creamy frozen dessert, I now officially consider making it a hobby.

View the recipes I made at my birthday shindig three years ago here.

A few tips for the ice cream maker:

• I love my Kitchenaid bowl attachment. In fact, I just got a second one (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) so I can now make multitple batches without having to defrost, wash and refreeze between every batch. I’ll keep them both in my chest freezer and I love not having to store another appliance in my too-small kitchen cupboards.

• The colder your mixture is the better. You want your bowl to freeze the mixture, not the mixture to defrost your bowl. Make sure you chill your mixture as much as possible before freezing it. Like I mentioned before, I drape my mixer with a clean kitchen towel to help keep the cold in.

• Find a good base recipe if you want to experiment with your own flavors. I’ll share some of my favorite recipes with you next week.

• Freeze your ice cream for a few hours before serving or your ice cream will only be soft-set. I store mine in old Baskin-Robbins 1-quart containers (seems appropriate), yogurt containers or large plastic tubs, and give them as gifts in my Sweet Bliss containers.

• Don’t be afraid to experiment with alternative sweeteners. Ice cream is very forgiving I find. I always substitute brown rice syrup for light corn syrup if a recipe calls for it with great success, and have made ice creams with turbinado sugar, honey, coconut palm sugar and maple syrup.

Are you an ice cream maker? Be sure to leave a question in the comments if you’re curious about something, and I’ll try to help.

This post was originally published on the old blog I edited, Simple Homemade. Affiliate links included.

Interview your kids for your Christmas card

Aren’t Christmas cards one of the best parts of the season? Each time we get the mail in December we get excited to see if one of the envelopes will be filled with the smiling faces of our friends or family. When Gigi was a baby, I got the idea from a creative friend to interview my kids and include it with the card. I always get a kick out of my friend Melissa’s girls’ answers. Once they could talk, I started pulling them aside to ask them a few questions one-on-one.

I’ve done this in various forms. When they were little, it was just a few questions on the back of our card (like the one up above). Last year, I included a half-slip of paper with an “old-fashioned” note about our year and the interview on the back.

This year, I may expand the interview a bit, but here’s what last year’s looked like in case you want to start the tradition yourself and you need a starting point to inspire you. I sometimes like insert little bits of my own commentary, which is another cute I idea my friend Melissa does.

2015 Interview with the Bennett Kids

What’s your favorite thing to do?

Gigi (8.5): Play softball, ride bikes, and play with friends.

Brody (5.5): Playing games/pretend.

Hallee (4.5): Play with dolls and Legos, and color.

What’s your least favorite thing to do?

G: Be inside all day with no friends.

B: Playing tag, cleaning my room.

H: Writing questions. (?) And playing with blocks.

Where do you love to hang out?

G: My room, in our culdesac, Yaya & Papa’s house, friends’ houses.

B: At Pizza Port, Legoland, and places where there’s video games.

H: My house, Yaya & Papa’s house, and Legoland.

What was your biggest accomplishment this year?

G: A good softball season (only 2 losses in fall!), finishing my math book.

B: Learning a little skateboarding.

H: Being good. 🙂

What’s something you want to learn in 2016?

G: Get better at catching, and throw the ball farther.

B: How to skateboard, and other “big kid stuff.”

H: How to read, and how to drive a car. (um, maybe?)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?

G: Hawaii.

B: Sea World.

H: Disneyland.

What’s your favorite book?

G: The Little House series.

B: Oh Say Can You Say? by Dr. Suess

H: Angelina Ballerina

Who’s going to win the World Series next year?

G: That’s a tricky question… Dodgers!

B: I don’t know… Phillies?

H: Me. (Do you know what the World Series is? No. It’s the baseball championships. Oh! I meant the Dodgers!)

Sadly, their baseball predictions did not come true. Better luck next year! 😉

I can’t wait to hear how they answer my questions this year! (If you have any good question ideas, please leave them in the comments!)

YA, KidLit, cyborgs, & more {reading update!}

It was a good summer of reading! Now that we’ve entered fall, I thought it was time to update the ol’ reading list here on the blog. I had a lot of fun with the audioblog in my last book update and after so good feedback, I decided to do another one. This audioblog will be available in my free newsletter, which will hit inboxes on Saturday, October 29th. (The newsletter is meant to be seasonal, but as it turns out this will be my first one of 2016– oops!).

If you haven’t already signed up, you can do so here. When you sign up, you will receive a free copy of my eBook, Read More, and you will also have access to my second audioblog… where I discuss all these books including which series has surprised me most (which will hit inboxes soon)!

So without further adieu, here is what I’ve been reading lately:

• A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
• Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave (my summer book club read)
• Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (audiobook)
• The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West
• The Knockoff by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza
• Finding Paris by Joy Preble
• Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer
• Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
• Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos
• On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder (read aloud to kids)
• The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket (read aloud to kids/audiobook)
• Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
• Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson
• Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer
• Stuart Little by E.B. White (read aloud to Hallee)
• The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (read aloud to kids)
• Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer
• A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable
• Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer
• Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer

I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read any of these books! And don’t forget you can listen to all my thoughts on these in my audioblog which will arrive via email on Saturday morning, Oct. 29, 2016. If you’re reading this post after the newsletter goes out, just send me a quick email (hello @ nicolevbennett . com) and I’ll forward it to you! 🙂

This post includes affiliate links; thank you for reading and for your support.

Delighting in the days

In January, I chose delight as my word for the year. I’m never very good with followthrough and this one word exercise is usually no different. But recently as I thought about how I was feeling these days with our lovely summer and our new fall rhythm/schedule/day-to-day life, I realized that things had been quite… delightful… and that without particularly trying, I had in fact been delighting.

Last spring was hard. I felt like a chicken with my head cut-off with three kids doing three different things school-wise, plus sports, church, and other activities. It was crazy. I felt like if I could just make it through till summer; it was a season with little delight in some ways, but it was also a season of embracing my writing life right where it is, and pressing on and moving forward intentionally, which is in its own way, a form of delighting.

Through the chaos, and then into the peace of summer, my delight in the Lord has been strong though. This year I’ve taken on a Bible reading plan that my church recommended and it has kept me in the word consistently. My prayer life has been lacking still this year, but in reading the word I have felt a growth which is powerful.

Summer was beyond delightful. Beach days, camping trips, long days, family camp (ahhh-mazing!), swimming, barbecuing, reading, baseball, relaxation, concerts (Coldplay!) time with family and sweet friends– it was all the lovely things of summer that I adore– the very definition of delight, thank you, Jesus. I was incredibly sad to see it go, as much as I always love the start of a new school year.

And as we’ve entered the new fall season, a season which can bring with it chaos and busyness, I’m delighted to say that things have, amazingly enough, not gotten out of hand, and in fact, I’m quite delighting in our days and enjoying the rhythm of things right now.

We now homeschool three days in a row (Monday through Wednesday), and then, the kids all go to school all day on Thursday and Friday, a gift to this mama that has brought blessings galore in just the first month. Lunches, brunches, coffees, mama outings, peaceful errands, days to clean and prep, writing time, and moments of quiet have been amazing.

I’m relishing this time and trying my best to use it wisely and keep it from getting over-scheduled. And just like I expected, it actually has me looking forward to our next homeschool days… and despite all the solo-time benefits, even missing my kids a tiny bit. 😉  For our family, and for me, it is the perfect fit.

So all this to say, even though many days I’m still tired (from knowingly burning the candle at both ends) and there are still overwhelming moments and feelings of inadequacies and frustrations with schoolwork and parenting challenges galore…

There is amidst it all a strange feeling of r e s t.

There is p e a c e.

There is d e l i g h t.

And there is gratitude. I’m very thankful for this season, and for the ways the Lord, in His grace, has orchestrated this time. May I use it for His glory.

Summer book club: Eight Hundred Grapes

Our lovely little book club met again this summer; this time to discuss the novel Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave.

I really loved this book, not in the least due to my personal experience with the setting. The book takes place in the Northern California town of Sebastobol, which just happens to be the area where David grew up. He lived in Santa Rosa as a kid and went to an adorable little school in Sepastopol, so we have visited up there several times, and it’s a beautiful place. It was very easy for me to picture the setting in my head, and I have a tendency to love a good setting like a character.

We had a charming night discussing the book out on my back patio under the twinkle lights. Our book-themed meal was one of our best yet, so thanks Ms. Dave, for putting so many yummy things in your book! As usual we didn’t all feel the same about the book but we had a great conversation around the story, theme, and character’s choices.

If you’re curious about my book club, and are thinking about starting your own, I have just the resources for you. In addition to the post I wrote a while back on Mom Advice, I was a guest on The Simple Show podcast this summer and discussed my book club with my friend Tsh Oxenreider.

Disclosure: This post has affiliate links; thanks for your support and for reading!

What I’ve been reading: Early 2016

Winter has come and gone (praise hands from the summer-lover!), spring has officially sprung, and I realized I haven’t shared the books I’ve been reading, or rather devouring, with you, not even once yet this year. Oops!

(I did share a bit about what we’ve been reading with the kids, and in our homeschool over on my homeschool blog, so you can check that out if you’re curious.)

As for me, I have had the pleasure of enjoying some great books this year so far, including some good YA which has been fun to dip back into. I’ll go ahead and dig right in to my recent books list…

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

I have enjoyed all of SAA’s books and this one did not disappoint. It had a slightly darker feel to it (just in the sense of tackling deeper issues of the heart), which makes sense considering this was her first book after her battle with cancer (she’s in remission now!). I loved the characters, and the setting, and I’m hoping she revisits them in another book.

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Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes

Another good Moyes romance; I especially loved the setting– on the water’s edge in a seaside South African town, where the location was as much a character as the people. I always enjoy her multi-POV stories, as she has a real knack with changing voice seamlessly.

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Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

Lots of great writing inspiration in this book, even if it means wading through some serious zen-mumbo-jumbo to find it. The chapters are short, the writing prompts are fun, and she’s very encouraging to the writer-dreamer. I was greatly inspired to start writing in a notebook– someday I hope that will actually become a daily discipline.

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First Frost (Waverley Family, #2) by Sarah Addison Allen

A friend who is also a big SAA fan couldn’t get into this one as much but I really enjoyed it. Similarly to The Girl Who Chased the Moon (my fave of her books), she follows both an adolescent (Bay, grown up from when we met her in Garden Spells) and some adult characters in this one, giving it a little YA flair. (I always love returning to characters I befriended before, so I’m probably not as critical as some when it comes to follow-up novels.)

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Mr. Kiss and Tell (Veronica Mars, #2) by Rob Thomas

I was incredibly disappointed to find that Kristen Bell did not read this audiobook like she did the first. I almost had to turn it off because the narrator started out so droll, but as I got into it, I found she did a great job of changing her voice for different characters. The story was captivating and well-written but would probably say I liked the first one better. Here’s hoping Rob Thomas keeps going with these books because I love Veronica so much that I don’t want this series to end.

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The Lake House by Kate Morton

This was our last book club pick. It was a great title to discuss– Morton always gives us lots to talk about. I don’t want to say too much because that’s just how her books are, but this was more of an actual mystery (and the main character was in fact a mystery writer). Lots of people love this one, but I’ll go on record and say it was really good, but I liked The Secret Keeper better. I prefer to read her books in actual paper form because I constantly feel the need to flip back and review things.

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The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

Favorite novel I’ve read this year so far. These two authors are so good at telling a story and crafting characters, and after reading a bit about them, I found myself wanting to find a friend to write a book with (Amy has a great interview with them on MomAdvice). I sincerely hope they write a sequel, because when the book ended, I was downright depressed to let go of the characters, and I felt a bit obsessive about them and their story for a while. I don’t go ga-ga for Will-and-Kate mania but I loved this fairytale story and the rawness and “real” struggles the authors brought to it.

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Paper Towns by John Green

A great YA read– Green is a wonderful storyteller, and I was glad to read a less-depressing book by him. 😉 This wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows of course; it had plenty of YA angst and a good dose of getting-to-know-your-real-self. But it was a fun mystery, with a fair share of adventure, and I look forward to watching the movie now (after sobbing through The Fault in Our Stars, I had no desire to watch the movie, so this is a big improvement in my book).

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Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love by Edward T. Welch

We read this with our church, discussing it in our community groups. It was easy to read and incredibly encouraging as we strive to live in community and interact with each other the way Jesus would want us to. Very practical help on how we counsel one another, and come alongside one another as we walk with the Lord. I’d say a must-read for small group leaders and people who want to really live out the gospel.

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Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success by K.M. Weiland 

I picked this up at the writer’s conference I went to last year and I’m so glad I did as it’s exactly what I needed as someone who’s not very good with following through. I read it all the way through and now am working through it to outline a new project. I’ll share more about the project and the book soon. 🙂

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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

I read the Harry Potter books probably about 15 years ago or so, so it’s really fun to revisit them now with kids. We read this aloud to our kids (and listened to a big chunk on audio while road-tripping), and they fell in love with Harry and the wizarding world– especially Brody. We intend to take our time (we didn’t jump right in to book #2 yet) and only read books 1-3 until the littles are a bit older. They loved reading the book and then watching the movie.

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First & Then by Emma Mills

I definitely picked this up because I was drawn to the cover (isn’t it so pretty?!), but then when I read the jacket cover I was convinced to check it out. I really adored this story– a story “about falling in love–with the unexpected boy, with a new brother, and with yourself.” Quintessential (non-fantasy) YA. Plus, the author is a young grad student and vlogger, which is pretty fun.

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Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Another spontaneous find of the YA library shelf. I had no idea SK had written a YA book- how fun (and another cute cover, too)! This was another great read. I don’t know how realistic its treatment of anxiety and mental illness is, but I appreciated that it was raw, without being depressing. I do love how Sophie Kinsella tells a good British story, too. 😉

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Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live. by David Platt

This was a super legit book at what it really looks like to follow Jesus. Lots to think about, lots of evaluation of the heart and what life looks like. This was a great companion/followup to Side by Side.

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So that’s what I’ve been reading so far this year– whew! I should really write these posts more often I think so they aren’t so loaded with titles.

And again, if you are interested in more of what we’ve been reading with the kids and in our homeschool time, you can visit my recent post over on my homeschool journal, February in books, pictures, and a few thoughts.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these books if you’ve read any of them! And here’s what I’m currently reading…

Affiliate links included; thanks for reading and for your support of this blog.

When long-time friends become real-life friends

I was going to title this post something like Meeting friends for the first time but it just didn’t feel right. I’ve known these ladies for over five years, but a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of actually spending time with them, all on the same side of the computer screen for the first time.

Thanks to my parents taking a little winter excursion, I was able to sneak over to their place, where I co-hosted a lovely little girls weekend/retreat with four friends from my blogging mastermind group, the Green Ninjas. I co-hosted with a local friend, Krissa, who I knew a little from my college days but who I really got to know through the mastermind group, and we were joined by Rebekah, Stacy, and Emily.

It was a simple weekend– Krissa picked up the girls from the airport Friday night and we met up at the house where we spent the weekend lounging, chatting, eating, and getting some blogging brainstorming and writing inspiration.

We made sure to visit the beach, and had lots of down time to relax and just be together. Food highlights included local favorite chips, salsa, & guacamole from El Nopalito, a trip to In-n-Out, fresh-squeezed orange juice, homemade sourdough bread, and some delicious coffee and pizza.

Monday morning, we were already talking about planning our next gathering (hopefully with even more members of our li’l group present). We headed over to my place so I could pick up the kids and relieve my husband from a weekend of solo-parenting (thank you, honey, you’re the best!).

And I laughed as Rebekah commented that entering my house was like stepping into my blog, or like being on a movie scene. She’d had so many little glimpses of it through the blog and social media that it was already familiar. And that’s how it felt to finally hug these ladies and be able to talk to them face-to-face.

I drove the girls to the airport where we embraced and they waved goodbye to the palm trees. And just like that, we are back to communicating by chatting on Voxer and commenting on FB and IG posts.

It’s a funny thing, this modern world, and sometimes we find beautiful, real friendships in unexpected places… like the internet. 😉

More pictures found at #greenninjaretreat.