SLACKER!

Yes, I've been slacking... shame on me! Okay, now that we got that out of the way, Hello. I have a couple of recipes to post, with picture too! I'll just take care of one for now.

Junk food is a problem in our house. We love junk food. Who doesn't? And if you say you don't, you're a liar. Period. We've been on a Dorito kick lately. It's so messy and you just have to lick your fingers afterwards... heaven! So I found a recipe for a dip for those who have a bit of a sweet tooth. Now eons ago, when I was just a midget interloper in my parents lives we have these things that were like crack for kids. No, not pixie sticks! Although, they are indeed like crack. No, we had Dunkaroos! We lived for the day that our parents came home with some Dunkaroos from the store. And we would eat them all in a matter of maybe two days. 

Well, I found a recipe for the Dunkaroo dip! Ack! My life is complete now! So here you are.

Dunkaroo Dip

- 1 Box of Funfetti Cake mix (the kind with the colorful sprinkles)

- Half of a container of plain yogurt (the big container, not the itty bitty single serve packs)

- Half of a container of Cool Whip

-Mix everything together with a fork and refrigerate until you are ready to serve. It's that simple!

My tips:

Unless you are going to make this for a horde of starving children, you might just want to half this recipe. I didn't, and well.. it makes a shit load. In the picture, that's really only maybe three spoon fulls in a Ramekin. 

So unless you want death by sugar, then half this. Maybe even only make 1/3 if it's just for a few people.

Aside from that, this stuff is awesome! It tastes just like cake batter. YUMMO! 

I recommend using Teddy Grahams for this. Now, I'm a complete moron and bough Mini Teddy Grahams at the store... So every time we would go to dunk, we would be dipping our fingers into it. Regular Graham crackers and Animal crackers would be just fine too.

I will definitely make this again, that's for sure. Kiddo's will love it!

Check back later, I will be posting my Cheesy BBQ Chicken Bacon Sandwich recipe! FYI, it turned out AWESOME! And we know it's awesome, when the hubby loves it. Because whenever I try something new, he has to pick apart every little thing about it that he doesn't like. It's enough to drive me bat shit crazy! So check back later!

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My first shot at a Pinterest recipe!

Sweet and Sour Chicken over Rice

So I woke up today with a thought: I pin so many recipes on Pinterest, but I haven't made a single one of them yet. Well, it's time to start! So for the next full week I plan on making for dinner all the different recipes that I've pinned. 

Whoa boy... I'm nervous. I admit that I'm not the greatest cook on the planet, I crown my mother in that roll. I'm not bad though. I've had many failures in the kitchen... but every once in a while, I have greatness! So lets give these recipes a shot.

Tonight, I made Sweet and Sour Chicken. It was delish! Here's the recipe

Chicken Breading:

3-5 Chicken Breasts

Salt and Pepper

1 cup of Cornstarch

2 Eggs beaten

1/3 cup of Canola Oil

Rinse chicken, trim off fat or extras and then cut into 1 inch cubes. season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken into cornstarch and coat all the way and then into eggs. Heat oil in large skillet. Cook chicken until browned. Place in baking dish. 3 chicken breasts can be in a 9x9 but 5 chicken breasts fits better in a 9x13.

Sauce:

3/4 Cup of Sugar

4 Tablespoons of Ketchup

1/2 cup of white distilled Vinegar

1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce

1 Teaspoon of Garlic salt.

Whisk until smooth. Then pour evenly over chicken. Turn chicken so the sauce gets on both sides and then put in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. turn chicken and then cook for 15 more minutes.

My thoughts/ Suggestions

Both my husband and I really enjoyed this recipe. It tastes just like (well, almost like) real Sweet and Sour chicken that you order from that Chinese restaurant down the road. Served over rice it was so tasty. However there are a couple of things I would change for the next time I make this.

First, I would definitely use larger shallow bowls for the Cornstarch and the Egg. I used cereal bowls.. Yeah.. try fitting all that chicken into a small ass cereal bowl. It wasn't pretty. So make sure the bowls are big so you can fit all of the chicken pieces in at once.

This is a messy recipe. I recommend laying down some paper towels, maybe a drop cloth to save you from hosing down your counter top in the middle of cooking dinner.

If you use 5 chicken breasts, use 3 eggs. You may just run out.

Also, make sure that you leave the chicken to cook long enough in the oil to get a little crispy on the outside. I took mine out when it was done, but the chicken wasn't crispy enough for my tastes.

Definitely will make this again and I would recommend this to anyone looking for a Chinese fix.

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Bad Attitude: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Title: Bad Attitude
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Publish Date: June 26
Type: Romantic Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis
BAD agent Sydney Westbrook must find the perfect assassin for a risky counter-terrorism mission. J.D. Steele, a military sniper whose attitude problem landed him in prison, seems a good candidate. But as they're dragged into a secret world of freelance killers, Sydney begins to discover the man of honor and passion beneath Steele's arrogant façade. It's a man even Steele didn't know he could be — and a man whose mission will risk the life of the only woman he's ever loved....

My thoughts
I'm a huge Sherrilyn Kenyon fan. I've read every single Dark-Hunter book out there. So I saw this book, the first one in the BAD Agents series and figured I'd give it a try. Definitely worth the money. Romantic Suspense, as stated before, is my favorite genre. Add to the fact that Sherrilyn Kenyon is one of my favorite authors, and it's bound to be a good book. Her writing style is always so easy to read. Her books I can generally read in one day. I love that there's always action, romance, humor, and emotion in all of her books. This book is definitely a keeper for me. I just ordered the rest in the series too. Can't wait till they get here to read them.Pin It

Tall, Dark and Deadly: Lorie O'Clare

Title: Tall, Dark and Deadly
Author: Lorie O'Clare
Publish Date: March 2009
Type: Romantic Suspense
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis
First in a brand-new series from award-winning author Lorie O’Clare—a sexy, thrilling novel about a female cop, an FBI agent, and a whole world of trouble in-between…
WHEN YOU CAN’T FIGHT A KILLER DESIRE
Grace Jordan is leaving her dark past behind. Having traded in her big-city badge for life in the slow lane in Rockville, South Dakota, Grace and her daughter were hoping to make a fresh, clean start. But crime is at-large in small towns, too…and young women keep turning up brutally murdered. Before she knows it, Grace has got a serial murder case on her hands—and the infuriatingly seductive FBI agent Justin Reece by her side.
SURRENDER IS THE ONLY OPTION…
Grace did not come to Rockville looking for romance. But she can’t deny the chemistry between her and Justin—no matter how much she might want to. Meanwhile, things keep heating up as more women turn up dead, and a disturbing new pattern points to a killer who seems to be sending a message for Grace alone. But how could he know such secret, scandalous details about her life? Unless he happens to be someone from the past she would kill to forget…

My Thoughts
Lorie O'Clare is becoming a must read author for me. I first got turned onto her books a few months ago when the first book in her Bounty Hunters Series came out. I absolutely loved it so decided that I definitely needed to get more of her books. It just so happens that Romantic Suspense happens to be my favorite sub-genre of Romance. I love the not-knowing-what-is-going-to-happen-next feeling that I get when reading these types of books. Lorie O'Clare does a great job of keeping us on the edge of our seats. Also, I love men in law enforcement. So whats hotter then a sexy FBI guy packing a *weapon* ;) I love books that center around the FBI, or Police force, or Special Forces, Military, anything like that. It's a major turn-on when a man wields a weapon, at least for me. Hey I married an Army guy.

You have to feel for Grace when you read this book. She went through hell for over five years and she's been free of that hell for ten. But she'll never forget the torture she went through. It's hard to let anyone close to her, she struggled to adopt her biological child, and now that she finally has everything in order, her life starts going to hell. First, rapes and murders start in the small town she's called home for all of two weeks. Her partner on the force as a bug up his ass with her. The FBI stroll into town. The FBI being one brooding dark and sexy Justin Reece (By the way, I love that name). Justin's got demons of his own. Rockville being his home town where his kids are along with his nasty ex-wife, the Mayor. Justin's always been an absent father, spending so much time away from home because of work. But he's here now, and he's trying to make things right with his kids, even if his ex-wife is doing everything in her power to destroy his chances. Justin and Grace are immediately attracted to each other and form a fast friendship. Justin is one of the only people who know about Grace's horrific past, and he wants to be there for her, protect her. Now the rapes and murders are getting personal with Grace. It seems the perp is out for her. A ghost from her past perhaps? Well, I definitely recommend this book along with Miss O'Clare's other books. Definitely worth the money spent. Pin It

A Little Bit Sinful: Adrienne Basso

Title: A Little Bit Sinful
Author: Adrienne Basso
Publish Date: January 2011
Type: Historical/Regency Period
Rating: 3.5/5

Synopsis
A Little Bit Unexpected. . .Eleanor Collins knows that her beautiful younger sister will have wealthy, powerful men falling at her feet in her first London season. But Eleanor is surprised to discover that one man's attentions are utterly focused on her.
A Little Bit Forbidden. . .As delicious as Sebastian Dodd, Viscount Benton, finds the eldest Collins daughter, his true motive is darker than mere seduction. Until he has avenged his mother's death, he will be unable to think of anything else. Or so he believes, until he takes his first taste of Eleanor's inviting lips, and finds his mind--and his body--utterly consumed. . .

My Thoughts
As stated before, Historicals aren't my favorite sub-genre in the romance field, but I do read a fair amount of them. I love revenge as a plot. A person isn't thinking clearly when bent on revenge. This book starts out with Sebastian wanting revenge on Eleanor's father because he caused his own mother to take her life years earlier. His way to get revenge on the Earl is to ruin his daughter Bianca, and then call the Earl on a duel and kill him. Well, things don't go that way when Sebastian starts unknowingly falling for Bianca's older spinster sister Eleanor. Eleanor isn't as pretty as her sister and is used to being ignored. But when Sebastian starts turning his charm on her she becomes lost in him. Eleanor falls hard and gives herself to Sebastian thinking that he is as much in love with her as she is with him. Sebastian betrays her and breaks her heart so she leaves to go live with her aunt. Sebastian realizes that he loves her after she already left and decides that he's going after her.

I liked the story and the emotion that goes into it. Sebastian would do whatever it took to see that his mother didn't die in vain. But how? At the cost of the only woman he's ever loved and the happiness that they could have together if he just lets go of his plot for revenge. Pin It

Sweet Seduction/Sweet Temptation: Maya Banks

Title: Sweet Seduction Sweet Series book 3
Author: Maya Banks
Publish Date: October 2009
Type: Erotic
Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis
He was the stuff erotic dreams are made of
Salon owner Julie Stanford wanted Nathan Tucker ever since she gave him his first massage. Getting paid to feel every inch of his body, stripped, oiled, and spread out in front of her? Stuff dreams are made of. But the sexy guy was oblivious to the signals she was sending-until she finished off his final rub- down with something extra. In fact, the best extra he ever had. Unfortunately, he came around too late. Now Julie's moving on...
She was everything he'd dreamed of
The woman was driving him crazy. She lit fire to his insides then ran like a scalded cat. And now she's going to someone else to have all her fantasies fulfilled? Over his dead body... He's more than willing to give her what she wants, and as soon as he pins the little minx down, he'd show her his own brand of sweet seduction.

 Title: Sweet Temptation Sweet Series Book 4
Author: Maya Banks
Publish Date: April 2010
Type: Erotic Suspense
Rating: 5/5


Synopsis
He was a by-the-book cop who broke the rules in the bedroom... Micah Hudson has painful secrets he's run hard from. He has new friends, a new life, but he's about to be confronted with the one person who reminds him of all he's tried to forget--Angelina, the sister of his oldest friend David. She knows everything about his past, including how he and David fell in love with the same woman, and how they decided the best way to prevent her from tearing them apart was to share her between them. But then a terrible accident left Micah alone... She was willing to do anything to make him see the woman she'd become... Micah lost the two people who meant the most in the world to him. Angelina lost her only family. And she kept her deepest secret close to her heart. Her love for Micah. No longer willing to wait, she decides it's time to go after him and bring him to his knees. She knows his secrets, his desires, his kinks and fetishes, and she'll use whatever it takes to reel him in. Behind the easygoing, loves women exterior lies a man with dark needs and passions. She can give him what he wants. But will he decide she's what he needs?

My Thoughts
Ok, so first off I'd like to say, I friggin love this series. Now that's off my chest lets get to the review. I figured I would just do these two together since I read them one right after the other. Sweet Seduction is Julie and Nathans book. Now, I've never had a role where the male lead was a smokin' hot bald guy, but hey there's a first for everything. I liked this book because it was different from the first two. Mastery didn't really play a role in this book. Julie doesn't have a submissive bone in her body, she goes after what she wants. And what she wants, or wanted was Nathan Tucker. But Nathan being of the male species doesn't quite get the smoke signals that Julie is waving in his direction. After Julie gives Nathan the best...ahem.. *massage* of his life he's determine to hunt her down and finish what she started. But Julie has moved on. Enlisting the help of Damon, the owner of The House from the previous two books, Julie is all set to indulge in her fantasy of having completely anonymous sex with not one, but two men. Of course Nathan finds out and worms his way into the equation with the ever-so-sexy Micah as the second man to Julies fantasy. Julie has no idea that she has been sleeping with the man of her dreams and Nathan decides it's time to come clean. Of course there are ups and downs to their relationship but finally Nathan takes matters into his own hands and decides that they tried it her way, now they are going to do it his way.

Sweet Temptation... ahhh. I LOVE this book. My favorite so far of the Sweet Series. There is such deep emotion through out the entire book and I'm glad that we caught a glimpse of it in the end of Sweet Seduction. Micah is a tortured man with a lot of pain in his past that he wants to keep buried. So he picked up and left his home town of Miami three years ago and moved to Houston where now he has a new set of friends and a job he loves. Angelina is the younger sister of Micah's dead best friend. She's loved Micah for as long as she's known him, but Micah was married and she loved Hannah, Micah's wife. But Micah and Hannah had a very different relationship. David, Angelina's older brother loved Hannah also, so David and Micah shared Hannah. It was a great life for them until a tragic accident left David and Hannah dead and Micah and Angelina alone. Angelina decided enough time has passed since the accident and she was going for what she wants most, Micah. After a rocky start where Micah tried his hardest to fight the attraction he felt towards Angelina, because "She is David's sister!" he finally gives in and makes her his. Then a stalker comes out of the woodwork. A man whose been after Angelina for a year now, one she thought she out smarted. Micah decides to do everything in his power to keep her safe. There is such emotion throughout this story it honestly made my chest hurt reading it. I really do love this series and I cant wait until Sweet Possession comes out next month. I've been waiting patiently for Connor to step outside his comfort zone. As I've stated before, I'm highly recommending this series.Pin It

Corwin Curse Series: Carly Phillips

Title: Lucky Charm, Book 1
Author: Carly Phillips
Publish Date: April 2008
Type: Contemporary 
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis
Long ago, as revenge on a Corwin who stole her son’s fiancée, a witch proclaimed an eternal curse that every Corwin male who married for love would be destined to lose his woman and his fortune...
Derek thought he could outsmart the long-standing Corwin curse by breaking up with Gabrielle, his first love and marrying someone else. Now, divorced and broke, all he has left is his teenage daughter and a healthy respect for ancient sorcery. But then Gabrielle returns, determined to defeat the curse and rekindle their passion. But will her stubborn streak and her unwavering love be the lucky charm Derek so desperately needs?
“Fast, fun and fabulous Carly Phillips’s new book rocks!” New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards on Sealed with a Kiss

 Title: Lucky Streak, Book 2
Author: Carly Phillips
Publish Date: June 2009
Type: Contemporary
Rating: 4/5


Synopsis
Long ago, a witch proclaimed an eternal curse that every Corwin male who married for love would be destined to lose his woman and his fortune…
When Mike Corwin awakens after some wild partying in Vegas $100,000 richer and married to Amber, the gorgeous woman he met the night before, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot. The bad news is that Amber’s a con who takes his money and runs. Seems the family curse has finally hit him. Hard.
But to Amber, Mike isn’t business as usual. If only she didn’t need the money to ensure her father’s safety, she might actually have fallen for the intense lawman. Instead, she’s forced to betray him.
Now Mike’s hell-bent on divorce and Amber’s on the run…but when a twist of fate reunites them, can they turn their run of bad fortune into a lucky streak?

 Title: Lucky Break, Book 3
Author: Carly Phillips
Publish Date: October 2009
Type: Contemporary
Rating: 4/5


Synopsis
Jason Corwin knows he should resist his attraction to Lauren Perkins. After all, it was one of her ancestors who came up with the curse that had haunted every Corwin male since. But after one night of mind-blowing sex with his supposed — and very seductive — enemy, he can’t bring himself to stay away.
All Lauren wants is to sell her late grandmother’s old house and leave the past behind forever. But that’s not an easy thing to do with gorgeous contractor Jason Corwin whispering sweet, sexy somethings in her ear. About staying. Then a saboteur and the promise of hidden treasure change everything, and one lucky break that just might put an end to the Corwin curse.

My Thoughts
I love Carly Phillips. I got hooked on her when I bought and read the Chandler brothers series. Later I got the Hot Zone Series. Most recently I've read the Corwin Curse Series. Her books are light and fun with just enough emotion in them to keep a reader hooked. This series revolves around a curse that has been placed on all Corwin men that if they were to fall in love they would lose the love of their life and their fortune. So far, that's proven true for all Corwin men. The first book starts off with Derek, the oldest of the youngest generation of Corwin men. Derek is a divorced parents who has moved back to Stewart Mass. to start over. Who does he run into? The woman who he left more then 10 years prior to avoid the curse, the love of his life. Gabrielle is determined to make their relationship stick this time and will do anything she can to make Derek realize the curse is not real.

In the second book, Mike Corwin, the middle cousin goes to Vegas for a friends wedding. Only his friend isn't the only one who ends up married. He meets Amber and sparks fly and they have an amazing day together. After having a bit too much to drink they get hitched, win a fortune, and have an amazing night of sex. The next morning Mike wakes up wife-less and money-less. Where the hell did Amber go? Well, he's a cop, he'll find out one way. A few days later Amber shows up at his apartment in Boston with only half the money she took off with. Of course Mike is cautious with Amber because she took off without a word before, what makes him so sure she won't do it again? But Amber had good reasons for taking off with the money but now she's here to stay and make this marriage work.

In the last book, Jason Corwin, the youngest and most famous of the Corwin cousins has lost it all. His money, his woman, and his credibility. He's a champion snow boarder who has tested positive for steroids. But Jason has never touched steroids in his life. His girlfriend set him up! Of course nobody believes his innocence and he's banded from competing in the Olympics. He goes home to Stewart to lick his wounds and open up a contracting business so he has some sort of income. In strolls Lauren Perkins, a direct descendant of Mary Perkins, the witch who placed the spell on the Corwin men. Jason and Lauren had a brief summer fling 10 years ago and they've both never been able to forget each other. Lauren's not the typical Perkins either, never living up to her grandmother's expectations. She highers Jason to help fix up the old house so she can sell it and move on. Problems ensue, one right after another and her funds keep depleting. But that doesn't stop their nights from being anything but steamy. Both Jason and Lauren are determined that once work on the house is complete they will go their separate ways. But when did feelings start to get involved?

I love this series and I will continue to read Carly Phillips. I recommend any of her books to anyone looking for a light fun read with just the right amount of emotion to keep us coming back for more. Pin It