Book Review: Cinderella's Shoes

 Book reviews aren't my normal blog post, but today... that is what I'm doing. :) I've recently finished this wonderful book, called Cinderella's Shoes, so I thought I'd share my review!
(I'm not the greatest at writing reviews so... ha,ha... oh well. ;) )

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 Cinderella's Shoes is the sequal to Cinderella's Dress, by Shonna Slayton.

 Kate Allen's adventures with Cinderella's ancient wardrobe continue, but this time, she is on a quest in Europe to find the shoes. She hopes that they might help her find her missing father, who has been presumed dead. So when the Kolodenkos invite her to come back to Italy with them, she readily agrees. 

The quest is filled with danger and choices, as Kate comes to find what she truly wants when it comes to her family legacy, and discovers how precious the people in her life really are.

Cinderella's Shoes is a great book, and I think I like it better than the first. Maybe it has to do with the Europe setting... the old castles... (and old camera, as a bonus! :D) Of course, Kate and Johnny's relationship got more... grew... however you'd say it. :) Johnny is just so sweet. :D 
We also get to know the Kolodenkos better. Nessa was kind of irritating at first, but then I liked her. :) And Likda... I like her too. But there are some mysteries about her that would be kind of interesting to discover. Shonna Slayton should write another story in this series, giving Lidka a happy ending. :)

So yes, a worthwhile read... this one had more magic, and it was just a great book. :D Very unique.

Recommend to: Teens, and lovers of: fairy-tale retellings, World War 2 times, castles and old things, Europe, clean romance <3, adventure! 

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If you missed the yummy recipe I posted the other day, (it wasn't on there long enough) then here it is. 

Banana Garbanzo Bean Fudge Brownies

Make it and eat it while you're... reading Cinderella's Shoes!
This wondrous camera of mine is making my food pictures look more like the professionals! :D

Well, farewell all! :)

Sauteed Carrots

   A good way to eat carrots is by sauteing them... then they get soft, and kind of sweet... :)

So here's how you can sauté them: 

Banana Garbanzo Bean Fudge Brownies

  

  Brownie lovers who like to eat healthy, here is a yummy recipe for you!   

  This recipe's all good-for-you ingredients are just thrown into a food processor (I'm sure a blender would work perfectly also), to combine. When they are done baking, the finished product is like a cross between a brownie and fudge... hence the name works nicely. ;)  

Banana Garbanzo Bean Fudge Brownies

a 15.5 oz can chickpeas

1\4 cup of banana

1\4 cup walnuts 

2 tablespoons butter *

1 tablespoon yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1\4 cup cocoa 

3\4 cup coconut sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

a couple pinches of salt

               ~~

Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender until smooth. Pour into greased 9x9 pan. 

Brush top with melted butter**.

Bake at 350 degrees for 21 minutes.  

*You can probably substitute almond or peanut butter for the banana, walnuts, and butter, if you'd like. Otherwise the recipe is peanut and almond free, for those who have allergies to these. :) 

**Optional- I did this to try give it a glossy top... didn't really work. 

ANOTHER RECIPE USING GARBANZO BEANS (or chickpeas): 

Chickpea and Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Magic of a Winter Woodland

 We've had snow lately. With it came some pretty pictures I got to take with my lovely camera. :) 

 Yesterday it was sunny, and things were melting. There was ice all over... perhaps we had freezing rain one night? But really, it was lovely. The ice on the trees sometimes shone all silvery... beautiful. So after taking pictures in my yard and all, I went out toward the woods through the field that our house is peninsula-ed in. ;) 

You can tell there was wind from these ripples in the snow.

This- I love this! The cornstalk is made quite beautiful by the ice surrounding it. :)

 Then the woods had some pretty things to capture. The bushes and undergrowth were ladden with snow, and icicles hung here and there. :)   

Now these are some of the pictures I took around my house and all.

See the ice coating on this tree? :D It's pretty cool.

Here is ice on the leaves of our magnolia tree. :)

  
 I took this picture a different day. It just kind of shows simplicity. white, reletively smooth snow all around, on a cloudy day. And then that interesting little swirly shrub thing pocking out of the ground. Hm. :)

 Well I hope that was interesting. Yay for photography! ;) 

Peanut-Butter Cup Brownie in a Dish

Chocolate, Peanut-butter, Dairy-free, (cane) Sugar-free, Healthy brownie-ish snack :) 

      Here's snack for healthy nuts. :) I made something like this not so long ago without measuring everything out, plus it needed some tweaking. So I remade something like it today. :) It's a good healthy snack\treat. :)  

HEALTHY PEANUT-BUTTER CUP BROWNIES IN A DISH


BOTTOM LAYER:

1\4 cup peanut butter
1 1\2 T flour
1\2 t vanilla
2 t coconut sugar
3 t honey
1 T coconut milk
pinch of salt
pinch of baking powder

TOP LAYER:

2 T coconut milk 
1 T cocoa
1 T honey
1 T flour
1\2 t vanilla
pinch of salt 
pinch of baking powder
________

Divide peanut butter layer evenly among two small dishes, then pour the chocolate layer on top.

Cook in the microwave for 1 minute (or 1 minute and 30 seconds).

  The chocolate layer is more pudding-ish, and the bottom layer is crumbly... more like a cookie, I suppose. :)

Photo Gallery: Amish Country

  Later today we drove around and I took some pictures of the Amish places. It's interesting to live around these people who are so much different that us. :)

   This old steel-wheeled tractor was at one of the Amish places.  Kind of interesting. :)

Amish schoolhouse (:

  I took this through the front window of the vehicle I was in, so I had to crop it. So, it's not the clearest, but I like it. :)

These calves are so cute! <3

Photo Gallery: Rivers and Miscellaneous With My New Camera!

  My awesome Nikon camera came in the mail yesterday! It has a lot of options and settings and all... its going to take awhile to learn them all. But I know the basics, and I got to take some nice pictures... mostly today. :) The focus is wonderful. And the quality. ;)

  Earlier today I went outside and took these pictures. It's been pretty cold here. Except the other day, which felt kind of like spring... the weather can be unpredictable. :D

 It's fun to play around with focusing on close up pictures, like this one below. 

  

     Acorns are so photogenic. :) Love them. 

 Magnolia tree leaves. We get to have a  green tree in our yard in the winter! :D

 I also photographed some rivers while we drove around later. This top one turned out really nice. It looked like there was some kind of dam there at one point. It makes the pictures more unique. :)

  Like I said... great focus. :) Up close it kind of focuses in on a small section and blurs everything else. Lovely. :)

    Food photography is AWESOME!! :D I made this smoothie that I found on this blog. It's Banana Cream Pie Overnight Oatmeal Smoothie. It was yummy. :)


Well, hope you enjoy my new pictures with my new camera! :)