Apple Ginger Crumb Cake | The Lost Girls of Devon

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

What does one do in the midst of buying a home, renovating said home so it's livable, packing up their current home of 11.5 years, and moving? Reads a book, of course! But really, I've been extremely stressed out and on the verge of losing it, so taking an hour or two to escape in a good book here and there was just what the doctor ordered. Welcome to my TLC Book Tours stop for the latest novel by Barbara O'Neal, The Lost Girls of Devon.

Part mystery, part multi-generational drama, this book wound up being a rollercoaster of emotions (I even teared up once or twice). Four generations of Fairchild women make up this story, and we hear viewpoints from each—in order of generation, oldest to youngest, we have Lillian, Poppy, Zoe, and Isabel.

Honey Thyme Butter | Salty, Bitter, Sweet

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Welcome to my TLC Book Tours stop for Salty, Bitter, Sweet by Mayra Cuevas. Okay, I'll start by saying that overall, I enjoyed this read. Our main character Isa(bella) lives to cook and bake, and is currently living with her papi and stepmother in France, making her way through an exclusive apprenticeship competition course throughout the book.

She mentions and creates tons of food throughout the entire story, making me both hungry and eager to head into the kitchen; both of which are always bonus points in my book. Just a handful of the food mentioned: apple clafoutis, soffrito, chicken legs in wine-butter sauce, lemon tarts, pie, Tagliatelle, mushrooms, white truffles, aged cheese, Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookies, bacon cheeseburger, guava and cheese.

(Freakin' Worth It) Apple Crumb Pie | Supernatural

Somehow how it's been a week already, which means it's time for another Supernatural Thursday, where I share recipes inspired Supernatural (which is currently airing its 15th and final season). I know you can't fault me for sharing another pie recipe, right? I mean, the more pie the better. Amiright?

Like last week, I'm pulling inspiration from the first season, this time episode 11, Scarecrow. Sam and Dean finally make contact with their dad when he calls them with an assignment.  They learn that each year, during the second week in April, a couple goes missing in the small town of Burkittsville, Indiana. The boys get into a fight over Dean's "blind faith" in John, and wind up going separate ways. Sam takes off as Dean goes to investigate.

Triple Apple Pie | O Brother, Where Art Thou? #FoodnFlix

This month for Food 'n Flix we watched the 2000 Coen brothers film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?  Set in rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, it's full of Grammy-award winning catchy folk tunes (I bought the cd way back when and can still sing all the songs right along with the movie), and scenes from the American South.

But did you know that it's also loosely based on The Odyssey by Homer? You know, the one that kids around the nation dread reading in school. I think that I'd heard that before, but had forgotten until our host for this month, Debra from Eliot's Eats, reminded us in her Food 'n Flix invitation. So, not only did I go back in to watch the film for the first time in years with an eye towards the food, but also on the lookout for references from the epic poem. And boy did I find lots of both!

Peach Iced Tea | The Innkeeper's Sister

Welcome to the TLC Book Tours stop for The Innkeeper's Sister by Linda Goodnight! This is book 3 in Goodnight's Honeyridge Novels series, but the first (and only so far) one that I've read. I actually didn't even realize it was a part of a series until I'd finished it, which means it definitely works as a stand-alone book. When I went to look back at the descriptions for the first 2 books, they are connected by location (Honey Ridge, Tennessee), but focus on different main characters. Those characters also play a part in this book, so I'm looking forward to going back and reading their stories.

Bran Muffins | Game of Thrones

Welcome to day 4 of the week-long Game of Thrones inspired recipe extravaganza being held right here and over at CulturEatz! The inspiration behind the recipe I'm sharing today is obvious for any GoT fan—our sweet little (well, not so little anymore) Bran Stark.

Matcha Buttermilk Pie

I've been a bad, bad pie baker. I think this may actually be my first pie of 2017 (okay, I know it is)! That's pretty sad for a self-proclaimed pie lover. But hey, what better day to start making up for the recent lack of pies than Pi{e} Day?

Fresh Strawberry Muffins | The Roanoke Girls

Some secrets run so deep and fierce that they suffocate those who protect them. That is exactly the case with dark, chilling secret held by the Roanoke girls. It's caused generations of mystery and speculation around the girls born at Roanoke house. Beautiful women that either die or run. Welcome to the TLC Book Tours stop for The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel!

Bisquick Pancakes w/ Raspberry Maple Syrup (for Glenn & Abraham) | The Walking Dead

I know it's been a while since I've shared a recipe inspired by The Walking Dead, but I'm sharing one today to mark the mid season 7 premiere. So, the thing is, I had an extremely rough time with the first half of the season. Episode 1 brought on a ton of anxiety, that seemed to carry me through the season. It was so brutal and heart-breaking that just typing the words are making me cry. Literally. Sometimes my extreme empathic nature feels like a curse.

Cranberry Cobbler | Frankenstein

It's time for the November edition of the All Vampire Book and a Movie Challenge. I'll admit that I was a bit thrown for a loop when I heard that this month's assignment was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I'll admit that while I know the basic story of Frankenstein (I mean, who doesn't), I'd never actually read the book or seen this movie adaptation. And the whole "vampire" portion had me stumped.

Muffin Bottom Pudding Pie | Gilmore Girls Coffee Klatch

I can hardly believe it, but I only have ONE episode of Gilmore Girls left to watch. I could have watched the series premiere and included it in today's post—it's a mere 38:00 long. However, I wasn't quite ready to be finished, so I'm going to devote next week's coffee klatch to share my thoughts on the way things ended and my overall thoughts on the series.

Apple Brandy Punch | Chaos Comes to Longbourn

Calling all Jane Austen lovers! Today I'm hosting a book tour for the latest Pride and Prejudice variation by historical romance writer Victoria Kincaid. While Kincaid has actually written numerous variations, Chaos Comes to Longbourn was my introduction to her writing. Pride and Prejudice happens to be my favorite Austen, so I eat up any and all versions I can get my hands on.

Chaos Comes to Longbourn begins with a frustrated Mr. Darcy fleeing the ballroom in an attempt to get Elizabeth Bennet out of his mind. He winds up in the dark Netherfield library, only to stumble onto (literally) Lydia Bennet in a mild state of undress.  Although he witnessed a figure slipping out the back door, he was found in a compromising position and is forced to propose to Lydia.

Polvorones de Naranja | Frida #FoodnFlix meets #CooktheBooks

This month, Food 'n Flix meets Cook the Books once again. Both the movie and book selection are stories based on the life of Frida Kahlo, and seeing how Mexican Independence Day falls this month (September 16), it's the perfect time to bring some Mexican and Frida-inspired recipes to the table.

If by some very slim chance you're not familiar with Frida Kahlo, she was a Mexican painter known for her 143 bold and surreal paintings, 55 of which were self-portraits—and also for her unibrow. She was a communist sympathizer, a (bisexual) feminist, and a fiery personality who was married twice—to the same man, fellow Mexican painter Diego Rivera. Although they were separated by more than 20 years in age, and had an infamously tumultuous relationship, both admitted to the fact that they were soul mates.

5 Foods to Complement Your Coffee!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Folgers. All opinions are 100% mine.

The women and girls on the maternal side of my family have what some might call hoarding tendencies, but we prefer to think of ourselves as collectors. That's why, at least a couple of times a year, we commandeer a large table and pile it high with magazines piles that have grown slightly too large for comfort.

We come armed with coffee and plenty of sustenance to carry us through a few solid hours of good-natured chatter and the ripping and sharing of recipes and home and garden ideas. By the end of our decluttering session, we are each left with our own tidy "pile with purpose" and a full recycling bin.

"Shag Apple" Pie for Two inspired by The Walking Dead

Tonight is the night! Season 6 of The Walking Dead was packed with so much good stuff. Lots of story development, lots of action, lots of suspense, and lots of food! I think food has been much more visible this season since we're further into the apocalypse and "stores" are dwindling. I'm guessing that tonight's focus won't be on food, it'll be on finally interacting with Negan face to face. Which means that months of waiting to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan's beautiful face on Sunday nights will finally come to fruition. Even though I'll probably hate him.

A few other things that I'm hoping will be at least somewhat covered are *SPOILER*:

• Tara coming back to Alexandria and finding out that Denise was killed.
• Finding out the fate of Daryl (please be okay...please be okay...please be okay...) and the rest of the group being held by Dwight and buddies. 
• Maggie's agony (again, please be okay...please be okay...please be okay...).

Triple Cherry Pie inspired by Twin Peaks | #FridayPieDay

About one month ago, I finally watched Twin Peaks. The first episode originally aired when I was a freshman in high school. I vaguely remember it coming out, but I think I was too young to be on the in where it was concerned. I've thought about watching it here and there over the years, but there were two things that really made me decide that now was the time to watch it.

The first being that there is a 25-year special coming out sometime soon—this year I believe. I wanted to be ready for that. But the real push actually came from a podcast that I recently discovered called Fiction Kitchen Podcast. I listened to a few minutes of their Twin Peaks episode before deciding that I really wanted to know what they were talking about...so I hit stop and binge-watched Twin Peaks before coming back to listen to that (or any other) episode.

Corn Dodgers inspired by Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

It's time for another vampire book and a movie challenge, and this month Kimberly has chosen Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter for both the book and the movie to discuss. I'd already watched and forgotten the movie when it was first released on dvd. Apparently it wasn't that memorable. So, I figured I'd start from scratch—read the book and then watch the movie again.

What I didn't realize until I had the book in my hands is that it was written by Seth Grahame-Smith, who is also the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...which I read last month and absolutely loved. That was a pleasant surprise. Here's the thing about Grahame-Smith—he's kind of a master at what he does. And whether this says something about the school systems (yes, more than one) that I grew up in or something about me, I'm going to go ahead and put it out there. I learned more about the history of Abraham Lincoln reading this book than I knew before I started it.

Buttermilk Biscuits w/ Chocolate Gravy (inspired by Last in a Long Line of Rebels)

I always find it funny that as somebody a little older than the recommended age for a book, I can enjoy it so much. Such is the case with Last in a Long Line of Rebels. Recommended for ages 9 to 12, 5th grade and up, I'm slightly out of that age range...and  yet, I enjoyed every last page. I'd say that's a credit to the well-written story infused with mystery, history, intrigue, and a cast full of fun characters.

This is the story of 12-year old Lou Mayhew and her quest to save her 175-year old family home. With the help of friends, family, and a whole lot of gumption, she dusts off old family secrets and legends in the hunt to find some gold that's been long rumored to be buried on her family's land. It was a quick read from front to back that I thoroughly enjoyed.

15 "Would Be" Blog Posts of 2015

While many people are looking back and sharing their favorite or most popular posts from the past year, I like to look back and scoop some of the things up from the cutting room floor instead. Sometimes they wound up on the cutting room floor because the recipe didn't work out like I wanted it too and I need to revisit it later. Sometimes I just got too busy to share it with you. Other times I just thought the photos weren't good enough.

I dusted off 15 ideas from the past 12 months that I thought would be worth looking back at. I hope you enjoy a little peek at these outtakes!

Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie #FridayPieDay

Not only is today FridayPieDay, it's also the day after Thanksgiving, a holiday with a dessert table that centers around pie in my family. This year we had a mid-size gathering at my mom's house—just mom, her kids, and our kids which makes 15 people total. And yet, we still wound up with 5 pies. 3 people to a pie.

It's funny because there was only 1 pie and 1 cake scheduled in the initial "plan". We'd all volunteered to bring certain dishes and apparently all decided, individually, that 1 pie just wasn't going to cut it. And who knows what happened to the cake because it wound up being a no-show.