So You Loved The Hunger Games...

The Hunger Games is a young adult book that has infiltrated the adult world! As a result, dystopian fiction has taken off recently. Did you read The Giver back in the day? The Giver was ahead of its time. Now, there are so many modern versions to choose from! I read The Hunger Games back before it was popular, and when I was reading it, I was like, "What the heck am I reading?" It was so weird and violent. But I kind of liked it. And then everyone else started reading it and liking it too, and I breathed a big sigh of relief that I wasn't weird for liking it!

Wait - you haven't read The Hunger Games? Stop. Close the blog. Proceed to Barnes & Noble. Purchase The Hunger Games. Read it. (It won't take long.)

You're back? You read it? Good. You loved it, right? Now you need to read the next two books in the trilogy. Duh.

Now, if you can handle it, you can delve into the crazy world of dystopian fiction! (You may need to intersperse with lighthearted books every now and then, but it is worth it!) Try the Uglies. It came out way before the Hunger Games, but it is one of my favorites of all time. It's a four book series.

Now tackle all of the great dystopian fiction that has come out in the wake of Hunger Games. They may or may not give you nightmares, but I can't stop!!

(Sequel to Matched... doesn't come out until November 2011. Boo.)

(Sequel to Maze Runner. Already out!)
Super freaky, but good message and frighteningly realistic.
Soon to be (or already is?) a hit movie!

Happy Reading!!

So You Loved The Luxe...

Did you love The Luxe? If you're like the kids at my school library, when you read a good book you want another one just like it. While it can be kind of annoying when kids beg me every single day for more books about gangs, I have to admit I'm kind of the same. Although I don't love books about gangs, I do love certain other kinds of books, and I can't seem to get enough. Namely, I can't get enough historical romance and dystopian books. That's right... they're not even close to being similar categories, but I love them both. So for all you Luxe lovers, here are some books just like it. Tomorrow I'll offer suggestions to all you Hunger Games lovers.

So you like The Luxe... Wait, you haven't read The Luxe??? Stop. Close the blog. Proceed to Barnes & Noble. Purchase The Luxe. Read it. (It won't take long.)

OK, you're back! And you loved it, right? Well now you'll need to read the next three books in the series. Duh.

OK, done with those? Now you want more, right? But there is no more. Sad. Email Anna Godberson. I'm truly jealous of you if you haven't read them yet. However, she has started a new series:

Once you've finished Bright Young Things, you can get to work on all the other great historical romances out right now!

Happy reading!

Taco Miracle

If you've known me for more than ten minutes, you know that I'm obsessed with tacos. They are my favorite food, by far. I could eat tacos morning, noon, and night everyday. This is not an exaggeration. I haven't met many tacos I didn't like, but I recently found a good one that is so unique! These carne guisada tacos taste like brisket tacos from a legit taqueria. You will swear they came from a taco truck. But no - they came from a crock pot.

It's a taco miracle.

This Carne Guisada recipe came from Everyday Food Magazine. The carne guisada is a stew of beef, onions, and peppers in a rich gravy. You can serve it on top of rice, but I prefer it in a taco! I've served these tacos for multiple people who have come over for dinner, and they always get rave reviews.

This recipe is a new Norwood family favorite and Brent has given it 4.5 stars I believe (out of 5). Curiously, nothing has ever gotten a 5, so 4.5 is pretty much the best you can get. I'll take it.

Carne Guisada Tacos
Adapted from Everyday Food

2 1/2 lbs. chuck roast, cut into bite sized pieces
coarse salt & ground pepper
2 T. vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced medium
2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced medium
2 large jalapenos, seeded and diced medium
5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
palmful each of ground cumin, chili powder, and oregano
6 T. flour
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
flour tortillas, salsa, cheddar cheese, cilantro, and/or guacamole for serving

Heat the oil over high heat in a skillet. Season meat with salt and pepper and brown meat in batches - about 3 minutes each batch.

Remove meat from pan and reserve on a plate. Add chopped onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, and garlic to skillet and saute 5 minutes or until tender.

Add all spices and flour to sauteed veggies. Stir to cook for one minute just to cook out the raw flour. Add chicken broth and stir to incorporate and make sauce smooth, scraping up all browned bits. Bring to a simmer and cook 2 minutes.

Add meat and veggie mixture to slow cooker along with canned tomatoes and bay leaves. Cook on HIGH for 5-6 hours. At the end of the cooking time, your house will smell amazing, and you will see this:
Most important step: Buy fresh tortillas from your grocery store (Kroger or HEB have them). Then, CRISP them on a griddle. This is key and makes it taste so much better you will not even believe it. You may not skip this step. Don't be lazy.
Spoon carne guisada mixture out of crock pot with a slotted spoon and arrange on your crisped tortillas and top with your choice of toppings. I prefer salsa, shredded cheddar, and cilantro. You can serve the leftovers with the sauce on top of Mexican rice... yum!

Blue Ribbon Chili

Although lots of foods claim to be "blue ribbon", I can assure you that the Lemmon family chili has ACTUALLY won a blue ribbon! Never mind that it's 78 degrees in Houston. I know it's still frigid in other places, and let's be honest - you can always eat a good bowl of chili. I continually underestimate chili. When I think about it, sometimes it doesn't sound that good. But when I make it, I'm ALWAYS glad that I did. This chili is delicious, every time. I grew up eating this chili, and have since gotten Brent hooked on it. But the story behind the chili is a good one.

Back when I was a freshman at Texas A&M, my mom did what any self-respecting mom did - she joined the Aggie Moms Club. In her defense, I don't think she ever wore an Aggie Moms sweatshirt or had an "Aggie Mom" sticker on her car, but she was a card-carrying member of the club. Each year, the Dallas county Aggie Moms Club holds a chili cookoff to raise money for scholarships. My mom didn't really want to enter as chili cookoffs are not usually her thing. However, one of the other ladies convinced her, and she decided to make a pot of chili to be helpful. She couldn't attend the actual cookoff because she had something else going on, but she was happy to send her chili with someone else.

Now, you may think that the Lemmon family chili is a time-honored tradition, passed down through multiple generations with 45 different kinds of spices, all measured by hand. Well... then you would be wrong. The Lemmon family chili is a mix (a delicious mix, mind you) right out of a box. All you have to do is add meat, tomato sauce, and any mix-ins you desire like beans or tomatoes. All of the spices are conveniently pre-measured and pre-packaged for you in little packets - you just add them to the meat, cook for a while, and you're done. It comes out perfect every.single.time. The brand is "Wick Fowler" and it comes in a little yellow or red box. My mom prefers the yellow box (false alarm... not hot at all) and I prefer the red box (perfectly spicy). Either way, you can't go wrong. I always use turkey and you can't even tell the difference.

Anyway, back to the story....

With the help of Wick Fowler, my mom whipped up a pot of chili, slapped her name on it, and sent it to the cookoff. Done and done. Cause supported... check! Fast forward a few days. The president of the Aggie Moms Club called my mom and informed her that SHE WON THE COOKOFF! And, because she won, her chili recipe was to be featured in the Aggie Mom's cookbook!!!! You can imagine the look of horror on my mom's face as she heard this glorious news. The lady asked her to send the recipe so that it could get printed right away. haha!! So my mom had to decide what to do. She had no idea how much of each spice to add... you just put in the packets!!! She actually considered opening the packets and measuring out each spice to write out the recipe, but then she came to her senses and decided what the heck.... and she told them it was a Wick Fowler box mix. Thankfully they didn't strip her of her prize and let her keep the stylish Aggie Moms apron that she won. It makes me laugh every single time. Here is my mom with her prize cooking up what else? A pot of chili. Love it.

So try a pot of Wick Fowler chili this week and think of my mama. Good job, mom! Sandra Lee would be proud.

Showering My Salsa

My sister is my salsa, and she is getting married! That's right: the same girl who played with Hot Wheels, chopped off Barbie hair, handcuffed me to the playroom chairs, won science fairs, and asked for sports equipment for every holiday is getting married. Wonders never cease :-) j/k salsa.

I am the matron of honor and though I don't like that term, I was happy to be able to work with Julia's maid of honor, Laura, to plan two super fun showers in Dallas this past weekend. The first shower was a luncheon for all of Julia's high school friends and their moms. All of our family also attended including aunts, grandmother, and cousin.

Then, later that day, we headed out to Grapevine to the Gaylord Texan to throw Julia a bachelorette party with all of her Texas bridesmaids and college friends. It was a whirlwind weekend, but Julia woke up on Sunday morning and told me, "That was so much fun" which made all the planning worth it.

I knew February was going to get busy, so I started working on the details of the parties back at Christmastime when I had a break. I'm glad I did! It all came together beautifully, and I had a blast with my mom and family doing last minute preparations. Julia, you're a wonderful sister and a wonderful friend, and you will make a beautiful bride in less than a month! Here are the pictures of both of last weekend's events.

(Warning: Picture overload! But isn't that why you look at blogs, anyway??)

I got into Dallas early and spent the night decorating with my mom, Grammy, and Aunt Robyn. We had the best time. Here is mom & I hanging the banner I posted about here.

Here I am cutting ribbon for a vase. My Aunt Robyn said I looked like I was sixteen, so I figure that's reason enough to post this one. :-)

Next we worked on making Martha Stewart tissue paper pom-poms for decorations. I've seen these pom-poms at every single baby shower ever blogged about, so I decided to snag them for our shower too. They were super easy to put together. Grammy was the pom-pom fluffer on the assembly line.

Here are the finished products!

They looked super cute on the mantle, in doorways, and hanging from light fixtures.

While we were decorating, here's what Grampy was doing. He was in his own little happy place with the women fussing over everything all around him!

Loved the flowers my dad picked out from Central Market! Nice job!

As guests left the shower, they got a little party favor in the entryway. We set up a candy bar using the shower's colors - orange, green, & purple.

They scooped their candy selections into a mini-paper bag.

And sealed it with these cute stickers I made.

Julia & I with our cousin Melissa

Set-up at the lunch buffet - wrapped silverware & Julia's wedding invitation

Dining room with pom-poms and cupcake stand

The gift table and blessing branch

Close up of the sweet blessings guests wrote

The bride getting her lunch

Melissa & I were the third wheels - we didn't fit with the moms or Julia's friends. So we had our own little corner. Some of Julia's friends at the shower

We were only staying one night at the Gaylord... but you wouldn't know by looking at us :-)

Here is Laura crowning Julia with her royal, plastic, blinking light bachelorette crown.

Sassy bride comes out to play

We went to a wine tasting at a vineyard in Grapevine... so fun!

The wine was just OK. They make it by the highway... haha. But we'll take what we can get for $10.

Cheers to the bride

Here's the bachelorette crowd on the way to dinner outside the fake Alamo backdrop at the Gaylord. Whatever works.

And that's where we stopped taking pictures... sorry! After wine, champagne, and dinner, I played the "matron" card and retired to the suite early. Juila & friends, on the other hand, went out to a club and danced the night away. Oh to be young...

All in all, it was an amazing weekend, and my sister deserves all the attention, gifts, and fun she had. Love you Julia!