Monkey Bread, Books, Bloggers, and More: The Week in Review

What to do when you've got a hankering for monkey bread but no appropriately-sized oven-safe dishes? Reach for the Pyrex. I had a small case of Pillsbury Grand Buttermilk Biscuits and no small dishes for my monkey bread - so I poured it all into my handy Pyrex measuring cup for some safe and delicious baking. I'm pretty proud of my resourcefulness!

 Finally I made it back into the kitchen to cook a few well-rounded meals. Barley risotto anyone?

Or how about some homemade guacamole, courtesy of Trader Joe's Guac Kit? I try to eat seasonally and locally as much as possible but broke my own rules a little bit with this one. It's nice to indulge and pretend it's summer every once in a while.

I also had all the makings for some uber-delicious artichoke pasta complete with authentic Italian penne rigate!

I like to finish all of my healthy meals off with some Oreos & peanut butter for dessert. And yes, those are red-creme-filled Oreos for Christmas, not Valentine's Day. One of the few times when I'm grateful for the highly processed nature of so many foods these days: an extra-long Oreo shelf life!

I've been raiding the local library lately (though this doesn't really mark any significant change in my regular bibliophile behavior). Nonfiction dominates my reading list these days and I'm particularly excited about each and every one of these books! I'm currently working my way through Omnivore's Dilemma - look out for plenty of reviews in the coming weeks!

On top of doing a bit more cooking than usual, I also had enough free time this week to do some long-awaited blog seeking. Here are some of my latest finds:

First is a relatively new blog called 182 Days that is one of the most honest, inspiring, heartbreaking blogs around. This blogger was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and given only 182 days to live. Her blog is a testament to her strength and will to live in the face of such earth-shattering news. She takes us along for the journey as she does the things she's always wanted to do and lives these precious days to their fullest. I find her completely inspiring and refreshingly honest and am so glad to have come across a blog such as hers. 

Then there's Heart Zeena from London-based textile designer Zeena. She posts about all sorts of goings-on in the world of ethical fashion which I absolutely love and she's a really talented woman to boot!

The Vivification of Mrs. Moment is one of my other most treasured blog finds as of late. Blogger Kat is all about random acts of kindness, humanitarianism, activism, and life lessons learned and shared. I've been on the hunt for a blog with this kind of content for sometime now and am so glad to have found it in the talented, thoughtful, and powerful Kat!