Review: Trim Healthy Mama Coobook

I love cookbooks. I love the way they look, I love the way they feel. I even love shelf reading the 641 section at the library. OK, that last part may not be entirely true, but I always leave with cookbooks in arm when they are my shelf reading territory.  I am always excited to augment my collection, and Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook is an exceptional addition.

My first impression of Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook: This is a big, beautiful book stuffed with fantastic looking recipes and an abundance of color photos.  I love that the authors, Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison, say in the introduction that their serving sizes are suggestions only - they don't judge! I also love that they indicate the recipes that use "ordinary" ingredients with 'NSI' at the bottom of the page (just a quick glance is needed).  That's not to say these are "few ingredient" recipes: the results of your hard work will be robustly flavored meals.

I feel there are recipes included to satisfy any taste. My daughter has chosen to follow a vegan lifestyle so I was excited to see things we could make for her, too, such as Asian Sesame Tofu Toss. YAY!! Something besides a boring salad or sweet potato to serve her.  I'm also looking forward to the Green Fries made of green beans. I also appreciate that the authors include directions for different cooking methods in some recipes: for example, directions for cooking spaghetti squash in a pressure cooker, a crockpot, and an oven are given.

This is really a great book that delivers healthy options for all tastes.

Click here to purchase on Amazon.com


* Thanks to Blogging for Books for my free review copy of this book.

Review: Every Little Thing by Payton Cosell Turner

Adult coloring books are all the rage right now. I work in a public library and the adult coloring programs are some of the best attended. How exciting - no more princesses to color (although...I love coloring those big, beautiful princess dresses). While I gave some for Christmas gifts this past holiday, I've never gotten one for myself so I was thrilled to get Every Little Thing by Payton Cosell Turner from Blogging for Books to review. 

At first look, this is a good looking book. The book jacket is beautifully embossed and attractive. But I think that's when my love affair with Every Little Thing ends. 

Inside, the designs feel a bit haphazard. The creatures look a little bizarre. It may be that my mind prefers geometric patterns to Turner's designs, so definitely take a look for yourself.  Another thing I don't like about this book is that the designs span both pages as the book is open, but the binding does not allow the book to be laid flat. This makes coloring the left side of the page a bit awkward.  Even if you removed the pages you would have different designs on the laid out single page, so this doesn't really work either. A spiral binding or perforated pages you could easily tear out would work better in my opinion. While I appreciate the work that went into creating the coloring pages (how I wish I could draw!), I only found them to be mildly interesting. Even though I wasn’t crazy about Every Little Thing, I would certainly take a look at other Turner books.

Click to purchase on Amazon.com

I received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books for review.

Review: The Heart-Led Leader by Tommy Spaulding

I have read leadership books that have educated me, that have energized me. I have never read a leadership book that has made me cry. Until today. The Heart-Led Leader by Tommy Spaulding is the culprit.  Reading about high powered, successful leaders, such as Grove Norwood, who make a difference in the lives of their employees and those around them is such an inspiration. 

I am currently in a work situation where the leaders of the organization are doing good things for the people they serve, but they do it for the wrong reasons – to put their names in journals, to pad their resumes, etc.  This ultimately is a disservice to the community. A lot of money is being spent to make changes the leaders want, not what will be the best for that community. They aren’t invested in the community since they don’t plan to stay. This makes me sad. What I take from Spaulding’s book is that not only is it okay to treat your staff compassionately, it’s desirable. It doesn’t make you a soft leader – it makes your staff want to work that much harder for you. I totally get that. As he says, “Success is about building hearts, not resumes.”

I highly recommend this book to all leaders: heads of organizations, scout leaders, students.  Everyone can benefit from The Heart-Led Leader.  I’ll be passing this book along to my supervisor, who is the leader I want to be most like. 

I received a copy from Blogging for Books in order to review.

Click to purchase on Amazon.com