I started these wrap up posts sort of last year, then abandoned it in March. I was doing book tallies, with how much I saved by using the library but with our library being closed for half the year last year, it didn’t quite work out. So, I am bringing this back, in just a smaller, different way. I always love reading everyone else’s versions of these and I think this will be fun to look back on at the end of the year.

Books Read

Not many – it was a slow reading month for me! However, in a first for me, every book that I finished was non-fiction!

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Movies Watched

I loved every movie we watched this month. We always kick off the year with a rewatch of The Big Year, one of my favorites ever. We watch it every New Years Day! I also watched two Lily James movies and didn’t even intend to. She was just all over my tv this month. Rebecca and The Dig are available on Netflix; The Secret Garden and The Big Year are available on Amazon.

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Recipes Made

So I had determined that I was going to return to cooking and baking this year, after letting meals become repetitive and easy last year. And so far so good! I hate every photo I take of food, so I am going to share the photos from the OG blogger and chef that created them instead – it will do the dishes the justice they deserve.

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Chickpea and Dumpling Soup || One Pan Greek Lemon Chicken || Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast || Lemon Garlic Butter Salmon with Olives and Feta

I was a vegetarian for twenty years until last year – it just became too hard, my child was always under the growth charts in weight and only wanted to eat meat, my husband is a meat eater, and I decided to make my life a little easier with cooking and make one meal instead of two every night. So for now, I am eating meat and it is weird, it is the first time in my adult life I have ever made it. So it is full of experimentation. I also love anything with lemon or olives or feta, I am really into that flavor profile, and so is Billy, so that is a bonus. I have to be honest, we had the salmon last night and it was fantastic. But then tonight we fried up the leftovers, scrambled up some eggs, and put it all on tortillas and it was amazing. I am so full right now. That was hands down my favorite of the month – we got it in right in time to make the January list! It was good to get back in the kitchen and play around again.

How about you all? Eating anything good? Watched any good movies? What are you reading?