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November 2020 Reading List

November 1, 2020January 7, 2021Leave a comment

I know I kind of did a Fall Reading List, but I finished most of the books on there and I’m ready to move on😂 So today I’m going to show you all of the books that I want to read this November.

I’m coming pretty close to finishing up my 2020 Reading Challenge which is exciting! I only have 5 prompts left👌 This month I’m hoping to knock out 3-4 of them, so I’ll only have one or two going into December. 20 books is about the right size of a challenge for me, which is good to know for next year! It’s good because it allows me to still read some books outside of the challenge, and not be restricted by it, but I still read lots of books that I wouldn’t have normally.

The novels I read last month were actually really good and I enjoyed them. All The Light We Cannot See was a beautiful story, and Sophie’s World was really interesting. And then I had Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, which I finished in like two days😂 It was such a good and easy read and I could put it down!

I was supposed to read The Guinevere Deception last month too, but just didn’t get around to it. This also happened in the summer. So this month I absolutely NEED to read it. Thats in the list, as well as three other titles that are very different from each other. I’m really excited to dive into them! Here they are:)

The Tao of Pooh

This book is super short and so it fits into my prompt of “Less Than 200 Pages”. It basically details how the calm attitude of Winnie the Pooh is like that of a Taoist. All of Pooh’s friends are either fretful, hesitant, calculative, or dogmatic, but Pooh just is. This book is philosophical, but has a good mix of dialogue between characters and information directly from the author. I don’t think that it would be classified as a novel like Sophie’s World though, if you’re looking for something like that. Hope fully this will be an easy and interesting read! I have a couple of longer novels on this month’s list so I wouldn’t mind finishing this one up quickly like I did with And Then There Were None.

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code is a sort of mystery thriller that begins when Robert Langdon awakes to a phone call that there has been murdered in the Louvre, and his body is covered in strange symbols. Along with cryptologist Sophie Neveu, Robert begins to find a trail of clues in works by Leonardo da Vinci, leading to a secret society and a fantastic plot. I chose this novel because it’s been banned, which is one of my prompts. It was banned in Lebanon, Manila, and India during certain times because of its controversial claims about Christ and Christianity. So that’s fun. I’ve seen this movie with Tom Hanks and it’s actually pretty good, so I’ll probably read this novel and then re watch the movie again, and pick up on some stuff that I didn’t before. I haven’t got around to watching The Great Gatsby yet which I need to do.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

This is one of the ONLY books I could find that has 20 in the title. So we’re going with it. It’s about a professor named Pierre Aronnax and his assistant who are called upon to investigate a strange “monster” that seems to be disrupting international shipping, along with the US navy. But the pair soon discover that it’s not a monster at all, but a futuristic submarine called the Nautilus. Along with the sub’s captain, Nemo, they explore the depths and wonders of the ocean on a magnificent journey that covers 20,000 leagues, or 50,000 miles. I’ve never read a Jules Verne novel before, so it should be a fun and relaxing read. Actually, one of the main characters in All The Light We Cannot Sea read it, which is kind of cool! I’m going to order this one on Amazon, because the only copies I can find at Chapters are very expensive.

The Guinevere Deception

So I’ve given a brief description of this book like two times already now, but I guess I’ll do a quick one again. This novel fits into my “Title With More Than Twenty Letters” prompt, and is about Guinevere, who is sent by Merlin to marry King Arthur to help protect Camelot. Although she’s hiding her true identity- and is much more powerful than she looks. She’ll give up everything to defend the city, and navigates an intimidating court, magical settings, and duplicitous knights. Can’t wait to finally read this after putting it off for so long!

There’s my list for this month! Let me know if you’ve read any of the books on there and if you liked them. Hope your found some book-spiration and I’ll see you guys on Friday:))

Yours Truly,

Olivia:)))

Pumpkin Date Granola

October 30, 2020January 6, 2021Leave a comment

You know how I love my granola! Couldn’t let fall pass without making a nice pumpkin one😍😍 With this I used up the rest of the pumpkin purée I had frozen which was perfect. I used the first half in my Pumpkin Oat Cookies, which you should definitely check out because they are delicious.

In this granola, we’ve got a LOT of pumpkin flavour, as well as pumpkin seeds, puffed wheat, and dates for sweetness🙌 And you’d better believe that some magic is gonna happen in the oven and you’ll be left with some serious clusters. What is a granola without the clusters? This stuff makes the perfect healthy breakfast. It’s vegan and refined sugar free, and goes great with milk, yogurt, oats, or on a smoothie bowl!😍

It only takes about 30 minutes to whip up this recipe, so you can make it in a flash when you feel like you need a quick snack or dessert. Pumpkin muffins and stuff are so overrated. This granola is so versatile and crunchy and way more tasty. I’ve got a big container of it in my fridge right now and can’t wait to eat it all up❤️

Hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Date Granola

Serves: 4-6

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups quick or rolled oats
1 cup puffed wheat
1/2 cup shelled and roasted pumpkin seeds, salted
3 dates, chopped
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup unsweetened pumpkin purée
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mix together the oats, puffed wheat, pumpkin seeds and chopped dates in a large bowl and set aside.
Stir together the pumpkin, coconut oil, maple syrup and spices in a separate, small bowl. Add into the oat mixture and mix until everything is throughly combined.
Spread the granola in an even layer on a parchment lined baking sheet, and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
Increase the heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and continue to bake for another 2-5 minutes. Keep a close eye on the granola at this point, as it can burn quickly.
Remove from the oven and enjoy!

This recipe is so good! Let me know if you decide to make it! Have a great weekend:)

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Homemade Veggie Broth

October 28, 2020January 6, 2021Leave a comment

I’m going to be making lots of soups this coming season because they’re so cozy and warming🥰 But guess what, WE NEED A FREAKING AWESOME BROTH FIRST! Prior to this I’ve never made homemade broth and I was shocked at how easy it is and how good it turns out😋

You could go to the store and buy some broth from there, but this homemade one is so darn good, and you can make as much as you want of it. And unless you’re buying organic broth (which I’m going to guess is pretty dang expensive), there can be all sorts of unwanted ingredients in there. If you’re wanting a broth that is all natural and super flavourful, make your own. Using this recipe, preferably😂

Broth is one of the simplest things you can make, so I’m not sure why most people don’t. Basically you just roughly chop a bunch of veg, then simmer it all in some water for a couple of hours, and you’re good. No fancy techniques or whatever. I made a nice veggie soup with this after👌 You could also use it in curries, casseroles, stews, quinoa dishes, or whatever you need broth for!

Hope you enjoy this simple and easy recipe that’s so versatile and delish!

Homemade Veggie Broth

Serves: Makes about 14 cups of broth

Total Time: 180 minutes (3 hours)

Ingredients:

14 cups of water
2 small yellow onions, chopped into wedges with the skins removed
3 large carrots, roughly chopped into large pieces
1 small portobello mushroom, thickly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring the water to boil in a large pot. Add in all of the veggies, then lower the heat and reduce to a simmer.
Simmer the veggies in the water for about two and a half hours, until the stock is a nice golden colour and has great veggie flavour.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, then remove from the heat. Pour the stock through a fine strainer into a large bowl to remove the veggies and any smaller veggie pieces.
Now your stock is ready for use! Place back in the pot and immediately make soup, or use in any other dish that calls for stock. This can also be frozen or kept in the fridge.

Can’t wait to see what awesome recipes you guys use this broth in! Have a great week:)

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Lentil and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

October 26, 2020January 6, 2021Leave a comment

It seems too early to be transitioning from fall to winter, but it’s kind of already happening. Why the heck is it so cold? And why is the sun rising at like nine and setting at like six? These are questions we have yet to answer, my friends. But in the meantime, we might as well embrace the freezing darkness that is winter and enjoy these stuffed peppers.

Stuffed peppers are an amazing comfort food🥰 They’re hearty and delicious, perfect for a cold winter night. These ones also happen to be super healthy, as well as vegan and gluten free. I used lentils and quinoa for the meat substitute, and it makes a filling that is INCREDIBLE. My advice is to double or triple the recipe so you can have tasty peppers for lunch all week long.

Also, if you don’t feel like cooking for hours or washing a TON of dishes, these are for you! I used canned lentils and already cooked quinoa for increased simplicity. You just need to fry up some onions and basically mix everything tightest in the pot. Then stuff your peppers, pop em in the oven, and let them get nice and soft on the outside, warm on the inside, and crispy on top😍 (Those crispy bits are the best part). You’re left with a meal that is so flavourful and filling that you’ll be like, take that, stupid winter. So yeah, the season might not be too bad if you’ve got these hanging around!

Hope you enjoy this recipe!:)

Lentil and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Serves: 2

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large bell peppers, any colour
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can of tomato paste (6 oz)
1 cup cooked lentils (I used the brown canned variety)
2/3 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 cup packed spinach
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium sized pot, heat the olive oil. Add in the diced onions and cook for 6-8 minutes, until translucent.
Add the minced garlic to the pot and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Then dump in the tomato paste, lentils, quinoa, balsamic, soy sauce, herbs and spices, and stir to combine.
Let the mixture cook for about 5 minutes, then add in the spinach and continue to cook until it’s wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then remove from the heat.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut out the tops of your peppers so that a round hole is left. Full each pepper with half of the lentil and quinoa filling, then place in a glass baking dish.
Bake the peppers for about 15 minutes in the oven; then reduce the heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the peppers are soft and the top of the filling is crispy.
Remove from the oven and enjoy!

Hope you guys are having a great week! I have another great pumpkin recipe for you guys on Friday. We’ve got to milk this pumpkin and apple stuff before fall is over, am I right? See you then!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

November 2020 Bullet Journal Set-Up

October 26, 2020October 26, 20201 Comment

Hey guys! October is coming to an end which is sad because my black and white moon theme was SO dramatic, simple and fun to do. I’m going to miss it✨ For November I’m doing something kind of different as well though, so it should be interesting!

I recently finished reading Sophie’s World (it was on my October Reading List, go check it out👍), which is a novel all about the history of mostly western philosophy. Anyways I really liked it; it makes you think about questions that you never really tackle in day to day life. Definitely recommend👌 It inspired me to do sort of a philosophy/abstract art/geometric/doodley theme for November😂 This may be a lot to take in. Let me explain.

At first I was just trying to figure out how to do a philosophy theme, like which doodles to do and stuff. And then I drew a bust of Plato on the front page, and was looking at how to draw those doodles around him, because I can’t just draw busts for the whole month because they take me forever😂 But instead of drawing philosophical doodles, I just ended up doing a bunch of geometric shapes. I was inspired by that kind of 80s pattern with all the dots and squiggles and different things like that:

So my final theme kind of reminds me of modern or abstract art, which I think is super cool! I’m definitely keeping that philosophy undertone with a bunch of busts and philosophical quotes though👌

Not gonna lie, I’m very surprised and proud of how my busts turned out. Usually I CANNOT draw people to save my life, so this was kind of an anomaly that you probably won’t see again😂😂 I hope you guys like these spreads and can draw some inspo from them! Even if you don’t want to draw the busts, just the shapes by themselves is a fun theme that you can play around with. Here’s my set-up!

First is my title page! I have my bust of Plato surrounded by abstract doodles. The colours that I used this month are all Zebra Mildliners, and I used this reddish-pink colour, a blue, a light green, and a purple. They’re all kind of the same saturation and I think they work well together:) I have my quote page on the opposite side as usual, and I also used my grid washi tape again this month because I think it fits in with the theme and adds a little something. I’ve actually been using some Faber-Castell black fineliners since my Sakura ones ran out, and I love them! The ink is so black and the sizes are perfect.

After a while of that half-page calendar layout, I finally switched back to this full page one. I feel like this one is just easier to use and plan with, plus you can see everything really easily. I still made room for goals and tasks though, and wrote out another philosophical quote from Socrates. I don’t really know how to describe the font I did this month, but it’s all caps and kind of rounded. I tried to space it out and fill up a whole square with each letter to make it look unique.

On to my trackers! I was brave enough to draw out another bust- Aristotle this time- and then I did more shapes and some more washi tape. As usual I’m tracking lots of habits, mood, productivity and workouts. The quote I have at the bottom is perfect for this spread! “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

Loving my Gratitude Log and Blog planner this month! The shapes are so fun and everything looks very minimalist which is new for me- I like to fill the page lol. Anyways, I only wrote out the numbers once in this spread because I’ll just use the same line each day. I made sure to include a lot of quotes throughout this set-up to keep up the philosophy theme, so there’s another one at the bottom.

And lastly, my first weekly spread of November. Just did some simple boxes, a few doodles, and yet another quote. I also included a thoughts section, because you never know maybe I’ll have some philosophical thoughts that I’ll need to write down.

There’s my set-up for the month! Let me know if you’ve started your November journal yet, and what theme you went with. I’ll see you guys later in the week with some great recipes:) Have a great day!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))