Meet the Shaneyfelts

tips and advice

October Reads

I’m departing from my usual Weekend Recap to play a little catch up on something I meant to post back in October.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a little while now, you know I’m in grad school and that means I pretty much have no time to read for fun.  When I got a 10 day break back in October in between grad terms, I took advantage of that and read a couple of books.

My friend Victoria recommended this book to me and it was my favorite out of the three books I read during that break.  I liked it so much that I recommended it to a lady at my school who is in my book club and she liked it too!  It’s not your typical love story.  The main character’s family owns a vineyard and the story is told along with the process of wine making.  I highly recommend this book!  If you do read it–let me know what you think of it!


I loved Laura Dave’s first book so much that I read another book of hers.  This one was interesting and I liked it, but Eight Hundred Grapes was still my favorite.

This is the follow up sequel to Me Before You (which I loved so much).  Louisa has to learn how to live life without Will.  I wasn’t such a fan of this book, but everyone else who has read it loved it.  It may just be me haha!

What should I read next?


My First Time to Cook Quinoa–a Recipe

I had always been intrigued by the idea of eating quinoa, but I was a little intimidated to cook it myself.  I had only had quinoa in two dishes–one in a roasted butternut squash spinach salad at a local restaurant and then in a broth bowl at Panera.  That was the extent of my quinoa consumption.  But I knew that it had huge health benefits (TONS of protein, fiber, B12, magnesium….that’s just to name a few).  And it was a grain.  I texted my friend Sarah last week while I was in Walmart telling her I was taking a leap of faith and buying a box and that I needed her favorite recipe.  Luckily, she was headed into Walmart and met up with me to talk about her favorite recipe.  She emailed it to me and I tried it a few days later!  

(Note:  I accidentally messed up on the recipe and had to alter the recipe super fast–like, in the middle of cooking because I misread the directions.  So this is my version.  But I really like Sarah’s as a dip–which is how she served it Friday night.)



Sarah’s Southwest Quinoa

I cup cooked quinoa
1 can drained black beans
1 bag frozen corn kernels
1/2 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced (I used 1 tsp minced garlic)

1. Cook the quinoa and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Combine the black beans, corn, onion, and red bell pepper and sauté on the stove until onions are transparent (and corn is cooked thorough).
3. Combine all of the sautéed vegetables and cooked quinoa in a bowl. 
4. Mix together olive oil, lime juice, salt, cumin, and garlic and pour over the quinoa and vegetables.  Mix together well.

This will be served hot.  This can be a side dish or even your whole meal.  You can also add in grilled chicken!  I first ate it as a side in our meal one night and then ate it for lunch by itself the next day.  It was filling just by itself!

This is such an easy introduction dish to quinoa and will be on rotation in our house!