Showing posts with label Linda Diane Wattley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linda Diane Wattley. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Charge of an Angel - Linda Diane Wattley, Author



Shrimp with Garlic Cream Sauce over Linguine

1 cup hot water
1 cup Original COFFEEMATE Powdered Coffee Creamer
8 large cloves garlic, unpeeled
16 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
3/4 cup Buitoni Refrigerated Freshly Shredded Parmesan Cheese (5 oz.) 
1 pkg. Buitoni Refrigerated Linguine (9 oz.) , prepared at the last minute
Directions:
WHISK together water and Coffee-mate until smooth.

BRING 6 cups water to a boil in medium saucepan. Add garlic; cook for 2 minutes. Add shrimp; cook for 2 minutes or until they turn pink. Drain. Peel and chop garlic.

HEAT oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.

WHISK in Coffee-mate mixture and cornstarch; whisk until cornstarch is dissolved. Cook, whisking occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken. Stir in parsley, cheese and shrimp. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Pour sauce over pasta; toss to coat.

Nutritional Information
Serving size: 1/4
Servings per recipe: 4
Calories530
Calories from Fat180
Total Fat 21g32%
Saturated Fat 11g53%
Cholesterol 180mg59%
Sodium 410mg17%
Carbohydrates 50g17%
Dietary Fiber 2g7%
Sugars 1g
Protein31g
Vitamin A8%
Vitamin C10%
Calcium20%
Iron15%

Charge of an Angel - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of: Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; and A Book and A Dish

"I will never know who I would have been if this hadn't happened to me.  That is so hard for me to live with.  I don't know the real person I was, and I never will.  How can I live with something like that?  I feel robbed - cheated.  First, my mother and my brother are taken from me.  I found out that my father is not my father, and then I find out my virginity, youth, and innocence was stolen right in front of my face.  Why me?"

Her name is Leona Marie Tillard and her life has been turned inside out.  One night she, her mother, father and two brothers went to bed as a family.  When she woke her mother was gone.  Sometime later her brother went away and Daddy will tell her nothing about where they are or why she can't see them.  Daddy was lost without her mother and needed someone to 'comfort' him.  With Leona being the only female in the house, she stepped into that position.  Then comes her Daddy's marriage to another woman who has three children of her own and her family is complete again.  So she thought.

When I ask Author Linda Wattley if this book was fact or fiction she assured me it is both.  After talking to her, we both confirmed we knew young girls who were put into a position of being sexually abused by parents, other relatives, and adults that were in their lives.  The same adults that were supposed to take care of them and lead them in the right direction chose instead to impose their own sick needs on these innocent children.  And in some instances they even included boys in their desires.

Are the children to be blamed for not telling?  No way.  The threats they receive if they tell is too fearful.  They are brainwashed to believe that what they are doing isn't wrong. Supposedly, it's all done as an act of love, a way of showing love, and proving they are loved.  If they are found out they are treated by others as being sick as well and that they should have known better, known it was wrong, refused what was being done to them.  How can you know something is wrong if someone who is supposed to take care of you and teach you right from wrong is committing the crime against you?  You simply can't.


Charge of an Angel is book one of three.  It takes you through the abuse that Leona endures, her feelings, and her ways of escaping from realty.  It will make you hurt for her and those like her.  It will make you want to really hurt the person doing this to her.  And it will have you waiting to see how life treats her as she gets out of her abusive life and goes on as a young adult.  I know I'm patiently waiting on book 2.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Soldier With A Backpack: Living and Dying Simultaneously - Linda Diane Wattley, Author



Roasted Tofu

(If you’ve never had roasted tofu before, here’s a great way to start.  Toss tofu and asparagus in a tangy orange and basil scented sauce, made rich and savory with miso.  Serve with brown rice or couscous and an orange and fennel salad.)


1 ¼ oz. package extra-firm water-packed tofu, rinsed
2 Tbsp. red miso, divided
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar, divided
4 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1” pieces
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 tsp. freshly grated orange zest
¼ cup orange juice
¼ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.  Pat tofu dry and cut into ½” cubes.  Whisk 1 Tbsp. miso, 1 Tbsp. vinegar and 2 tsp. oil in a large bowl until smooth.  Add the tofu; gently toss to coat.  Spread the tofu in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.  Roast for 15 minutes.  Gently toss asparagus with the tofu.  Return to the oven and roast until the tofu is golden brown and the asparagus is tender, 8 – 10 minutes more.  Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 1 Tbsp. miso, 1 Tbsp. vinegar, 2 tsp. oi, basil, orange zest and juice, and salt in a large bowl until smooth.  Toss the roasted tofu and asparagus with the sauce and serve.

Soldier With A Backpack - Review by Martha A Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

I always welcomed sleep because it was a form of escape from the grown up world.  When I would go to sleep, there was always an angelic presence waiting for me.  At the time, I didn't know it was this presence drawing me there, I just knew I couldn't wait to get there.  It was so normal to me that I never wanted to awaken.  In fact, it angered me that I had to wake up at all.  When I heard about the soldiers diagnosed with PTSD, and their struggle to have a decent night's sleep, I was confounded because it is like I am the total opposite of them.  My nightmares are more in the awakening state than the sleep state.  The world is a war zone to me.  My sensitivity to my environment is often times nerve-wracking.  The first thing I wanted to do in an uncomfortable moment is go to sleep.

Author Linda Diane Wattley writes about her life, from childhood to adult.  She writes of the horrors of being molested by someone close, watching the fights between her parents, the desertion of her mother and older brother, leaving she and her younger brothers in the presents of her father who later brings another family into their lives.  She shares all of her feelings as these events take place as well as the other horrors live deals her as an adult.

As I read Soldier With A Backpack I couldn't help but relate to many of the events that took place in her life and how some of those events affected my life as an adult.  I know very few people who haven't commented on how 'hard their childhood was' myself included, but after reading what this author went through I can only thank God for the life I had as a child and my life as it was and is now as an adult.  I know several veterans who suffer with PTSD but never quite understood it until now.  I guess I also never realized that you don't have to be a veteran to suffer this mind fogging disorder.  There is one piece that the author included in the book that I must share.  It's actually by a Jim Kwik and fits all of us, with or without PTSD.

Here it is "If an egg is broken by outside force, Life ends.  If broken by inside force, Life begins.  Great things always begin from inside."  If we could all remember and live by these two short sentences then there is nothing that we can't handle and deal with throughout our lives.  This is a book that I recommend to everyone!  Including young adults.

 
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