The Coffee Shop: Divergent Trilogy and a Mexican Recipe!

Hello friends, ready with your cup of coffee? I hope you've been enjoying your week so far! It's been very busy here and I haven't had much time to be on the computer! Just have had my days filled (which is great) and I re-started homeschooling my 3 yr. old. It's been so much fun! She loves it and I do too!

I've also been baking a lot and having friends over! Today I am going to help do something at church (I am not even sure what, but I jumped right in when a friend told me she'd be there to help lol!) then I'll be going to Chick-Fil-A for lunch (my girls love it, and even when I love it too I don't get too excited about going there at noon because it's always packed!)... anyway... I said Divergent Trilogy, right?

Well... about probably 2 weeks ago I bought (what I thought was) the 1st. book of the Divergent Trilogy...

It was weird because the name of the Book was "Insurgent" and I thought the name of the 1st. book would be "Divergent" ... I saw the Divergent Book, opened it and I could swear I saw something that said "the 2nd. book of the Divergent Trilogy" inside of it... then I went ahead and opened the "Insurgent" book in my hands and I could also swear it said "the first book of the divergent trilogy" ... what went wrong? I don't know! I was sooo unsure that was the first book so I thought I really checked twice before buying it but... I did.. and even when I started reading it something was off! Things didn't make sense... I had the feeling I was supposed to know what was going on ... but I didn't ... so I convinced myself it's probably just the style of the author... and maybe things would get clear later... things did get easier later ... and I got the personality of the characters and understood that a lot had happened before but I thought the author explained it all throughout the book... I was sure I was reading the 1st. book of the Trilogy!!! (ugh!) ... I wasn't!!!

Then... when I finished the book... I was eager to read the 2nd. one... so I went to the bookstore THAT NIGHT and got it... guess what... when I start reading... I realize... I was wrong! The whole time! And here I am ... reading the 1st. book with such disappointment because I now knew what was going to happen... I tried to convince myself this would be like watching "Batman" and then "Batman -The Beginning-" or something like that ... it hasn't been bad at all though... I thought I wouldn't be able to get into it since I know so much of what's going to happen! But it's been really great and I finally get details about the personalities and "lives" of the characters that I might have to read the second book again! LOL! ...

Anyway... I recommend this book! There are some things I haven't liked but overall it's a good read, I've liked it better than "The Hunger Games" ... I am almost done with the first book (2nd. one for me... LOL!) of the Trilogy... and I can't wait for Fall 2013 to read the last book!

And now... A recipe!

I am going to just start sharing here some of the recipes of my "Mexican cooking Blog" since I haven't been around there for a while... for a long time actually! So... for all my followers here I'll just start bringing those recipes over! I hope you enjoy them! All AUTHENTIC!

I know the fact that these albondigas are stuffed with hard-boiled egg might make some people nervous, but trust me... my husband (who is a gringo) loved them! :) He was skeptic at first but they are delicious!

Albondigas rellenas de huevo / Meatballs stuffed hard-boiled egg

Yields: 8 Meatballs (4 servings)

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 chipotle pepper (from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce) -it HAS TO BE chipotle, any other "chili pepper or powder wouldn't give this dish the wonderful smokey flavor -
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 white onion
6 roma tomatoes (or about 4 of the whole red tomatoes) - cut in quarters or big chunks -
3 hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters (you will probably only need 2 because we are making about 8 meatballs but cook 3 eggs just in case)
1/4 cup of white rice
1 cube of chicken bouillion
salt and pepper to taste (about 2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. of black pepper... adjust to your taste)
about 1.5 tbsp. vegetable oil (or a little more if necessary)

Directions:
- In a middle sauce pan pour some water (fill it about half-way) and when the water starts boiling throw the 1/4 cup of white rice and let it boil for only 5 minutes, remove from the heat, drain the rice immediately and set aside (let it cool for about 5 minutes)

- Mix the ground beef with the rice, season with some salt and black pepper and mix it all well with your hands.
- With the meat start making "patties" (like hamburger patties) and wrapping the egg quarters with those patties (one quarter per each of the patties) Making sure the egg is completely wrapped by the mix of meat/rice. Do this with all the meat/rice mixture. You should have about 8 meatballs. Set aside.

- Put your tomatoes, garlic, chipotle pepper and about 1 cup of water in the blender. Blend it all until it makes a sauce (as smooth as possible)
- In an extended non-stick pan using medium-low heat add the oil and fry your 1/4 onion there (you can slice the onion if you want, it doesn't matter much but the onion will be removed) While the onion is frying and the oil is hot add your meatballs carefully so they don't open or fall apart, if you use medium or medium-high heat it might cause them to break so just be patient and seal your meatballs on all sides.

-Once they are browned on all sides (about 9-10 minutes) remove the oil and the oil excess. Add your sauce and chicken bouillion (you can add some salt at this point if necessary but wait until the sauce has been simmering for about 5 minutes to taste and adjust) once you add the sauce you can also add chopped potatoes if you want just to add something else, but I left it like that. Bring it all to a boil, cover, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for about 35 minutes and serve. (side of rice, mashed potatoes or salad)