I recently got a Kindle, and I share an account with my sister. For some reason, Amazon hasn’t figured out that people can share books. So I can read books that she has downloaded on her own Kindle without paying on my end.

Anyway, I’m having a good time reading some books that I would normally not pick up, like “The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University” by Kevin Roose.

This book is a true story about Kevin’s “semester abroad” during his sophomore year at Brown University to Liberty University, an evangelical school founded by Jerry Falwell. Kevin was only 19 years old when he started writing this book undercover at Liberty. He took basic religion classes, lived in dorms with people who had very different views than his own, and had curfew, prayer circles, and spent his Spring Break in Florida trying to “save” people.

I really enjoyed the first and last quarters of the book, which was the setup of his experiment and the end results of what he learned. There were lessons of kindness and charity that stuck with him even though he may not have expected them to.The most fascinating part of the book was how the University coped with Falwell’s sudden death at the end of his semester and the way he documented it from the inside. The middle part of the book was similar to the middle of a semester–just drags on. Overall, an interesting a fairly quick read about a religion and school of thought that I would otherwise know nothing about.

Classic Turkey Meatloaf

This recipe is from Cooking Light and recommended by a friend. You might notice that my recipes have short ingredient lists, and usually require buying few new items at the grocery. This turkey loaf uses oats instead of bread crumbs, and mostly dry herbs, all which I already own.

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients: 2 lbs. ground turkey breast

1 C quick cooking oats

1/2 C ketchup (I subbed 4 oz tomato sauce)

1/4 C chopped fresh parsley (I used dried)

1/4 C grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1 T dried oregano

3 T Worcestershire sauce

2 T low-sodium soy sauce

2 tsp basil (I used fresh)

1 tsp garlic powder

another 1/4 C ketchup (I used the rest of the can of tomato sauce)

Preheat oven to 400*. Combine all ingredients except last ketchup in bowl. Get in there with your hands! Pam a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Place turkey in loaf and bake for 1 hr, 15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

The loaf was very flavorful and dense. Ours made far more than 6 servings! The oats were non-existent in the finished product, so don’t worry if that sounds strange. I think you could use BBQ sauce instead of ketchup or tomato sauce for a thicker sauce.

I served with homemade mashed potatoes and green beans. A delicious and well-rounded dinner!