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The Raw and The Cooked

Simple Meals + Honest Book Reviews + Practical Living

Recent Library Hauls: The Good, the Bad, and the Returned Early

One of my favorite additions to our summer rhythm has been our weekly library trips.

I want our summer to feel slower, so naturally our local library has become one of the anchors to that plan. The kids fill up their tote bags with picture books and chapter books, we usually stay for a little while to browse, and I always wander over to the adult fiction shelves to see what catches my eye.

Spoiler: I choose my books like I choose my wines at Straubs — what’s featured by the librarians, and by a pretty book jacket.

I genuinely believe public libraries are one of our greatest community resources. Beyond the endless shelves of books, ours offers story times, craft days, STEM activities, and all kinds of free programming for children. It’s become one of the highlights of our week.

One unexpected benefit of borrowing instead of buying is that I’ve become a much more adventurous reader. If I purchase a book, I often feel obligated to finish it—even if I’m not enjoying it. But when it’s borrowed? I have no problem returning it halfway through, if it’s not working. That freedom has made reading really light this summer.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve worked my way through quite a stack. Some were fantastic. Some were simply okay. And a few…well…they went right back into the return bin. I wanted to share those lists with you today + quick 1-2 sentence reviews.

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Numbers 25:10 – 30:1 | Pinchas | “Phinehas”

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July! We didn’t do much, since it fell over Shabbos (and don’t forget the oppressive heatwave / and raging thunderstorms, to boot), though I really loved that the big 250 coincided with Shabbos, because it gave us time to reflect, pause, and express gratitude to Hashem for this glorious country, who has been so good to us. Think for just a moment about how good an American Jew has it, the opportunity, the freedom. I thought a lot about both my grandfathers upbringings; one born in Czechoslovakia, and the other a first generation American. How radically different their first 24 years of life were. Either way, they each raised their children here, on American soil, and after tons of hard-work, determination, perseverance, gratitude, and a bit of Hashems charm, they rest easy, knowing how much better they had it than their grandfathers. We are so lucky to be Americans, thank you Hashem, for this miracle of a country.

This weeks Parsha is Pinchas. Which doesn’t have a very clear arc, it seems to be a bit all over the place, but it does hold several interesting themes nonetheless. It opens with violence (which ends up being rewarded), a new census taken, leadership being appointed, land about to be divided, the festival calendar repeated, daughters asking for inheritance. Let’s dive in!

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Simple Pizza Dough

We’ve been eating a lot of homemade pizza around here. It’s so easy to throw together, and the whole thing, from start to finish can be done in 60 minutes. Many times, it’s my children’s preferred lunch option. I love how easy and fresh it is. The recipe below is for the dough. I do cheat, by using Trader Joe’s jarred pizza sauce, but I will take the time to grate a log of mozzarella cheese, mainly because the bags pre-shredded cheese from the grocery stores have anti-caking agents and other mysterious ingredients in them, which I prefer to skip. So anyway, I make a simple cheese pizza 99% of the time for the children. At some point I did invest in a super inexpensive pizza pan and a pizza wheel – which makes life even easier. I like to serve this up on wax paper, which means there’s virtually no clean-up. In the summer time, it’s a win-win-win. Because we’re a family of six, this recipe will yield you two 12″ pies, but if you’re not feeding two adults and four hungry, hungry children, feel free to cut the recipe in half. I knead you to know, this recipe is truly the best.

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Numbers 19:1 – 22:1 + 22:2 – 25:9 | Chukat + Balak | “Statute” + “Balak” 

We started last week off with a fantastic Fathers Day brunch at my in-laws. I brought homemade bagels (recipe here), we had the whole local St. Louis family, plus my husbands sister, visiting from NYC, and it set a really nice tone for the week. Relaxed, slow-paced, and easy. If I could draft up a perfect summer week, this past week would be it. We’re walking into our second (third?) heatwave of the summer this week, which…. isn’t fun. Especially for my chickens. They don’t particularly care for frozen watermelon rinds, but maybe they’ll get desperate enough this time.

Meanwhile. We open with another double parsha, which is kind of a shame, because each one, Chukat and Balak, are each profound in their own way, and I really wish I could dedicate one full post to each. Oh well. Chukat, because Israel is given a very interesting punishment, but also the cure, it deals with the death of Aaron and Miriam, and there’s a lot of unpack. And Balak. Well. That’s the story of the talking donkey, and again. Could be its own post. I’m going to do my very best this week. Especially since I’m writing this day of, with a baby on my hip.

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What I’m Studying in 2026: Healing, Faith, and Growth

One of my favorite things about a new year is deciding what I want to learn. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed something interesting: the books I’m drawn to often reveal more about my season of life than I realize. It’s a reflection of where I am and where I hope to grow. Looking at my non-fiction stack for 2026, a clear theme emerged: Healing.

Healing the body, the mind, relationships, and my nervous system. And perhaps most importantly, deepening my connection with God through all this said healing.

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Numbers 16:1 – 18:32 | Korach | “Korach”

Last week was officially the first week of summer, Camp Mommy. Where we had all four children at home, and it went pretty smoothly, all things considered. Though two out of our three mornings of swim lessons got cut short – long story. We celebrated our oldest son turning six, we had a class birthday party at the park, a second family birthday dinner + cake at home, and celebratory baseball game — the Cards got crushed by the Padres, but we did end up with a foul ball for the birthday boy! A visit from my sister-in-law as well. It was a pretty great week. For those who don’t know, yesterday was the 2026 summer solstice, which means it’s officially summer, but the days will slowly grow shorter from here on out.

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