Northanger Abbey Viewing Party

We met on a Friday night in August to watch Northanger Abbey together.  According to Book Club tradition, we also shared some good food.  On the menu for the evening was margherita pizza, yummy root beer, chocolate zucchini brownies, and ice cream in waffle cones.  Yum!  Enjoy the pictures and recipe: 

Yum!

Margherita Pizza 

Margherita Pizza

1 ball of fresh mozzarella cheese

10-12 fresh sprigs basil (or fresh, dried basil from grocery store)

3-5 roma tomatoes or 2-3 large tomatoes

1-2 cloves garlic

olive oil

sea salt

pizza dough

Using whatever pizza crust you like, prepare it according to directions.  I like to use a *thin-crust recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  I've also used prepared, frozen dough from The Fresh Market and fresh dough from Trader Joe's, but I like the homemade recipe best.  A fairly thin crust works well. 

Pre-bake the pizza crust until it no longer sticks to the pan and is fairly firm (about 12 minutes).

Meanwhile, slice several roma tomatoes (or whatever fresh tomatoes you have on hand).  You want to have enough slices of tomato to pretty well cover your pizza.  I usually slice the tomatoes in half, and then gently squeeze the juice into a bowl.  Lay the slices in the bowl with the juice, and mince 1-2 cloves of garlic to add to the tomatoes.  Drizzle a little olive oil over tomatoes and also add a few dashes of sea salt.  Mix the tomatoes, juice, oil, and salt together.  Tear approximately 10-12 fresh leaves of basil into pieces to add to the tomatoes.  Mix it all together to incorporate flavors.  Let it sit until you have baked the crust.

Also slice or cube a fresh ball of mozzarella cheese.

Take the crust out of the oven and drizzle a bit of olive oil on top.  Use a pastry brush to evenly coat the top of the crust.  Then, place the slices of tomato and basil over the crust.  Drizzle on some of the tomato juice.  Evenly distribute the tomatoes and basil over the entire crust.  Do not place the mozzarella it on the crust yet.  Place the pizza in the oven, and bake for approximately 5-8 minutes.

Pull the pizza out of the oven and add the mozzarella cheese.  Evenly distribute it over the crust, and then place the pizza back into the oven for 3-5 minutes, or just until the cheese is melted.  Let the pizza stand for a few minutes to firm up, and then cut and enjoy!

*In my hard copy of the BHG cookbook, it has a variation from the online directions.  After you knead the dough, divide it in half.  Cover; let rest for 10 minutes, and then roll each dough portion into a 13-inch circle.  Grease two 12-inch pizza pans or baking sheets.  Transfer dough to pans.  Build up edges slightly.  Do not let rise.  Bake in a 425 degree oven for 12 minutes or until brown.  Once toppings are added, bake for 10-15 minutes more.  You can adjust the baking time however you like, but it is necessary to pre-bake any crust that you use for margherita pizza.  Otherwise, it stays too soggy and the toppings will dry out before the dough ever gets crispy.

A Non Book Club Book Club Event

I thoroughly enjoyed my Sunday afternoon this weekend. 

What was so enjoyable, you ask?

I got to continue to celebrate my birthday by making crafts and hanging out with my dear book club buddies.  As this was not an official book club event (Jane was not invited, nor was she discussed), I was not sure that it warranted a  place on the blog, but here it is anyways.

It was a lovely afternoon- the girls brought some delicious Italian themed food (hopefully they will share the recipes here soon), we got to work on some fun sewing projects (them ruffled pillows and me upcycled aprons), we made plans for a future endeavor (more on that soon), and they brought me some super thoughtful and fun gifts.  Top that off with the great company, and it was hard to beat.

Pictures were taken on various cameras, so I have quite the montage.  The girls will have to post their photos too.  One thing that we forgot to do was take the standard timer shot of the four of us.  But, I guess that it was not an official event :)

Dinner started with us almost polishing off a pan of delicious spinach artichoke dip made by Kayla.  She accidentally put in extra sour cream- like that could be a bad thing.  It was awesome.

We eventually ate real dinner: Caesar salad made with fresh lettuce from Kayla's garden and Betsy and Karla's baked spaghetti.  I understand now why it is a family favorite.

Dessert at the end of the evening was a chunk of rich chocolate cupcake and gelato (!).  I had no idea that you could buy gelato in Peoria. This could be dangerous.

Karla wanted to bring Italian Sodas, but found IBC Cream Sodas, which were sooo good.  She stuck them in the freezer to get them really cold...and we left them in a little too long.   FYI, partially frozen soda + glass bottled = mess.  But it was a tasty mess.

As for the crafting, we were all sewing using one machine, so we had to take turns, but we all finished at least one project. 

Kayla made a fun ruffled pillow with a black and white hexagon print.  It ended up having a really cool effect that unfortunately didn't translate in the picture.

 Betsy and Karla worked together and made this off white beauty.  They also made a couple of simple pillows for Betsy's classroom and have the strips all cut out for another ruffled pillow.

And my projects (which were also worked on before and after the girls were there) were these aprons.  They are made from "upcycled" fabric.  The black and pink one used to be two different skirts and the denim and lavender one is made from two old sundresses.  I really like the black one, but the denim one, eh, let's just say the 4-H judges from my past would not be giving it a blue ribbon.  One outta two in an afternoon isn't bad.

Thanks, girls, for the lovely non book related afternoon!

Mansfield Park- The Food

Karla requested a Mexican theme, being that we were meeting for the Mansfield Park Viewing party during her birthday weekend.

Here is the spread:

 Perfect pineapple and yummy papaya, balanced out by delicious chocolate chip cookies and cake. (and of course, the ever present diet coke)

 

Lots of chip choices, including tri colored bell peppers cut into dip sized pieces.

Three kinds of dips, including guacamole, fiesta ranch, and chicken enchilada.

Guacamole:
2 avocados, 1 T minced garlic, couple of shakes of salt, 2-3 T lemon juice, and fresh cilantro.  Blend until smooth.

Fiesta Ranch Dip:
1 tub light sour cream, 1/2 package dry ranch dressing mix, 1/2 package dry taco seasoning mix

Kayla's Yummy chicken enchilada hot dip- she will have to post the recipe, but it sounded pretty easy to make.

And we ended the meal with Betsy's chocolate cake (which was delish) and my favorite summer drink, iced Chai Lattes.  I love me a a good chai latte, but I am not a fan of paying $4 a pop for them.  Here is my cheepo version, which I think is just as good as Starbucks.

Iced Chai Lattes:
Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.  Turn off heat.  Stir in 1/2 cup of sugar (more if you like them really sweet).  Add 3-4 tea bags (I like either Bigelow or Good Earth spiced chai).  Let brew until tea is dark.  Remove tea bags, and put chai concentrate in the fridge.  When it is cool, pour equal parts concentrate and skim milk over ice.  Makes 5-6 lattes. Enjoy!

Ambiance

We met for this Book Club at a very prestigious and unique local coffee shop.  It had great ambiance, sunny windows, and a big table for all of our Book Club necessities.

 

Do you see that painting?  I think that it was commissioned from an Italian artist.  One of a kind.

We were surrounded by smells of fresh baked artisan bread, and newly brewed coffee...

Ok, fine.  We were just at Panera.

This is only Peoria.  What did you expect?

Sense & Sensibility Viewing Party Food Pictures

Yummy Potato & Cauliflower Soup, crackers, delicious rolls, carrots and dip.

 Potato Soup Recipe

Oh-My-Goodness Amazing shortbread-cranberry-chocolate cookies.  These were awesome.

Popcorn, necessary for movie viewing.

Impromptu slushy drinks- frozen pureed fruit, cherry 7-Up and pomegranate juice. Not pictured: the standard Cherry Coke Zero.

S & S Discussion- The Food

We ventured into public for book club this month, and met at:

Click logo for 30 30 website

Which was beautiful:

And had delicious drinks:

Mochas are more beautiful with froth art.

And then returned to Kayla's beautiful house for lunch:

Thanks for all your kind words regarding the Creamy Tortellini Soup. Actually Betsy was the one who found it on Pintrest, so I am deffering credit to her. Click HERE to get the recipe. Oh, and I used half as much spinach. I also want to say, don't you love the placemats? I have a roommate who isn't a fan, but they just look so great with the dishes. Makes me ready for SPRING!

Two kinds of yummy hummus: Click picture for recipes.

 

Brownies

While brownies are a good thing, they would not normally warrant their own post.  However, due to some eager posting on the part of some of the members, they inadvertently ended up on their own.  Here you go:

Hershey's Best Brownies
(see photo in this post)

2 sticks butter or margarine

2 c. sugar

2 t. vanilla

4 eggs

¾ c. cocoa

1 c. flour

½ t. baking powder

¼ t. salt

Melt butter. Stir in sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs – one at a time.  Stir in cocoa.  Add flour, baking powder and salt.  Beat until well blended.  Bake 30-35 min at 350 in greased 9 x 13 pan until brownies begin to pull away from the sides.

The Food- P & P Viewing Party

I also made Peppermint Fudge Sandwich Cookies and Pretzel Bites.  I will post a picture of the cookies later, but you can access the link to the recipes now.  Even though the pretzels didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, maybe someone else will have better luck with them.   ~Betsy

Not pictured, was spinach artichoke dip. My favorite appetizer of choice. It was taken from a Cooking Light article years ago (and I mean years, as in I was in Jr. High). It SO good AND it's practically healthy.

Also not picture were the Chicken Enchiladas, which needed a little work.  Basic recipe:
Cook 3 chicken breasts.  Shred, and mix with one can cream of chicken soup, about a cup of mozzarella cheese, and a little bit of chicken broth.  Warm flour tortillas for 30 seconds in the microwave wrapped in a damp towel.  Place a heaping spoonful of the chicken mixture in the middle of a tortilla and wrap.  Place in a 9x13 pan sprayed with nonstick spray.  Repeat until pan is full.  Cover enchiladas with about a half a can of soup mixed with a little broth. (this is what I messed up- they just need to be barely covered). Cover with more cheese.  Bake about 30 minutes at 350.

The Drinks- P & P Viewing Party

 Delicious, multi step, specially made, amazing Salted Caramel Mochas, made by Betsy (with kitchen assistance from Kayla)

 

And...Cherry Coke Zero.  Which Katie and Kayla drank all of.

Retroactive *Emma* photos

Well, I dropped the ball.

Nearly two months ago I was supposed to post photos of our Emma book discussion, but I didn't.  I have a hard time remembering to upload pictures from my camera to my computer, so by the time I finally did that, a long time had passed, and then I just decided I would procrastinate even more, because I've never actually posted on our blog.

Fast forward to tonight's (rather, last night's since it is after midnight) Pride and Prejudice book discussion, and I decided that I better get my act together. So here you go.  A few photos from October nope (checked my calendar), it was September 17th:

A precarious pile of Austen reference material

Some of the reference options

...a few more options (plus a Catholic reference book from Katie's collection, and now I can't remember why we used it that night, but we had a good reason!)

Our editions of Emma

Our food choices

Mmmm hot mulled cider

Hostess Katie's pretty table

-Betsy

What the Film Crew Heard…

The Scene Was Set:

There Was a Feast Prepared:

Hot Drinks Were Brewing:

And the Friends Were All There:

It was time for book club to begin!

Some comments to be remembered:

·         “I’m not advocating the buddies!” ~Betsy

·         “I’m…well...I don’t want to seem girly and irrational…” ~Kayla

·         “This is the Jane Austen Book Club.  You can be as girly and irrational as you want.” ~Katie

·         “…there are occasions…when I have interactions with certain individuals…” ~Betsy

·         “We are waiting for a social setting in which we can say, ‘He’s a 5 E,’ and leave a party.”

·         “My audio book must have left that part off.” ~Betsy

·         “Well, she’s pretty E.” ~Karla