Cookbook Book Club - April

There are several purposes to the Cookbook Book Club

1 - to teach us new things

2 - to have a great meal together

3 - to stretch our wings and cook dishes we might never try

Sara was the hostess in April and her choice:

Now "diet" and Cookbook Book Club doesn't seem to compute

We're not meeting to diet but to cook and taste new and different foods --

But we accepted the challenge

And that is another purpose of the Cookbook Book Club --

to challenge us in the kitchen!

So we all looked up Keto

And the Pyramid . . . 

And as we said at the end of the evening,

we had one of the best meals that we've ever had

at the Cookbook Book Club

We started with appetizers

Donna brought two

A tray of "taco cups"

Taco meat filling in cheese cups.    Topped with tomato and sour cream on some

and sour cream on the others.

We all adored them!

They were good  and completely Keto!

Donna's other appetizer

Avocado stuffed eggs.    We all thought they were good and that the avocado filling was very good . . . 

Rhonda had a hard challenge this month --

How in the heck do you do a "starch" when the theme is Keto?

She did as a lot of Keto dieters do -- she made "potato" salad with cauliflower.

We all liked it and Rhonda said that she would definitely make it again!

A challenge of another sort:

I had salads.    Salads mostly being "keto", I decided to take an old favorite non-keto recipe

and make it keto!

An old tried and true -- broccoli cauliflower salad with green onions and green olives and a dressing made with Mayo and Ott's dressing

Ott's if full of sugar so I made a keto approved version.

I thought the "keto" salad tasted as good as the non-keto versions that I've made

for the last 40 years!

Liz had a salad as well and chose a tossed sald with all kinds of vegetables, topped with bacon and the most amazing basil dressing that I've ever had

Michelle got vegetable and she roasted broccoli -- which she had never done before -- sprinkled with Parmesan cheese

It was a very tasty vegtable

Rita is our bread baker and you know that whenever she has bread, you're in for a treat.     She had a challenge this month, however, as bread is not really one of the keto approved foods.     She found a recipe and made the most amazing bread.    You would never know that it was "lo carb".    

But then she's always been a magician with yeast and flour!

(It was so good that I ate two pieces!)

The hostess always provides the main course and Sara did a wonderful pork chop dish for us topped with green onion and Parmesan cheese.     She couldn't have picked a better entree had she known what we all were bringing!

It was a nice well-balanced plate of food

And it was delicious

Some of us even had seconds for it was really good!

Rita may have had a challenge with bread

but our dessert people also had a challenge 

But they were up for it . . . 

We had

Lemon balls made from cream cheese and lemon and rolled in coconut

Carrot cake balls -- carrots, cream cheese and coconut

Although there wasn't any "cake" in these balls.

Belynda did a great job with these two desserts.

Angela was the other dessert person and she brought almost frozen berries

and white chocolate "soup" -- Oh, my was that ever good.    I thought I saw several of our group eyeing the bowl of soup and wondering if they could just go to a corner and finish it!

It was a fun time -- as it always is

And we're eager for next month when Angela will host

and the theme is Jamie Oliver!

Lunch With A Dear Friend

Friend Francie lives in Springfield, I live in Fort Scott

Most of our conversations are electronical

For we're Facebook friends and visit a Food Board

that we've both been members of "forever"!

We've met many times over the years --

usually in Joplin (mid point between Springfield and Fort Scott)

and she's been to lunch at Linderhof

I've been to her New Year's Day Open House in Springfield

Her garden club had lunch at Linderhof

after they toured the Secret Garden Tour

I gave a program to that same Garden Club when

Francie hosted the club at her house

I was going to be in Springfield Saturday

I asked Francie if she was available for lunch

She was!

She suggested this bistro:

If you ask me where it is, I can give you the address but I'm not sure in

what part of Springfield it is in . . . 

the neighborhood, however, is full of restored Craftsman bungalows from

the 20s and 30s

It's a quirky little place -- small rooms filled with tables

Francie was able to snag a table by a window

We both ordered:

A cup of Russian mushroom and potato soup and a half of a tuna sandwich.

The tuna sandwich was the best tuna salad I've ever eaten.

Tuna, thin slices of apple and celery dressed with a creamy dill (fresh not weed) dressing

It was so good that I ordered a sandwich (deconstructed)

to take home for dinner!

But I wasn't too full for dessert

The one they recommend:

A coconut cream cupcake

It was delicious!

This is my new favorite lunch place in Springfield and I can't wait to go back!

Francie and I

Two old friends meeting again!

Up In Smoke

We're from Kansas City

We adore BBQ

Kansas City style BBQ

So did my family . . . 

As a child, my family favored Bryant's

Often on a Saturday night, Dad would bring home a slab of ribs

We all were in heaven!

Jim, on the other hand,

prefers Gates

Those are the "granddaddies" of KC BBQ

And high on both of our list is:

Which got it's start as Smokestack

located on Troost,

we didn't often get ribs there

but we did get the 89er

(called that because it cost 89 cents!)

And a side of beans!

The son of the owner took the Smokestck BBQ one giant step forward

into a small regional chain of restaurants

"Jack Stack"

But they have the same beans!

Because it's at the south end of Johnson County, we go there 

more often than other BBQ places

Last week was BBQ week at Linderhof

When we have company, it's the dining room

(Which in my opinion, is a bit formal for BBQ)

No tablecloth, BBQ is messy

No cloth napkins, BBQ is messy

But the blue and white plates and Jim's grandmother's cutlery

It was rib night

We had another couple over

A couple who love ribs

(Well, he especially does)

So we did a whole slab each

(and they took their leftover slab home!)

Husband Jim used Oklahoma Joe's rib rub

And slow smokes to perfection

We prefer spareribs rather than baby backs

(A bit more fat but also a bit more meat)

Grandmother's coleslaw

(that oil and sugar and vinegar kind with celery seeds)

Smokestack's Baked Beans

(they published the recipe long ago in the Kansas City newspaper)

Slow cooked as well until they're almost caramelized

For dessert with friends:

pecan pie

the husband's favorite

And they were our guests

Two days later, another slab of ribs (not each -- just one)

for my brother and his friend

Same sides -- BBQ calls for baked beans and coleslaw

(and if you have a potato -- fries)

(But Jack Stack has a cheesy corn that's also good with BBQ -- I have the recipe but don't make it nearly as often as I do the beans.    For not everyone likes corn)

Dessert:

Fresh blueberry pie

(My brother's favorite fruit pie)

Thick slices and coffee rounded out the meal.

Husband Jim is back in the garden again

Smoke two pork butts

for a thank you luncheon for the volunteers of a fundraiser I co-chaired in March

I do sometimes wonder why we even bother to eat BBQ out --

Jim's is great BBQ!

Jaycees

The Jaycees were founded on October 13, 1915 in St. Louis, Missouri by a man named Henry "Hy" Giessenbier, Jr. What Hy sought to do was to develop the character and business skills of young men. He knew the potential was there and sought to bring out that potential in all. It started life as the Young Men's Progressive Civic Association In 1916, the name was changed to Junior Citizens and in 1918, the Junior Citizens affiliated themselves with the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce. After The Great War ended, the group decided to become a National organization On January 1920 it is the official birthday of the Junior Chamber of Commcerce (called informally J.C.'s) It was changed officially to  Jaycees and in 1990 it was changed back to Junior Chamber of Commerce Membership now is limited to those individuals 18 to 41 years of age It's an organization for both men and women Women members were admitted in 1984. It went from a peak membership of 395,000 in the 70s to 12,500 Giessenbier felt it was important for a young man to make his mark early in life, so he offered the members development of business and leadership skills. Those skills are still offered to today's members. Jaycees were an important part of our life in the late 70s and early 80s At that time, there were two organizations -- The Jaycees which was the men's group And the Jaycee Wives which was the auxiliary group We wives helped our husbands in their projects and we did our own projects both fund raising projects and service projects Some of the things we did:

Jaycee Rodeo

M D A Telethon

Community sign in Nevada, Missouri

U S Marine Corp Band Sponsor

Food Booths to raise money for projects

Award Banquets

Socials

We lived by the Jaycee Creed during those years

And actually, it is a good Creed to live by

for service to humanity is really the best work of life!

Jaycee Officers

The Jaycees (and wives) always wore their red vests whenever they worked a project.

Pins on the vest were awards and pins traded with other clubs at

regional meetings, state conventions and national conventions

To think how many lives were changed because of Henry Giessenbier, Jr.

The Jaycees changed even more when in 1984, they allowed women to join the organization.

because women were now taking more of a leadership role in the workplace.

The Jaycee Wives held on for 11 more years before they disbanded and even though couples can both be Jaycees, there was something special about the two organizations.    

How we could focused on issues involving women and children while the men's projects

were more for general community good.

And those women's issues are not at the fore front now that it is a co-ed organization.

All of this walk down memory lane is because of something I found at a flea market

A 1976 cookbook published by the Fort Scott chapter of the Jaycee Jaynes

(which some states called the women's auxillary)

And reading the book, seeing recipes from dear Fort Scott friends

who also were Jaycee Jaynes brought back a flood of memories from our Jaycee days.

When The Lunch Bunch came in March, the menu came from the cookbook's pages

 Joann Meara's Chicken Artichoke Casserole

Made for the 21st Century with boneless skinless chicken breasts 

rather than a whole chicken

An appropriante recipe for The Lunch Bunch for before she moved away, Joann was a member of the Lunch Bunch.     So even though she wasn't there, her recipe was!

With fresh asparagus, roasted and a hot roll

it was a ladies lunch

Dessert was lemonade pie -- that simple pie of lemonade, cool whip and Eagle milk mixed together and poured into a graham cracker crust.     In the 70s, it was served often -- almost as much as quiche!

I must say that I am proud that Jim was a member of the Jaycees

And that I was a Jaycee wife!

Joann's Chicken recipe:

JOANN MEARA’S CHICKEN ARTICHOKE CASSEROLE

3 pound cut-up fryer or chicken pieces

1 ½ t. Salt

½ t. Paprika

¼ t. Pepper

6 T. butter

¼ pound mushrooms, cut into large pieces

12-15 oz. can artichoke hearts

2 T. flour

⅔ c. chicken consomme or bouillon (I used chicken broth)

3 T. sherry

Salt, pepper and paprika chicken, then brown them in 4 T. butter and put them in big casserole.    Now put 2 T. butter into frying pan, saute mushrooms 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over them; stir in chicken broth and sherry.     While this cooks 5 minutes, arrange artichoke hearts between chicken pieces; pour mushrooms and sherry over them, cover and bake at 376 degrees 40 minutes.    This can be fixed in the morning or day before.