January and February Book Club

We had a lot of fun at the December girls night out and book exchange. Thanks to everyone who came and enjoyed yummy food!

The next book club will be at Taryn Richardson's on Thursday, January 8, at 7:00

 p.m. The book is The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.

February book club will be at Renee Jensen's on Thursday, February 4, at 7:00 p.m. She has chosen the book Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La by Robin Jones Gunn.

November Book Club

Read The Book Thief by Mark Zusak and come to book club on Thursday, November 13, at Michelle Sargent's home. Please contact Adrienne if you would like to carpool. See you there!

Book for October Is Announced!

Misty has chosen the book The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale for October 9th book club. Reserve your copy at the library today!

Calling All Readers

If you know of someone who would like to be included on the book club e-mail list, please let me (Adrienne) know. We do not want to leave anyone out.

I also want to thank Leah for hosting a delightful book club. We had a great time. 

O Mamma Mia!

Thanks to everyone who was able to come to the late night Mamma Mia sing-a-long at Jordan Common's. It was a blast and I was reminded that moms can still have a lot of fun! Misty wins the prize for knowing the most ABBA songs.

Monkey Bread

Some of you have requested the "monkey bread" recipe that we had at the book club retreat. It is SUPER easy and perfect to set out Christmas Eve to bake in the morning.

Monkey Bread

Combine and melt together on the stove:

1/2 cup butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla

Place 24 frozen Rhodes rolls in a greased bundt pan. Sprinkle with 1 small 3 oz. package cook and serve butterscoth pudding (do not use instant). Then pour melted mixture over top. Sprinkle with chopped nuts (I prefer pecans). Cover and let rise overnight. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cover with foil toward the end if the top is browning too much. Turn onto a platter.

Here's a similar recipe posted on the Rhode's Web site. Click here.

Shannae

Some of you know Shannae Radford Youssefi (daughter to Stan and Susan Radford in our ward). I saw her tonight on our walk. She is looking great and happy to be done with cancer treatment. She was just awarded a scholarship. Here is the Salt Lake Tribune article that highlights this amazing young woman.

Avocado Egg Rolls

I thought this would be a great place to exchange recipes, because we are all saying how we would really like some new recipes. Please feel free to email me recipes to post here. 

At January book club Marci made avocado egg rolls that were to die for. Here is the recipe (Thanks, Marci!):

CHEESECAKE FACTORY AVOCADO EGG ROLLS

1 large avocado
2 T chopped sun-dried tomatoes (bottled in oil)
1 T minced red onion
½ tsp chopped fresh cilantro (I usually add more)
Pinch of salt
3 egg roll wrappers
Vegetable oil for frying

Dice avocados. In a small bowl, gently combine the avocado with tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and salt. Don’t smash avocado.
Put mixture in to egg roll and fry in oil

DIPPING SAUCE

¼ C chopped cashew
2/3 C chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, quartered
2 green onions, chopped
1 T sugar
1 tsp black pepper (I don’t use this much)
1 tsp cumin
4 tsp balsamic vinegar
½ tsp tamarind pulp (I got this from my neighbor who is Hispanic – I’ve never seen it at the store – if you can’t find it, you can leave it out and it still tastes OK)
½ C honey (I only use ¼ C)
Pinch ground saffron (I usually leave this out because I don’t have it )
¼ C olive oil

Combine first 7 ingredients in food processor-until garlic have been chopped into pieces about half the size of a grain of rice. Combine the vinegar, honey, tamarind, and saffron in a small bowl. Heat mixture for about 1 minute in microwave then stir until tamarind pulp dissolves completely. Pour mixture into food processor and mix with cashew mixture about 20 seconds. Pour sauce into bowl. Ad the iol and stir by hand. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

* I double the egg roll recipe and can get 8-10 egg rolls. There is no need to double the sauce recipe

Book Club Overnight Retreat

Thanks to our husbands for sponsoring the annual book club overnight retreat (for watching children and tending to tedious household duties). It was a wonderful way to start out our Mother's Day weekend. And I think the guys appreciated having a last minute Mother's Day shopping opportunity without the wives wondering where they were. I will not go into great detail about our slumber party or name names. I will say that I witnessed fellow book clubbers dancing on tables, a pregnant woman doing the splits, and some incredible vocals and moves as we played Karaoke Nation. It was a great time had by all and something we hope to repeat every spring (or more if necessary!). Thanks everyone for a great time!