Family Tradition

My grandparents aren't doing so hot these days and a issue is cooking. My Grandma doesn't want to do it anymore, and poor Grandpa doesn't know how...so when I go over there, I try to take some food prepared at a food prep place, like Let's Eat! or Dinner Done, or I make something myself.

My Grandma's sister (Auntie Barb from Marion, IN) is really cute and made me a cookbook once I was married of all of our family recipes. One of the best presents I received! Each recipe has a short story as to why it's special. Today I'm going to prepare 2 recipes from it...This one today...Hamburger Casserole tomorrow. My grandpa's palate right now is very bland, so I'm trying to keep things basic- but it tastes pretty darn good!

Hot Chicken Salad

From Auntie Barb's Cookbook- "There are a lot of hot chicken salad recipes in the world, but this is my favorite. I got it from Nellie Studebaker, who was our guidance counselor at school over 20 years. It's nice to make up the day before and refrigerate. It has a good combination of interesting textures.

Ingredients:

4 C cooked chicken cut into chunks

2 C chopped celery

3/4 C undiluted cream of chicken soup

2 T lemon juice

1 t salt

1 can of water chestnuts (sliced)

2/3 C grated cheese

4 hard boiled eggs (sliced)

3/4 C mayo

2 pimentoes cut fine

1 t finely minced onion

1/2 t Accent

1 1/2 C potato chips

2/3 C almonds chopped fine

Combine all ingredients except potato chips, cheese, and almonds. Place in large, rectangular baking dish. Top with potato chips, cheese, and almonds. Let stand overnight in fridge. Bake 25-30 min at 400 degrees.

Book Clubs are for Cool Kids!

I just got back from my monthly book club meeting. There are 7 of us 20 & 30 somethings in the club, we choose books 2 months in advance (for those of use that reserve library copies and need some time for them to come available), and we discuss over dinner at a small locally owned restaurant of our choosing.

Tonight we were at a Lebanese restaurant discussing Turning Angel by Greg Iles. Decent book- Crime drama, cute setting in a Mississippi town (Natchez) that you just want to live in, but awfully long at like 650 pages. Could have been done in 500. Still a pretty good page turner with lots of twists and turns. A couple unbelievable moments, but still worth the time investment.

This month we're reading an Oprah Book Club book- Wild by Cheryl Strayed- about a girl who has a lost moment in her 20's and decides to hike the Pacific Coast Trail- alone. Good so far...though I'm only on day 9 of the 100+ day hike.

So you are thinking- what's the point of this post? I will get to the point- I just like to offer up some of the previous books because I'm one of those readers who always is looking for new read recommendations.

The point is our challenge for selecting our NEXT book. We are each supposed to choose a "classic" novel and then report back on what it was about. There was no definition given to narrow down the meaning of "classic", so I can get creative. I mean, I did read a handful of them in high school but couldn't tell you one thing about them. I'm quite intrigued by this challenge- where does one start? Do you read something you already read and LOVED- like me with Little Women? Read something you THINK you remembered loving- like me with Catcher in the Rye? Do you read The Great Gatsby because it's coming out as a movie soon? Or do you read something completely new?

I posed this question to my Facebook nation and the responses were varied. I did brace myself for the "You are in a book club?" idiots, but they kept to themselves- well except for my dork husband who suggested A Charlie Brown Christmas. Thanks babe.

To note- suggestions from the FB peanut gallary (and the book club crew) so far are:
Pride and Prejudice
The Outsiders
To Kill a Mockingbird
Tale of Two Cities
Emma
1984
Little Women
Atlas Shrugged

Hmmmm....decisions....