Queen of the Cookbooks
Page 23
“Perfect sense. And I understand the part about being terrified. I really want to do this right. I guess every parent says that at the beginning, but I don’t want to have the misunderstanding between myself and my child that I had for way too long with my mother. We were just two different people with the same name. Thank God, we ironed it all out in time for my wedding, and when we talk to each other now, all the tension is gone.”
“Well, let’s just agree to lean on each other,” Elise continued.
“Like sisters? You do know I’m an only child, right?”
“Yes, I do. I never had a sister, either. You don’t know how many times I’ve wished Jer was a girl, and don’t you dare tell him I said that. The macho side of him will take it the wrong way. So it’ll be a new experience for the both of us, this little kingdom of ours with a population of two.”
Maura Beth’s smile conveyed the comfort zone she’d just entered. Perhaps she should press things just a bit more, feeling the way she did. “Four, if you count our babies. I was wondering, though . . . do you ever see yourself letting a man into your life? Not that I think it’s necessary, you understand.”
Surprisingly, Elise’s features softened, and she lowered her voice almost to a whisper. “I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. Let’s just say that I will try to keep myself open to all possibilities.”
“Sounds like me. And, you know, it’s paid off where my library career was concerned.”
Then Elise made a gesture as if she were scribbling something in midair. “And just think, Jeremy will be sniffing around throughout the whole eight months taking notes for his novel and asking us to describe all our aches and pains and cravings. Oh, I bet he really presses us about our cravings. Jer can be quite analytical at times. Are you ready for that?”
“I think I can handle it,” Maura Beth added. “And who knows? Maybe the three of us will all give birth at the same time.”
Recipes: And the Winners Are . . .
For our recipe section this time around, we thought we would feature the dishes that won Best Appetizer, Best Entrée, Best Dessert, and Overall Best Dish in the Queen of the Cookbooks Competition during the Grand Opening of the new library on the shores of Lake Cherico. Each of these dishes was contributed by loyal Ashton Lee readers around the world, and each fan has been gratefully credited at the end of each recipe. Interestingly, all came forward to Ashton Lee himself to offer these dishes on their own without prodding. These are people worth cloning. Please try all the recipes at your leisure. Some are very easy to fix, but all are quite tasty. Meanwhile, we know you’ll be looking forward to the next installment in The Cherry Cola Book Club series, coming soon. Those babies are on the way!
Mrs. Frieze’s Cheeze Ballz
Ingredients you will need . . .
2 eight-ounce boxes of Philadelphia (Original) cream cheese
1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can Hormel ham
1 package chopped pecans
Mix first six ingredients together thoroughly and then roll mixture into balls. Roll cheese balls in the chopped pecans until completely covered. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Best served with crackers.
—Courtesy Mignon Pittman, Director,
Calloway County Library, Murray, Kentucky
Aleitha Larken’s Chicken on the Sofa (Chicken Divan)
Ingredients you will need . . .
2 cups cooked chicken, sliced or large pieces
1 package dehydrated onion soup mix
1 pint sour cream
2 packages frozen broccoli, cooked
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
Bake chicken breasts or dark meat—whichever is preferred, or use both. Slice chicken into large pieces. To make sauce for cooked chicken, add soup mix to sour cream and beat with rotary beater until well blended. Arrange cooked broccoli in shallow casserole dish in a single layer. Spoon half of sauce over broccoli, then add layer of chicken. Fold whipped cream into remaining sauce and pour over chicken layer. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and brown under broiler. Recipe serves 4.
—Courtesy Margaret Trigg Kuehnle, Natchez, Mississippi,
and Margaret Kuehnle Fulton, Lake Concordia, Louisiana
Maribelle Pleasance’s No-Sugar-Added Cherry Cake
Ingredients you will need . . .
1 can pineapple tidbits in own juice
1 can cherry pie filling (no sugar added)
8 ounces walnuts (or pecan pieces)
1 box yellow cake mix (no sugar added)
1 stick real butter
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine pineapple tidbits and cherry pie filling, and stir together in an ungreased pan. Do not drain pineapple tidbits. Layer nuts on top of fruit. Add cake mix dry. Do not stir in, just level out. Melt stick of butter and then spoon over dry mixture. Bake for about 45 minutes until brown on top.
—Courtesy Marilyn Cadle Holkham,
London, United Kingdom
Ana Estrella’s Pigeon Peas Cake
Ingredients you will need . . .
1 cup gandules (pigeon peas) (if using canned gandules, which
come in a 15-ounce can, drain the gandules first and use 1
cup for this recipe; save the rest for a savory dish)
¼ cup coconut milk
¼ cup 2% milk
1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups cake flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon Maxwell House International Café Hazelnut
Flavor powder
3 ounces baking dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
In a small food processor, mix the gandules with both milks and process until it is puréed. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, and mix.
In a separate bowl, combine cake flour with baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and International Café Hazelnut powder and sift once. Remove about 2 teaspoons of this flour mixture and set it aside. Gradually add the rest of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing well.
Add gandules mixture to the batter, mixing well.
In a small bowl, mix the chocolate chunks with the 2 teaspoons of flour mixture that was set aside and fold into cake batter.
Pour cake batter into a greased and floured Bundt cake pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 25–30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, without crumbs.
Once cake is done, remove from oven and let cool inside the pan for 10 minutes; then invert cake onto a cooling rack. Let cake cool completely. Once it has cooled and is ready to be served, sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. Slice and enjoy with a cup of café con leche! Buen provecho!
—Courtesy Ana Raquel Ruiz,
Atlanta, Georgia, and San Juan, Puerto Rico
A READING GROUP GUIDE
QUEEN OF THE COOKBOOKS
Ashton Lee
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions are included to
enhance your group’s reading of Ashton Lee’s
Queen of the Cookbooks!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Have you ever run a food tent such as the ones featured during the Grand Opening of the new library? Talk about your experiences.
2. Do you take advantage of your library’s story hours for your children? Discuss some memorable events.
3. How important do you think sex education and awareness of substance abuse are for young people these days, and how do you believe the information is best impa
rted? (Re: Renette Posey’s character)
4. Do you approve of constant library monitoring of Internet use on their computer terminals?
5. Do you think libraries should block certain Internet sites?
6. Which of these newly introduced characters in this novel captured your fancy—negatively or positively—the most: Ana Estrella, Bit Sessions, Gwen Beetles, Maribelle Pleasance, Marzetta Frieze, Miriam Goodcastle, Hardy and Lula Posey, Elder Warren, or Shark?
7. Have you ever had a mad crush on someone the way Renette does on Waddell Mack?
8. Jeremy’s sister, Elise McShay, makes her first appearance in the series since Jeremy and Maura Beth’s wedding in The Wedding Circle. What do you think of her latest unconventional decision?
9. Have you changed your mind significantly about Councilman Sparks? In what way?
10. How would you rate Maura Beth’s growth as a woman and a librarian? In which area has she most improved?