What I'm reading Wednesday...

 I hardly read at all this week.  Just a few chapters.  But today was Book Club, so I thought I'd share how it went.  

The group really got into the spirit of Victorian England, since our selection of this month was The Picture of Dorian Gray.  We had Finger Sandwiches, Treacle Pie, Sourdough Bread, and fruit and cheeses.

One club member came with Scotch Eggs and a story about the upper classes getting hampers from Fortnum and Mason for picnics and train travel, in which Scotch Eggs was a portable and popular food for travel.  I was really impressed by hers, as I tried to make them one time (decades ago) and found them to be a LOT of work, and mine didn't turn out very well.  Hers were beautiful and delicious.

The Beef Wellington Bites did fine from frozen.  I moved them from the freezer to the refrigerator yesterday morning to thaw.  This morning I brushed them with egg and baked.  They were great, and it was so nice to have the majority of the work done last week.  

I also did Green Bean Bundles wrapped in bacon, brushed with a glaze and baked.  Last time I made them, I baked them in my upper oven which is small and I think they were too near the element, because they burned.  This time I roasted them in my lower, larger oven and they did great.

Somehow I can't see jalapeńo poppers on a Victorian buffet, but they are welcome anytime on mine!  Delicious.  Hers were topped with a large shrimp and a piece of bacon.  Yum!

The Treacle Pie (top right) was really good.  I would describe it as somewhere between a Buttermilk Pie (my favorite) and the filling of a pecan pie.  The other two desserts were flaky, crusty pastry with fruit and cream cheese filling.  So yummy.  

I am still SO full.  And ready to go to bed and read a few more chapters.  I may stay in bed and read all day tomorrow!  :)

Meal prep and planning...

A friend recommended this recipe to me.  It's a faux lobster roll from @BrianLagerstrom on YouTube using Argentine Red shrimp.  I don't know if they are more tender than other shrimps or if it's the quick poaching method he instructs, but they were very good.  It's a pretty quick meal, and seems special served on a toasted brioche bun.  The dressing recipe calls for mayonnaise, lemon juice, lemon zest, and fresh chives.  I specifically ordered the fresh chives, but the store sent me carrot sticks instead, which I kept for another meal and went without the chives.  :(

These are The Pioneer Woman's Mini Beef Wellington Bites I'll be serving at book club.  I made them for supper a few nights ago to make sure they would work out.  They turned out really good, and really exhausting.  Of course, since I was cooking ahead for a group, I used a larger cut of beef, which involved more cutting, and cooking, and wrapping in puff pastry bundles.  

Aside from the few that I baked for our supper, I froze the pastry and beef bundles, and then once frozen I vacuum sealed them for a few days in the freezer.  I will take them out of the freezer and into the fridge to thaw tomorrow, then on Wednesday they will get brushed with egg wash and baked right before lunch.

The one in the photo above looks well done, but others were more rare.  I know it's supposed to be rare(ish) in this recipe, but not knowing how people at book club might like their steak, I tried to go not quite as rare.

This is Shoyu Chicken done in the slow cooker.  I added some of the carrot sticks that were mistakenly included in the grocery order.  Easy and yummy.  I should have added a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce...next time I will.  And no, we didn't use the chopsticks, I just thought they added something to the photo.  :)

Shepherd's Pie...wow, I hadn't made this in forever.  I made it a lot when the kids were still at home.  It's easy, and it has most of the recommended food groups.  Carey was happy to see it back on the table again.

Cheddar Cheese and Broccoli Soup.  We had leftover broccoli from earlier in the week, so even though it is still near a hundred degrees, I thought I'd make it into soup.  

 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I finished it last night, and I liked it.  I didn't love it, but I thought it was very interesting for the time, and an indictment of hedonism.  This is our book club selection this month, and I highlighted a good deal to discuss.

Book club is at my house a week from today.  We normally have assigned food categories, but I saw some interesting ideas online for food and activities for this book, so I asked all the members to just bring something inspired by their reading of it.  There weren't a lot of specific foods mentioned that I can remember, except for oranges sold at a play as an audience concession.  

I'm making the main dish, and I chose a Victorian-era dish (with a modern-day adaptation to the recipe).  I let members know what I was making so they would know there would be a main dish,  but asked everyone else to not tell me or each other what they were bringing, and if we ended up with all desserts it would just point to the the excess of the Victorian upper class.  (It would serve me right if they each just bring a bag of oranges!)  :) 

I picked up the new Lisa See novel from the library today, so that is what I will be reading this week.  However I have a lot to do to get the house straightened up for book club, so I don't know how much reading I will get done.

Kitchen activities...

Have I already showed this one?  Baked beans, Macaroni & Cheese, and sausage.  I wasn't keen on having the oven on long enough to bake the beans that day, but it was worth it, and the mac & cheese joined the beans after they'd been in for awhile.  The sausage just got cooked on the stove top.

Beef Stir Fry.  I had fresh mushrooms in the fridge that needed to be used.  Originally I was going to make an Asian crock pot recipe, but I got a late start, and this quicker meal turned out well.

Chicken Curry.  I had not purchased groceries in awhile, so most of these meals were from pantry and freezer supplies.  This used up the last of the cooked chicken in the freezer, so chicken breasts went on the grocery list.

Salmon patties with buttered new potatoes and corn.  I hadn't used canned salmon in quite awhile, but as I was searching the pantry, trying to put off grocery shop for another day, I decided the salmon was in the pantry for times such as this.  :)

Finally made the grocery run.  I had stayed up into the wee hours making a menu plan and grocery order for curbside pick up.  I stayed up way too late, and then for some crazy reason, I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep.  So after I picked up the groceries, I was already tired.  But figured I'd thank myself later if I  cooked the chicken breasts, so I pounded all eight of them thin, then cooked them in batches in a hot pan to brown, then piled all of them back in the pan and covered and simmered on low for awhile to make sure they were cooked through.

I diced one of the cooked breasts and started a sauce from the pan drippings and added some of the diced chicken back to the pan.  Then I grabbed a spaghetti squash and prepped it for the oven.  In all honesty, I could have done better on this meal, but I was exhausted by this time, and decided good enough would do for that night.

While the spaghetti squash roasted and the chicken and gravy simmered, I prepped the rest of the cooked chicken for the freezer.

This doesn't look like a lot, but going by how many meals the last batch made, I'd say it's probably enough for six or seven meals, and I'm glad to have the head start on that many meals all loaded into the freezer.

While I had the vacuum sealer out, I also bagged and sealed a large tray of raw chicken thighs for a couple of crock pot meals and a batch of Rudy food.  SO happy that all that is done, and it's not all waiting for me in the fridge to do later.

I washed up after we ate.  Carey usually cleans the kitchen when I cook, but he has been working hard in the almost hundred degree heat for several days to get the fall garden ready, so I wanted to let him rest.  After the kitchen was mostly reset for tomorrow, I soaked in a nice hot bath, then I went to bed early (for me) and slept like a baby.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Did not finish Lady Tremaine.  I didn't have a lot of reading time after I picked it up from the library.  I was enjoying it when my library loan became due, and I couldn't recheck as there was someone else who had reserved it.  I'll have to get back in line.

A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong

Time Travel.  A bit of a bodice ripper...not a ripper exactly, but a tugger.  :)

Wasn't bad, wasn't great.  I give it three and a half stars.  Will I read the next in the series?  Maybe?  Later if I do.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

After finishing the 2026 reading challenge, I felt like I needed something super easy.  I picked a book off of my Kindle that's been there for an age...well...for five years or so anyway.  This is the last book of a series about a quilting group which stumbles into many murder investigations.  

The plots of the series were a bit unbelievable, but easy to pick up and put down, and the characters are likeable.  

Now I'm reading Lady Tremaine which I checked out from the library.  It's not as easy, and I'm slower at making progress.  It's a retelling of the Cinderella story from the point of view of the stepmother.  It makes her more human, as it tells of her struggles trying to keep up appearances, keep food on the table, and keep up the decaying noble house and land that her husband left her upon his death.

Hoping I can get it finished before the borrowing period is up.