Recipes ladies...one can never have too many.

Pasta Salad with Chicken
*I made a few alterations to the recipe by adding sauteed shrimp one time and then another time I used grilled chicken breasts. My family loves...and ya'll know how finicky my spouse is! Heidi? Am I right? Totally finicky! Yum Yum girls...good luck!

Makes: 6 servings Cook: 8 minutes Prep: 15 minutes
Ingredients
Dressing:
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh dill, chopped
(I actually put a squirt of horseradish sauce in too and some dijon mustard.)
Pasta Salad:
8 ounces mini wagon wheel, bowties or fusilli pasta (such as Barilla Piccolini)
*2 cups white meat from rotisserie chicken, cut into bite-size pieces*
1 sweet red pepper, cored and diced
1 english cucumber, diced
2 celery ribs, trimmed and chopped
2-3 fresh tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Directions
1. Dressing: In a medium-size bowl, whisk together vinegar, mayonnaise, honey, salt and pepper. Whisk in olive oil and dill and set aside.
2. Pasta Salad: Heat a medium-size pot of lightly salted water to boiling. Add pasta and cook as per package directions, about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cool water; let cool until room temperature.
3. In a large bowl, combine cooled pasta, chicken, red pepper, celery and crumbled feta. Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve; toss to blend dressing and ingredients before serving.

Books to read -- BBC list

Most of you know how I love the BBC. In April 2003 the BBC's Big Read began the search for the UK's best-loved novel, and asked the public to nominate their favorite books. They are listed by number of votes from 1 to 100. I wish there was a more current list too it would be interesting to see what books would be on the list from the last 5 years -- but here is the list. How many have you read? I have only read 26 so I guess I have some reading to do!

1. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
18. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone – JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets – JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban – JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch – George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany – John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath – John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker –Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth – Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion – Jane Austen
39. Dune – Frank Herbert
40. Emma – Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down – Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm – George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom – Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers – Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men – John Steinbeck
53. The Stand – Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The BFG – Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons – Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty – Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses – Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha – Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds – Colleen McCollough
65. Mort – Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree – Enid Blyton
67. The Magus – John Fowles
68. Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards! – Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies – William Golding
71. Perfume – Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch – Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda – Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary – Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White – Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses – James Joyce
79. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
80. Double Act – Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits – Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle – Dodie Smith
83. Holes – Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast – Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel – Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
89. Magician – Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather – Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear – Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic – Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine – Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel – Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love – Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children – Salman Rushdie

Lime Squares

ingredients For the Crust: 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for pan 2/3 cup shelled pistachios 1 cup (4 ounces) graham-cracker crumbs 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoons grated lime zest For the Filling: 2 large egg yolks 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk 1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Lime Squares with Pistachio-Graham Cracker Crust Makes 16 | Prep time: 20 minutes | Total time: 2 hours 20 minutes This creamy dessert is a cross between Key lime pie and traditional lemon bars. For a lighter version, substitute fat-free sweetened condensed milk. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush an 8-inch square baking dish with melted butter. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. In a food processor, finely grind pistachios with graham-cracker crumbs, sugar, and zest. Blend in butter. Press mixture into bottom and 1 inch up sides of prepared pan. Bake until lightly browned, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool crust, 30 minutes. To make the filling: In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and condensed milk. Add lime juice; whisk until smooth. Pour filling into cooled crust; carefully spread to edges. Bake until set, about 15 minutes. Cool in pan on rack; then chill at least 1 hour before serving. Using parchment paper overhang, lift out of pan, and transfer to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut into 16 squares, wiping knife with a damp kitchen towel between each cut. To store in refrigerator, cover with plastic wrap.

Thanks!

What a great idea! Thanks for taking the time to set it up for us, Hedi. I thought it was interesting to discover that Shannon Hale, the author of our next 2 books, is also the author of Rapunzel's Revenge, a book illustrated by Jill Ayala's brother-in-law, Nathan Hale. I have just started reading Goose Girl and am wondering if anyone would like to swap The Princess Academy with my when I'm through.

Just a thought

I think next time you choose books you guys should pick "Ender's Game".

OK just hear me out. I know you usually don't read sci-fi and neither do I but this one is really interesting and I think would make for a great discussion. Plus its fairly short, only like 240 pages.

And no if you read this book you won't have to start attending Star Trek Conventions. :)

Book Club

Tonight we reviewed Lady MacBeth by Susan Fraser King we had a great time and missed all of you who weren't there!

Hopefully we can use this site as a place to list books we want to read as a group, post recipes of the great food we share and keep track of what we are reading and who is hosting & reviewing in the coming months. So feel free to post when ever you want -- if you think of someone who should also be an author & I have forgotten them please e-mail me it is late! :)