I would highly recommend...

Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  Maybe many of you have already read it, but if not, you should!  I enjoyed reading it with Robyn and Carly, and discussing it with them.

Here is the recipe for the pasta salad from our June Book Club. Thanks Sharon!

Bowtie Pasta Salad 

16 oz bow tie pasta cooked and cooled
1 bag baby spinach leaves
1 red bell pepper sliced
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 large can mandarin oranges drained
2 cooked seasoned chicken breasts chopped (omit this if you want vegetarian)
1/2 cup sugared pecans
Poppy seed dressing

Lightly mix ingredients together in salad bowl.

Poppy seed dressing

1 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp mustard
1 TB minced onion
1 TB poppy seed
Blend ingredients together in a blender or food processor for 2 minutes.  Dressing will be thick.

Sugared pecans

1 cup pecans
1 TB orange juice
3 TB sugar

Heat the juice and 2 TB of sugar in small fry pan.  Add the nuts and stir gently for 2 minutes until the juice is absorbed.  Transfer to small bowl.  Add the rest of the sugar.  Spread nuts on foil on cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.  Cool and store in fridge.

June Book Club

Sharon put on the spread for us at our June Book Club. She spoiled us with an amazing pasta salad, fruit, cheese and crackers, bread, and of course the pavlova. It was so good.

The pavlova was oh.so.good. I vote that we have a best of book club night so that we can repeat some of these amazing dishes. Let's be honest. I wish that all of you would be my personal chefs. Please?

Brenda, Sharon, & Kristie

Kara, Heidi, Shannon, & Bethany

We reviewed Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling. We all really enjoyed the book. 

Thanks for hosting Sharon! We had a great time!

May Book Club

Bethany, Heidi, Kara,
Kristie, Britney, Sharon, & Brenda

We had a great time at Brenda's. Her food was amazingly delicious (as always!) and this was all that we had left....

Yep. That good.

I was able grab a couple of pictures before we devoured it. She made a delicious shrimp sauce to go over angel hair pasta...

When I asked Brenda what it was called she said "dinner." My family would love it if I could come up with such delicious dinners on my own, but that is not one of my talents. Sigh.

She served a side of french bread followed by ice cream with fresh fruit.

It was so delicious. Yum.

It was an evening filled with delicious food, laughter, and great conversation. Our discussions ranged from the to book, The Night Guest, to motherhood and all you can accomplish before 9 am. ;)

Thanks Brenda for a great evening! We missed all of you who weren't there!