I love being a part of a book club where we actually discuss the book we read. We may go on tangents but we read everything from non-fiction history to literary fiction to YA. We love diverse characters and stories that make us think.
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| Love these women. |
We are not a wine and cheese book club or a no-food book club. Thanks to various food challenges, we have become a gourmet healthy eating book club.
Fresh fruit, grain or legume-based salads, seasonal veggies, excellent dips, and peanuts in the shell. Yes, peanuts. We are now addicted. My friends make sure there is something wheat and corn free that I can enjoy. Another reason to love these gals.
One of my new favorite salads is from my friend Cathy. We've known each other over three decades. Pre-children! Pre-life changes! It's great to have long time friends. Her quinoa and black bean salad is the bomb. But I still tweaked it a bit since the original calls for sugar and butter. Trying to minimize those in our diet.
Black Bean and Quinoa Salad
2 tsp. grated lime zest
2 T. fresh lime juice
2 T. olive oil
1 tsp. honey
1 cup quinoa
1 (14- to 15-oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 med. tomatoes, diced
4 scallions, chopped
1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
Whisk together lime zest and juice, butter oil, sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper in a large bowl.
Wash quinoa in cold water,drain in a sieve. Cook quinoa according to package directions.
Add quinoa to dressing and toss until dressing is absorbed, then stir in remaining ingredients and salt and pepper to taste.
Makes 4 (side dish) servings.
What about you? Are you in a book club? Do you read a lot of different books or focus on one genre? Do you bring the same dish every time or mix things up?
What a cute picture. What a great recipe. Book club. No. I read too fast and no time.
ReplyDeleteI'll be in a book club with you, Tina! We can speed read together. And our meetings will be one liners. "A glossy and humorous take on universal themes."
DeleteNo, that would be boring without the food, eh?
Virginia, I can't believe how many books you read in a week. I speed read but started slowing my reading so I could relax.
DeleteTina, we started our book club so we would diversify our reading. We don't meet but every six weeks. And we discuss a lot of different books, not just the ones we read. It's the only way to do it for us.
Deleteis that asparagus?! that looks good! a friend made a quinoa salad once - it didnt' go over too well. something about it was just different - so tiny I guess! I had wanted to try the stuff and would probably try it again in a different dish.
ReplyDeleteTina I don't have time for a book club either- I read what I want when I want and when I can - just thinking of having to spend time reading something on demand I'd feel stressed :-( If I were in one I'd be the one checking out the food table!
Susanna
I know that "on demand" feeling but many of our book club read books way out of the book club date so it doesn't feel like it's on demand. Of course then we forget what we read!
DeleteI'm not in a book club. I've tried, but I always end up being asked not to return. Maybe it will work out one day.. Lovely salad recipe though. I think DH will like it. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeletePiper! They ask you not to return??? I can't imagine that!
DeleteOf course, none of my friends ask me to review movies, either....
no one likes to watch a movie with me either. I always want to know what's gonna happen and can't handle anything too serious or scary (and Lion King kinda bothered me)
DeleteSusanna
That salad is going in my recipe file. My family would hate it, but I know some of my friends will love it!
ReplyDeleteNo book club for me. Moving so much makes it hard to maintain friendships and groups like that. :( But I did join the local writing group. It's going to take a while to learn to know these people - on the surface it appears we have very little in common (except writing), but I know I just need to give it time.
Sounds like we writers can be a solitary lot. That is one of the advantages of bookclubs. Jan, I have been friends with some of these women through church or or charitable activities. We just gravitated together.
ReplyDeleteYUM! And what a great book club. Anything centered around food and books has to be great. I love the flavors in this recipe. Kind of like black bean salsa with some quinoa thrown in. With flavors like that, what could be wrong?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julie. I will most definitely be filing this away, longing for the day when I can eat real food again. :)
Bless you, poor Mindy. But then you are going to be svelte by the time you can.
DeleteI'm not in a book club, and never have been, but your group reminded me of my old bunco friends. Some months I think we really only met for the food. :) Chile con queso and chips were always on the menu, and usually fruit of some sort, and then cake and/or pie of some type. Not healthy at all! But oh did we have fun! I sure miss those gals.
ReplyDeleteBless you, Nikki. Moves are a series of gains and losses. I remember you talking about your chile con queso. Yum.
DeleteI had my first taste of quinoa at Sam's Club last weekend. Interesting! I've never had it before and it had a unique lack of flavor... but that's probably because they didn't serve it with a big ol' salt shaker!
ReplyDeleteI've never done a book club. I get too impatient, and I tend to be a maverick reader.
And (yes, I'll admit this) I'm resistant to being scheduled. I know, I know, it's ridiculous, but my power-hungry attitude does not always mix with the other kids in the sandbox....
Totally my bad!
But I just finished reading "Gifted Hands" by Ben Carson (loved it!) and now I'm reading his new book "One Nation". A lot of my reading these days tends toward non-fiction unless it's an author I love. Otherwise I find it hard to grab the time between working and writing. But I did love Gifted Hands and would totally recommend it.
My sister met Ben Carson when my niece was a patient at Johns Hopkins.
DeleteGood for you for trying quinoa. That makes up for not being a schedule kind of person.
I was out of town and missed yesterday. I'm loving this, Julie!!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I have a wonderful book club. We do eat snack foods most of the time. :)