March 2026

Tonya hosted with her Mamaw's recipe for rolled chicken and dumplings!  These are my favorite version of dumplings because they are similar to egg noodles.  She started us off with an Arnold Palmer in a mason jar.

Since the theme was comfort food, I made a colorful cowboy caviar dip. This is a fresh, flavorful dip or salad and lasts for many days in the fridge.

Angelica put together a delicious and fancy salad with arugula, pine nuts and shaved parmesan.  

For the side, Mary prepared some yummy sweet potatoes. You cannot go wrong with even a plain sweet potato and add some sugar and butter and HELLO!

The finale of our cooking group was a three layer Dolly Parton cake to celebrate Mary's 29th birthday!  Carol prepared the box cake mixes, substituting the oil with butter and adding food coloring for the layers.  She used this icing. Yum and so pretty.

October 19, 2025

Carol hosted a spooky Halloween gathering! Angelica was unable to join us. 

We were served this welcome cocktail.

Witches Brew Cocktail

1 shot of simple syrup

1 shot of Drillaud Pomegranate liqueur

2 shots of vodka

1 shot of lemon juice

Shake 

Pour in glass and top with club soda

Tonya brought two appetizers: these cute pizza pumpkins and some candy corn and peanuts.  I LOVE CANDY CORN.  How can you not?!

Serve the pumpkins with marinara sauce for dipping.

Carol put together a green salad and I roasted two vegetables to look scary.  Cauliflower were "brains" and beets were "liver" or "hearts".  Fortunately, they were delicious. 

The group cooked together chicken spaghetti and it was delicious and decadent.  I love this casserole!

How cute are these Mississippi Moon pies decorated by Mary!  And chocolate and marshmallows are my love language foods.  Yum!

June 22, 2025

As she always does, Mary greeted us with a delicious cocktail in a sugar rimmed glass.  This margarita tasted like a dreamsicle.  Delicious.  Went down very smoothly.  It was like a boozy milkshake.

 Orange Sherbet Italian Margarita

Servings:  4

2 cups sherbet

6 oz. evaporated milk 

½ cup crushed ice 

tequila...set your own octane level! 

1-2 shots of Amaretto 

1-2 shots of orange liqueur 

colored sugar to rim glasses (optional)

Combine all ingredients in blender.  Blend until very smooth and creamy.

Perfect summertime boozy treat! 

For appetizers I made a variety of cucumber and tomato offerings.  There was also hummus with bell peppers from my garden.  There was herb cream cheese (4 OZ cream cheese with chopped rosemary, chives and parsley) stuffed cucumbers and tomatoes, salmon canapes and caprese cucumbers. I knew Mary would make a decadent cocktail and that the main dish was rich so let us go low carb, heavy vegetable appetizers.

Tonya made a burrata salad with a balsalmic vinegar salad dressing.  The burrata cheese is creamy and mild. There was fresh basil in the salad and this adds a distinct, licorice like flavor.  I love basil and it's a classic combination pairing with tomato and cheese.

As if Angelica read Tonya's mind, she brought a similar dish, caprese salad, as our side.  This is a great dish as an appetizer, salad or side, in the summertime. Also, it is another great choice to balance the main dish of Marry Me Chicken.

Our main dish, Marry Me Chicken, was so good.  Mary marinated the chicken with the spices and cooked it up in an iron skillet.  We added mushrooms to the creamy sauce and next time would use less pasta.  The dish reheated beautifully the next day even though we were worried the sauce might "seize" up.  It did not.

These cherry pie bars were amazing.  The crust was soft like cake and over time became even more soft and melding into the cherry pie filling.  The recipe made a ton which we were all grateful for! Do not skip on the icing, it was essential to the deliciousness.

May 18, 2025

I hosted and had a Mediterranean theme.  This is my favorite cuisine as of late. Michelle joined us and it was a wonderful treat.

We started off with a very, very, very strong cocktail.  Ooops.  This Mediterranean Mule has limoncello, vodka and gin.  Ooops. You can cut the alcohol with the ginger beer. Bubbly and refreshing!

Angelica changed up this recipe to be a layered dip and served with pita chips.  It had a great flavor and creamy texture with the hummus and tzatziki. Mix all ingredients together and serve.

For the main dish we baked Greek chicken tenders. The secret is the marinade and instead of grilling we baked and they came out moist and perfect.

The side was saffron rice. The bright red strands of saffron give the color and mild flavor.  There is alot of onion in the rice too!

The salad was a beautiful couscous by Mary. 

Couscous Salad

Ingredients: 

1 box of couscous

Orange bell pepper, diced small

1/2 red bell pepper, diced small

1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced small

1 small/medium red onion, diced small

I large can black olives, chopped

6 oz feta cheese crumbles 

½ container of grape or similar style small tomatoes, cut in half.

Flat leaf parsley

1 seedless cucumber, chopped small

Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare couscous according to box instructions and let cool completely.  For added flavor, I substitute chicken broth for the water.

Once couscous is cooled, mix in as little or as much of the chopped vegetables as you like.

*Adding chopped boiled eggs, grilled chicken or other protein turns the salad into a one dish meal. Great option for a light meal during the summertime heat!

Dressing:

1 minced garlic 

juice from 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp dried oregeno

2 tsp dijon mustard

salt, pepper

1/4 cup olive oill

2 tbs red wine vinegar

Mix all ingredients and add to salad.

Our side of roasted vegetables by Tonya also had a tahini sauce.  Look how colorful these vegetables are as they cook! The onions caramelize and sweeten, the tomatoes plump and pop and the zucchini has a nice crunch.

To finish our meal, Carol had the dessert course and made a delicious blueberry galette.  It was heavenly. The sweetness was the right amount and the homemade crust was rustic and tasty.

June 30, 2024

We were hosted by (new member) Carol and had a wonderful evening with a theme of summer's bounty.  Guest Sarah, Angie's niece, also was present.  

Appetizers were prepared by Angelica and were two different skewers. Prosciutto wrapped melon balls and mozzarella skewers were delicious and shared the skewer theme of the main dish. Both are a perfect, light summer appetizer. The sweet melon and salty prosciutto are a tasty combination.  

Carol had a frozen cocktail for us and she said it was from her parents and they would keep it in the freezer for when guests arrived.  It has a heavenly texture like granita, a semi frozen dessert. This drink goes down very easily so beware.  The hand written recipe is included below.  Mix all, freeze, and scrap every few hours to get the slushy texture. Start off with half the sugar and add more as desired.

For the side, Tonya brought a rice dish. This Mediterranean Rice Salad recipe was her inspiration and the add ins she used were shredded carrots, diced seedless cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, roasted corn, flat leaf parsley and red onion. Who knew you could mix all these vegetables with white rice and end up with the perfect summer side?!

The main dish was chicken and vegetable skewers with a sweet sauce. The vegetables were crispy, the pineapple sweet and lightly caramelized and the chicken juicy.  Carol did a great job manning the grill for the Hawaiian skewers. You can also cook this as a one sheet pan dish in the oven. 

I prepared two salads. I had a ton of tomatoes and needed to use those up after I had already picked another recipe from my Cast Iron Magazine.  This caprese salad was made with tomatoes and basil from my garden. My second salad was predominantly corn (that I grilled) with some pan-fried okra. The okra keeps some bite and while did seem like an odd choice, somehow works with the corn and red onions to add some earthiness.  Grilled corn is my favorite summer vegetable and I eat it weekly when on sale.

Dessert was a delightful trifle in old fashion sundae glasses. Mary made these with fresh berries, cake and pastry cream.  I loved the glasses and these large portions are always welcome when the dish is so decadent. 

May 19, 2024

 Mary hosted and we were joined by neighbors Carol and Dena.  The more the merrier!

The theme was church picnic.  Or, Mississippi church picnic if we want to get specific.

No church picnic is complete without a cocktail.  Mary mixed up these bourbon and fig jam cocktails.  YOWZA.  These are strong.  We topped with some sparking soda. 

I brought two appetizers:  stuffed peppers and DEVILED EGGS.  Again, a church classic.   

The deviled eggs were mostly pickle juice and less vinegar.  

I sprinkled the top of the peppers with some Tony's which adds both salt and heat. 

Carol prepared a very delicious and unique pasta salad.  I will definitely make this again! I love the shape of pasta used and there is a sweet though not overly mayo heavy dressing.

This layered salad recipe was modified by Tonya to have spring mix for the greens, chickpeas instead of green peas, gorgonzola as the cheese and no sugar in the dressing.  We also think half of the dressing could have been put on the top and the remainder served on the side. 

Mary picked chicken cakes as our main dish.  These are much like crab cakes with canned chicken. The panko on the outside makes such a crispy cake and very little oil was used to pan fry. The cakes were finished with a remoulade sauce.

The most beautiful cupcakes were served by Angelia for dessert.  These hummingbird cakes are banana bread meets carrot cake. Very moist and with a sweet cream cheese frosting.

May 7, 2023

Tonya was our hostess!

Mary mixed up a Pear Cocktail

Pear Cocktail 

Pear Nectar

Vodka 

Splash of elderflower tonic 

Mix equal parts nectar and vodka in shaker over ice.  Shake vigorously to chill.  Pour into martini glasses and top with very cold elderflower tonic.  Enjoy! 

For appetizer I made a peach salsa because I had an abundance of both peaches and peppers. It is a great, summery appetizer.  Not so much Indian like our main dish.

Our salad was a hearty lentil salad that tasted even better the next day!

The main dish was butter chicken prepared in the instapot.  It was a super flavorful dish full of butter AND garlic!  The chicken was fall apart tender.

Angelica cooked this side dish that made quinoa taste delicious!  I do think the mushrooms were the star of the show.  This was so good and I am going to sneak it into a meal soon since I've been told before that quinoa is terrible and akin to cat litter.

Talia finished our meal with a creamy dessert topped with roasted pistachios.  

February 26, 2023

Mary was our hostess!  As always she started us off with a delicious cocktail that probably included a sugar free soda. And elderflower.

Angelica prepared two appetizers and the crab stuffed mushrooms were so good. These are a great party appetizer.

A classic spinach strawberry salad was brought by Tonya.  This salad always is a favorite to celebrate spring.

Mary picked Grits and Grillades as our main dish.  We used an instapot and BAM!  Tender meat in a short amount of time. I have never had this dish and I believe Mary said it should have been a little thicker.

I made succotash as a side dish.  I do like me some lima beans.  My parents made them when we were growing up and I hated them.  Now... love.  I also now love bird watching.  I'm old.

For dessert I whipped up this decadent trifle, Cherries in Snow.  I used a pre-made angle food cake. It weighs 238 pounds so be prepared for dessert for days.