It is that fabulous time again! Book Club Time! This time book club was a little bit different because a lot of people were out of town. But, we made accommodations and still had a great time with 3 fancy ladies!
Before we get into the books, I think it is only appropriate to go over the menu! Also, since the cookies and salad I brought went over so well, I might as well share the recipes!
First up... Dessert!
Who doesn't love cookies! Mahaley and I baked some delicious Oatmeal Peanut Butter cookies for our YouTube video you can see later this week, which were amazing, but I must say, for a cookie you do not have to bake, these are outstanding and a bit addicting!
We have all had those chocolate no bake cookies, at bake sales or at grandma's house, but these are extra special! Here is how I switched it up!
Ingredients:
3 cups Gluten Free Oats
2 cups Sugar
4 tbs Peanut Butter
8 tbs Butter
1 tbs Vanilla
1/4 cup Cocoa Magic
Cocao Magic was the secret ingredient in these cookies!
Cacao Magic in an amazing blend from
Philosophie that is a blend of anti-cancer, anti-aging and anti-inflammatory, immunity building ingredients. It is also raw, organic and gluten free! Oh, and it taste like chocolate!
Ok here is how you make the cookies! Simply melt everything except the oats in a big pot. When everything is mixed well, just start to dump in your oats and mix! Thats it, just give it some time to sit and absorb the fabulous flavors.
Then take spoonfuls or clumps and put them on parchment paper or wax paper and allow them to harden.
(Put them in the freezer real quick if you are running late and have to go to book club in 5 minutes but they are still warm!)
Enjoy! Also, for something extra special, I sprinkled in and mixed up some flax seeds into about half of the cookies for fun! It tasted great!
Well to balance out the cookies I knew I would be eating i made a nice healthy gluten free and vegan salad!
Ingredients:
2 cucumber
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans
small bunch of basil
1/4 cup of sliced green onions
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon agave nectar
salt and pepper
Toss your tomatoes, garbanzo beans, basil and green onions into a bowl.
Peel and cut out the seeds from two cucumbers, then thinly slice the cucumbers.
Mix up your dressing by adding the olive oil, red wine vinegar, agave and salt and pepper. Then mix it all together and your salad is ready!
We also had some fabulous gluten-free vegan pizzas, fresh fruit, and cheese to enjoy while discussing our book!
These were candied grapes! They tasted like skittles! So delicious!
Mahaley was out of town so she joined us via FaceTime (gotta love technology!) We even had a fork waiting for her!
Ok, this is about book club, right? So lets get to the book!
We were reviewing Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
We all really enjoyed this book and have since become fascinated with Zelda! We really recommend you read the book to get a glimpse into her life and what life was like back in the 20's. Apparently its not all just flapper dresses and fun parties. Zelda was the poster child for being born to early! But she was an incredibly talented, creative and artistic woman. Her relationship with Fitzgerald and the struggles she faced as he was trying to get his life together is a bit depressing but also fascinating. We all took some of her struggles personally while reading it but also really enjoyed and got sucked into the "glamour" of it all as all the historical figures hung out together as they traveled through Europe. I think the biggest thing I have taken from this book is... thank god I was not born in the 1920's! It is much nicer to look back at the fun clothes and parties, I'm glad I didn't have to be a woman trying desperately to find myself and also fit a mold that clearly just does not work. If you are interested in learning more about Hemingway and Fitzgerald, this gives a pretty interesting perspective too. When I had read the Paris Wife, I was not a big fan of Hemingway, this doesn't exactly make you a fan of his or Fitzgerald's either but it is still pretty interesting to see another perspective of their lives before there were literary legends.
OK, long story short, just go read it!
We then chose between three other books that Jess picked out.
Drum roll please... the next book we will be reading is...
The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
This is a very "Gone Girl-esque" book and most of us had already read Gone Girl and absolutely loved it so this sounded great! Only bad news about this pick is that we all ordered it from amazon and it was on a backorder to ship in 2 weeks! WHAT, Two weeks without a book! (just kidding we are reading other things while we not-so-patiently wait!
If you would like to read along with us, check out some more info on the book
here and then go to your nearest bookstore or order from amazon!
