It’s safe to say that round two of the FSC Book Club was a success! We had over 120 members join us at our new book club host site, Goodreads, and lots of folks chiming in on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook. Over the course of a few months, we cooked our way through the wonderful book A Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making by Alana Chernila. You made cheese! You cooked soup and lasagna. You made mustard and ketchup and found a new go-to pie crust recipe. You made your own crackers and some of us got saucy with homemade liqueurs to go along with from-scratch fruit roll-ups and marshmallows. We had great conversations about why we cook, why and how we are creating homemade pantries in our kitchen and how these shared interests bring us all together.
Our Book Clubbers were cooking right along and even better than that? I don’t think anyone was stressed! Yes, that’s because it’s a stress-free book and, to quote current member Tamara: “It’s the funnest book club I’ve ever been in!” We were thrilled to see that folks were revisiting past “assignments”, checking back in with questions and tips and helpful links and forming a real, honest-to-goodness community right here on the ol’ Internets.
A few local FSC Book Club members
But we didn’t stop at the internet, did we? No! Book Clubbers in New York’s Capital Region came out in droves to meet Alana at our book signing and book club chat in December at the Troy Farmers Market! We sold out of copies of the book and got together over cups of coffee to chat with each other and with Alana about the book, cooking from scratch and everything else that popped into our minds.
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Here’s a final recap of the last few assignments covering soups, baking, frozen foods, pasta and sauce, breads and crackers, drinks & sweets!
Dawn S. made lentil soup for the first time!
Marilyn from Kitchen Cauldron also made lentil soup for the first time.
Jackie from Auburn Meadow Farm froze black beans in two cup portions with 1 cup broth- nice and quick for making chili!
Meg from Small World Supper Club made spinach, veggie sausage, cheesy lasagne with homemade noodles!
Tamara made homemade ravioli!
Casey made hamburger buns from chapter 9.
Amy made delicious caramels.
Julianne from Kitchen Ninja made the Easiest Chocolates- “so, so, so good!”
We also shared recaps and photos from our Thanksgiving dinners, talked about which frozen foods we rely on (I’m a sucker for storebought veggie burgers, but one day I’ll stockpile enough homemade ones in the freezer!), and what we are grateful for food-wise.
It’s been an incredible experience, growing the FSC Book Club community and cooking alongside folks from all over the country. The book club has produced a place where people can share tips, ask questions about recipes and get inspiration.
We are busy combing the bookshelves in our homes, in our local libraries & bookstores, and on the interwebs looking for our next cook-along selection, for a February 1st start. That’s where you come in!
Tell us!
What book would you like to cook through next? Suggestions welcome as decide our next read for the FSC Book Club. Comment below or over on Facebook or Goodreads by January 18th.
My votes: “Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker” by Robin Robertson and “Moosewood Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Everyday” by Moosewood.
My suggestion for the next cook book would be Dinner: A Love Story
This is a slow time of year for local ingredients. I’m really interested in Whole Grains for a New Generation. I loved Liana’s first book and I’m hot to do a better job with grains and beans this year.
I’ve been thinking about Shannon Hayes new book. More info here: http://www.shannonhayes.info/long_way_on_a_little_28886.htm
Whole Grains for a New Generation sounds interesting. I do like the idea of finding a book that will fit with the season. I’d also be into something Moosewood (Never tried any of their books), The Sprouted Kitchen, or Super Natural Everyday (I think this book is stronger than her first, but I haven’t spent much time with either and would like to).
Even though I didn’t participate too much in this book club it really helped to get me cooking from Homemade Pantry and cooking meals from scratch again.
Agreed on something appropriate for season! Whole Grains for a New Generation looks like it would introduce me to a couple new grains. Shannon Hayes is always interesting and if we are going to do something meat I’d rather do it in the winter than in the summer when the garden is cranking veggies.
Some books that were on my mind would include:
*Anything by Ruth Reichl (I read and loved the one about her time as New York Times restaurant critic).
*A book on my shelf that I have yet to read is “Plenty”. It was originally called “The Hundred Mile Diet” but they changed the name – it’s the story of a couple up in Canada, I think, who try to eat only things grown within one hundred miles of where they live.
*”The Good Food Revolution” by Will Allen http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/12/the-10-best-food-books-2012-slideshow.html#show-291633 would be very interesting. He is an inspiring food activist and his place in Milwaukee is amazing (I’ve been there)
*Something on food science could be fun, too. There are several of them out there. We just got the one from Cook’s Illustrated “The Science of Good Cooking” and it looks great (plus, their stories about all the things they try are entertaining)
Can’t wait to see what gets picked!
I am interested in the Faviken Cookbook, but it may be a bit of a stretch since lots of it seems to involve hunting and roasting your own meat. I am not interested in that part of the cookbook, but in the idea of cooking without recipes.
“Jerusalem” the new Yotam Ottolenghi book
I am just remembering that another one I have been wanting to read (and have not even bought yet) is Jamie Oliver’s book “Jamie’s 30-minute meals”. It’s a method book, which includes recipes – full menus, actually. Subtitle is “A revolutionary approach to cooking good food fast” and the description says: If you love food but struggle to find time to eat tasty food every day, then allow Jamie to introduce you to a revolutionary way of cooking. In 30-Minute Meals he shows you how to make a main meal, sides and even a pudding in the time you’d normally spend on one dish. What you’ll be able to achieve in 30 minutes will absolutely blow your mind! http://www.jamieoliver.com/jamies-30-minutes-meals
I love Jamie Oliver, and love the one cookbook of his I have. One review of this one says that it will take longer than 30 minutes at first but as you try it you get the method down and then it really does help.
If you are not familiar with Jamie Oliver, he is a British chef who has been pushing fresh local healthy and yummy food in schools and also has at least one television show in Great Britain and he may have had one over here for awhile.
I vote for Whole Grains for a New Generation. I just purchased it last week and all the recipes look amazing
If we’re doing a cook a long then Whole Grains for a New Generation sounds good but I’d love one on food policy etc. but of course I have no suggestions for one.
A food policy book that’s pretty promising is Kitchen Literacy:
http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Literacy-Knowledge-Where-Comes/product-reviews/1597261440/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
I started it a while ago and loved the history and sociology – it really helps explain how we came to be so ignorant about food, which helps to figure out how to change things. It’s very entertaining and readable too.
Great suggestions – here’s another one on my wishlist: Wild Flavors: One Chef’s Transformative Hear Cooking from Eva’ Farm:
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Flavors-Chefs-Transformative-Cooking/dp/1603582851/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1G3CK12WPEFV6&coliid=I3FFUP2MA7FO0U
I’m also pretty hot to read Will Allen’s book