Each month, eight Greenwood women gather for an evening of friendship and food.
Although most of them would agree that any reason would suffice to meet for fellowship, these cooking-savvy ladies assemble together for a special occasion — cookbook club.
The group was formed almost four years ago by Mary Neff Stewart and Laura Merrill McCaleb, a former Greenwood resident.
“Laura Merrill’s sister did a cookbook club in Starkville, so she and I were talking one night and said we needed to do this here,” said Stewart. “We got together and discussed who we’d want in. The original group was very diverse. We were friends with all of them, but not everybody knew each other.”
Two of the members are no longer a part of the club, but a couple of new members have joined, keeping the group at eight.
Among the current members are Stewart, wall art designer at John-Richard and homes editor of Mississippi Magazine; Swayze Hicks, a loan representative at Planters Bank; Beth Foley Barnes, owner of Southern Sky Communications; Erin Mulligan, a yoga instructor and owner of Shift Movement Arts of Indianola; Ginny Pantin, individual and group therapist at the Sunrise Clinic of North Sunflower Medical Center; Loren Leflore, kitchen manager and chef instructor at Viking Cooking School; Lauren Barner Smith, stay at home mother and chef instructor at Viking Cooking School; and Lisa Smith, a pharmacist and co-owner of Greenwood Drugs.
The club picks a cookbook to go through about every five to six months, and each member purchases her own copy.
Every month, one of the women will host the club in her home — usually with no husbands or children around. The hostess always prepares the entree. Two of the women will bring appetizers, one will bring a salad or soup, two will bring sides, one will bring a dessert and another will bring a cocktail. Stewart keeps up who will bring what each month by using a spreadsheet, and she sends out emails at the beginning of the month to all the members.
“Throughout the month, there are a lot of emails going back and forth to everybody,” said Hicks.
The club helps the women go through the cookbooks, find new recipes and try dishes that they wouldn’t normally have the time to try. Many new recipes used for the club have become some of the members’ go-to appetizers and dishes to make at home or take to events.
“This way, we know if we liked it or not or if we would want to make it again,” said Leflore. “A lot of these things I’ve made many times again.”
Some months when the club is in between cookbooks, the members will have a themed night. This past week for their January meeting, the members had a Mexican-themed meeting.
The menu included pineapple margaritas, guacamole and salsa, black bean and corn salsa, Mexican meatballs, Mexican street corn, Mexican red rice using quinoa as a substitute, chopped salad with a lime cilantro vinaigrette and, for dessert, tres leches cupcakes.
“We did Cajun at Swayze’s in November, and the month before we did ‘best of appetizers’ from any cookbooks that we have,” said Stewart. “We switch it up a little bit every once and a while, but mostly we stick with a cookbook.”
The meetings always begin with cocktails and appetizers in the kitchen as others heat up or put the finishing touches on their dishes. A portion of the conversion during the evening is focused on cooking, recipes and other culinary-related topics.
“We do talk about things like what we changed on recipes, what we would do to make it easier or what we would do to splurge and make the recipe even more fancy,” said Stewart.
What the women enjoy the most, however, is talking about their daily lives and families.
“Some of us never see each other except for here at cookbook club, and it’s all about catching up,” said Hicks. “We talk about our kids, and we talk about our dogs and about our families.”
Over four years, the members have had a lot of milestones to tell each other about, such as marriage, pregnancy and motherhood.
“We used to mainly talk about the food, but it’s mostly now just our lives and what’s going on,” said Stewart. “With eight women, it’s a lot.”
Cookbook club has not only given the women many new recipes; it’s also helped to form new friendships.
“We’ve bonded over the years,” said Pantin. “I’ve noticed now that when we see each other outside of cookbook club, we tend to gravitate toward each other.”
•••
Here are some of the cookbook club’s favorite recipes from its favorite cookbook so far, “Day in the Country: Sharing Our History, Heritage & Fabulous Fare Through the Generations” by the Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church in Madison County.
HAMBURGER BITES
1 pound lean ground beef
1 (1-ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 (16-ounce) jar dill pickle slices, drained
Yellow mustard
3 (8-ounce) packages dinner rolls, 20 per tray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice tops off rolls and set aside. In skillet over medium heat, stir together ground beef and onion soup mix. Cook until brown and drain. Stir in mayonnaise and cheese. Cut dinner rolls in half and spoon meat mixture over bottom half of rolls. Top each roll with a dill pickle slice and a dab of mustard. Place tops back on rolls. Tightly wrap in aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm.
SAUSAGE STUFFED WONTON CUPS
1 (16-ounce) package wonton wrappers
1 pound ground sausage
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped black olives, drained
½ cup ranch salad dressing
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a miniature muffin pan with cooking spray. Insert wonton wrappers into the muffin pan to form small cups. Bake for five minutes and allow to cool. In a small skillet, brown sausage and drain well. Transfer sausage to a bowl and stir in Monterey Jack cheese, black olives, ranch dressing and Tabasco. Spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons of sausage mixture into each wonton cup and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake filled cups for 10 minutes until bubbly.
MUSHROOM SAUSAGE SPREAD
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ pound ground sausage
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup sour cream
2 ounces crumbled blue cheese
½ cup mayonnaise
In a medium skillet, saute mushrooms and onions in olive oil until translucent. Drain on paper towels. Add sausage to skillet, crumble, cook and drain. In a medium bowl, combine mushroom mixture, sausage, red pepper, cream cheese, sour cream, blue cheese and mayonnaise. Cover and refrigerate for eight hours before serving. Serve at room temperature with Melba rounds.
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
