MrsK Books: The Soup Club Cookbook by Allison, Carr, laskow, and Peacock

Sunday, February 8, 2015

The Soup Club Cookbook by Allison, Carr, laskow, and Peacock

The Soup Club Cookbook: Feed Your Friends, Feed Your Family, Feed Yourself

By Courtney Allison, Tina Carr, Caroline Laskow, and Julie Peacock

ISBN: 9780770434625

Publisher's Synopsis:

Food-sharing is the hot new thing in the "getting dinner on the table" conversation, and in The Soup Club Cookbook, four busy moms share not only their formula for starting a soup club—which gives you at least three meals every month when you don't have to worry about dinner—but also 150 fantastic recipes for soups and sides and storing tips for stretching those meals across the week.

The Soup Club began when four friends (who, between them, have four husbands and ten hungry kids and several jobs) realized that they didn’t actually have to cook at home every night to take pleasure in a home-cooked meal. They simply had to join forces and share meals, even if they weren’t actually eating them together. Caroline, Courtney, Julie, and Tina happen to be neighbors, but a soup club is for anyone: colleagues, a group of workout buddies, a book club. All you need are a few people who simply want to have more home-cooked food in their lives.

In a soup club each person takes a turn making soup—and sometimes other dishes for sides or for when everyone needs a break from soup, so if a club has four people, in a month each person will have dinner delivered three times—a dish that can start as a full meal and stretch into more dinners or lunches or even morph into a sauce. Soup is forgiving, versatile, and perfect for sharing; it can be spiced to taste, topped elaborately or not at all, and dressed up or down. It travels well and reheats beautifully. The Soup Club Cookbook also has dozens of tips for cooking in quantity and for tailoring soup to individual tastes and needs. Here, too, are simple guidelines for starting your own soup club, anecdotes, and a few cautionary tales that will inspire anyone to share food and eat well.

MrsK's Review:
Since our Booked to Dine book club started, I have enjoyed so many delicious meals and treats. This book was a "given" must read and share. Everything to get started is carefully outlined. These women have come up with such a unique option for everyone whose schedule is "unbelievably" busy. Who wouldn't want three nights off with a great meal for their family?

I appreciated their "voices" as they told you about their choices. It was refreshing to be "included" in their thoughts as they outline the making of their soups throughout the seasons.

"What we do is simple. We take turns cooking big posts of soup,

enough to feed our four families. We drop off the soup,

along with sides and garnishes, at the homes of our three other club members.

This happens once a week, which means we cook our big pot of soup once a month."

With few rules, it seems that a commitment to cooking at home on a schedule leads to the joy of sharing with others. Of course we are all cooking on a schedule... we are all committed to providing "yummy" meals for our families. What we rarely do is share those meals beyond our tables. I adore this idea. I will be sharing this idea with my daughters and a few neighbors with the hope that I can experience, at least for one month, the joy of discovering "what's for dinner" in someone's kitchen. Even if I can't get three others willing to try a soup month with me, I like the idea that I could share eight quarts of my favorite soup with my book club at least once a year.

Just a few hi-lights to "tantalize" your taste buds:

Discover the ease of creating your own soup broths (pgs. 30-31)
Try the Roasted Boccoli soup, there is an undiscovered sweetness in the flavoring (pg. 80)
What about a Potato Cheddar soup, yummy comfort on a chilly day (pg. 81)
No one will turn down the Sun-Dried Tomato soup, maybe it's the grilled cheese croutons that inspired this "yum" (pg.98)
Chilled soups for the hotter months (pgs.119-120)
Don't forget the Jewish Chicken Noodle soup, complete with Matzo ball goodness (pg. 135)
Perfected Italian Wedding soup to warm everyone's heart (pg. 147)
Beyond the soups... think salads with endless possibilities (pgs. 152-162)
Choosing and using the freshest of vegetables in the soups or as a side (pgs. 165-177)
Consideration of which bread, grain, or pasta for the meals touch of perfection (pgs. 179-199)
Big food favorites are dishes meant for get-together meals (pgs.201-217)

The organization for each recipe is brilliant, easy to follow, with added inspirations or "trial & error" perspectives. No detail is left out of their first year of discoveries (some are even humorous). Each recipe has notations for delivery, for serving, and for what they have done to make it a better soup and/or experience. You will also discover how to add different types of toppings (pgs. 43-51), how to stock your pantry (pgs. 21-25), expert Firefighter tips about cooking in quantity (pg. 143), and of course... never forget the cook's snacks (pgs. 225-235).

Don't forget the best part of preparing the soup... might just be the choice of the music,
MrsK

Well organized... can't wait to get cooking!

Click the above logo to connect to the website.

Meet the Authors:

We grew up in other places and settled in New York City. We are an educator, an ecologist, a filmmaker, a nutritionist, a yogi, a traveler, a feminist, a mother, a runner, a Dane, a Jew, a Yankee, a Christian, a vegetarian, a gardener, and a coffee drinker.

We make sure each other’s glasses are filled with seltzer or wine, as the case may be. We pick up, hang on to, feed, and hug each other’s kids with abandon. We try to be honest and kind and sometimes succeed at doing both.

We are four friends who cook and we are Soup Club.

Recipes and Tips

Blog

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

http://crownpublishing.com/bookcat/cooking/

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MrsK's Reading Bio

Reading is important! No questions asked, not even a blink of the eye from any student I grew up with. On the first day of the First grade, we were given our first books. Day two we all read aloud, round robin of course. Day three we were place in our first basal, now known as a lit circle group. Books were so important, publishers designed new curriculum so that every student was reading by the end of the first week. These early readers had images that looked like what we could see in the classroom, beyond the classroom, even on the big screen. Reading is important, throughout history every generation has believed that “Reading” opens up the world for endless possibilities.

I adore the 1950’s Dick and Jane books. Actually, most reading specialists and experienced (45+) educators believe that every student learned to read with Dick and Jane. Since these books are being re-issued, I have heard many parents, grandparents, and students claim that Dick and Jane stories of repetition does teach students to read.

Early influences from my mother influenced my desire to read. I would watch her read and we would go on “secret” excursions to the library. The library became my playground. I owned every book I could carry home, of course they needed to be taken back to their home after visiting with me for a week or two. My first book that I could pull off of the library shelf and read was, Father Bear Comes Home. I only saw my dad on Sundays for a few hours. I would pull this beginning reader off of the library shelf every week. Every week I would try to read the first chapter. Every week I got further in the story. My mom would let me check it out, only if I could read it myself (She didn’t like the illustrations therefore she didn’t want to take time to read it to me). One day, I pulled the book from the shelf and when mom came to get me from the children’s corner, I realized that I had read the whole story. I ran to the check out desk and the Librarian KERCHUNKED the checkout card. My mother, brother and neighbors read. My teachers read. We all read aloud all day long in school. The Priest read aloud every day at mass, even in Latin. Everybody in the Doctor’s office read. People on the bus read. Dad’s waiting in their cars as the Mom’s and children grocery shopped, read. In fact, once you could read and write, Sunset Magazine considered you a reader and sent you mail every day.

Reading is important; I’ve spent my life reading. I’ve traveled around the world and into space through books. My favorite genre is whichever book I have open at the time. Children’s Literature is my passion. Book clubbing is one of the best past times, especially if food is involved. In fact my friends of old are in a book club and we are about to embark on a beach trip to “read” and discuss our newest selection.

My “home-run” book story has helped every student find his or her own “home-run” reads. Every year, I have shared my, Father Bear Comes Home, and every year my students have brought in their “home-run” books. That’s the “diving board” into our Lit. Studies.

In “Growing Up Digital,” Tapscott’s insights into the new generations enthusiasm for the Net reminded me of my generation’s enthusiasm for reading, movies, TV, parties and our driving permits. The Net-Generation, as Tapscott describes, “are learning, playing, communicating, working, creating communities, and enforcing a social transformation.”
N-Geners are interactive “techies” who are always looking for a way to “work it” verses the TV Generation of “Baby Boomers” who started out looking for “how it works.” Reading development is tougher today, society moves too fast to invest their “non-working” free time into a book or even “home work.” Since I stepped into my own classroom, I have seen students being told to read, being forced to read, and threatened into reading. Homework is not any longer the vehicle for students to gain their future lifestyles or careers with. Yet, the Internet does create an enthusiasm for learning. Since I have been enrolled in these courses, I have used the computers in every subject. My students are using the newest technology in the classroom because I am giving them investigative sites to use as they learn from each other and books. I agree with Tapscott, in order to bridge the gap with this up and coming generation we must “live and learn with them.”

FTC Required Disclaimer: I receive these books from the publishers. I did not receive monetary compensation for these reviews. These reviews have been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)