BeckyM
03-01-2001, 08:52 AM
Hello All!
I promised I'd give a report here on each of our Cincinnati Cooking Light Supper Club's dinners. (To clarify, this is the FIRST Cincinnati group -- there is now a second one formed as well!)
We had our third dinner last night, and our theme was the letter "C". Whoever is hostess gets to pick the theme, and our hostess was tired of the ethnic themes and wanted to try something different. Some of us were really wondering how all the dishes would work together, but everything was great, and people's choices really seemed to complement each other.
So here are the dishes we had last night. For appetizers, we had Layered Chili, Cheese and Roasted Corn Dip (CL March 2001), Ultimate Crab Dip (CL Oct. 1999), and Caponata (CL Make It Ahead). All of these were very good -- we had difficulty picking our favorites. Several of us had never heard of Caponata before and tried it with some trepidation, but it was absolutely wonderful!
After our appetizers, we had a soup course with Creamy Asparagus Soup (from Vegetarian Times). The woman who brought this admitted she thought the soup was lacking flavor when she made it, so she added just a bit of spinach pesto. We all thought the results were great!
For the main course, we had Spiced Marinated Chicken (CL Annual Recipes 2000), Roasted Corn & Garlic Couscous (CL Website), and Field Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette and Sugared Pecans (CL June 1999). All three of these were a bit on the spicy side, so they complemented each other really well. The chicken had great flavor and was very tender. The viniagrette for the salad was also very good, and the sugared pecans had some spice to them that added a kick.
Then for dessert we had two dishes that REALLY fit our theme of the letter "C": Chocolate Cheesecake (CL August 2000) and Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (CL March 1998). Everyone seemed to enjoy both of them, but I thought the carrot cake (that I brought) was a bit dry. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/redface.gif I realized after making it that the recipe called for 8" cake pans, and I had used 9" ones. The cake did bake faster than the recipe said, and I think the larger pans caused me to overbake it a bit. But the others in my group told me they thought it was great -- especially with the cream cheese frosting in every bite to give it moisture. I think they were just being nice. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif The flavor of the carrot cake was still very good though. I personally thought the Chocolate Cheesecake was better. Everyone was amazed that it turned out without any big cracks running through the center.
Now that we've met for the third time, we have gotten very comfortable with each other -- to the point of teasing each other and really having a great time. We started out with more people than we have now, because some have found it wouldn't work with their schedules, or other things have come up. So we now have nine core members, and that seems to be a good size.
Now we're just waiting to see what theme our March hostess will choose!
What about any other groups? What have you all been making? How do you organize your groups? Do you cook together or bring it already made? What sort of diversity do you have within your groups? I'd love for this board to be a place to exchange ideas and successes, so please let us know what you all have been up to!
Becky http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif
I promised I'd give a report here on each of our Cincinnati Cooking Light Supper Club's dinners. (To clarify, this is the FIRST Cincinnati group -- there is now a second one formed as well!)
We had our third dinner last night, and our theme was the letter "C". Whoever is hostess gets to pick the theme, and our hostess was tired of the ethnic themes and wanted to try something different. Some of us were really wondering how all the dishes would work together, but everything was great, and people's choices really seemed to complement each other.
So here are the dishes we had last night. For appetizers, we had Layered Chili, Cheese and Roasted Corn Dip (CL March 2001), Ultimate Crab Dip (CL Oct. 1999), and Caponata (CL Make It Ahead). All of these were very good -- we had difficulty picking our favorites. Several of us had never heard of Caponata before and tried it with some trepidation, but it was absolutely wonderful!
After our appetizers, we had a soup course with Creamy Asparagus Soup (from Vegetarian Times). The woman who brought this admitted she thought the soup was lacking flavor when she made it, so she added just a bit of spinach pesto. We all thought the results were great!
For the main course, we had Spiced Marinated Chicken (CL Annual Recipes 2000), Roasted Corn & Garlic Couscous (CL Website), and Field Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette and Sugared Pecans (CL June 1999). All three of these were a bit on the spicy side, so they complemented each other really well. The chicken had great flavor and was very tender. The viniagrette for the salad was also very good, and the sugared pecans had some spice to them that added a kick.
Then for dessert we had two dishes that REALLY fit our theme of the letter "C": Chocolate Cheesecake (CL August 2000) and Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (CL March 1998). Everyone seemed to enjoy both of them, but I thought the carrot cake (that I brought) was a bit dry. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/redface.gif I realized after making it that the recipe called for 8" cake pans, and I had used 9" ones. The cake did bake faster than the recipe said, and I think the larger pans caused me to overbake it a bit. But the others in my group told me they thought it was great -- especially with the cream cheese frosting in every bite to give it moisture. I think they were just being nice. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif The flavor of the carrot cake was still very good though. I personally thought the Chocolate Cheesecake was better. Everyone was amazed that it turned out without any big cracks running through the center.
Now that we've met for the third time, we have gotten very comfortable with each other -- to the point of teasing each other and really having a great time. We started out with more people than we have now, because some have found it wouldn't work with their schedules, or other things have come up. So we now have nine core members, and that seems to be a good size.
Now we're just waiting to see what theme our March hostess will choose!
What about any other groups? What have you all been making? How do you organize your groups? Do you cook together or bring it already made? What sort of diversity do you have within your groups? I'd love for this board to be a place to exchange ideas and successes, so please let us know what you all have been up to!
Becky http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif