GCC: Menu 3 - Empanadas and White Bean Soup

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I had a surprise this weekend.  One of my friends that I have known for years was close to my side of town and decided to hop over to visit me and meet Tom.  I also got to meet her brand new husband as well.  Someone that I heard about for a while, but never had the opportunity to meet.

I’m talking about the duo that make up  SamCyn’s Edible Adventure blog.   Cynthia and I use to be co-workers when I lived in Miami, so we known each other a VERY LONG time.  We have keep in touch over the years, and she is a recent newlywed. I did know it at the time but, she keep tabs on me over the years by reading my personal blog and then Sweetbites.  And when I started the Gutsy Cooks Club, she totally jumped in with both hands in the air and dragged her very cute, sweet husband into the fold.

A couple of weeks ago, she sent me an email that they were going to be close by and if Tom and I had nothing planned, they wanted to stop by for a visit.  This time it was my turn to jump in with both hands in the air and sound off a hearty “YES!”, and promptly dragged along my boyfriend for the ride. The men in our lives have no say so in these type of matters.

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GCC: Menu 2 - Ricotta and Arugula Roulade and Quindim

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And its week two of the Gutsy Cooks Club.  

Our inaugural week was such a success, not only in participation but the choosen recipes were a total hit with the club.  Most of us are putting them on the repeat list.  I was also happy to see most of us get “gutsy” with the recipes by changing things around and getting creative.

That is the spirit guys!

And here we are in week 2.  These choices were actually ones that got my attention when I first got the book and was browsing through it, because a savory roulade? Really? And if there is anything that I like more is changing sweet staples into a savory spin off.  This was perfect; I have done so many sweet rolls before, so I was looking forward to it.

The best part of it is that my mother’s birthday was Sunday and I cooked a whole lunch for her, and this fit right into the menu nicely.  I was not even trying to make it fit, but this tells you how good this would go with any type of menu.

The roulade was pretty easy to put together, in fact I was so surprise how easy it came together.  And the taste before it went into the oven to cook was good.  So I was all sorts of exited.

This was going to be good, I thought…

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FFwD: Gougères

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And as some of you may know by now, Dorie Greenspan had published another book called Around my French Table.

And a cook-a-long group soon follow.  And because you guys know that I’m crazy, I joined up.  To be fair, this was being discussed in the TWD group months ago, and in fact it was projected to start in 2011.  But the book got an early release and here we are.  Over 1000 home cooks have joined the French Fridays with Dorie (FFwD) movement and we all be sharing our experiences in cooking through the 500 page book every Friday.  So along with my Sweet Kitchen Tips, I will also post any recipe that I make from the book.

And about that book….
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