Summer of Two Wishes Book Club Treats

Be sure and scroll down to find recipes, music suggestions, and important links

For me, the best part about my bookclub is the food, the wine, and my fabulous friends.  In fact, my fabulous bookclub friends helped me put together this bookclub menu.  For Summer of Two Wishes, this is what we would be munching on:

Louie’s Chicken Enchildas
3 cups boiled shredded chicken breast
3 cups shredded queso blanco, queso asado, and monterrey jack cheeses
12 corn tortillas
½ cup shortening
16 oz. tomatillo sauce (use at your discretion)
1 small can chopped green chilis

Boil chicken and shred. 
Cook corn tortillas in shortening until they are soft. 
Stuff corn tortillas with chicken, cheese, sauce and chilis.  Roll them, put them seam side down in baking dish.
Sprinkle remaining cheese on top, bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. 
It goes without saying, the more cheese, the tastier.  Enjoy!

Perdernales River Chili
4 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 TSP Mexican oregano
1 TSP ground cumin
6 teaspoons red chili powder
2 16 oz. cans of tomatoes (chopped are better than stewed)
salt to taste
2 cups hot water

Put the meat, onion and garlic in large cutch oven and sear until brown.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer for one hour.  Skim fat from top.  Top with cheese. 

Grilled Gulf shrimp

Take gulf shrimp, shell and de-vein.  Skewer on a stick and throw on a grill.  Serve with red sauce and lemon. 

Debbie’s Guacamole Salsa

2 avocados—peeled and quartered
5 fresh tomatillos—quartered
4 fresh Serrano peppers (can use jalapeno for milder salsa)
1 cup sour cream
4 7 oz. cans of salsa verde

Throw it all in a food processor and blend until almost smooth.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Melissa’s Texas Sheet Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 1/2 tsp Mexican vanilla

Icing:
1/4 cup butter
3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa
3 TBSP buttermilk
2 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/2 TSP vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

Preparation:
Cake
Grease a 13X9X2-inch baking pan; set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine 1 cup butter, 1/3 cup cocoa, and 1 cup of water. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.  Mix chocolate mixture into the dry mixture until thoroughly blended. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Blend for 1 minute until batter is thin.  Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

While it is baking, in a medium saucepan combine 1/4 cup butter or margarine, 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, and 3 tablespoons buttermilk. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat; add 2 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth. If desired, stir in 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans.

Pour warm chocolate frosting over the warm cake, spreading evenly. Place cake in pan on a wire rack; cool thoroughly before cutting.

Home grown tomatoes
Get a pot.  Plant a tomato plant.  Nurture along until you have big, round, red tomatoes.  Take them off the vine and slice them up.  Salt to taste for an afternoon snack.  Serve on bread with mayo, and cheese for a better snack.  Frankly, one can live on homegrown tomatoes in the last part of summer.

Sangria

Everyone had a recipe for sangria.  Here is a simple and cheap recipe that we all loooooove:
1 6 oz. frozen concentrate limeade mixed with one can of water
1 6 oz. frozen concentrate orange juice mixed with one can of water
1 liter grapefruit soda (chilled)
1 bottle red wine, best with cabernet

Mix the juices, then add wine and garnish with orange slices.  Chill.  Some like theirs made slushy.  I prefer to stick a straw down between the orange slices and take it from there.

Want more Texas food ideas?  Try this link:

http://www.texascooking.com/

Need music for your bookclub? 

I recommend some of my personal favorite artists who all call Texas home:  Patty Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Marcia Ball, Shawn Colvin, Sara Hickman, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, and of course, Willie Nelson.  Below are some songs that inspired me while writing Summer of Two Wishes:

Prayer to St. Peter by Edwin McCain
Can you Live Without by Guy Forsythe
Wicked Game by Chris Isaak
Lie to Me by Jon Bon Jovi
I’ll Be Your River by Cyndi Lauper
You’ll Think of Me by Keith Urban
The One I Love by David Gray
She Hurts by Phil Roy
Then by Brad Paisley
She Never Cried in Front of Me by Toby Keith

Links!

My brother had a ranch a few years ago.  People would drive out and put their dogs out on the side of the road in front of his place and then drive away.  I have been a strong supporter of animal rescue since.  If you want to help care for neglected and abused animals, here are some great ways to start:

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at www.aspca.org
The Humane Society of the United States at www.hsus.org
Rescue Centers (for large animal rescue) at www.rescuecenters.com

Here are two in Texas that I support:
Bluedog Rescue at www.bluedogrescue.com
Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch at www.utopiarescue.com

There are many very fine internet sites for veterans and veterans’ families.  The United States Department of Veteran’s Affairs maintains a clearinghouse list of the many organizations for veterans at www1.va.gov/VSO/some

In addition the American Widow Project is a great site where widows of war can come together to heal and share resources. It can be found at  www.americanwidowproject.org