Easy entertaining, a delicious cornbread salad recipe, and a great book!

A couple of weeks ago, I hosted one of my book clubs at our house. We don't have a name, so I'll call it Book Club-1, because it was the first club I joined. This was our 1 year anniversary meeting, so, I wanted to make it special. We feasted on some yummy summery foods, (fruit, pasta and cornbread salads, blue cheese dip and veggie chips, ham and okra roll-ups) and those delicious caramel strawberries I posted about earlier that the kids helped to make. I just had to show you this neat idea I used after seeing it on Kellys Korner blog. She covers her stove/range area with a tablecloth or fabric during her parties or showers.

My stove area is in the middle of the island counter in my kitchen, and just looks ugly to me when you try to decorate around it. So, I figured now was a good time to try it out for myself. I usually always forget these good ideas I read about on blogs or see in magazines! And I was even thrifty with my finds this go around. I had already found some cute, black & lime green square plates that I loved and wanted to use. I was fortunate to stumble upon a flat black sheet ($3) as the base and a lime green curtain panel ($7) for laying in a swirl atop. Next, I just added in a long strand of leftover zebra print ribbon I keep on hand for stationary projects. And voila! An inexpensive, no sew project (because Ma Ingalls, I'm not) that I think turned out pretty good. What do you think?

Another great little idea (layering fruit by color) came from the pages of Southern Living, my favorite magazine. I used some Hemingway Hurricane vases as my serving bowls, and layered my fruit and cornbread salad right inside! Although it wasn't actually a "cooking camp" session for us, the kids did help me out a lot in the kitchen. Several folks have asked, so I've included the recipes for the cornbread salad and pasta salad over on our recipe blog. The cornbread salad is so yummy---my secret is that I use Wickles Pickle Relish and pickle juice!! My brother and Dad really enjoy this salad...so good in the summer time with everything fresh from the garden!

We did take a moment to reflect back over our first year of book club reads. And we all actually enjoyed each book choice. There were a few that we all thought initially might not be so great, but in the end, thought they were all good reading material. Although there were no secret ballots nor any hanging chads that deem a recount, etc., but from the discussions around the table, I think I can safely say that our favorite pick from our first year list would be "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant.

If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend it.

There's others I'd recommend as well, if you're interested.

Do you have any creative thoughts for entertaining, a fantastic summer recipe or a must read book recommendation? If so, I'd love to hear about them. I'm ALWAYS looking for new ideas, yummy food finds, and a great read!!