Tuesdays At The Table - Beer Bread

FYI...We're trying Linky Tools instead of Mr. Linky this week. Any feedback is appreciated!
A few fun announcements were made yesterday, click here to see them. :-)

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Saturday night I went to a Tastefully Simple party at my cousin Kristin's house.  It was a fun night with lots of tasty nibbles.  By a landslide - the best thing there was the beer bread.  Seriously, I think the group of us sucked down every bit of those loaves.

This recipe isn't from Tastefully Simple, but tastes pretty darn good! {recipe and picture via}

Beer Bread

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 bottle (12 ounces) beer, at room temperature {the darker the beer, the better!}

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Brush the bottom and sides of your loaf pan with melted butter.  In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Add the beer all at once, mixing as little as possible; the batter should be lumpy.

Pour the batter into a 9-x-5-x-3-inch loaf pan and brush with the melted butter. Bake in the oven at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes, or until an toothpick comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Announcements!!!! (Book Club/Flip Flop Swap/Something NEW!)

Happy April!!  I have a few fun (I think!) announcements:

The fabulous Andrea and I have teamed up to bring you "3 on Thursday".  This will be a weekly linky that features a fun question each week.  To make life easier - we'll announce the question ahead of time  and host the linky on Thursday.   I'll get the button code up here ASAP - Andrea is on the ball and you can see it on her sidebar already.  :-)




This week's question is:
With the recent MegaMillions hoopla, there's been a lot of dreaming about what we'd do with all that money. What are three things on your "if I won the lottery" list?

Start thinking!  I'll be interested to see your list on Thursday!

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Thanks to everyone that voted on our April book club book!  It will be (by a landslide, I might add!):

Have any books you'd recommend?  Let me know, so I can include it on the list for May!

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And...it's time for my 2nd Annual Flip Flop Swap!

A few rules:
You have a week to sign-up. (aka - your deadline is midnight on Monday, April 9
The flip-flops should be in the $10-$20 range (excluding shipping)
You don't need to be a blogger to participate. If you aren't a blogger, leave your email address in the comment.

Your swap buddy will be announced on Wednesday, April 11th.
Everyone should ship their swap buddy a package by Monday, April 16th, and I'm asking everyone to link up their swap reveal on Monday, April 23th.

March Book Club - Disengaged

Reminder: Please vote on the April book club selection! The poll closes on Sunday.
Our first book club book was Disengaged by Beth Orsoff.

1. Did you like the book? Why/why not?
I did like the book!  It was a fun read that had likable characters (mostly) and would be the kind of romantic comedy that I'd likely watch in movie format. I really enjoyed the airport exchange between Alison and Michael.  It had me briefly guessing if the author was going to go in a direction that I hadn't anticipated.

2. Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to them/ do they remind you of people you know?
The characters do seem fairly real.  I can relate to Alison - it would be strange not to have a little conflict while planning a wedding & possibly second guess decisions that you're making.  Claire, Brittney, Jax and Michael are also real, believable characters.  Sylvia and Brad had a relationship that I can see in mother/son combos that I know.  I mean, a lot of moms are controlling... but not many to that extent.  I would hope that I don't know anybody in real life that defiles a blow up doll the way Brad does.  Or at least, I hope I never find out about it!

3. Is the ending satisfying? If so, why? If not, why not...and how would you change it?
I was happy with the ending.  It was what I had been rooting for since the beginning!  However, I do with that more detail had been given and it felt slightly less rushed.

4. If you could ask the author a question, what would you ask?
I would like to know where the inspiration for the book came from and if any of the characters were modeled after people she knows in real life.

5. How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story? If so, how/why?
I don't really think that the characters change per se, but it does take a while to see all the facets of their personalities.

What do you think about Disengaged?  Link up* and share!


* I'm trying a different linky tool that what I use for Tuesdays At The Table, any feedback on it is appreciated!

Wordless Wednesday

Momma, I lovz da sunroom...but buy me an end table thingie.  Da bench iz kinda tacky.

Yes, I knowz dis chair bewongs in your room, Momma. But I likes it in da sunroom better...mmkay?

Um, Mumma?  How come he gets a chair and I don't?  Go buy me a chair!

You're still here?  Now I want a chair AND a puppy!  Mush, mumma, mush!

Tuesdays At The Table - Carrot Broccoli Soup

Reminder: Please vote on the April book club selection! The poll closes on Sunday.
Last week I lamented on how quickly the summer is coming...this week, I'm going to whine a little and say that I'm COLD!  Dear Mother Nature, I'd like it if I didn't hear the word "snow" at the end of March. Thanks!

At least this gives me an excuse to pawn off another soup recipe on you lovely ladies.  This one is a slight deviation of the recipe courtesy of Taste of Home.  Super easy and quite tasty!

Carrot Broccoli Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

3 medium carrots, diced

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 tablespoon butter

3 cups fresh broccoli florets

3 cups milk, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

In a large saucepan coated with cooking spray, cook the onion, carrots and celery in butter for 3-5 minutes on medium heat. Add broccoli; cook 3-5 minutes longer. Stir in 2-3/4 cups milk, salt, thyme, rosemary and pepper.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Combine the flour and remaining milk until smooth; gradually stir into soup. Bring to a boil; cook a few minutes longer, until thickened.

What's cooking in your kitchen?



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A Dose of Random...

Sorry that my post lacks direction today.  I have lots of little things that would be a waste to post on their own.  Bring on the bullet points!

• Friday night a had an amazing girls night with some of my favorite ladies.  We did a little shopping (if you follow me on Twitter, you saw the adorable sparkly pink headband I picked up at Charming Charlie), had dinner at Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar & Grill", and saw Hunger Games!
• For our viewing pleasure, we saw Hunger Games via Lux level.  The comfy seats, drinks and prime viewing spots are worth the ticket price. 
• And... because there are five of us that went, I ended up being the girl NOT sitting next to one of her besties.  Which is totally fine!  What I hadn't anticipated is having to sit next to a guy who proceeded to drink FOUR beers and then beer belch at me through the movie.  *gag*  And that says nothing of the running commentary he had going.
• You may notice the April book poll in the top left corner.  Please vote!  The poll will be open through April 1, and the book will be announced on April 2nd.
• A huge THANK YOU to those of you who gave book suggestions.  They'll be showing up on the long list rotation soon.  :-) Please keep the book titles coming!
• Quick reminder to please link up your posts about our March book - Disengaged on Friday.
• I planted my peach tree!  I love it already.  I bet it doesn't bloom for a few years, but that's OK.  I do think she needs a name.  Any suggestions?
• The lovely Andrea and I will have a little something fun to share with you all soon. We're both really excited about it!
• The second annual flip flop swap is coming soon!  It's a great way to celebrate the warm weather and find a new bloggy friend.  :-)

April Book List

I hope everyone is enjoying Disengaged!  It's time that we got going and picked our April book.  A very lovely lady pointed out to me that Disengaged was only available via e-reader.  I'm so sorry if anyone got excluded because of it. I promise to do a better job going forward of crosschecking the hardcopy vs. e-reader availability!
Below is my proposed "long list" of April books.  You'll see a few repeats from last month's list, as I got some good response to them and think that they should be up for consideration again.  PLEASE, send me your suggestions!  I love to read and can provide book lists until the cows come home...but I want this to be a fair process and you very likely have heard of books that I haven't! :-)

The Next Always by Nora Roberts
A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff
Just Like Me, Only Better by Carol Snow
The First Day of the Rest of My Life by Cathy Lamb
The Year Everything Changed by Georgia Bockoven
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes
Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto
How I Planned Your Wedding by Susan and Elizabeth Wiggs
The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston

OK, now please - be vocal. Comment on what you like from the list...and don't like.  The books with the largest amount of positive feedback will move on the the short list/poll.  Any book that doesn't "win" for next month from that list but got positive feedback will cycle through again in the coming months.