I’m hosting my Thursday Night Book Club tonight. Book club is always my favorite night(s) of the month. I belong to two book clubs that meet in the evening and another that meets in the morning. We each meet once a month. For Thursday Night Book Club, there are usually 5 of us. Tonight, however, we are going to be a small group of 3. Ralene is out of town and Jen has a long day of meetings that end late. That leaves Jen (we have two Jen’s), Sandy and myself. Tonight, we are discussing the book I chose for us to read called “The Address” by Fiona Davis. I highly recommend this wonderful book. I heard from Jen, while she was in the middle of the book, saying how much she loved it … this was a really good book. Run out and pick this one up if you like to read and are looking for something good. Sandy chooses our next book … I can’t wait to see what we’ll be reading next. Did I mention … I love book club?! As soon as I crawl under the covers tonight, I’ll be ready to download the next read on my kindle. I can’t wait. I am reading Reese Witherspoon’s October book club pick at the moment. Did you know Reese Witherspoon has a book club? I follow her on Instagram where she posts what she’s reading. She chose “The Rules of Magic” by Alice Hoffman. I’m loving this book as well … excellent choice, Reese! I’m about 70% done, so as soon as I finish, I’ll begin Sandy’s choice.

I’m looking forward to making dinner for the ladies, and I also look forward to putting together a few appetizer items. I always have a cheese board – which I will be having tonight. I chose, Saint Andre, an Italian Fontina, Aged Irish Cheddar, and 1,000 day old Gouda (A woman started chatting with me in the cheese department at Trader Joe’s one day and said she buys it every time she heads to there. She was telling me it had a nice, nutty, crunch to it. I bought it to serve on my cheese board for dinner club and it was a hit. I’m also going to put out an Irish Cheddar and Port Salut. Of course, there will be nuts and dried berries on my cheese board as well.) I also picked up a dip I found at Trader Joe’s called Garlic Beet Dip. It looked too good to pass up, so I’m going to serve it with Pita Chips.

Cut veggies are always a nice addition to any appetizer spread, which is why I was also planning on including them in tonight’s appetizer menu. I figured I’d make a dip of some sort for the veggies, which is what I did. Originally, I was going to make a dip using sour cream as my base. As luck would have it (actually this was luck, because I was able to come up with a new recipe that I think you will love), I was out of sour cream. “Oh darn”, I thought to myself. I had just gotten back from the market to pick up a loaf of crusty ciabatta bread to go with our dinner. I didn’t want to run back to the store so had to put my thinking cap on. I looked through my refrigerator and found a carton of mascarpone cheese. “OK, let’s see what we can come up with using mascarpone” I said to Remington … my German Shepard, and main helper for today. Well …. I came up with a dip recipe that is really tasty. Looking back … I’m quite happy I was out of sour cream.

I emptied my mascarpone into a bowl and added the following: kosher salt, minced garlic (out of the jar), Italian seasoning, grated Romano/parmesan cheese and the zest and juice of one lemon. I mixed everything together with my hand mixer and placed it in a glass serving bowl.

Doesn’t this spread look nice and thick? It is! It’s not too thick, however, that you can’t swipe a carrot, bell pepper, or cucumber through it. I’m really happy with this recipe I came up with on the fly this afternoon. I think there are many ways you could use this mascarpone dip/spread. It would be excellent on a chicken breast, tucked under the skin with sun-dried tomatoes or basil (or both!). I may try that next week. If I do, I will be sure to blog that recipe for you all.

I can’t wait to see what Jen and Sandy think about this dip. I also thought about my Mom and sister after I tried this dip. I think it’s something they would love as well. Maybe on the big fat sourdough pretzels on a Sunday afternoon while they are enjoying The Badger game, or on a Sunday, while enjoying the Packers. It would also be good on crackers. The list could go on and on.

Ingredients

• 1 8-ounce package mascarpone cheese

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• 2 teaspoons grated romano/parmesan blend cheese

• 1 lemon (zest and juice)

Directions

1. Mix everything together with your hand mixer.
2. Serve with crudités (or pita chips or crackers).

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris