Cooking Club!

Here's a few of the gals in one of my Cooking Clubs. I'm in two (I know). From the left to the right: Donna, Roberta, Lisa and Kathy Jo. Her name is just Kathy, but I call her Kathy Jo. Well, I call Roberta - Bobbie, and Donna, Baby, and Lisa, I call her Lisa, but in a funny voice.

Four of the greatest gals that ever walked the earth. Donna. Bless her heart. Thank you GOD that she moved here from Ohio. I know she didn't want to, but God knew I needed her. We'll be friends forever. Sometimes you just know those things. I can just see us old and senile, still making fun of people. *love you gurl*. There is not a day that goes by when she doesn't get a comment about how much someone loves her hair. It's gettin' old Baby. Roberta. Don't let her size fool you. She is one tough cookie. She is the kind of person that you just know would be there for you whenever you needed her. She is very wise. She is quite beautiful. Something about her, you just can't pinpoint it, but you just want to fold her up in your pocket and carry her around. Lisa. Extremely talented. A fabricaholic. Love that about her! If you want to laugh, be around Lisa. You will be on the floor. Look how lovely she is. Behind her professional appearance and manner at work is a total goofball. Kathy Jo. The first person I befriended at the BMV. Swore up and down that I wasn't going to make 'friends' at this job, just acquaintances. She screwed up my plan. She is so sweet, so delicate. So stinkin' sarcastic that it cracks me up. We daily exchange Seinfeldisms. She gets me. I like it. I like her ALOT. Thanks for always having my back Kath.

The premise is that we take turns at each others' homes. Whomever is hosting that month will pick out the menu and assign each of us a recipe. We usually have a theme. This month it was Bobbie's turn, and we did 'Appetizers'.

Here's Baby's Zucchini Fritters. They were good! A nice sour cream dipping sauce took them over the top.

For me, Lisa's (insert funny voice here) pizza was the winner of the day. An asparagus, fingerling potato, goat cheese creation. (Recipe to follow).

Here's Kathy Jo's recipe. Cheese stuff, bacon wrapped dates. Oh yum. These were SUPER good. Great for a holiday I think. Sweet. Salty. Yum-o.

My recipe this month was Garlic Souffle in a cream sauce. It was good, but I didn't like it enough to make it twice. It's not pictured here cause it was in the oven when I took the pics and I'm a dork.

You should start your own Cooking Club! It's so much fun. You end up trying things you'd never make before. Sometimes you really find out that you like something that you'd never try otherwise.

Give this a try, you really won't be sorry:

From Epicurious.com

• 5 ounces fingerling potatoes
• Cornmeal (for sprinkling)
• Pizza Dough
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced, divided
• 1 1/3 cups grated whole-milk mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces)
• 4 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
• 8 ounces asparagus, trimmed, each spear cut in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 2- to 3-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

preparation

Place potatoes in small saucepan. Add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Sprinkle with salt. Bring to boil and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Cool. Cut potatoes into thin slices.

Preheat oven to 450°F. Sprinkle rimless baking sheet with cornmeal. Roll and stretch pizza dough to 16x11-inch oval. Transfer to baking sheet. Mix 1 tablespoon olive oil and garlic in small bowl. Brush garlic oil over dough. Sprinkle 3/4 of green onions over, then mozzarella, leaving 1/2-inch plain border. Top with potato slices and goat cheese. Toss asparagus and 1 tablespoon oil in medium bowl. Scatter asparagus over pizza. Sprinkle with Parmesan, then lightly with salt and generously with pepper.

Bake pizza until crust is browned and asparagus is tender, about 18 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. Sprinkle with remaining green onions. Cut into pieces.