Linda Watson's Strawberry Cashew Soup

Strawberry Cashew Soup.

I'm glad I'm on Linda Watson's email list.  In a recent email she had a recipe for this delicious strawberry cashew soup.  I served it the other night for dessert.  Here's the recipe.

1/3 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup water
1 pound strawberries
1 1/2 teaspoons honey (I used two tablespoons because I wanted it a bit sweeter.)
pinch salt

1. Put cashews and water in a food processor. Pulse eight to ten times until cashew pieces are about the size of coarse grains of sand. Let cashews soak at room temperature for an hour.
2. Set aside four pretty strawberries for garnish and hull the rest.
3. After the cashews have soaked, process them again until the mixture looks like heavy cream, about 30 seconds. Add strawberries, honey, and salt to food processor and process until smooth. Refrigerate until cold, about an hour.
4. Slice remaining strawberries. Taste soup and add more honey or salt as needed. (Chilling the soup brings out the flavor of the strawberries, so check the flavor after chilling and serve it cold.) Ladle soup into bowls and gently float strawberry slices on top. Soup keeps refrigerated for about four days.

Chocolate Pumpkin Snack Cake

I was thinking grandson Tyler might be here after school the other day, so I made this cake to have a healthy snack ready for him.  The recipe is from Linda Watson's Wildly Affordable Organic cookbook.  The Cookbook Book Club's choice for June is this book, and I am trying out some of the recipes to decide what dish I will take to the meeting.  Tyler didn't stop by on Thursday, so Dan and I enjoyed the snack ourselves, and I had a piece the next morning for breakfast.  Tyler will be here next Tuesday, so perhaps I'll have a reason to make this cake again.  I'm certain there won't be any left by then, although I think it would freeze well.
Here's the recipe from Linda's book.

I had all the ingredients on hand, and this was quick to make.  It is very light, moist, delicious and healthy---whole wheat flour and pumpkin.

Chocolate Pumpkin Snack Cake.

The Cookbook Book Club

From Cameron Village Library Flyer.

Cameron Village Public Library (Photo from their website).

A book club featuring cookbooks is a great idea.  I attended my first meeting of this Club last night, and I must say it was a great deal of fun.  And what good food!!!  The group enjoyed a variety of dishes prepared by the attendees.  The dishes for this month were all prepared from recipes in some Southern Living cookbook.

 Each member described her dish and recipe to the group.

My plate.

As you can see from my plate there was quite a variety of dishes:  potato salad, egg salad, romaine lettuce and strawberry salad, Hoppin' John Salad, two kinds of bread and old-fashioned strawberry shortcake to mention a few.

Linda Watson is a member of this Club, and for the June meeting we will each prepare a dish from a recipe in her book Wildly Affordable Organic.  

I've belonged to book clubs before, but this is the first Cookbook Book Club I've known, and I think it is going to be a lot of fun.