Thursday, August 6, 2015

A Walk in the Woods inspired Egg Salad Sandwich for #thebookclubcookbookCC



This is our second month of our year long journey through the Cook Book Club Cook Book by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp.

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Our friend and fearless leader, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla, gathered up 11 of us to make our crew an even dozen.  That means each of us get one month during this year to choose a book which the rest of us can choose to read or not as we are so inclined.  Should we choose to read the book we can make any meal that the reading inspires but if we don't want to or have time to read the selection we can use one of the recipes profiled in the cookbook or inspired by the writings in the cookbooks from book clubs that have read it.  I'm not explaining myself very well.  Just pop over to Cam's introduction post to find out more because we would love to have you join us.  You can do so very easily by following the instructions on Andrea's Invitation.

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This month's selection was chosen and will be hosted by Andrea from Adventures in All Things Food.  She chose A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson which is set to be released as a movie starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte this fall.  I cannot wait to see the film.  The book is just hilarious.  I'm talking pee your pants funny.  Literally...

I was sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast with Frank and our son, Chuck, who was home on leave from the Navy.  Frank was checking his emails, Chuck was reading his book and I was reading A Walk in the Woods when all of the sudden I spewed out my cereal all over the kitchen table, laughing and choking hysterically with tears running down my face and my legs.  It would have been embarrassing had they not been laughing so hard at me laughing so hard that I got things cleaned up before they knew what was going on LOL.  

No, I don't know which part of the book caused this laughing fit because it occurred nearly every time I would turn the page.  Just do yourself a favor and order up this book before the movie comes out.  It will make you forget all your troubles, at least for a little while.  It is the fabulously funny journal of Bill Bryson's attempted hike from Georgia to Maine along the Appalachian Trail.

The Cookbook gave us a recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie inspired by the hiker's first stop in a restaurant during their adventures.  They were very happy to have something to eat other than raisins and noodles even if it was a "vast viscous, canary-yellow wedge of lemon pie".  But prior to going to that restaurant they had found themselves, after 5 days on the Appalachian Trail, at a camp store that contained a refrigerator full of Egg Salad Sandwiches.  As soon as I read that I knew what I was going to make but I tried to keep an open mind to see what other foods were in the book.  And there were tons of food in the story but none that could compare with how Bill and his friend, Stephan Katz, must have felt when they bit into that egg salad sandwich.  

I still wasn't completely sold on the egg salad thing just because I thought it might be boring for you, dear reader, to be given a lowly egg salad recipe.  Then, as luck would have it, we celebrated a virtual birthday party for another one of our blogger friend's, Isabel the CEO of the Sunday Supper Movement.  We all created a dish to bring to Isabel's party and one of the participants, the lovely Dorothy of Shockingly Delicious brought a platter of  2 Ingredient Deviled Eggs.  As soon as I read her recipe, I knew my plan of Egg Salad was meant to be.  Using Dorothy's idea of  a prepared dip made this Egg Salad anything but boring.


Dorothy used an Artichoke/Parmesan Dip in her Deviled Eggs.  My favorite Artichoke Dip is made with Greek Yogurt and chock full of Jalapenos.  I nearly always have this dip in my fridge and I do always have eggs in my fridge so Dorothy's recipe was right up my alley.  Now, Bill and Stephan had their egg salad sandwiches on white bread....so did I...on white flour, flakey, buttery croissants that I picked up at the bakery.


The egg salad was delicious with the creaminess of the dip, the tang of the artichokes and the bite from the jalapenos.  I didn't add any other seasoning at all.  Served it up, alongside some fresh fruit and we enjoyed it, I'm sure, every bit as much as Bill and Stephan enjoyed theirs.

Easy Peasy Egg Salad Sandwiches
adapted from 2 Ingredient Deviled Eggs by Shockingly Delicious

4 eggs, preferably over a week old
1/2 c. prepared Artichoke/Jalapeno Dip
4 croissants

Place eggs in a med pan and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium and allow eggs to cook for 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and allow the eggs to sit in the hot water for another 15 minutes.  Take the pan to the sink and run cold water into the hot, swirling the eggs against the sides of the pan so they crackle.  When all the hot water is replaced with cold, peel the eggs. The shells should just slide off for you.

Dice the eggs and place them in a bowl with the artichoke dip.  Using a fork, combine the dip and the eggs.  Add more dip if a looser consistency is desired.  Cut the croissants in half crosswise and fill with the egg salad.  Print Recipe

Giveaway
This month Andrea at Adventures in all Things Food, this month's host, is giving away a copy of the book.* Enter to win a copy of the cookbook so you can join us in future months, if you wish!

One of our lucky readers - US and Canada only! - can enter to win a copy ofThe Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp, courtesy of Tarcher-Penguin. Giveaway runs from August 1st till August 31st at 6 o'clock PM, Pacific time. Please see terms and conditions in the rafflecopter widget below. Many thanks to Tarcher Books. You may find Tarcher: on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Pinterest.

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*Disclosure: Andrea received a complimentary copy of The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp to use in this year-long project plus the opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.

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14 comments:

  1. Well now I need an egg salad sandwich. I am going to the store tomorrow to look for that dip! Darian and I both love egg salad so we shouldn't have any trouble cleaning up a bowl of this. And I'm getting some croissants while I'm there as well. I have the book on my list. I will probably read it next. I need some good "pee in my pants" laughter!! You're the best, Wendy!!

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    1. Please let me know what you think of the recipe and the book Paula.

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  2. I need a book that makes me pee my pants! I am so glad my little egg salad idea worked out for you! I'll be the jalapenos were excellent in there.

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  3. Love this variation - and love your description of the book inducing laughter; I need that in my life! :)

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  4. The book was hilarious! I cannot wait to see this gem as a movie.

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  5. I have been thinking about egg salad sandwiches all day! I have some duck eggs that I might use because, for some strange reason, my boys object to duck eggs when they know they're duck eggs.

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    1. That's too funny. I can't tell you how much food I have given my kids incognito.

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  6. What a unique egg salad recipe! The addition of the artichoke dip sounds amazing. And croissants are just heavenly!!! This is a great interpretation for the book! I can't wait to see the movie.

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  7. interesting idea for egg salad! super easy though :)

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