Love in the Time of Cholera Roundup Post for #BookClubCookbookCC

 I stepped in to host our Book Club Cookbook Cooking Crew event this month as our friend, Danielle of  Mostly Food and Crafts, needed to bow out.  The BCCBCC, as we call it, is a group of bloggers who were brought together by our friend, Cam of Culinary Adventures with Camilla, to join in a year long project promoting this fun cookbook.  You can read all about it in my invitation post.

Danielle had already chosen the book for this month so my only job here was to invite others to join us and then write this round up post where our readers get to learn what we were inspired to create from the chosen selection, in this case "Love in the Time of Cholera".

As members of the BCCBCC, we can choose whether or not we want to read the books chosen each month or we can just read the chapter dedicated to the chosen book in the Cookbook written by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp.  Each month the publisher, Tarcher/Penguin provides us with a copy of this cookbook to raffle off to our readers.  Even if you are not an avid reader, you will enjoy the great recipes in this cookbook.  If, like me, you are a passionate reader you will love reading the synopsis of each book and other book clubs opinions of the book along with the recipes.  It is a win/win proposition.

I did not much care for the novel selected this month.  In fact, I cared for it so little that I allowed myself not to finish it.  That is something that is a very rare occurrance around here.  Normally I finish every book I start, even if I hate it.  But I was reading it while on vacation and I said to myself..."Wendy, why are you going to force yourself to read something you are not enjoying when the whole purpose of vacation is to enjoy yourself?"  And with that thought in my head, I gave myself permission to not read the book.  

The good thing is that I had read enough of the book to get a great recipe inspiration.  I will be sharing the link to that recipe after I share with you what the other members of the group thought of the book and decided to create.

First to submit a recipe was Erin of The Spiffy Cookie,  It did not appear that Erin read the novel chosen this month but she did provide us with a great Blueberry Coconut Mojito recipe that I cannot wait to try!!

Erin says "Obviously I went with the Mojito but jazzed it up a bit with blueberries and coconut water".  I say YUM!!!!

Next up is Cam, without whom we would not be enoying this post and great recipes.  Camilla had read the book in high school and had remembered enjoying it so she picked up a copy to reread and found that her tastes had changed and she didn't care for the book at all.   That didn't stop her from making this marvelous and beautiful Dragonfruit, Mango, Jicama and Corn Salad,

According to Cam, "As much as I disliked the book, I loved this salad".

Andrea of Adventures in All Things Food made this yummy looking Carribean Rice and Peas chock full of kielbasa and black eyed peas.  This dish really grabs my attention! What a great one pot meal. Andrea wasn't able to finish the book either but it did inspire her to try some Carribean flavors.  A cuisine with which she was not familiar but that she is now loving.

Andrea says "one of the things that made me choose this recipe to try is the black eyed peas." as she had never had an oppurtunity to try them.

Sarah of  The Pajama Chef took time out of her busy life with a new baby to share her recipe for Baked Tilapia with Coconut Cilantro Sauce.  Drooling yet?......

How about now?  Yep, you want to rush over and get this recipe by Sarah who says "I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did....and if you happen to love the novel this recipe is inspired by, well, then please accept my apologies that I did not".

Our friend, Renee of Tortillas and Honey, shared her recipe for Chicken and Rice inspired by the author's birthplace.  Renee was only able to read about 50 pages of the book.  She hopes to finish it but may change her mind after reading this round up LOL.

"Gabriel Garcia Marquez is from Columbia, so I decided to make a Latin dish" says Renee.  We are glad she did.  I got all excited when I saw the olives in that rice.  Turns out Renee doesn't even care much for olives but added them to keep true to the recipe.  I, for one, am glad she did. 

Last but not least I was inspired to create this delicous Caribbean Pork Stew.  The moral of the story: Reading is good, even if the book is bad it expands your horizons and opens up all kinds of creative possibilities.

Stop by Sarah of Things I Make for Dinner's  invitation post to join us next month when we are sharing recipes inspired by Chocolat and giving away 2 copies of the cookbook for June!!

Giveaway

This month Sarah at Thing I Make (for Dinner), this month's host, is giving away two copies of the book.* Enter to win a copy of the cookbook so you can join us in future months, if you wish!

TWO of our lucky readers - US and Canada only! - can enter to win a 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, courtesy of Tarcher-Penguin. Giveaway runs from June 1st till June 30th 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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: Sarah 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 as an opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.