HPL Cookbook Club members try their hands at new tasty treats

Cindy Lightle, right, references something in a cookbook as Judy Zerr-Schalberger serves herself a plate during the July meeting of the Hays Public Library Cookbook Club.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

If you happen into the Hays Public Library during a meeting of one of their new clubs, you will not be greeted by the hush that is typical of a library.

Instead you will hear ooh’s and ahh’s, mmm’s and happy munching sounds — and a group of ladies exploring new culinary creations through a Cookbook Club.

The group meets on the third Thursday of the month at 11 a.m. The group is in its first year at HPL.

From far left to right, pull apart buttermilk biscuits, dump and done ramen salad, Thai noodles and scalloped potatoes with ham and bacon made from recipes in “Cravings: Recipes for All the Foods You Want to Eat” by Chrissy Teigen and Adeena Sussman.

There is no cost to attend, but you need to bring a dish made from a recipe from the cookbook selection of the month.

The morning I visited, the group was enjoying dishes from the “Cravings: Recipes for All the Foods You Want to Eat” by Chrissy Teigen and Adeena Sussman.

“I just pick and choose whatever I see coming through the shelves,” said Abby Artz, adult services program coordinator and sponsor for the group.

She said she looked for cookbooks with simple recipes with familiar ingredients.

“Most of the ones I have chosen are not easy to make, they still kind of challenge us a little bit, but it is genuinely something we would enjoy eating, not something outlandish and crazy.”

Cindy Lightle, Cookbook Club member, says she likes to follow the recipes exactly. She says it helps her learn new cooking techniques.

Some of the other cookbooks the group has tried include “Genius Kitchen;” “Heartlandia” by Adam Sappington, Ashley Gartland, and Jackie Sappington; “Sweet and Simple: Desserts for Two” by Christina Lane; “Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables” by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg; and “Smitten Kitchen” by Deb Perelman.

Cindy Lightle, club member, said the ways the members choose the recipes differ. Some choose recipes they think will be easy. Others said they looked for recipes with ingredients they thought they could find in Hays.

Lightle started with desserts and now she has moved on to biscuit variations. Yet others have literally opened the cookbooks to a random page, pointed to a recipe and said,”I am going to make that.”

“I like following the recipe,” Lightle said. “We said from the start, ‘Follow the recipe.’ Even though there are a lot of good cooks in this group, even though you know you would make it a different way, follow the recipe and maybe you learn a different way to make it. Then we will talk about why we shouldn’t do it that way again or why we should.”

Judy Zerr-Schalberger, who once worked in a school kitchen, said she is a little more free-wheeling with her recipes. For her Dump and Done Ramen Salad from the latest cookbook selection, she used her entire bag of broccoli slaw.

“What was I going to do with 4 ounces of broccoli slaw?” she said.

Zerr-Schalberger said she has had to adjust to cooking for just herself. She said she has learned to cut down recipes and freeze.

Although the ladies try to make different dishes, Lightle happened to make the same salad, so they compared how the two recipes tasted with the two cook’s slight variations.

The women use the club as an opportunity to share their tips and tricks.

Fellow club member Linda Beech suggested Lightle use a food processor to cut in her butter for her biscuits, and Lightle said it worked.

One recipe for devil eggs suggested boiling the eggs and then letting the egg whites soak in lemon water for two to 24 hours in the refrigerator before preparing. Zerr-Schalberger brings her water to a boil, adds the eggs, shuts off the heat, lets the eggs sit in the hot water for 15 minutes and then takes the eggs off the heat and runs cold water over them until they are cool to the touch. She said said the eggs shells crack cleanly in half almost every time.

Ruth Deines said she joined the group because, “I love to cook, and I like to eat too.”

She said she is picking up on recipes she can’t eat anywhere else in Hays, like the Thai noodle dish that she made for July’s club meeting.

Ruth Deines, Cookbook Club member, said she has discovered recipes through the club that she and her husband are now enjoying regularly.

Deines said she has continued to make the smashed chickpea salad with turkey meatballs she learned from a cookbook the group tried. She said her husband loves it.

Artz said, “It helps you learn what not to make and broadens your range when you are cooking for yourself.”

The group is trying to grow its membership and is open to meeting at a different time, including an evening. If you are interested in the group or would like to see the group meet on an alternative day or time, contact the library’s adult department at 785-625-9014.

The group’s next cookbook will be “Delish, Eat Like Everyday’s the Weekend” by Joanna Saltz and the editors of Delish. You can checkout a copy at HPL. Ask the front desk. The Cookbook Club’s next meeting is 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, in the Schmidt Gallery.