For the love of God, do less.

A simple menu for hosting a potluck style book club

“Man’s real work is to look at the things of the world and to love them for what they are. That is, after all, what God does, and man was not made in God’s image for nothing.” - Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of The Lamb

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, book club night and my turn to host, so I crack open Ina Garten’s go-to dinners. Because we are a sisterhood held together by shared history and a mutual love of books, Jesus, bread and cheese (not necessarily in that order), I am making Ina’s Overnight Macaroni and Cheese. It’s a simple recipe that’s big on flavor, and can feed a crowd of hungry women on its own, but I’m pairing it with Crockpot pulled pork, because we love to eat and I love that about us.

Also, I like to have some shredded pork in the freezer at all times. In a pinch, I pull some out for BBQ sandwiches, carnita tacos¹ or Honey Garlic Pork². All of the above are almost infinitely flexible and can be rounded out with whatever stray ingredients we have laying around. They’re great for cleaning out the fridge of bits of this and that.

Here’s the thing about book club. We’ve been at this for… a long time. Longer than I’ve been married. Every single one of them has seen my nipples, and I’ve seen most of theirs. We met years before any of us had kids and now, collectively, we have eight just among the regulars. Many an evening has been spent passing babies around between nursing sessions.

They know that I make jokes to deflect when I’m feeling tender. I know who will show up early and who will be fashionably late. We’ve carried diagnoses and miscarriages. We’ve shown up to bridal showers and baby showers. We meet in apartments and condos, on porches and in basements

What I’m saying is that we’ve gotten over ourselves just enough to open our front doors, just enough to show up as we are. I’m not trying to impress them anymore. That’s not the point of book club.

Books are what brought us together. We are, after all, a book club. But more and more it seems the book is just an excuse to be together eating girl dinner. We wrestle with insecurities, beliefs, and politics. We ask big questions without clear answers and we sit together in the uncertainty. We have, over more evenings and bottles of wine and bags of potato chips than I can count, become a sisterhood. And it all started with a book.

What I Made

Barefoot Contessa Overnight Macaroni and Cheese

Crockpot Pulled Pork (recipe-ish below)

What they brought:

Megan brought cornbread. I forget what kind, but we love this one, too.

Jordan mixed up a salad. I can’t remember what all was in it, but this one is great. I’ve made it for book clubs past.

Jess brought a Trader Joe’s Gluten free yellow cake with chocolate icing. You guys, I could happily live without cake but this was SO GOOD.

Rachel brought a crowd pleasing assortment of dips and dippers.

Chelsea brought Ginger beer, limes and mint for Moscow and/or Kentucky mules which doubled as mocktails.

How To Prep

A few days before:

The ingredient list is simple and cheap for both the pork and the macaroni, but make sure you have them. Do yourself a favor and double check. It takes five minutes tops and will save you at least 30 minutes of panic shopping if you later realize you’re missing the heavy cream. You may think “that’s okay. I’ll use milk instead.” DON’T DO IT. I’ve done it and it’s not nearly as good.

If you have time, maybe grab some fresh flowers and make some little arrangements in jars. No one will notice if you don’t, so don’t do it if it’s not your jam, but I love that even after everyone leaves I still have flowers to enjoy.

The day before:

Mix up your macaroni and cheese per the directions.

If your pork is frozen, defrost it in the fridge.

If you have five minutes to kill, chop your onions and garlic for the pork.

The day of:

Cook your pork first thing in the morning. The longer it cooks, the better. You could also cook it a few days in advance and then put it in the crockpot or a skillet to heat up before serving.

Before your guests arrive, preheat the oven. This gives you time to grab your drink of choice and do the panic tidy we both know you’re going to do. Want to eat right away? Put the pasta in the oven now. Want to hang out and snack for a bit while people trickle in? Wait a bit. It’s your party.

Crockpot Pulled Pork Recipe-ish

Line your crockpot with 4-5 strips of uncooked³ bacon if you have it. If not, skip it. Place a pork shoulder on top of the bacon, fat side up. If you don’t know what a pork shoulder is, ask the butcher at your grocery store. They’ll hook you up.

Once your meat is in the pot, grab a yellow onion and a head of garlic. If you’re feeling fancy you can use a paring knife to cut some little garlic pockets in your pork and tuck the cloves in or you can just drop them in the meat sauna. It’s up to you and it doesn’t make a huge difference. How much garlic? You could use all the cloves and it wouldn’t ruin it. Four cloves minimum. Bare minimum. Measure it with your heart. Then rough chop your onion. and drop it in. If you have bay leaves, a couple of those are great, too. Do they actually add flavor? I still don’t know but I never regret adding them. Sprinkle the whole thing liberally with sea salt and pepper and cook all day. You do not need to add liquid. As the fat renders, it will cook in its own liquid. If you’ve never made a pork shoulder before, there may come a moment around the five hour mark when you think “Oh shit. I overcooked it.” It will look done but will be tough. Don’t panic. Let it cook. You cannot ruin this, I promise. When it’s done, the bone will practically fall out and the meat will shred easily with two forks. Serve with a selection of barbecue sauces.

For the love of God, do not sauce the pork while it’s cooking. “But Krista, it gives it more flavor!” No. Put down the barbecue sauce. Trust me on this. Do less.

What to Read

Recommending books is my love language. For this meeting, we read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, because we love Taylor Jenkins-Reid. This crew is always down for a feel good romance, anything by C.S. Lewis or a good mystery but nothing too gruesome. I always like to sprinkle in something memoir or literary, too. Here’s a list of the books we’re discussing this year.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (read it, liked it)

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center (ditto)

This Present Paradise by Claire Dwyer (read it, loved it)

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell (I picked it, so you know I loved it)

Greenlights by Matthew McConnaughey (listened to it a long time ago, liked it. Don’t remember much about it, but I do love a celeb memoir and I like his voice, so I’m looking forward to listening again.)

James by Percival Everett (read it, loved it)

Surprised By Joy by C.S. Lewis

The Nature of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant (read it, liked These Silent Woods better but this one is also good)

Recursion by Blake Crouch

The Matriarch by Susan Page

Faking Christmas by Kerry Winfrey (this is my go to Christmas re-read)

1. For this, I just spread shredded pork on a sheet pan and squeeze some lime juice over the top along with a healthy sprinkling of garlic powder and cumin. Then I throw it in a hot oven (425-500) until it’s crispy on the edges. Stick to 425 if you want to be able to multi task. Only turn on the broiler of you can watch it.

2. This is one of my most used and referenced cookbooks. The concept of prepping ingredients instead of meals was LIFE CHANGING.

3. I typed “raw” first but eww.