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The Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook: Recipes and Stories to Celebrate the Bounty of the Moment
Time at the table with good food in reach fosters community. The recipes collected in this cookbook fulfill that promise, drawing close a diverse assemblage of Nashville folk who understand how potlucks deliver both sacrament and sustenance.
When professional cook and author Nancy Vienneau started a casual potluck celebrating good food and goodwill, she had no idea it would be going strong five years later. The ever-changing group of diverse people who attend have one thing in a dedication to good food. As a result, every month, a non-scripted parade of seasonally inspired dishes appears.
In The Third Community Potluck Cookbook, Vienneau shares recipes such
Roasted Tomato Goat Cheese TartMe-me’s Chocolate CakeChicken Baked with Fresh PlumsAcorn Squash with Southern Sorghum and PecansCrowder Pea SaladPimiento Cheese with Farmstead CheddarThese dishes draw on ingredients from the participants’ own gardens, their neighbors’ yards, or the farmers’ market. Like a sourdough starter made from flour, yeast, and water, this simple get-together has grown into a lively, rich event full of interesting folks and food. These meals celebrate their provenance and their history.
The Third Community Potluck Cookbook provides glorious dishes, heartfelt stories, plus tips and ideas for starting your own community potluck. Did someone say it’s Thursday?
When professional cook and author Nancy Vienneau started a casual potluck celebrating good food and goodwill, she had no idea it would be going strong five years later. The ever-changing group of diverse people who attend have one thing in a dedication to good food. As a result, every month, a non-scripted parade of seasonally inspired dishes appears.
In The Third Community Potluck Cookbook, Vienneau shares recipes such
Roasted Tomato Goat Cheese TartMe-me’s Chocolate CakeChicken Baked with Fresh PlumsAcorn Squash with Southern Sorghum and PecansCrowder Pea SaladPimiento Cheese with Farmstead CheddarThese dishes draw on ingredients from the participants’ own gardens, their neighbors’ yards, or the farmers’ market. Like a sourdough starter made from flour, yeast, and water, this simple get-together has grown into a lively, rich event full of interesting folks and food. These meals celebrate their provenance and their history.
The Third Community Potluck Cookbook provides glorious dishes, heartfelt stories, plus tips and ideas for starting your own community potluck. Did someone say it’s Thursday?
326 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 17, 2014
73 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 4, 2014
My Review This cook book is filled with wonderful recipes that you are sure to love. Are you cooking for a special potluck at your church or for a family reunion and need something different you want to cook? You will sure find it here in this new cookbook complied together by Nancy Viennear!
Not only will you enjoy the mouthwatering recipes, you will love the stories that go with the foods here, and they sure know how to tell a good old country story, and they know how to cook! We have our own garden to it will be fun for me to change the names of these recipes to my own name and have a special creation for my family to enjoy!
This cookbook is beautiful inside and out! If you are a cookbook buff, don't this one from Thomas Nelson Publishers. The opinions here are my own. I rec'd a free copy of this book for my review.
Not only will you enjoy the mouthwatering recipes, you will love the stories that go with the foods here, and they sure know how to tell a good old country story, and they know how to cook! We have our own garden to it will be fun for me to change the names of these recipes to my own name and have a special creation for my family to enjoy!
This cookbook is beautiful inside and out! If you are a cookbook buff, don't this one from Thomas Nelson Publishers. The opinions here are my own. I rec'd a free copy of this book for my review.
May 16, 2015
this is another outstanding cookbook. i know. i am on a roll! the recipes are seasonal and the contents reflect that. cooking seasonably when presented like this just makes sense. and committing to meet up once a month to try out a recipe sounds inspiring.
the recipes are pretty simple- no fancy or fussy ingredients that require special trips to different markets. i have made the texas rice casserole and jeweled jasmine rice (w/o the golden raisins). i also made the spicy kale chips (my husband love sriracha sauce) & black pepper buttermilk corncakes (gluten-free!). i cannot wait to make the sweet potato biscuits.
the pictures are gorgeous and the layout is by month and season. the index is also the shit. i appreciate a good index. obvs.
recommended.
the recipes are pretty simple- no fancy or fussy ingredients that require special trips to different markets. i have made the texas rice casserole and jeweled jasmine rice (w/o the golden raisins). i also made the spicy kale chips (my husband love sriracha sauce) & black pepper buttermilk corncakes (gluten-free!). i cannot wait to make the sweet potato biscuits.
the pictures are gorgeous and the layout is by month and season. the index is also the shit. i appreciate a good index. obvs.
recommended.
March 1, 2018
Meh. Three stars on Goodreads = "I liked it," so not terrible. On the other hand, though, I'm not rushing out to buy a personal copy or adding any of the recipes to my regular rotation. (I picked up my copy at the library.)
So if you've read any of my cookbook reviews before, you know I like photographs! Unfortunately, only about half of the recipes in this cookbook had photos. Bummer. I recently heard the terms "food porn" and "cookbook porn" for the first time, and this book might not quite fit that. Too many unphotographed recipes to be one that you would sit and just drool over. The ones that were photographed were lovely; mostly full-page, and all in glossy color.
The author and her potluck co-host are self-proclaimed "urban garden activists." Nothing wrong with that, but it did mean that they spent some time in the book advocating for growing your own food. I can't remember now if they explicitly or only implicitly "put down" food bought in normal grocery chains. I don't like getting shamed by my cookbooks. I do like shopping the deals at my local Harris Teeter.
Speaking of Harris Teeter (or Food Lion or Giant Eagle....), nearly every recipe called for at least one ingredient that I don't recall ever seeing at my local chain grocery store. Like specific heirloom varieties of produce or weird spices from foreign lands. So many recipes were nixed for trying simply because I don't have the time or motivation to track down stuff I've never heard of. I'm not xenophobic; I'm just slightly lazy. And I'm grocery shopping with a toddler. I do not have the time to carefully scour the produce section for heirloom organic veggies.
Last gripe: the ingredients lists were looooooong. I tried a cocktail recipe that had more than five ingredients!
I did find three recipes from the book to try: a skillet cornbread, raspberry mojitos, and Texas Rice Casserole. The skillet cornbread went so horribly wrong that we couldn't even try it. There's a good chance that there was some user error in that, because I'll own up to not being the best cook. The raspberry mojitos were delicious but too much work. (See comment above: I think there were 11 ingredients and 5 steps involved to make.) The Texas Rice Casserole was ok but not the best. I might've added to our rotation if I didn't just happen to already have a few other rice dishes in my arsenal that are slightly better.
Although I had some gripes, the story of how the Third Thursday group got started was pretty cool, and the photographs that were included were gorgeous. I do wish that I had the time/energy/motivation to grow my own vibrant organic greens, but since I don't I'll have to look for a different cookbook.
So if you've read any of my cookbook reviews before, you know I like photographs! Unfortunately, only about half of the recipes in this cookbook had photos. Bummer. I recently heard the terms "food porn" and "cookbook porn" for the first time, and this book might not quite fit that. Too many unphotographed recipes to be one that you would sit and just drool over. The ones that were photographed were lovely; mostly full-page, and all in glossy color.
The author and her potluck co-host are self-proclaimed "urban garden activists." Nothing wrong with that, but it did mean that they spent some time in the book advocating for growing your own food. I can't remember now if they explicitly or only implicitly "put down" food bought in normal grocery chains. I don't like getting shamed by my cookbooks. I do like shopping the deals at my local Harris Teeter.
Speaking of Harris Teeter (or Food Lion or Giant Eagle....), nearly every recipe called for at least one ingredient that I don't recall ever seeing at my local chain grocery store. Like specific heirloom varieties of produce or weird spices from foreign lands. So many recipes were nixed for trying simply because I don't have the time or motivation to track down stuff I've never heard of. I'm not xenophobic; I'm just slightly lazy. And I'm grocery shopping with a toddler. I do not have the time to carefully scour the produce section for heirloom organic veggies.
Last gripe: the ingredients lists were looooooong. I tried a cocktail recipe that had more than five ingredients!
I did find three recipes from the book to try: a skillet cornbread, raspberry mojitos, and Texas Rice Casserole. The skillet cornbread went so horribly wrong that we couldn't even try it. There's a good chance that there was some user error in that, because I'll own up to not being the best cook. The raspberry mojitos were delicious but too much work. (See comment above: I think there were 11 ingredients and 5 steps involved to make.) The Texas Rice Casserole was ok but not the best. I might've added to our rotation if I didn't just happen to already have a few other rice dishes in my arsenal that are slightly better.
Although I had some gripes, the story of how the Third Thursday group got started was pretty cool, and the photographs that were included were gorgeous. I do wish that I had the time/energy/motivation to grow my own vibrant organic greens, but since I don't I'll have to look for a different cookbook.
July 10, 2018
Food
While the food looks and sounds delicious, I don't have access to some of the food, never heard of much of it and wouldn't know where to buy it in my small town. Also I don't drink, what substitutions could I use? It was a fun read.
While the food looks and sounds delicious, I don't have access to some of the food, never heard of much of it and wouldn't know where to buy it in my small town. Also I don't drink, what substitutions could I use? It was a fun read.
December 20, 2018
Using this as inspiration to eat seasonally and in the long run find dishes to share with friends
August 13, 2014
I really enjoy reading cookbooks. Normally I base a review of a cookbook on how many recipes I would like to make or make and they taste awesome. This book is based on two ladies who start a Third Thursday potluck cooking group with people from all walks of life. Having participating in a monthly cooking group at random times through my life, I found this endearing. Each month has a different theme and some musings at the beginning of that month’s recipes.
This being said, some of the recipes are intimidating for a stay-at-home mom cook of small children. However, there are quite a few recipes I would like to try, especially those that involve using items from home-grown gardens. I love the idea of everything is potluck style and fits with different times of the year, since I find myself often cooking based on moods and feelings of different times of the year.
Another thing I love with cookbooks is if each recipe includes a picture. Not every recipe includes a picture with it, which doesn’t totally matter, just helps please the palette of a cookbook. Since I don’t use alcohol, several of the recipes I will probably never make, but overall, the theme and endearment of this cookbook makes it worth taking a look at.
This being said, some of the recipes are intimidating for a stay-at-home mom cook of small children. However, there are quite a few recipes I would like to try, especially those that involve using items from home-grown gardens. I love the idea of everything is potluck style and fits with different times of the year, since I find myself often cooking based on moods and feelings of different times of the year.
Another thing I love with cookbooks is if each recipe includes a picture. Not every recipe includes a picture with it, which doesn’t totally matter, just helps please the palette of a cookbook. Since I don’t use alcohol, several of the recipes I will probably never make, but overall, the theme and endearment of this cookbook makes it worth taking a look at.
June 5, 2014
The Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook by Nancy Vienneau is based on recipes which have been dishes actually cooked/baked for Third Thursday Community Potluck. It's hosted by a group of friend and strangers, and each month offers a menu that celebrates the bounty of the moment.
That was my favorite aspect of the cookbook - that each month is a chapter based on produce that is at the peak of it's season. It makes it easy to pick out new recipes to try.
The recipes are fresh and flavorful sounding. No canned mixes or boxed items. These are the types of dishes that I would LOVE to see at a potluck. These aren't "potluck" dishes per se. These dishes can all come together to make a nice at home meal.
The pictures are gorgeous. Just looking at them make me hungry. The recipes sound delicious.
Unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be my type of cookbook. The majority of the recipes seem to fancy for us and would require more patience in the kitchen than I have. This would be a perfect cookbook for someone who is into a bit more of gourmet type cooking or those liking to experiment with a large range of flavors.
That was my favorite aspect of the cookbook - that each month is a chapter based on produce that is at the peak of it's season. It makes it easy to pick out new recipes to try.
The recipes are fresh and flavorful sounding. No canned mixes or boxed items. These are the types of dishes that I would LOVE to see at a potluck. These aren't "potluck" dishes per se. These dishes can all come together to make a nice at home meal.
The pictures are gorgeous. Just looking at them make me hungry. The recipes sound delicious.
Unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be my type of cookbook. The majority of the recipes seem to fancy for us and would require more patience in the kitchen than I have. This would be a perfect cookbook for someone who is into a bit more of gourmet type cooking or those liking to experiment with a large range of flavors.
July 19, 2014
The monthly stories are delightful and the recipes are enchanting. The dishes look unique, interesting, delicious, and uncomplicated. This is a potluck cookbook, so the recipes are sized accordingly, but many appear to be easy to scale down for smaller, family meals.
This week, I made the Sticky Onion Oven-Barbecued Chicken, reduced to cook one chicken instead of two. The recipe was easy and the chicken was fantastic!
This week, I made the Sticky Onion Oven-Barbecued Chicken, reduced to cook one chicken instead of two. The recipe was easy and the chicken was fantastic!
September 25, 2014
I'm really enjoying cookbook that are organized by the month or season. This one features around 15 recipes for each month, a few apps, few main courses, few sides, few desserts. Now that I've got a monthly dinner club firmly established, I want to start another weeeknight supper club. This cookbook would provide a great model for organizing one, or just great recipes.
March 4, 2016
Loved this book. LOved the idea of the potluck and how it all came to be for this community. Love the recipes and the stories that followed this group from month to month. I recommend this as light reading and if you enjoy cooking and creating recipes.
March 24, 2017
This is the cookbook for you, if you're looking for instructions on assembling your own potluck, or recipes for seasonal, imaginative, honest dishes, and want to celebrate food and community.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews