The Devil Served Tortellini
by Shirley Jump
Buy book: $5.09

When sexy chef Dante Del Rosso tempts determined dieter Maria Pagliano with his cooking--and his charming ways--it's a recipe for romance in this wonderfully witty, contemporary love story that comes with 35 delicious recipes.

This is Suzanne at the book clubs. I hope you enjoy this week's romance book. There is a recipe included in Wednesday's read and I have 20 copies of this week's book to give away. Just send me an email and you'll be entered in the drawing. If you have any great pasta recipes, send me one of  those, too. I"m looking for some new ones. Thanks.

Suzanne Beecher

Sounds better than most on the first day!!

Hi Suzanne,

I have several interesting pasta recipes. Hope you like one of them. They're all really easy.

Chicken Garlic Pasta:

Sauce: Cubed chicken breast meat, enough to serve 4 or so. As meat is browning in a pan, sprinkle Good Seasonings Cheese Garlic powdered dressing mix (in the powdered, unprepared form) over the chicken. Continue to stir-fry until chicken is done and browned. When chicken is done cooking, add 1 can cream of mushroom soup and one 8 oz. brick of lite (or regular) cream cheese. Melt together with chicken. Add mushrooms if you wish. Simmer until heated through.

Toss over your favorite cooked pasta and serve with garlic bread or a salad.


Pasta Carbonara

Easy. Brown and crumble 1/2 pound of bacon and chopped onion. Cook bacon until crisp and chop into small pieces. Use your favorite prepared pasta sauce (I like Emeril's vodka sauce for this one) and as it is heating, add about 1 cup of cream, the bacon, cooked onion, and green peas.

Toss with cooked penne pasta and finish with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Sometimes I will make this up earlier in the day and put it in a casserole dish and heat it in the oven with the cheese on top when its time to eat.


Fettuccine with chicken or shrimp Alfredo

My kids favorite. I buy the fresh, green spinach fettucine and toss it with a prepared white Alfredo sauce. We add either cooked chicken or shrimp to the sauce as it is heating. I always add a little milk to thin down the Alfredo sauce and top with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Sorry about not having exact measurements or temperatures, but I'm one of those "Just toss it in" kind of cooks. I cook for 4 and you may only cook for 2. I can't say to chop a whole onion because you might not like that much and doesn't pretty much everything heat between 325 and 350? :)

Thanks for the reads.

Kristin

Hi suzanne
I realy like The DEvil served Tortalini, and i was hoping that you could enter me in the drawing. Maria is a really funny person and the whole chummy chums is also histerical too.
thanx Mona

I would love to receive a free book but after reading Monday's excerpt, I already bought it. Being Italian and a size 18, it has my name written all over it. I hope you get credit for the purchase. I love this book club and wish I'd seen it sooner.

I'm usually a historical/paranormal romance fan, but I'm really enjoying this week's book! And just because there's tortellini in the title, I'm craving Rachel Ray's Spinach Artichoke Pasta Salad. It's fabulous made with chicken herb tortellini from the supermarket refrigerator case. Just use kosher salt to taste in the dressing and when you toss it. Check it out at the Food Network website!

I realy like The Devil served Tortalini, and I was hoping that you could enter me in the drawing. For some reason I was unable to receive fridays installment. I REALLY REALLY want to see how this story develops.

Thanks for the fun reading.

Nancy

So far so good, and now Suzanne says there are recipes involved as well as romance - I love it!

My only question is how do you get from a size 14 to a size 2 losing 25 pounds?


Dani

I'd like to be a size two as well. maybe if I read the entire book I'd get some hints...so far I like the reading.

Le

I'd be happy to be a size 12 again!

Wow. This book is starting out great. I'm usually more into historical novel but this book has already hooked me. It's starting out in a manner that is interesting. I am hoping that it continues to be this interesting. I hope that the rest of the readers enjoy this book as much as I seem to be doing.

Egads! Interesting until I got to the Chubby Chums name; downhill from there.

He Loves Lucy by Susan Donovan.
Anyone read that one?

Personally, I hope this doesn't turn into the "he likes her when she was chubby but now that she loses the weight he realizes he actually loves her".

JS - ohhhhhhhh I hadn't thought of that one. I would hate that - but the dust jacket makes it sound like he's going to try to feed her; so, I doubt that's what's going to happen.

I was glad to see she's trying to go from a 12 to an 8 - that I find more believable.

I'm not comfortable with this support group - I'm glad it seems like she won't be comfortable there either.

On the other hand, I'm very comfortable with the idea of that manicotti - where can I sign up for one of those?

Reminds me of BET ME by Crusie. Lot of great food, from doughnuts to great Italian. Some weight issues, but image issues become the heart and soul of the book. Check it out!

Bet Me by Jennie Cruisie is a SUPER book. (All of her books are wonderful!) I love it because Min doesn't have to lose weight in order to have to have a wonderful man fall in love with her.

I get SO tired of romance novels about women who are 125 lbs. dripping wet. Since when are skinny women the only ones worthy of romance?

Of course we all wish we were thinner, but many of us do manage to have wonderful lives without looking like Paris Hilton.

Curves rule!

I read 'Bet Me' by Jennifer Cruise thanks to Pepper and I absolutely loved it. The last time I read a book in 24 hours, it was 'Fantasy Lover' by Sherilyn Kenyon. This is a very hard feat considering I have three kids. It was a bad mother day. TV, Computer, and letting them eat whatever so I could read in peace. I try not to do that too often. Bad for the image, you know. Thanks for the new author.

Wow, I have been a lover of Books a million for years but coming on line and finding these daily reads is awesome.
Reading Romance books its very hard to come across a book that allows a woman to be a woman. Why can't size 12, 14, 16 etc.. Find love too? Seeing the struggles of a female characterd dealing with weight to begin with is great! I am enjoying the read. I had to laugh at the chubby chums though. I thought it was sort of "cheesy". Grin.
I plan to keep reading this book!!!!

Spirited Ann

If you like romances featuring "realistically sized" women as the heroine then try MaryJanice Davidson. All her main characters are size 14, 16, 18, and even size 20 and they not only find love, but with real hunks, too. I hate books where the female is a size 3. Get real! No one is that small these days- well except for a few really lucky chromosonally blessed women (whom I hate on sight- not really, Suzanne, but you know what I mean). Even when I am skin and bones I am still a size 10 or 11- and that is at a very unhealthy weight for me. It is nice to see a romance I can relate to. I am going to try the Flambe Chicken, by the way. It sounds almost as good as my Chicken Marsala.

I have not read Ms. Davidson's books but now that you mentioned her, I will check them out. One of my other favorite authors is Debbie McCumber. She writes books that make you feel like you are a part of the family. Another new favorite of mine is Jodi Thomas. Fun, mysdterious and romantic all wrapped up in one.

I have read through the comments posted and wanted to let you all know that I read this book a couple of weeks ago and it is worth the read. Just a warning - if you are on a diet - DO NOT READ!! :) I just started back to Weight Watchers two weeks before and after reading the first page I had to put it down and go eat pasta. lol The story line is pretty good but not a "can't put it down" book. It was a fun read and make sure that you do read all of the recipes. There are hidden messages that lead into the next chapter.

Enjoy!

I read about 5 min of this book and I couldnt wait to read more!!! this is a great book so far and I would definetly like to read it all at some point.

Pepper - Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie was a fantastic book. Loved it! A keeper for me.

I read a bit more today and am actually liking it. I am starting to like what we have seen so far about Maria. She seems believable. Now we just need to get to know the hero!

I'm agreeing with everyone. I really like the character of Maria. She seems to be reflection of real women. She seems to have the same insecurities and fears that women have. I hope that the lead male character is equally well developed otherwise it won't be a good book. However with the reviews being posted I am optomistic that this book will be great. I'm most likely going to go out and bye it.

Humm, Dante sounds yummy. I especially love it when he says "why?". Geez, if only women were are simple as men.

I'm going to buy the book this weekend.

Just about anything by Jennifer Cruisie is terrific. Bet Me isn't even one of my favorites, but I did like it. I think I liked Welcome to Temptation the best, or maybe Tell Me Lies. I also like anything by Susan Donovan. I agree that this seems to be along the same romantic comedy lines.

Oh!!!

What a great scene that was (Thursday) when they meet. She's had a bad day, he's had a worse day, but . . .

It was a terrific scene. I certainly hope she goes inside and finds out that his manicotti is as good as that one she had for lunch.

I think I need to make some homemade manicotti this week.

Dani

I love this book! It is so hilarious. I may have to get this one.

I'VE ENJOYED THE STORY SO FAR ! MARIA IS A NORMAL WOMAN & AND THAT GROUP NO WAY! GIRL GET OUT OF THERE!
I BELIEVE THAT DANTE WILL SEE THE REAL WOMAN INSIDE OF HER.
SIGN ME UP FOR A FREE COPY PLEASE.
TWO YEAR AGO I WAS A SIZE 24 - 26 AND ON ALL KIND OF DIETS. BUT THATS NOT HOW I LOSE IT. I GOT SICK BUT I'M BETTER NOW . . . A SIZE 10. YOUR READING SELECTION KEPT ME COLLECTED WHEN I COULD NOT GET OUT. BY THE WAY THANKS! : - )

Glad you're better now, Terrie. I been there done that,too. I have lost 41 pounds over the last 2 years, but it is sooooo slow and hard work. Whew! That Dante is a hottie, though. He can cook for me anytime!

I thought the excerpt that we read was very interesting. It was just that special hint of naughty that keeps me turning the pages. As an Italian girl who, I think, needs to shed a few pounds it is refreshing to read something amusing, eventhough chubby girls are mostly written with a sense of humor. I enjoyed this book so much that I found myself disappointed that it had to end. I am new to this book club and have never been in a book club before so I wasnt sure how I would like it, but I like it a lot.

I would like to be entered into the drawing to win the book, if I have not been already. (I sent you a personal email on Monday, I think)

Thanks for a great read!

Won't everybody agree that there is a connection between food, love and sex?

I am a 100% believer, everytime I cook something I am thinking of my husband and somehow the taste of the food seems to have more...how should I put it.....magic.
Because when we are eating I feel the love vibrating through us (or maybe is just my imagination)
And one think is for sure, men don't love a woman because of her looks, it's her love of life and herself that they fall in love with, a woman sure of herself.
Do you ever see men worrying about what they eat? No
They enjoy life to it's fullest and so shall we.

A toast to all Women.

I read the first few experts and quit reading them b/c I ordered the book.

It was a really good read. I had some issues with the heroine that weren't quite worked out by the end of the book.

However the story was fun and the charecters strong and quirky.


I'm too another woman who is unhealthy as any size under 8. I would get sick every winter and nearly be hospitalized until I gained a bit of weight and filled out my body size.

It is fresh and rewarding to read about people who are larger then a matchstick.