Recipes From Pulpwood Queens Book Club

June 13 -- Members of the Pulpwood Queens book club of East Texas enjoy a good read — but shy bookworms they're not. These Southern ladies are devotees of cocktails, good food, and high hair.

Kathy Patrick started the Pulpwood Queens book club at Beauty and the Book, her beauty salon in Jefferson, Texas. The club's motto: The higher the hair, the closer to God. It's a house rule that members wear tiaras and leopard prints, and leave their diets at the door. Here are some of the club's favorite summertime recipes, straight from Patrick's recipe file. Click here for cocktails.

Coconut Cumin Chicken Shish Kabobs

Ingredients:

• 4 large chicken breasts • One can coconut milk • Pam non-stick cooking spray• 1 bag shredded coconut • 1 teaspoon cumin • 6 to 8 beaten egg whites • Shish kabob sticks

Directions:

1. Cut chicken breasts into large bite-size pieces and place in shallow baking dish. Pour coconut milk over the chicken and marinate overnight.

2. Spray large baking sheet with Pam. In a large mixing bowl , pour in shredded coconut, sprinkle on cumin and mix thoroughly. Spread on baking sheet and toast in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Toast lightly.

3. Dredge chicken bites in egg whites; roll in toasted coconut and skewer onto sticks. Place on Pam sprayed baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees till toasty (about 12 minutes), but don't overbake.

Serve with the following:

Lime Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

•One cup mayonnaise • 1 lime • Cumin • 1/2 honeydew

Directions:

1. Place mayonnaise in bowl and add the juice of one lime, being careful to remove seeds.

2. Slice off the bottom of a honeydew, then zigzag cut around the circumference. Scoop out seeds. Take 1/2 of honeydew and place in center of a large round glass platter.

3. Fill honeydew with lime mayonnaise, garnish with a lime twist, then sprinkle with cumin. 4. Arrange baked shish kabobs around the honeydew and serve immediately.