Browsing Tag

party

Tasty

Opa!

July 7, 2014

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The warm weather always makes me crave Mediterranean food and this is one of the easiest and freshest menus to whip up!

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First I start with an easy appetizer of fresh figs, mint leaves, honey and feta cheese (I prefer a delicious block of French feta, but I had to use some crumbled in a pinch).

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Then onto the main menu…

Turkey Meatballs with Zucchini Ribbons

Roasted Meyer Lemon Potatoes

Tzatziki with Cucumber Slices 

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The joy of this menu is you can prep the chimichurri, tzatziki and meatballs in the morning and then whip up the potatoes while the kabobs are grilling!  Doesn’t get any better for those after work dinner parties this summer…

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Tasty

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

May 5, 2014

Mexican Salad2

I LOVE Mexican food.

If I had to eat one genre of food (without having to worry about my waistline), Mexican would win by a landslide… enchiladas? Quesadillas? Tacos? Oh goodness…

Chicken Enchiladas

Well in honor of Cinco di Mayo, I wanted to share some of my favorite Mexican inspired dishes that I’ve shared on the blog… take your pick for a yummy dinner for tonight!

Chicken Sopecitos

Starters

Mexican Salad

Mains

Fish Tacos

Don’t forget to check up my round-up of favorite margaritas from last week’s Fun Drink Friday!

Tomato Salsa

Party

Wine Walk Recap

April 28, 2014

Our town does a great job of hosting fun events throughout the year (Dancin’ on the Ave, Founder’s Day Parade, Farmer’s Markets, trick-or-treating, etc.), and the spring season really kicks off some fun festivities.  First on the list? Spring Wine Walk!

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Events like this are perfect, because J and I can host for an hour or two on the front end, everyone walks downtown and then can finish the night with some pizza (the perks of living around the corner from Pizza My Heart!) back at our house.

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Like all things in life practice makes perfect, and while my entertaining is FAR from perfect, I’m finally getting the hang of putting together a menu that can be created in a couple hours and required minimal set-up/clean-up.  Here was our menu:

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Spring Wine Walk 

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To Do List

Night Before

  • Prep cabbage for salad
  • Make salad dressing
  • Make fruit skewers

Morning Of

  • Make cantaloupe salad (2 1/2 hours before) – refrigerate until ready to serve
  • Make cucumber wheels (2 hours before) – refrigerate until ready to serve
  • Make brie bites (1.5 hours before) – refrigerate until ready to serve
  • Take out sausages (1 hours before) – don’t cook yet
  • Make ham & cheese puffs (1 hour before) – don’t bake yet
  • Toss salad and serve in individual cups (20 minutes before)
  • Put ham & cheese puffs into oven (15 minutes before)
  • Grill sausages (10 minutes before)
  • Put refrigerated items out
  • Have hot food ready (and warm) when guests arrive
  • Party on!

Proscuitto Salad

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The event downtown was from 2-6pm, so I just wanted to do some appetizers to tide everyone over for the afternoon (our party started at 1pm).  Because I hate cold appetizers (that are supposed to be hot), I tried to have a lot of options that were cold, and then have a handful of warm appetizers I could prepare closer to the party time.  The ratio make prep work so much easier and I will definitely be re-creating this menu for another event soon… definitely recommend giving it a try for any of your summer parties!

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Party

Picnic Party

April 7, 2014

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One of my biggest pet peeves is when the weather report reads that the weather is going to be amazing all week, EXCEPT Saturday and Sunday.  Luckily, this particular weekend was just the opposite.  After some showers and clouds, the skies parted for sunny, 80 degree weather.  And what better way to celebrate than with a picnic?!

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We grabbed some of our favorite people and made our way up to our favorite, local winery – Testarossa. We were able to wine taste, sun bathe and picnic… all at the same time!! Does it get any better?

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Here was our menu:

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I am a HUGE proponent of no dairy/mayo based foods at picnics.  Between the sun and lack of refrigeration, the whole thing freaks me out, so we did a lot of olive oil based items. Even the sandwiches went sans mayo, using pesto instead!  In warm weather the key is having light yet satiating menu items.

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