A Great Time, and Catering Made it "Almost" Effortless!

Ever since we moved into our home two and a half years ago, I have been meaning to have my husband's high school buddies and their wives over.  Through the years, we have formed quite a bond with this group.  The once-State- Championship football players are more like brothers than friends.  Well, my husband had a milestone birthday this year right around the time that my oldest son is about to graduate from high school.  I decided to have one big party for both of my guys and made it easy by buying ready-made appetizers from Trader Joe's and Wegmans and having the dinner catered. 

Appetizers consisted of an outstanding smoked salmon from Trader Joe's served with TLC original whole grain crackers; 6 packages of Trader Joe's Spanakopita (72 total pieces); Trader Joe's Artichoke and Asiago Dip; Wegman's Cranberry Cinnamon Goat Cheese served  with low-fat Wheat Thins; and Cinnamon Almonds that we bought at last week's wine festival.  All of these items were met with rave reviews and I would definitely serve them again.

Dinner was a combination of Greek and Italian food.  The Greek food was from Amphora's restaurant and was what they call their Grecian Grill - a combination of gyro meat, chicken souvlakia, and falafels all kept warm with bunson burners in metal holders (see photo above).   Amphora also provided dozens of pita breads to place the meat or falafels on, tzaziki sauce, bowls of shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, feta cheese, and hummus (for the falafels).  The Italian part of the meal was provided by Ciro's Pizzeria and was a large tray of Penne Pasta with meat sauce.  To top it off, my husband picked up restaurant-quality stuffed grape leaves from a favorite little Greek restaurant in D.C. We fed 40 people and had plenty of food left over.  And it was all very good! 

Dessert was a combination birthday/graduation cake with ice cream, and some Turkish Delight from the same D.C. restaurant.  Below are some of the soon-to-be-graduates flanking the cake.

Honestly, even though it was one of the largest groups of people I have fed in my home in years, it was the easiest get-together I have ever hosted.  Yes, there was a lot of shopping to do for plates, cups, napkins, decorations, beverages, all the appetizers, and such.  Plus, I had to round up enough tables for all the guests, with the younger group congregating in our finished basement and the adults combining tables in our Dining/Living room.  But it was nothing compared to how I used to entertain in "the old days" when I gave parties for dozens of people, having spent hours making quiches, a large meat, a Greek dish or two, and miscellaneous side dishes.  In those days, I used to start the evening with home-made Rumaki's, Hot Artichoke Dip, California Tortilla Rolls, and other rather labor-intensive appetizers.  I used to even make my own Tyropites (Phyllo dough triangles filled with Greek cheeses).  Those took a full day to make, after which I would freeze them and then bake them as needed.  Not to mention the themed, often elaborately-decorated cakes and assorted bar cookies!

What can I say?  I am not as young or as healthy as I used to be.  Someday, I would love to host an entirely home-made feast again.  But, for the foreseeable future, I am truly grateful for the likes of Trader Joe's, Wegmans, and ethnic restaurants that deliver food for a crowd!  You can keep the meals healthy, serve meatless options for your vegetarian friends (like the falafels above), and work within pretty much any budget. 

The feasts are far from over, but this was one of my "big ones".  I hope you all had a great weekend and, until next time, happy and healthy eating!

So That's What Collard Greens Look Like!

With much anticipation, I picked up the 2nd installment of produce from our Farm today.  Our box contained red leaf lettuce, spring onions, cherries, strawberries, a handful of asparagus, a cute little cilantro plant, and a big bunch of collard greens.  That's a picture of them on the left there.  Unpacking them, I realized I have never seen uncooked collard greens before.  They look like weeds I have tossed out while cleaning out our flower beds.  And after cleaning them (tossing out the stems), there is nothing left but a pile of unimpressive-looking leaves. 

Good news is I found a recipe online that turned those piles of leaves into a tasty, traditional Southern dish:  Collards with Bacon (Canadian bacon, to be exact).   In my opinion, this recipe tasted better than last week's kale.  But my husband thought the kale was more tasty.  As for my boys, it was a toss-up for them.  In case you have been looking for a nice and relatively quick-cooking recipe for collard greens, here goes:

Short-Cut Collards

1 and 1/4 lbs. collard greens, stems removed and cut into 1/2-inch strips
1T. Water
2 slices Canadian bacon
1 T. Olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 T. cider vinegar
1 T. maple syrup
dash of pepper flakes
3/4 cup chicken broth
salt, to taste

Place greens in a large microwave safe bowl with water and cover tightly.  Microwave on high for 5 minutes.  In the meantime, preheat large skillet and cook bacon 2 minutes on each side.  Remove and chop up.  Add oil and onion to pan and cook until soft.  Add collard greens, vinegar, maple syrup, red pepper flakes, and broth.  Bring to a simmer.  Cook covered for 30 minutes or until tender.  Add chopped bacon and season with salt.   Serves 4

I'm not sure how many more weeks of greens we have to look forward to, but I have to say that I have enjoyed these first 2 more than I expected to.  Until next time, happy and healthy eating!

Chorus Awards Banquet - The End of An Era For Us

For the past 4 years, our oldest son has been part of the Westfield High School choral program, the last 3 of them as a member of the Chambers Chorus.  We have been to every Fall Concert, "Christmas" performance, Spring Fling, and everything in between.  Tonight was the Chorus Awards Banquet - the last one for our son, who is a graduating senior.  And it was very well done.  Between awards, a soloist sang from each of the school's 4 choirs and each choir sang as a group.  That's the Chambers Chorus on the left - and they are unbelievably good.  Every time they perform, they are flawless.  Their voices blend beautifully, with crescendos and decrescendos that have given me goosebumps on many occasions.  I hope my son will continue to sing in college.  I hate to think that we are completely closing that chapter of our lives.  It's been a wonderful 4 years!

Dinner tonight was a choice of Mandarin chicken, meat lasagna, or veggie lasagna.  My men all had the Mandarin chicken, which really looked good.  I got the vegetable lasagna.  It was packed with perfectly cooked brocolli, spinach, and mushrooms, which were layered between noodles and at least 2 kinds of cheeses.  On the side, we were served Ceasar salad and a bread stick.  My men got a fried eggroll with their meal.  Dessert was a choice of 3 kinds of cake: white, chocolate, and carrot.  I got the carrot cake - my favorite kind of cake, hands down!  To drink we were served iced tea.  Not bad for a meal that was catered and fed a couple of hundred people.  I realize that my lasagna looks like mush in the photo below, but you have to trust me.  Although it did not quite hold its shape, it was delicious!

Tonight I will hit my pillow with a song in my heart.  I hope you do the same - it makes for sweet dreams.  Until next time, happy and healthy eating!

Wow! Fresh, Home-Grown Produce Makes A Big Difference!

I have to ask myself how old the asparagus is that I buy from my local market.  Last night we finally had the asparagus that I brought home from our farm on Thursday and it was fresh, crisp, and loaded with flavor.  It was 3 days old and was perfect.  I usually use asparagus I buy from the market within 2 days of bringing it home and it is often a little mushy at the top and has lost some of its "crisp" when I snap the ends off.  Not to mention a subtle, yet undefinable odor that can be a little off-putting.  The red leaf lettuce was just as fresh as the asparagus, and red leaf lettuce is one that tends to get mushy rather quickly - or so I thought.  The strawberries were a little worse for the wear, but I had been warned that, due to all the rain we had earlier this season, they were never exactly "up to par".   They tasted fine, but were a bit small and I had to throw a couple of them out.

I used all the ingredients above to make a delightful dinner of Asparagus Pasta (the recipe is a family favorite and can be found in the March 23, 2011 post entitled "A Nice Way to Usher in Spring"), and a salad with lettuce, strawberries, and red onion.  I crumbled some soft goat cheese on top and made a dressing in the blender with 4 strawberries, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, some fresh mint, a half teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of honey, 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar, and 2 tablespoons olive oil.  See below:

I realize that I really need to hit the Farmer's Market to supplement what we get from our Farm each week.  There is nothing like freshly picked produce!   It makes eating a predominantly meat-free diet much, much easier. 

I hope you have all had a nice weekend.  We actually went to a Wine Festival yesterday.   Virginia has some excellent wines.  We bought an outstanding Merlot (I tend to prefer reds), but tasted some excellent Viogners, Cabernet Francs, Pinot Noirs, and some hard-to-pass-up dessert wines, too.  The last table we went to had the most unusual wines, including a pear one that was hard to pass up and a jalapeno one that was so hot that my mouth burned for about half an hour after tasting it.  The world of wines is not what it used to be and I love it!   I have to admit that I do enjoy my occasional glass of wine and got a lot of nice ideas today.  Some of the more unusual ones would pair well with fresh-from-the-farm produce and a nice warm baguette.  Yum...

Well, until next time, happy and healthy eating to you all!

Prom Provides a Detour From Cooking, And Doing Anything Else Productive...

So last night was my son's Senior Prom.  Above is a clever side-view shot my husband took of "the group" - a group of 13 kids that had 8:15 p.m. dinner reservations and, thus, actually made it to maybe the last hour of a $120-per-couple event.   (What, I ask, happened to dinner being served at the Prom?)  A lot of the group (including my son) went to an after-prom party after their one-hour foray at the Marriott so, after the above photo-shoot, the next time I saw him was late this afternoon.  So, I ask you, why am I exhausted?  And why are the remaining items from this week's share of our farm sitting uneaten in our refrigerator?  Well, I couldn't cook last night because, by the time we finished taking over 125 photos of our beautiful, dressed-to-kill offspring (can't really call them kids or children anymore), it was too late to cook, so we ate out.  And tonight, even though I was not the one who was up all night dancing and partying in evening attire, I am totally and completely wiped-out.  What's up with that?  Is it just me?

In this picture, most of the "kids" have arrived to the hour and a half long photo shoot and you can see that  the girls' gowns would not be out of place on your typical Academy Awards Red Carpet.  And the young men?  Ties, vests, and cummerbunds that match the vivid colors of their dates' gowns add originality to the elegance of their classic black tuxedos.  Somehow, I don't remember our gowns and tuxes being quite so elegant.  It could be because, in my day, our dates tuxes matched our gowns - not their accessories.  Yeeesh!  What were we thinking?  My date's tux, if I recall, was Carolina Blue!   And my dress, like those of most of my friends, had some sort of "sleeves".  If not, we wore shawls until we actually got to the hotel.  Our dates looked like Easter eggs and we were elegant-wannabes.  But I digress...

It's that time of year now at High Schools all over the world.  And moms like me are making sure the tuxes and corsages are ordered, the pictures are taken, and that the endless night ends with everyone home - safe and sound...

We Are Officially "Farmers"...Oh Yeah!

I picked up our first box of produce from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, i.e. "Farm") today.  There it is on the left.  I didn't know what to expect.  I had been told that, sometimes, especially early in the season, you get a half-full box.  Or you get nothing but Kale.  And I don't particularly like Kale (or at least I didn't think I did).  As you can see, we received a generous amount of freshly picked produce.  And we own what is known as "half a share".  On the far left is the infamous Kale, which we actually had (and enjoyed!) tonight.  You can see Green Onions in the front, and some Asparagus that is underneath the plastic container of Strawberries (next to the Kale).  In the right side of the box is a bag of Red Leaf Lettuce, underneath which was a small Basil plant (that is now in my kitchen window) and one of the biggest live spiders I have ever seen!  Yikes!  I hope that was a one-time-only freak accident.  But my husband tells me to expect that sort of thing from Organic, 100% pesticide- free"just-picked-and-ploppod-into-a-box" produce.  So from now on, I will set newspaper out on my deck on CSA Day and turn the box upside down onto it and wait before bringing the produce indoors.

I have to admit that I was quite pleased with the array of items we received.  I looked online and found a Kale recipe that got almost 5 stars, with 121 people rating it.  Six of us tried it tonight and we all liked it, including three 18-year old boys and my 16-year old son.  If you have joined a CSA and have a pile of Kale sitting on your counter or if you have heard how nutritious it is and would like to try it, I recommend the following recipe:

Sweet & Savory Kale
2 T. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. Dijon Mustard
3 t, sugar
1 T. Cider Vinegar
1 and 1/2 cups broth (vegetable is preferable)
4 cups stemmed and torn Kale
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat.  Stir in onion and garlic and cook 5 minutes.  Stir in mustard, sugar, vinegar, and broth.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Stir in kale and cook 5 minutes.  Stir in cranberries and boil, uncovered, until liquid is reduced by more than half, about 15 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Makes 4 servings.  150 calories each, 5 g. fat

Note:  This is the amount of Kale that came in my box.  It was the perfect amount for this recipe, which as a side dish, served 6 of us, as I mentioned above:

For tomorrow, I have planned a menu that will incorporate the asparagus, most of the red leaf lettuce and the strawberries.  I can't wait to share it with you.  Until then, happy and healthy eating!

Food Pyramid is Out, Food "Plate" is In

It was announced today that the USDA is doing away with the infamous Food Pyramid and is replacing it with a Food Plate.  No, that is not a picture of the aforementioned plate on the left there, but it does represent what will be at the crux of the new dietary recommendations: namely, that half of what we eat should be fruits and vegetables.  Those of us who have been studying nutrition have been saying this for a long time.  Fruits and vegetables, besides containing healthful vitamins, are chock full of anti-oxidants and fiber.  Rumor has it that it will also be recommended that dairy be consumed either low-fat or fat free, and that sugary beverages should be replaced with water.   It was said that the old Pyramid was confusing and difficult to follow.  And that people needed a visual, i.e. a plate full of food to be able to figure out what they should eat.  The new "Food Plate" cost approximately $2 million to develop and design.   All this is, no doubt, an effort to help reduce the myriad of diet-related health disorders plaguing mankind.  Time will tell whether the Food Plate will make a difference.  

Tomorrow we receive our first box of produce from our CSA - I can not wait!!  Tune in to see what surprises it will hold and what exciting recipes the contents of it will yield.  Until then, happy and healthy eating!