Easy Entertaining

We had the most unbelievable weather this weekend, just in time for Alice's visit. Today - and all week - it's back to clouds, rain, and 60 degrees, so I feel extra blessed that the four of us got to spend our time together out back talking, drinking, eating, and talking some more.

 

Menu

Since I knew the weather was going to be beautiful and I knew about all of the inevitable talking, I planned our weekend menu out in advance to be easy and fast. Despite all that, we still ate dinner around 8:30p thanks to all the chatter, but I had built in an appetizer so it was fine.

I used Alice's visit as a great excuse to consult all of those loose recipes from Everyday Food that I've ripped out over the past year and haven't added to my binder yet. I've had various food magazine subscriptions over the years and by far Everyday Food is the only one worth reading. The recipes are very short (no rounding up 20 different ingredients) and extremely delicious. If you need some easy monthly recipes, spend the $12 and get yourself a subscription. The magazine is small, has almost no articles, and gets right to the point.

We had one dinner and one breakfast together, and I did a lot of the prep work ahead of time to expedite the process.


Appetizer - Cucumber Feta Toasts
Oh my god. I will never make another summer appetizer ever again. These had 5 ingredients and were so easy and delicious that I'm fairly certain I alone ate half of that plate. I made the feta mixture ahead of time, using more olive oil and lemon than the recipe called for, and B did the rest when it was time.

Salad - Organic romaine hearts, chopped pear, crumbled Gorgonzola, chopped walnuts, homemade vinaigrette

Main Course - Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Arugula (we used spinach instead)
I was moving a little too fast when I was making this Saturday night and forgot to add the spinach and the cheese and it was still delicious. This picture is from Sunday night when we had the leftovers, but remembered to add the missing ingredients. I had roasted the vegetables earlier in the day, so putting this together was super fast.

Breakfast - Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage (much quicker and neater than bacon), and Blackberry Puffs

My puffs aren't nearly as pretty as the ones in the magazine, but they were delicious. They were the perfect bread/fruit addition to breakfast and weren't too sweet. It's puffed pastry filled with marscapone cheese and crushed blackberries. Once again, I ate way too many.

I was really happy with how the menu worked out. We got to try new recipes, cook great food for our guest, and have zero stress and very little time in the kitchen. How about you - any simple, delicious, go-to recipes that you whip out for company? If so, let me know in the comments!