Does This Count as a Dinner Party?

Every now and then, I have a good idea. Like, a really good one. Spreading-peanut-butter-on-oreos good (go try it). Last weekend B’s fam came down to meet Binx and get a glimpse into the world of a newbie chef. It was a smashing success; I didn’t scorch anything to the bottom of our pans and we had leftovers for days (you might think this means that they didn’t eat anything, but you didn’t see the amount of food I made). Binx was the far and away winner, with half the toys of PetSmart now at his disposal.

This weekend, I suggested inviting some of B’s friends down. They have a baby we haven’t seen since November, whose Christmas gift has just been sitting in the guest room (and tempting me since Cyber Monday).

The really good idea part? Since we had B’s fam over recently, we had stocked up on veggies, chips, dips and dessert items. All I had to do was put together a new entree and we could call it a day. Celery and yogurt based dips are good for a week or two, minimum. Sadly, the same isn’t true for yogurt based dips that aren’t refrigerated (whomp whomp).

I wanted to throw some new things in the mix, so I Googled some guac recipes and ended up making this one. Deelish. I made it the night before, and despite putting it in an airtight container and leaving the avocado pits in there w/ it, it browned a little overnight. Only on the top though, so I just gave it a good mixing, and no one was the wiser. I had B test it and he said it was missing something. I ran through the ingredients in my head and B mentioned it could use more salt. Whoops; knew I forgot something. I was liberal w/ the salt shaker and the guac went from “ah” to “ah-MAH-zing” (doesn’t really work, but Happy Endings references are always applicable).

I made this baked ziti before (and B mistakenly thought it was too cheesy), so I tweaked the amounts this time and it was a big hit (I guess there is such a thing as too much cheese). I didn’t bother w/ the turkey, since I served meatballs on the side, and even though the recipe says “clean eating” it doesn’t taste cardboard-y or bland at all. 

The best part was that since it was only the four of us, we actually had a matching place setting for everyone. When B’s fam came down last time our dinner table looked like the bargain bin at Family Dollar; a hodge podge of glass, plastic and florals. Pretty much what wedding registries are made of.

Comments

Sarah said…
When my B makes guacamole, he lines the top of it with a piece of foil and folds the ends of the foil up toward the top of the container, along the sides. Then he puts the container top on. It seems to work pretty well.
Brigid said…
hmm, I'll have to try that next time. Fortunately, it was only browned a little and still quite tasty!