What We Ate with links and recipes…

So I posted a teaser the other day of all f the food that we ate over the Memorial Day weekend but right after that my computer developed a virus and it took me until Friday of last week to get everything figured back out.  I was so lucky and ended up not losing anything but some of the files are different and I had to reinstall some things.  Anyway as promised…

Starting from the upper right hand corner and going clock wise and finishing up in the middle:

  Tzatziki sauce – this is typically used with souvlaki and gyros but we used the leftovers all weekend sometimes even as a salad dressing!!!

 Greek Salad – Really simple dressing that is fresh and quick to make.

 Marinated Shrimp Salad – So simple and the best thing is you make it the night before and allow it to marinate all night.  Then just take it with you the day of the party.

Watermelon infused with watermelon Vodka:  Simply take a whole water melon and cut a hole in the skin just large enough for a funnel to fit in.  Do this about 12 hrs before serving.  Fill the funnel with watermelon vodka and allow the watermelon to absorb it.  Keep doing this until the desired amount is in the watermelon.  Chill and slice immediately before serving.  Place a cork in the whole for transporting to the party!

 Pork Souvlaki:  This is the souvlaki recipe that I got from my friend Peter over at Kalofagas.  It is the best I have ever tasted and made by me at home!

Bread – We bought it from our favorite German bakery and brushed it with garlic infused olive oil and grilled it…

 
Michelob Ultra – Yummmmmm!

Summer Berries with berry reduction and whipped cream (recipe to follow in a day or so)

Happy Summer!!!

Read more »

What a wonderful and amazing weekend!

I am so blessed to have a family that is so wonderful and friends that are so great!

My sister flew in on Friday night and we have been going hard since then. I picked her up from the airport and we decided that we would go out for a couple of drinks and some food before she entered my crazy house for the week (she lives in a very quiet house with only her husband and a great, floppy chocolate lab). We decide that we would go to The Joint which is right down the street from us.

The next morning the poor thing woke to a very loud house and we raced around and got ready to go for the skating lessons. In the afternoon we went shopping. T. had a meeting in the afternoon and my sister and I had plans to go to a surprise party for a friend of mine. T. was running real late so I decided that I would make dinner for the girls. Now, who really wants to make a major meal for 2 little girls??? I made pancakes for them. At the last minute I decide to throw in some still frozen mixed berries...what a mess that was. I guess I needed to take a bit of time and thaw them??? They were in clumps in the batter. Regardless I cooked them up and T. called just as I was finishing and said that he had dinner plans for the girls???!!! Oh well...at least we had a great breakfast today!

The surprise party last night was great and Wendy was plenty surprised and we all had a great night out without the kids!



Today we got up and decided that since we had a Canadian visitor amongst us that we just had to have a beach day! Now you have to understand something about south Florida...that water is very, very cold to us this time of year so we generally stay away for the beach unless, of course, we have visitors. It was really a beautiful day. The sky was bright blue and the water was clear as clear could be. My sister loved it and so did we. It really makes us realize how good we have it here especially since most places up north are under about a foot of newly fallen snow!!!

Tonight was a quick dinner out and then back to our regular lives tomorrow! Children off to school and my sister and I off to the malls!!! We have waited all weekend for the girls to be back in school so that we can go and do what we love best...SHOPPING!!! I am even setting up a special visit for us to J Crew. My salesman there is going to set up a personal shopping trip for us complete with wine! Life is soooo good!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

As always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Now the mad dash to Christmas!!!

Well we did it...we survived Thanksgiving. It's been a busy couple of days though. We started the prep work and everything on Wednesday night and then jumped right into it first thing Thursday morning. And then spent yesterday cleaning up (and doing our bit for "Black Friday")! It was all so worth it though. Tony fried the best turkey that we have ever had and all of the side dishes and desserts were amazing as well. We went through a truck load of wine (at least that was how it seemed the next day!) but everyone had a great time and left with full tummies and tired children!

Hope yours was great as well and were able to share it with people you loved and enjoyed!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy

http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Read more »

Finally a recipe for the "Blue" themed party!

A couple of weeks ago (I am so late with this) one of my girlfriends got in touch with me about a baby shower that she was involved with. It was a shower for a boy so instead of going with a theme like Pooh or Noah's Ark they opt to go with a theme based around "blue" food. Isn't that a great idea? I told her that I had a recipe for some killer blue cheese bread and I would get it to her. Well the party is this weekend. I sure hope I am not too late for her!

This ones for you Lisa!!!

Blue Cheese Bread - The Chiappini Way!

You don't need to wait for a party to make this. It goes great with steak and a salad as well!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Oh...What a Night!!!

Well we survived and the fog is finally starting to lift. The party was great. Kudos to Kathy and Josh. They pulled of a great party! I think we left really late and it is definitely a good thing we left when we did. Things get really fuzzy about the end and I have a bunch of pictures on my camera that I know nothing about???!!! Anybody with any ideas let me know!

The food was amazing. The caterer was great and the setting was wonderful. They have a beautiful home on the water and the party was set up around the pool. The weather was beautiful. Not too cold but cool enough to make you appreciate Florida winters! Nothing better than sharing a celebration with family and friends!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Zucchini Fritters

Happy Weekend!!!

Another busy one for us here! We took the girls to ice skating this morning...for the first time since we started taking them there I was warm!!! You may need to be reminded that we live in SW Florida and it is usually hot here. When we go to the ice rink in the morning we dress warm but we know that we always have a ton of errands to do after so I usually just wear a long sleeve top, jeans, a down vest and...Flip Flops! No wonder I have been cold. The ice rink is made of frozen water and they need to keep it like that so the air is real cold!!! Yesterday I went and bought myself a pair of wool lined slipper type things. But I was warm for the first time there ever!!!

Anyway this afternoon we are going to a party that we have been looking forward to for a long time. We are going to a 90th Birthday Party for 2 of our friends. She turned 50 and he turned 40 so they decided to combine it into one huge bash! Cool idea huh? They are having it in their beautiful home and it will be catered and I believe there is a band and everything! So exciting.

Now for the food related stuff. For dinner last night we made our quick marinated pork chops. We marinate them in Soy Sauce, garlic, salt, pepper and fresh ginger (but only because we had it on hand). We usually allow the meat to sit in the marinade for about 15 minutes. It doesn't really need much more time than that. But we also made one of my favorite side dishes. One that we don't make often enough but only because we never really think about it! We made Zucchini Fritters...Yummm!

Zucchini Fritters

4 Zucchini grated
2 eggs
3-4 Tbsp of all purpose flour (this depends on how wet the zucchini is)
1 Tbs granulated garlic or garlic powder
1 1/2 Tbsp of Kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together. Heat about 1/2 inch of canola oil in a skillet. We use a cast iron skillet but you can also use a non stick one. When oil is heated add the zucchini mixture by using a 1/4 cup measure scoop. Flatten the tops down a bit. Cook until golden on one side then flip and cook through on the other side.

I like mine plain but the girls like plain yogurt and sometimes ranch dressing.

Off to the party...I hope I can get some nice candid shots of the party tonight.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend as well!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

She was surprised!!!

In regards to my last post where we thought for sure that we had spoiled a surprise party for one of my girlfriends who had just graduated from Grad school...we didn't ruin the surprise!!! She was so happy and surprised. Her husband threw together a great party. Lots of really good food, tons to drink. Nothing was overlooked. I was so proud of him! He kept it nice and casual, children running all around, He even made sure that he did it while her parents were in town visiting from Iowa.

What a great night!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »