Hosting a Dinner

We had our first real dinner party last night. Before we'd even moved to this area for a couple of weeks we were invited to a friend of Mike's from high school. Her parents had come to our reception 20 plus years ago, so he knew they lived around here, and when he contacted her with a couple of questions, she invited us over. It was so nice after two weeks of fast food and take out to have a real sit down home cooked meal. Her husband works for the church as the building rep for the whole western U.S. So he's been recently to Indianapolis and north of Independence (I know that threw me too) to oversee the work on temple building there. (Its known as the Kansas City temple - trust me, I was starting to think I'd missed something important when he mentioned going to Independence like three times in the conversation.)

Anyhow, we wanted to let them know we appreciated their hospitality and invited them back. Her kitchen was huge and to die for. She works as a nurse too, and my kitchen is still a work in progress and about a third the size of hers. Anyhow, I got over my not-good-enough-to-host-initial-thoughts, and just set about thinking about what food I made that tastes good. It turned out well, so I thought I'd share the easy recipes, because, that's all I make, and then we played Apples to Apples afterwards and had some good laughs for a couple of hours.

Grilled Chicken -
1 cup 7-up or Sprite
1/2 cup soy sauce
Cut up skinless chicken into 1/3 breast size pieces
Put it all in a ziploc and let it sit overnight.
Grill it up and listen to the oohs and ahhs.

There are other recipes that have more ingredients, but
trust me, this is enough, and everyone loves it.

Easy Risotto
Dice one onion.
Put it into a large skillet with 2 T. butter and 2 T. olive oil.
Let the onion get soft and translucent.
Then add 2 cups arborio rice.
Keep stirring until the rice kernels change color and look milky.
Now add a can of no-msg chicken broth.
Turn the heat to where it is on a gentle boil. For me, this is between 4 and 5 on my electric range.
When the liquid boils almost out, add another can of chicken broth.
I usually need between three and four cans, so keep doing this until you take out a piece of rice that tastes done - not hard.
Now add another T. of butter and some shaved parmesan cheese. I don't measure this, but just kind of dot it over the pan. Add about 1/2 tsp. pepper and you're ready.
This usually takes about a half an hour, but doesn't require you to stir it constantly. I just check it while I'm doing other things, and add more broth when it needs it. Easy and tasty!

Grilled Pineapple
I bought a fresh pineapple package at Walmart for under $4, already peeled and cored and ready to be sliced.
I came home, sliced it into about 8 even slices, and put it on the grill.
That's it, and does it taste good with the smoky grill lines on it. Seriously, I LOVE THIS!
I also had fresh strawberries and blueberries, and it made for a lovely fruit plate.

We also had Greek Salad and some Italian bread. . . easy too and I know you already know how to do this!

Dessert came from the Lion House Bakery cookbook.
Because I'm still figuring out high altitude cooking, I needed a no-fail dessert, and I know our guests like chocolate.
This is called Sinfully Delicious, and the picture looked good, so I followed a never-do-this hosting rule, and made something I never have before. I picked it because it used a cake mix that didn't require any changes to work at my altitude. Here it is, and it was yummy too, though, not the best chocolate cake I've ever had, but I had to go to Paris for that, but this is a good replacement.

Bake a German chocolate cake mix according to the directions.
As soon as it is out of the oven, poke holes in it all over. Pour an entire can of sweetened condensed milk over it, covering the entire cake, while it is still hot.
Now pour on half of an 11 ounce jar of caramel topping.
Let it cool on the counter a bit. I think I let mine sit for an hour, then cover it and put it in the fridge for the rest of the day.
When ready to serve, add whipped cream to the top, covered thick, and broken up Skor or Heath bars on the very top. Not too hard, and turned out great.

I owe another three families meals, so I'll be needing to use some of these recipes again soon.