Christina's Birthday Dinner Party!

First, I would like to apologize for my entire lack of food photos in this post. I'm an out of shape, rusty blogger. Once things started happening I completely forgot about my camera on the side table until long after my guests left.

October 23rd was my 27th birthday. My bosses Jeffrey and Linda had been trying to get up with me for weeks about going out to dinner, them cooking dinner, coming here for dinner, etc. Eventually when we had a plan in place, they had both had dental work so weren't much in the mood for chewing.

(recycled photo)

My butternut squash soup would do the trick perfectly for my birthday dinner party!

I used our rental home's nice dinnerware to make the evening feel more special. I find if you set the table ahead of time and make sure everything is at the ready it makes your guests feel special and the evening runs smoother. The dinner centerpiece was a huge, fresh salad I cut everything by hand for. Lots of the toppings were in small bowls so guests could customize the toppings based on their preferences.

As Johnny pointed out, the orange soup would look great served in these beautiful bowls! With the dinnerware being so busy, I chose to omit dinner decorations, and let the bold plates and bowls speak for themselves!

Appetizers were fresh shrimp cocktail my dad brought, olives, pickles, and bread with a vegetable tapenade. (<--Spell check wants me to change that to tapeworm -- ewwww!)

Dinner started with a huge salad. I used the seeds from the butternut squash as a crunchy topping to connect the courses.

For the seeds I simply tossed them with:

vegetable oil
paprika
garlic powder
salt
pepper

And baked at 350° for about 30 minutes, stirring them a few times to make sure they were evenly toasty and nobody stuck together.

Dessert was a delicious home made key lime pie my boss Jeffrey made from scratch! That's real whipped cream with key lime zest in it! So good!

Disclosure: There are paid links included in this post. Please note, it really was my birthday, and the photos and words are all genuine Christina, unaffected by this opportunity. Just simply a chance to earn a little cash for the upcoming wedding!

Cold Thai Peanut Salad

I come across recipes I want to try.

A lot.

Most of the time I bookmark them and they sit in wait. It could be days, weeks, months, sometimes years before I get around to making them, if at all.

Then, other times there are recipes I see and I need to make them right then. Regardless if I have all the ingredients or not, it just sounds so good I've got to try and replicate it ASAP.

This recipe is one of those. I got it from Laura, the Queen of All. Her version is here.

My version, modified because I didn't have everything on hand:

mix of No Yolks egg noodles and elbow macaroni
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup your favorite salsa
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 carrots, julienned/shredded
1/2 green pepper, diced
salt, to taste

Cook noodles according to package instructions. (If being "resourceful" like me and using more than one type, make sure to compare cooking times.)

Mix the peanut butter, soy sauce, oil, salsa, pepper, ginger, lemon juice, garlic cloves, and parsley in a pint mason jar. Shake until well mixed, about 1 minute. Taste and add salt as needed. (Fight the urge to put it in a syringe and inject it directly into your bloodstream.)

Drain the noodles, rinse with cold water. Pour into a large mixing bowl with the dressing. Stir to coat and add the sunflower seeds, carrots, and green pepper. Toss to mix everything. Refrigerate at least 4 hours to let the flavors develop.

Enjoy! This is GOOD. I highly, highly recommend.

You were cordially invited...

to Dinner at Christina's. But you didn't vote enough so I could make it to Round 3!!!

I kid, I kid.

We had the dinner party Thursday, before I found out if I would make it to Challenge #3. I was slightly devastated to find I did not advance because I was having a fun time tackling the challenges, giving them my all.

But, I picked myself up and realized it wasn't worth it to be upset. Because I have to give myself credit for doing what I love. I put out one hell of a dinner not even knowing if I advanced yet because I wanted to, not because I had to. That's what being a food lover is about, and in the end, that's all that I am. A lover of food that likes to write about it on this blog for others to share in that love.

The chef.

The table setting.

The place settings.

The centerpiece.

The menu. Click to enlarge.

(Now I'm free to post it as I would have liked - instead of the advertisement-ridden-bad-typeface-salmon-colored-one-that-didn't-go-with-my-color-scheme template they required.)

The Amuse Bouche.

The soup.

The salad.

The entree.

The dessert.

(All of the individual dishes and their recipes will be featured in the coming week so stay tuned!)

The aftermath.

And these were my wonderful guests. People that took a last minute invitation to show up at our house and eat a mystery meal with no questions asked. I really lucked out with a crowd that came into this dinner with such open minds and let me serve them anything my heart desired.

Thank you to Dennis, Riki, Julie, Jeff, and Melissa for being such great guests. They brought me wine, flowers, and chocolates, and gave me a round of applause at the end of the evening.

Also, thank you to Johnny for giving me unrestricted access to his credit card to fund this dinner, as well as loving support throughout the two days it took to pull this off. Thank you to Di for lending me her tables, tablecloth, dishes, bowls, wine glasses, and Yang support. Thank you to Goran for brainstorming the menu with me, saving my lumpy polenta, and carving the duck. Thank you to my brother for emailing furiously back and forth with me about the menu and lending his expertise with the wine pairings. Last, thank you to my parents who campaigned proudly on my behalf. I'm sorry I couldn't have made it further, but all of your support meant the world to me.

Pork and Apples

After reading Biz's beautiful, brightly colored post the other day I had pork and apples on the brain.

So when I saw a 6 pack of boneless pork chops for a mere $3 I jumped at the idea of making my own version of this sweet and savory combination for dinner.

Growing up we usually had apple sauce with pork chops or pork loin, how about you?

6 boneless pork chops
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper, to taste

1 small onion, sliced thin
1 apple, chopped (I used red delicious)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup your favorite BBQ sauce (I used Jack Daniel's No. 7)
1/4 cup water

Begin by seasoning the chops with salt and pepper. Let the oil heat in the pan and then cook the pork for 2-4 minutes per side, depending on how thick they are. Once they are browned on either side, remove from the pan and place on a plate.

To the same pan add the onion, apple, and garlic. Allow to saute for a few minutes until everything begins to caramelize. Add the BBQ sauce and the water to thin it out. Simmer over medium high heat, uncovered, allowing to reduce for about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, return the pork chops (and any residual juice) to the pan. Cover the chops with some of the mixture and put a lid on the pan for 10 minutes, flipping the pork chops once halfway to make sure they are coated thoroughly.


This really hit the spot! Thanks for the idea, Biz! The pork was still moist and tender, while the sauce hit several notes of smoky, tart, sweet, and savory.

The above plate was Johnny's. I ate one very small pork chop and some of the roasted broccoli. I've been trying to make at least half of my meals be a big, loaded salad after failing miserably at the 101 Days of Summer Challenge. My goal had been to move more and tone up. While I did move more, unfortunately it did not counteract all the delicious food this summer! I ended up adding back any inches I had lost from the halfway check-in and I gained a whopping 7 pounds from the start of the challenge!

I had done a lot of chopping for dinner, so this particular salad wasn't that loaded. I usually start with a big bed of mixed greens and/or baby spinach. To that I like to add some mixture of avacado, fresh apples, oranges, and vegetables, canned beets, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, grated cheese, smoked salmon, boiled egg, and whatever leftovers I deem appropriate. It helps to have a wide variety of salad toppings to mix up so you don't get bored. My go to dressings are usually some variety of Newman's Own.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway before this Saturday!

And please take a few minutes to read my Project Food Blog Challenge #1 entry!

Friday Firsts - Green Apple Slaw

Happy Friday everybody! Sorry for the lack of posts again. Now I'm not only working at the ice cream shop, but also picking blueberries after work for extra money too! I've been a busy bee this week.

When we ate at Elizabeth's a few weeks ago, the side dish I was served was a green apple slaw. It was a lot different than a normal cole slaw, even though it contained cabbage because of the inclusion of green apples. They provided a tart and sweet aspect and were also really juicy and creamy in the slaw.

I asked my brother for the ingredients, which were simple and straightforward and made Green Apple Slaw for myself this week as my first!

1 green cabbage
2 green apples
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/4 - 1/3 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper, to taste
lemon juice

Cut the green apples into matchstick slices and put in the bottom of a medium bowl with a squirt of lemon juice to keep them from browning. Cut the cabbage into thin shreds and add to the bowl. Add mayonnaise sparingly and keep stirring to incorporate, stopping when it's still a little on the dry side. The cabbage and apples will let off moisture as they sit, so you do not want to add too much mayonnaise right away. Next stir in the celery seed and salt and pepper to taste.

This picture is from the restaurant, which my brother made. I didn't get a picture of the one I made, but it was just as good. Well ... maybe his knife skills were a lot more consistent and pretty, but it tasted just as good!

Now it's your turn to tell me about your first! To participate in Friday Firsts create a blog post featuring a "first" of yours. Next, link that blog post below and tell us about it! If you don't have a blog or a specific post to link to please tell us about your first in the comment section! Any and all participation is welcome!

<a href="http://www.dinneratchristinas.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://glc.dinneratchristinas.com/i/fridayfirsts.png" alt="Friday Firsts / DinnerAtChristinas.com" style="width: 220px; height: 220px; border: none"/></a>

Carrot Salad

This was the third mayo-free salad we made for my parents' pool party. My brother makes a variation for his menu, too.

1 lb. carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
5 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp harissa mixed with water to thin
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp ground cumin

Peel and slice the carrots. We used the Cuisinart grater feature, so this was done in about 2 minutes.

Combine the remaining ingredients in the bottom of a medium bowl. The harissa is a chili paste, found in a tube in your ethnic food aisle. It has a smokey taste that went really well with the cumin. Add the carrots and toss to coat.

Of course if you over estimate how many people are coming and accidentally make five pounds worth, you'll have to get creative with the leftovers like my mom did!

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion
1 elephant garlic clove
32 oz. chicken broth
~8 cups carrot salad

Saute the onion and garlic in the butter and olive oil. Add the leftover carrot salad and broth, simmering until the carrots are tender. Puree using a stick blender or Cuisinart. Garnish with sour cream if desired.

Celery Slaw

This is mayo-free salad #2 that we served at my parents' pool party! This one actually comes from a Weber grill book I got Johnny a few years ago and we've made it before, so I knew it would be good. This recipe, unlike the marinated green beans, is best made fresh. The celery starts to get a bit soggy the longer it sits, so if that sort of thing bugs you, prepare it right before serving.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp minced jalapeno
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups thinly sliced celery
1 cup thinly sliced red onion

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper until combined. Add the jalapeno, celery, and onion, tossing to coat.

For the party I actually doubled the recipe and instead of using the jalapeno, used one small habanero from my mom's garden with the seeds removed. (A little bird told me that if you accidentally lick your fingers to test and see how hot the habanero pepper is a good remedy is Greek yogurt.)

Marinated Green Bean Salad

I came across this salad while looking for some mayo-free options for a pool party we had here at my parents'. We ended up making three salads for the party, but this was my favorite. It can be made using fresh green beans or fresh asparagus. I think either would be great, depending on what is in season or priced right.

1 lb. green beans
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar (I used tarragon vinegar)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

Bring a large pot of water to boil and season with salt. Add the green beans and cook quickly for about 1 minute. Remove from the water and put in an ice bath to cool quickly. This will keep the green beans nice and green with a crisp crunch.

In the bottom of a medium bowl whisk the remaining ingredients together to form the dressing. Add the drained green beans and let marinade in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or overnight.

The first time we ate these at the party they had marinated for just a few hours. The leftovers just kept getting better and better too!

Blogger Potluck

A handful of my favorite bloggers don't live too far from me, we have a nice little cluster here in the Chicagoland area. While emailing back and forth with a couple a few weeks ago I thought "I wonder if they'd be up for a potluck at my house?" and asked their thoughts on it. Surprisingly they all immediately said YES!!! without a moment's hesitation!

I've seen pictures of blogger meet-ups at restaurants and events, but I thought it'd be really cool to have a potluck because we all read and follow each other for our cooking and recipes! I decided to just make it simple - meet at my house at the set date and time and bring whatever you wanted! No expectations, no limits, because I wanted them to just cook whatever they felt like, without having to be pinned into "you need to bring a dessert." Thankfully, none of us cooked any repeats and it was a super well-rounded spread!

Biz of Biggest Diabetic Loser arrived first. I was so nervous and excited beforehand with the anticipation. I knew these people from their blogs, but I wasn't sure if we'd get along in real life too, but thankfully Biz has a really strong personality that burst forth within 20 seconds of meeting her and I felt like I'd known her for years! Within a few minutes Mara of What's for Dinner? arrived with Michelle from Lucky Taste Buds. Again, it was like we'd known each other for years once we started assembling the food and "talking shop."

Biz brought us each a jar of her made from scratch tomato sauce that I can't wait to try! I've never canned home-made sauce, just made extra and frozen it. I think that's a terrific idea to have some easily on hand! Then, she got to work making her famous no-rise pizza dough pizza! I've made her pizza three or four times before, but seeing her make it in person was great and she had a few little tricks that made it taste so much better than my versions! The basil shreds really made this!

Mara came to the door with a crockpot full of her Chicken Chili Blanco and also assembled her addictive (and unpictured) buffalo chicken dip within minutes of unpacking her bag! After everybody left Johnny came downstairs hungry and attacked some of the leftover chili I snagged! He really liked it, so I'll have to make this easy recipe in the future - so much flavor from so little ingredients! That's my kinda dinner!

Michelle made a delicious pasta salad that she presented beautifully with lettuce leaves around the bowl. I might have had two servings of this! She said she only used about a tablespoon of mayonnaise in it, and it made it so light and refreshing, not bogged down like other pasta salads! She also presented me with my huge bag of goodies from winning her giveaway a few weeks ago and an adorable little treat bag with a sweet note in it! I've already broken into both! She was also the only one to bring a sweet item! A delicious (and unpictured) banana bread with cashews (!!!) and chocolate chips. I enjoyed a slice last night for a snack and it's so moist and flavorful. I'll have to add cashews to baked goods more often!

We were all talking and having so much fun I totally forgot to take pictures of US. I also meant to ask Johnny to grab a group photo of all of us with our cameras, but only remembered after everybody had already left. Here's a small idea of what the spread looked like (with Mara on the left and Michelle on the right) - this was before everything was even put out! We ate for a good solid hour until we were all stuffed!

Here's the dishes I brought to the mix:

White wine sangria. (post forthcoming)

Pioneer Woman's bacon-wrapped jalepeno poppers. (post forthcoming)

Veggie tray with unpictured dip

Croissant-wrapped baked brie with crackers (post forthcoming)

...and finally the secret family recipe of zucchini pie!

Thanks again Biz, Mara, and Michelle! I sent them each home with some homemade sausage I made during my dad's visit in these adorable foodie Dollar Tree bags! I can't wait to see what they cook with them!!

Check out Biz's recap and Mara's recap for their take on yesterday's fun with pictures!

Quinoa Salad

I invented this dish in my head and it couldn't have turned out more perfect!

July 3rd is Johnny's brother, Mark's, birthday. Since they live on the northside, we usually have people over here for his party to cut down on everybody's travel time. This year is a BBQ and everybody's bringing a dish to share.

Mark doesn't eat any dairy and isn't big on anything unhealthy. He loves quinoa and vegetables, so I decided to make a quinoa salad with a bunch of roasted vegetables.

To start, I put 2 cups of quinoa in a pot with 4 cups of water and 1 vegetarian vegetable bouillion. Just enough to give the otherwise bland quinoa a little bit of flavor, but not become overpowering. This made SO much. I got scared at this point! I spread it in a big bowl to cool some, and got started on the veggies.


I cut up:

1/2 onion
1 green pepper
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
2 stalks of celery
1 large carrot
~1 cup broccoli
~1 cup cauliflower
~1 cup asparagus spears

And tossed in a bowl with about 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 Tbsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp pepper. I spread this out on a baking pan and they went into a 425° oven for just over 20 minutes.


Once the vegetables were done, I slid them from the baking pan overtop of the now-cooled quinoa in the big bowl. This looked like even more, and I was even more scared!

Using a rubber spatula, I gently folded the quinoa over the veggies and incorporated everything together without clumping the quinoa or breaking the vegetables up.

I forgot to get a picture before I put it in the serving bowl with plastic wrap over! Oops! I also might have snuck a small bowl to "test" and had to re-fill in the hole so it didn't look like anybody had any yet.

I'm so happy about this, it came out better than I expected. It's vegan, dairy free, and gluten free. A great dish for a group event, especially when you have more than one allergy sufferer! And, it also makes a TON. This filled a huge serving dish - I'd say maybe 10 cups? If you aren't feeding an army, I'd half it!

Pasta Pie

I bookmarked this recipe from Noble Pig months ago and was waiting for an opportunity to cook it. It really looks special, but it is just pasta and meat sauce afterall. Not something I'd go out of my way to cook for just Johnny and myself, but company is a different story.

Some friends have two daugthers, a 2 year old and a 3 month old and we made plans to have dinner with them. Our house is probably the least kid-friendly house on the face of the planet and who wants to pack up two kids?! So -- we brought dinner to them. This was a great dish to travel, I'd recommend it for company and potluck contributions.

Pasta Pie

1 lb. rigatona pasta
1 lb. ground beef (I used 95/5)
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 cup shredded Parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzerella
2 garlic cloves
salt, pepper, spices to taste

Boil the pasta, removing from the heat and draining before they're done. I cooked mine for 11 minutes, when the package said 14. Drain, and rinse with cold water to cool. Sprinkle with a little bit of olive oil and the Parmesan, tossing to coat. Be careful not to break the noodles, you'll need them as intact as possible.

Meanwhile, in a high-sided skillet, brown the ground beef. I added salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders. Mince the garlic and add that to the pan once the meat is browned. Then add the can of crushed tomatoes. I spiced mine up just as I would making home-made sauce with salt, oregano, and basil. I let this sit and cook on low for 15-20 minutes while I was working on the noodles.

Once they're cooled, stand all the noodles on end in a greased springform pan.

This went a lot smoother than I thought it would. The noodles stayed pretty well on their own, but a few were taller than the others and I had a lot with slits on the side. The funny thing is that the pound of pasta fits in here almost perfectly. I had maybe 10 fragments leftover of noodle pieces too broken to use, that's it.

Next step is the sauce, which to me was the hardest part. The sauce was still pretty warm and you have to make sure to squish the meat down into each individual rigatoni opening. I eventually got into a groove and worked my way across the pan, then spread the extra sauce over top. Be careful here, because my springform pan actually started leaking sauce. I had a big ring of tomato juice to clean up off the counter, but knew then to place the pan on a baking sheet in the oven.
After the meat sauce is squished in all of the pasta openings, bake in a 400° oven for 15 minutes. Then, sprinkle the mozzarella over the top and bake an additional 15 minutes. Let stand about 15 minutes before removing the spring pan and cutting into it.

It stayed perfectly shaped, I just ran a knife around the outside and released the spring pan.

Each little tube was filled with some meat and sauce, so you were sure to get some in each bite. The Parmesan cheese was like a glue, helping keep the noodles standing next to each other. Overall really tasty and a cool dish, but honestly it's a pretty tedious preparation process.

We also brought along a big loaf of garlic bread I made. I didn't get a picture of it post-bake, but I spread about 2 Tbsp of 50/50 Smart Balance on each half loaf of bread with a spatula, then sprinkled garlic powder. I popped these in the oven the last 10 minutes of the pasta pie's baking time.

And, last but not least, a big salad of mixed greens, carrots, green pepper, celery, cucumber, and sunflower seeds.