Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Dinner in the Summer Time/ Enjoying the last days of summer

Sunday was a beautiful day,sunny with a cool breeze and fluffy white clouds. I wanted to do some faceless recipes but I wanted to spend most of my day and evening outdoors enjoying the awesome weather. I did my search early and only picked a couple of side dishes, Bill had ribs in the oven early so he could cook them low and slow so I only needed to worry about the sides to round it out. I found what I was looking for and went about my day playing outside, taking pictures, walking the dogs, and a little shopping trip. When I got home my phone rings and it is the hubby telling me we are going to have dinner our friends that live behind us. A last minute BBQ and pool party. I said I needed an hour or so and I would be there with the side dishes. It was a big bonus that the recipes I picked were just ideal for a pool side BBQ. I put the cold salad together first so it could chill while I did the potato recipe. Both recipes were a snap to put together so while they cooked and chilled I spent the hour reading recipes and food blogs. I found my faceless for Monday's dinner during that time. It was banging as well. Any way the Sunday recipes were extremely good and the hit of the BBQ. I was more then pleased.
  Alfredo & Cheese Stuffed Potatoes
This was yummy. Easy to make and traveled well. The next time I make this recipe I think I will mash the potato pulp before adding it to the cheese mixture. Not completely smooth just a little.The Parmesan was a little strong for my taste so I will omit it or lessen the amount. Yummy is really an understatement.
  #1 Pea Salad
This was spectacular. When I said what it was the reaction was priceless. Earlier in the day I had told Bill I was making a pea salad and he turned up his nose and said don't. No one at dinner including me had heard of a pea salad before. Well we have now and I am willing to bet I won't be the only one making it. I made a special trip to get the smoked almonds and it was so worth it. I need to fix a few things but even with my mistakes this was spectacular. I guessed at the amount of peas because I had the large bag of frozen not 16 oz packages. I used 4 cups of peas for 2 16 oz packages, I think 1 more cup of peas would have been better. The onion I think I added too much and I know I didn't chop it finely enough. I will be making this one over and over again. 
 On Monday I went over the recipe I had found on Sunday made sure I had every thing on hand and then I drooled all day in anticipation of what I was making for dinner. The left over potatoes only just made it to dinner time and the little serving left of the pea salad didn't make it past breakfast.
 Pork Chops with Grapes and Almonds
The ingredients list doesn't sound like it would be good at all together yet somehow I just knew it would.The crispness of the grape and the crunch of the almond are a perfect with the Alfredo sauce and mushrooms making a mouth watering topping for the pork chops. This recipe would be excellent for a small dinner party, it plates up nicely and taste even better. The recipe calls for 3 pans, 1 sauce and 2 frying pans to do the cooking in other then that it is not at all labor intensive, just takes a little planning to get dinner ready all at the same time.  
  It is 1 in the afternoon and I still have no idea what I am doing for dinner tonight. So I am off in search of the perfect dinner.

2 comments:

  1. Very nicely done blog! Love how the photos turned out, too! Not sure about the pea salad, but very sure about the potato! Yum!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. If you like peas you will like this. The almonds is like a hint of bacon and it all comes together nicely.

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