Had a lovely dinner last night with our friends Marilee and Joe. Such good people! It was wonderful getting to spend quality time with them in our home!
I decided on making lasagna rolls, a green salad and garlic bread.
And..... they brought
CHOCOLATE!
Here is how I make my rolls. First off, I make my own sauce and I would give the recipe but I know no measurements! I've tried measuring the ingredients while I make it and it just doesn't taste as good. It does contain ground beef, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, paste, water, parm cheese, oregano, salt, pepper, sugar, and Italian seasoning. My meat balls are ground beef, seasoned bread crumbs, parm cheese, garlic and some of the spaghetti sauce.
Start by boiling the noodles until almost softened. Spoon on a layer of ricotta cheese (mixed with an egg, parm cheese and Italian seasoning). Add a whole meatball (2 halves) and cheeses (jack and mozzarella). Roll carefully and place in a pan that has a layer of sauce on the bottom.
After placing the rolls in the pan, top them with additional red sauce. I like to add a spoonful of white sauce to the top of my rolls too. It really gives them an amazing rich flavor. (Cook 1 T butter and 1 T flour for a couple minutes, add I T chicken bouillon, 1 cup half and half and 1 T fresh parsley). Stir constantly until smooth and thickened. Spoon over the rolls (8 total) and top with additional cheese and parsley. 
Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes and enjoy!
We served with garlic bread and a salad!
Dinner was amazing just like our company!
"Friends are like stars, they come and go, but the ones that stay are the ones that glow"
My good friends Lynn and Shannon came to dinner last night (I even got flowers :-)
Great food, great wine, great company! What more can a girl ask for!
We love this Beef Bulgogi recipe from Allrecipes. I highly recommend marinading it overnight. We used skirt steak since apparently it is really hard to find a flank steak where I live. Grill for about 2 minutes on each side on a very hot grill (we are medium rare kinda girls) So flavorful!
White Rice - I usually cook my rice in the rice cooker, but since I saw someone do it this way I can't seem to go back. This works for any amount but I did 2 cups rice, 4 cups chicken broth, 2 T butter and some white pepper. Bring to a boil on the stove, turn down and simmer until the liquid has evaporated enough that the rice on top is dry and steam holes have formed (I stir it a few times in the beginning) Cover, turn down as low as you can and let sit for 10 minutes. It makes a really fluffy flavorful rice.
Lawnmower Salad. I will definitely be making this again. The only change I made was adding half a bag of broccoli slaw with half a bag of TriSlaw which had cabbage, carrots, and broccoli slaw in it. I also only added one bag of ramen instead of the two it called for. Highly recommend this!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Beef-Bulgogi/?prop31=3
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lawn-Mower-Salad/?prop31=3
I am a very visual cook and I just love Pinterest when looking for new meals to cook. Even when I used to buy cookbooks, it was a must that they contained pictures of each recipe. It's only if a picture caught my eye that I actually read the recipe.
I found this recipe for Cilantro Chili Chicken Skewers on Pinterest a while back and it looked amazing! We had a lot of salad left over from last night, so we added that to the meal along with white rice. There is a lot of cilantro in this but the flavor was not overwhelming at all.
As the meat cooks you baste it with the Sweet Chili Sauce (from the Asian section of the grocery store.) We really really liked this chicken and will most definitely will be making it again.
Here is the link to the recipe: http://cookinghawaiianstyle.com/index.php/hawaiian-recipes/recipes/detail/2654/cilantro-chili-chicken-skewers
We had the girls over tonight for a swim and dinner! There they are over there-->
Tried a few new recipes and they all turned out wonderful!
Parmesan Crusted Potatoes. Cut potatoes in half, butter, salt and pepper each half. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese onto each potato and lay them on a cookie sheet face down (make sure to spay the pan so they don't stick).
Grilled Vegetable Salad. This recipe is from Celeste over at allrecipes.com. My friends all went gaga over this salad! I saw second and even third helpings being eaten!
http://allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/62370473/grilled-vegetable-salad-with-fresh-herb-vinaigrette/detail.aspx?prop31=4
Pioneer Woman's Butter Bread. Bread and butter that's it!
Flat Iron Steaks grilled to medium rare. The marinade from allrecipes.com as well, and was really good! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Steak-Marinade-in-Existence/?prop31=2
Kelly brought over her famous chili beans and we tossed in a salad. I had to get a pic of the other Kelly's plate. I swear she licked it clean!
T
Those who know me know I am not much of a breakfast person. I know it's the most important meal of the day, but my body just does not feel like consuming food the moment I get up in the morning. Usually around 10 o'clock is when I really start to get hungry,
and one of my favorite things to eat is sandwiches! I love making them at home and it's usually what I order at restaurants when I go out to breakfast or lunch.
This sandwich here is one probably up in the top 10 of sandwiches I make. I found the original recipe a few years ago on Allrecipes.com. At the time I didn't have the right seasoning it called for in the sauce so I had to adapt. I actually have never tried it the original way because this way is so good!
Here is the list of ingredients:
Sourdough bread
Chicken
Cheddar Cheese
Bacon, diced
Caesar Dressing
Cayenne Pepper
Salt & Pepper
Butter for grilling
Butter one side of each slice of bread. Top bread with cheese, chicken and bacon bits (shown in picture). Lightly salt and pepper the chicken. Grill sandwich in skillet or panini maker. Meanwhile, take about 1 Tbsp Caesar dressing (I like Marie's the best) and add 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, stir. When sandwich is toasted and cheese melted, open sandwich and add dressing. Close sandwich and serve. You can adjust the cayenne according to taste.
I hope you give it a try!
Karen
I don't remember having pork much as a kid along with other foods that I have grown to love since like Chinese, Greek and Thai. Last year I made an amazing discovery, PORK TENDERLOIN. It pains me to know that I have been missing out on eating this wonderful cut of meat my whole entire life! I usually grill my pork tenderloin but was looking for something different when I found this recipe on Pinterest. My friend Suz was coming over to watch Les Miserables with me in the afternoon, and I knew I could talk her into staying for dinner!
I marinated the pork for about 6 hours then cooked as directed until my thermometer reached 150 degrees (do NOT overcook pork). While the meat was resting (tented) I whipped up a box (yes a box) of rice pilaf then made the sauce for the tenderloin. Instead of saving the 3 tablespoons of the marinade as the recipe states for the sauce, I just added what was left in the bag the meat marinated in (marinade police be warned). I simmered it for about 10 minutes with the chicken stock than added the tsp Tbsp of butter. This recipe was amazing, it had great flavor, and was soooo tender it melted in your mouth. It is easy enough to serve on a week night to your family but elegant enough to serve at a dinner party!
Here is the link to the recipe:
http://simpledinners.blogspot.com/2013/04/pork-tenderloin-with-pan-sauce.html
Enjoy,
Karen
When the eggs are set, top with cheese, and cover until melted. 
