International Dinner Party: Italy

This summer I am hosting International Dinner parties for my friends and I to enjoy. I am excited to not only share my cooking skills with my friends, but also knowledge about food and nutrition with them. While I will not be lecturing about health or how to make good food choices, I will be preparing food that is made from scratch and is nutrient dense. My goal for this summer is to expose people to foods they have never tried before or even heard of while also exposing them to the richness of homemade food.

I am excited for this opportunity to cook, serve, learn, and share. This summer will be full of delicious meals and wonderful company!

We had our first dinner party last night and the inspiration was Italy. Being raised on Italian food, I was glad to create a dish that most of my friends had never even heard of.

I started the evening with a simple salad and homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Following we had a choice of spinach stuffed shells and sausage stuffed shells.

Spinach on the left and sausage on the right - before the sauce was added.

The sausage stuffed shells with the sauce and cheese.

Two spinach stuffed shells.

For dessert I served Pizzelles and homemade cannoli cream.

Pizzelle without cannoli cream. (I unfortunately forgot to photograph the cream)

My friends absolutely loved the meal. It was so great to see everyone enjoy something they've never had before. It was actually really neat to serve Italian food that people were unfamiliar with, since Italian food is one of the most recognized cuisines.

Everything was homemade. While I cannot give exact amounts because recipes were not used for everything I can list ingredients.

Balsamic Vinaigrette:   brown sugar, evoo, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, basil, garlic

Sauce: ground beef, carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, salt, pepper, fresh basil, fresh parsley, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, dried basil, dried parsley, garlic, a dash of sugar, water

Spinach stuffing: ricotta cheese, frozen spinach - thawed, egg, nutmeg, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, marjoram, mozzarella, Parmesan

Sausage stuffing: ground pork - cooked with sage, ricotta cheese, egg, nutmeg, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, marjoram, mozzarella, Parmesan

Cannoli Cream: ricotta cheese - drained overnight, powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, mini chocolate chips, whipping cream

Pizzelles:   I used this recipe and added cinnamon

I hope you enjoyed our travels through Italy. Stay tuned for more International Dinner Parties!