International Dinner Parties: China

China Night

Lydia brought out some of her decorative Chinese hats and paintings for the night. We ate fried rice, chicken potstickers, sweet and sour chicken, and bok choy - all with chopsticks!

Welcome! Ai-ya! There is a ton of delicious food!

Potstickers are very labor intensive and I was very thankful for some extra awesome helpers. You take wonton wrappers and place the chicken mixture in the middle then fold in half and pinch the sides together. The mixture is a combo of napa cabbage, shredded boiled chicken, sesame seed oil, soy sauce, white vinegar, ginger, green onions, and chicken broth. Then you fry them - and as seen below frying can be dangerous so you might need extra protections.

The meal was a success!

A small meal since I was snacking while cooking. 

We even tried Dragon Fruit! Which tasted like a kiwi and potato - not the best flavor.

For dessert we had coconut pudding with mashed mango on top!

Overall fantastic night with great friends! We loved our visit with China. Please join us again for our next International Dinner Party!
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International Dinner Party: Southern Cooking

We celebrated the fourth of July Southern style!

Or at least that was the plan.

Menu

Buttered Biscuits

BBQ pulled chicken

Pigs in a corn cake

Mac & Cheese

Corn on the Cob

Sauteed greens

Sweet Potato Pie

 I will confess that I have never met a food I could not make, but then I met Southern cooking. I decided to follow recipes since I was less familiar with making southern food. Not only was I out of my comfort zone, but I was also crunched for time as I had to work 11-6 that day. I tried to make the macaroni and cheese ahead of time... which means around 8 in the morning before work... and baked it when I came home. Unfortunately, it quite possibly was the worst macaroni and cheese I have ever made. And, I've made some killer Mac & Cheese before. But, that's what I get for following a recipe right? Haha. Actually I guess I just picked poor recipes to follow. I'm not quite sure how my friends felt about the meal, but they probably would agree that my weakness is cooking southern food. 

Aside from the Macaroni and Cheese everything else tasted pretty darn tasty :)

I hope you enjoyed our Southern Night, join us again soon for our next International Dinner party!

#TraveltheWorld

International Dinner Party: UK Part 2

International Dinner Party

United Kingdom

Fish 'n chips, lemon wedges, vinegar, coleslaw, and banofree pie.

The fish was made using a beer batter recipe. They were pan fried it first then baked it in the oven. 

A special British imported beer from Yorkshire.

Chips are what Americans consider potato wedges or fries. They were lightly oiled and baked in the oven.

Banofree pie is like the American version of banana cream pie, except much sweeter and richer. It definitely was better the second day than the first. I would recommend making it the day before if you choose to make it. I did make homemade whole wheat cookies rather than using digestive cookies since at the time they were not carrying them at the grocery store. 

Overall fantastic night! We topped it off with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Travel the World with us! Keep up to date on our International dinner parties!

International Dinner Parties: United Kingdom Part 1

For the second International Dinner party we visited the lovely country of the United Kingdom. We actually did a double visit with two dinner parties in a row, Friday and Saturday! We paired the dinners with the Sherlock Holmes movie series! It was a great time.

On Friday the menu was simple, but richly delicious. I made homemade pasties. The first batch was chicken potato and the second batch was beef potato.

Pasties are absolutely fun to make once you figure out the hang of it. But, let me tell you it is an all day affair. First you must start by cooking the meat and potatoes. I cooked the beef in a crock pot and the chicken on the stove in a wok. The potatoes I cooked in the wok after the chicken with carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, and leeks. I added cheese to the mix and the meat in two separate groups.

The chicken filling.

For the dough I made a thicker pie dough with bread flour and without sugar.

First place stuffing inside the middle of rolled out dough.

Fold dough over.

Twist sides in to seal off the pasty.

Place on buttered baking sheet and lightly spread milk over top.

Flaky crust, delicious filling... it doesn't get much better!

This was International Dinner Parties: UK Part 1. Stay tuned for more stories of our International Dinner Parties!

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!