Tracy and Ryan

Last night, Cassie's boyfriend, Ryan came to dinner with Ryan's mom, Tracy. They've been dating for two years but it's taken this long to get us all together. The kids are off to college in a few weeks so it was good to have another mom to commiserate/celebrate with.

The picture is Cassie and Ryan on Thanksgiving weekend.

Tracy mentioned she has a blog and it reminded me that a year ago I tried to start a blog and then didn't keep it up. But, here it is, just waiting for me.

It was a really enjoyable evening. I feel so blessed that we have a living room and a formal dining room. I love having a relaxing place to eat dinner and hang out after. Chris and I (and Cassie when she's around) sometimes spend hours at the table just talking, catching up and laughing a lot. It's usually my favorite time of day.

So, it was great to do the same with Ryan and Tracy.

Here was our menu with approximate WW points:
Mixed Greens with Buttermilk Dressing (1)
Corn on the Cob (1)
Pasta with Fresh mozzarella and Fresh Tomato Sauce (5)
Zucchini Cheddar Biscuits (3)
White Sangria (1) (but I had 3 glasses)
Juniors Cheesecake (7? Okay I know it's gotta be more. . . but can't deal with the reality today)

I'm am slowly perfecting my buttermilk dressing. The consistency was just right, but it was a little too garlicky. Maybe the garlic added some excitement to an otherwise boring salad. I bought the mixed "farm greens" salad in a bag and figured it had enough textures and I didn't need more veggies in the salad since they were in every other aspect of the meal. The dressing was made with:

Canola Oil
Basil
Garlic
Agave Nectar
Low Fat Buttermilk
Salt and Pepper

We also had corn on the cob. I picked some up on Tuesday at the farmers' market and it was the most awesome corn I have ever had. So I thought I would get some for dinner last night and picked some up at the supermarket. It was fine. . . Jersey corn in August is always going to be yummy but it just couldn't compare to what I had Tuesday.

I made "Vermont Summer Muffins" from Sundays at Moosewood which are really zucchini cheddar biscuits. http://www.greensgrow.org/recipes/3.2.html I don't think Ryan liked them, but this is the second time I've made them and I really enjoy them. . . They are a little different. The zucchini was from my co-op and I used a little more than the recipe called for. The cheese was low-fat and I used a little less.

The sangria was modified from a recipe I found in Vegetarian Times. I used
White Wine
Brandy
Peach Nectar (doubled the amount instead of using sugar)
nectarine and Lemons Sliced
I used a generous amount of Lemon Lime Seltzer to keep it light and refreshing

The pasta was a really flaverful taste of summer. We ate dinner at Tasha and Ed's last weekend and Tasha made a similar pasta dish that was really good (so I thought I'd copy her idea). I bought the tomatoes at the farmers' market - they were super ripe and I got them for $2 a quart since they were almost about to turn. . . . which made them perfect for the sauce. I pureed half of them with basil (also from the farmers market), garlic and olive oil. I used Barilla Plus penne because it has so much protein it's hard to justify buying regular nutrient-empty pasta. I tossed together more basil, salt and pepper, chopped tomatoes and diced fresh mozzarella. The "fresh mutz" was from Fiore's in Hoboken. http://www.fioresdeli.com/

Tracy brought over a cheesecake from "world famous" Junior's http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/. Oh my goodness. . . It was awesome. I've never had it before and I love cheesecake.

We don't have company as much as we used to so I put out the china and crystal with the blue and gold linen theme. We lit the candles in the mantel and kept the lights low (masks some of my poor housekeeping too LOL).

We had a nice time. It was good to get to know Tracy a little better. We all spend a lot of time in the same town at the shore (which is how Cassie and Ryan met many years ago). Tracy told us about Delicious Orchards which is near-by. It seems like such a cool place. I can't believe we didn't know about it (we try to stay very on top of good food options LOL). http://www.deliciousorchardsnj.com/. We are having our staff retreat down there and I'm preparing the menu. I LOVE Wegman's but I think I'll hit D.O. first and get all the fresh stuff I can before heading over to Wegmans for everything else.

I'm looking forward to seeing Tracy's blog and hopefully getting together again. Especially since between the shore, our kids and the fact that she works in mid-town near Chris, our worlds cross at a number of points.

So, I need to promise myself to keep up my blog this year and see how it might develop. Chris' brother is visiting tonight but I think it will be low-key and Chris will cook. I have a plum cake I made from Weight Watchers http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=50384 but we still have leftover cheesecake so I imagine they'll go for the cheesecake.

The next "big" thing is the staff lunch and dinner at our retreat before school starts. I did it last year. It was a fun challenge to plan and cook for 30 people. It was great to have a lot of help with the prep work. I've posted last year's menu.

Peace,
Melissa