Last night was the final community dinner of the Spring season. I hope to resume in the Fall when I’m in a new, larger house where half the crowd doesn’t have to sit outside on the patio furniture.

We had my mom’s Mexican meatloaf. I added a layer of Hatch chiles through the center and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thrilled to have leftovers for this weekend. A cold meatloaf sandwich is pretty close culinary heaven in my book, and no I do not have a mullet.

We also had buttermilk biscuits (which I added way too much baking powder to on accident. Woopsie. Baking power does not equal baking soda), steamed veggies, salad, strawberry pie and chocolate chip cookies.

Spence entertains the crowd. This summer will be his 30th trip to Africa.
There was a steady flow of beer and wine and Spence — my friend from Colorado who is also my Africa travel saint for this summer — brought his iPod with a pretty incredible collection of jazz. It was a lovely night!

~K

P.S. If you have t-shirts you’d like to mail for the Peace t-shirt project, please do! There is still plenty of room. Thanks again!

Today was much sweeter. I woke up after a good 11 hours of sound, deep sleep feeling headache-free. Granted, my heart still aches, but that will take more than a night of rest to change. Baking could help.

Tomorrow we are having a potluck at work and I’d signed up for dessert. I definitely got carried away, but the relief I find in cooking is parallel only to running and I just didn’t have the stamina for a long run tonight. Tomorrow’s menu includes Sweet Sedona bundt cake, lemon coconut cookies and Mexican cinnamon brownies — all in celebration of Cinco de Mayo.

Maddy and I had a great time. She is a doll and such a great reminder of the joy of life. I watched her today with her girlfriends and family; I want to be more like her — she’s carefree, confident, strong and sweet to a fault.

Thank you for your kind words about yesterday’s post. My apologies to the Monday dieters cruising through the blog.
~K

Cheap red wine + two liters of Sprite Zero + sliced citrus + lots of ice = Sangria!

Community dinner has been on a hiatus for the last couple of weeks and will more than likely go into hibernation again soon; summer is arriving and everyone is getting busy — including this wanderer. I thought last night’s dinner would be canceled, but last minute I received several RSVPs. As a hungry reader of Andy’s Diner, I shot Andy an email and asked if he had any quick go-to Cuban recipes he thought would work.

Ay caray! He was the man to ask. I made Cuban black beans (substituting turkey bacon for pancetta) and stewed chicken with white rice. We had sangria and coconut-pineapple sugar cookies too. It was a feast and everyone went home with perrito-bags. And I may have wolfed down black beans with my eggs this morning.

Thanks Andy! Great suggestion.

I hope you are having a happy week. I am very much looking forward to this weekend; one of my best friends is coming into town and we plan on painting it red. Or rojo, as one with another round of sangria up her sleeve might say.

Hasta luego,
Kellita

Appetizer inspired by the Mideast. Fruit, medjool dates, tahini, soft cheese, crackers, nuts.

Medjool dates are my very favorite dessert.

First course inspired by Africa: spicy peanut soup, served over brown rice with peanuts for garnish.

Dinner included ginger chicken with spinach and sesame, salad, and steamed veggies — a combination of Thai and American influence.

Dessert was two varieties of shortbread, via Scotland. Morag’s roots are African and Scottish, although she is living in America and moving to Canada. I think her bon voyage community dinner reflected her global hopping well.

~K

I went to a friend’s house for dinner last night; he’s been attending the community dinners and has said more than once that he loves my chocolate cake and really enjoyed those Brussel sprouts. With that in mind, I headed out to the market to buy a few supplies for my addition to the dinner menu: the ever so popular combination. (What? You didn’t have this for dinner?)

Garlic & Lemon Brussel Sprouts:
Take one pound of Brussel sprouts, wash and half. In a skillet, brown 1 diced onion and 3 cloves of garlic with a dash of olive oil. Add Brussel sprouts and 1 cup of white wine and lemon juice to your liking. Let this simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add a dash of salt and pepper before serving.

As for the cake, I added flax seeds, yogurt and apple sauce in a silly attempt to make a boxed mix healthy. It was still good and those who ate their vegetables enjoyed a nice fat slice.

~K

The journey of a community dinner.

Have you heard about that silly battle going on between Jerry Seinfeld’s wife and the other lady over their similar cookbooks? Heads up ladies — you can’t patent a recipe. Their idea of “hiding” vegetables in other foods to increase the nutritional value isn’t anything new around my house. My mom has been putting vegetable purees in foods for years and we all know that lovely Weight Watchers apple sauce trick when baking.

Or how about a little broccoli and spinach hidden in your penne meat sauce?

Last night’s community dinner celebrated my neighbor John’s 24th birthday. (Yep, he’s a wee.) Alma made a lovely orange and chocolate cheesecake that was nearly too pretty to eat, although everyone managed.

It had a chocolate crust and orange zest in the filling. It was out of this world!

I gave John a giant box of wine as a gag gift. He once mentioned that since he was from northern California, he could never drink wine from a box. It was against his constitution. I wanted to take off my flip flop and hit him over the head to knock that snobbiness right out of him. No one in my house is too good for boxed wine, or for free food. So, we collectively laughed ourselves silly last night when he tore into his gift and got a bit of humility handed to him in the process. Ha!
This is a snob-free zone.

John’s favorite food is Italian; I made meat sauce from the latest Cooks Illustrated, whole wheat penne pasta and salad. Shayla brought a wonderful garlic green bean dish and many friends brought wine in a bottle to soothe a certain ego or two. I also made another loaf of that no-knead bread and this time added more beer — the result was amazing. This is the best loaf so far. Hooray for beer!

Bread, one of the sauce’s secret ingredients.

Roasted for garlic butter.

See? You can’t even see the green. Bwahaha!

The pasta sauce called for mushrooms, which I forgot to buy. Instead I substituted a can of drained spinach and a pound of broccoli, which I stuck in the food processor with the meat, bread and other ingredients. Deceptively delicious indeed. It was a sneaky way of adding a lot of vegetables to the meal, which also stretched out the sauce. Good thing too because we had 11 people there last night and I wanted left overs for lunch today. Too bad I couldn’t bring in a little boxed wine too.

Feliz Cumpleanos, Juan.
~K

P.S. I worry about my brother, who lives in Denver, a lot. Like it could be my second job. I figure karmically, the nicer I am to my neighbors, the nicer people will be to my bro. I welcome newbies from other states to community dinner and some how the universe will turn this into a great meal for my brother with new friends. Or so I hope.

I’m not a huge fan of bananas, cream pies or spending $20 on fancy ingredients for one recipe, but when I saw the photos of this banana cream pie with a whole wheat chocolate crust in the February issue of Bon Appetite, I knew I’d soon be putting my dislikes aside. Too many new techniques to learn to pass this recipe by.

Something tells me this will receive five out of five bananas, absoloodle.
Reviews manana. Off to dine with Tarzan. Okay, not really, but the thought made me laugh.

~K

These dinners really are all about me. They are the perfect excuse to try new recipes from my favorite cooking magazines, spend an afternoon sipping a nice glass of white wine and listening to NPR, wear a apron, get the house cleaned up for company, find a new mixed CD to throw on the radio, etc.

It’s the simple things, really, that make me silly with happiness. Last night I cooked two chickens using the French Chicken in a Pot recipe from Cooks Illustrated. You slow-cook a chicken in its own juices for two hours in a Dutch oven, with a bit of garlic, celery and onion. One of the birds came out looking great, while the other needed another hour before it was ready. Thankfully the guests came in shifts last night and we didn’t play musical chairs or chickens. There was more than enough to go around. I let my roommate borrow my camera yesterday, so I didn’t have it around while I was preparing. These last-minute “let me take a photo of that before you eat it!” shots leave much to be desired.

I also heard from several folk that last night was the first time they’d had brussel sprouts. As the self-deemed “Veggie Fairy,” I kept passing this dish until they were gone. This recipe is simple and it got great reviews, although it can be a bit expensive if the nuts aren’t on sale.

The cauliflower steaks were the most aesthetically pleasing. From the same section of new vegetable recipes in the latest Bon Appetite, this recipe was simple enough. I added broccoli to the puree to make a great green creamy vegetable mix as a base.

Next week is potluck. My mom is coming into town to help with my fundraiser next weekend and the free time I have, I’ll be spending happily with her. So, why not invite some friends over to feed me in the meantime? See. I told you — it all seems altruistic, but really I’m quite crafty.

Mango and strawberry Jello, anyone?
~K

Barley for Breakfast

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of pearled barley
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean
Zest of one small lemon
8.5 cups of water

Directions:
Bring water to a boil, add barley and spices. Let simmer for 45 minutes. Reduce heat, add zest if desired. Cook until thick and water has absorbed — another 30 minutes or so. Dive out into Ziplock containers for the week. Add a dash of honey, or some yogurt and fresh fruit on top to create a healthy carb breakfast that won’t send your blood sugar through the roof.
Oatmeal, you’ve officially been booted.

~K

Eggs:
Not Even a Glimpse of Hillary Pie

Ingredients:
4 eggs, whisked in a large bowl
1 cup milk
1 cup of cheese — I used a mix of feta and cheddar
veggies of your liking — I used asparagas, broccoli and spinach that I steamed beforehand and a tomato for garnish
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
dash of salt, pepper
Pie crust of your liking. For the pie I used frozen phyllo I had in the freezer. For the mini quiche, I used a pie crust I made at Christmas and had lfrozen, left-over.

Directions:
Heat the oven to 375. Grease your pie plate or cupcake tin. Make sure your pie crust is thawed and place in plate. If you are using a basic pie crust recipe for the mini quiche, take a small ball of pastry and smush it into the bottom of the greased tin.

In a saucepan, heat your oil and add your minced garlic and onion. Cook 7-10 minutes, until translucent. Add other vegetables and 1/2 of cheese, until thoroughly mixed. Add your milk to the whisked eggs. Add a dash of salt and pepper to the egg/milk mixture. Then pour veggies into this bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour into pie crust. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and add a tomato for garnish, if so desired. Bake 40-50 minutes — until eggs are golden and your kitchen smells like breakfast nirvana.

Toast:

Holy hell. I saw “There Will Be Blood” last night and it is really good. The acting is superb. Daniel Day Lewis is so creepy and enchanting. Paul Dano, the icky brother from “Little Miss Sunshine,” is absurdly believeable. It is a violent, but great flick. I liked the storyline of “No Country for Old Men” better; it was more intriguing. However, the acting in “There Will Be Blood” is unreal. Five out of five bananas, absoloodle.

Cup of Joe:

Need a great book? Pick up, A Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg. If I could jump into this book and live with the characters, I would in a heartbeat. Sweet, charming, great read. Four out of five bananas.

~K