One of the challenges of being “the friend who cooks” is that I’m counted on to bring “something different” to potlucks.  This past weekend was no different.  I knew that the people at this particular gathering had never tried quinoa and since I had some in the pantry, that was my “something different.”  If you don't already cook with quinoa, you should know that it doesn’t have an intense flavor on its own (plays well with many flavors), is a complete protein (vegetarian and vegan friendly), and cooks pretty much like rice.  It can be used as a breakfast cereal, and it’s also gluten free friendly.

I made Quinoa Black Bean Salad.  The hardest part of the recipe was slicing the corn off of the cob without it skittering across the kitchen.  The whole recipe was done and piled it into a serving bowl  in under 20 minutes.  Not all of it fit, so I had the excess for lunch, and it was darn tasty. 

Of course, not everyone liked it; I think the appearance is so different that people just don’t know what to make of it.  If you check out the picture, you can see that  the grain is translucent, and there is a darker ring around it.  That dark ring is the grain, which will sometimes detach and look like a tail (get over it).   The kids shunned it in favor of Toffee Bar Coffee Cake, and some of the die hard traditionalists leaned more towards Really Red Potato Salad (to which I added some garden fresh broccoli that needed to be used). 

Considering how ridiculously cold it is for August, I plan on using the rest of the box of quinoa on Kidney Beans & Quinoa, a fall favorite.

When you’re grilling for a dinner party, the biggest problem is serving people at roughly the same time.  Unless you’re doing something simple like burgers or hot dogs (and weren’t we tired of those by the end of June?), or seafood (fussy and can get expensive), you need a new plan.

Last weekend we had 10 people for dinner.  With some advance prep work and a clean, hot grill, dinner was served in no time.  The key?  Chicken that was pounded thin and marinated well.

Grilled Greek Herb Chicken is definitely going into my rotation.  The combination of right-from-the-garden herbs and freshly-squeezed lemon juice infused  into the chicken made it tasty and moist.

You can buy chicken cutlets, but they tend to cost more.  I bought a “family pack” 5 pound package of chicken breasts for a little over $10.  Pounding them is a bit time consuming and slightly messy, but pretty easy.  Take a chicken breast and trim off the excess fat.  Rinse it in water (keeps it from sticking), put it into a gallon sized zip top bag, press out most of the air, and use the flat side of your meat mallet to pound the meat into an even thickness.  After every few whacks, run your hand across the bag to find thick spots, and hold up the bag to the light to see which spots need to be left alone.  Yes, there will be pieces that come off or get trimmed away; save them and either poach for a small chicken salad, or for your dog. 

I layered the cutlets with the marinade in a large shallow dish and left it in the ‘fridge for about 8 hours.  Surprisingly they all went onto the grill in one layer (we have just a standard gas grill), and went from cold to cooked through in about 6 minutes.

This was fabulous served with a Greek Orzo Salad, Zucchini Gratin, and a Plum Upside Down Cake (if you want to see photos – follow me on Twitter). 

I'm having a dinner party for 12 on Sunday.  The wrinkle in my plan is that I'm busy until 1:00, my husband until 3:00 and dinner is at 4:00 (how did this happen?  It just did, trust me...).  Needless to say it's going to be an "all hands on deck" weekend for cleaning and prep. 

The menu:

Individual Beef Wellingtons

Tomato Zucchini Casserole 

Ginger-ale Glazed Carrots 

Garlic Mashed Potatoes  

Apple Raspberry Crisp 

Hidden Tofu Chocolate Pie   

No pressure huh?  It's actually all about timing.  I can do the crisp and the pie on Saturday, and even, thanks to some research, the potatoes and then just pop them in the crockpot in the morning.  I plan on using red potatoes and stirring in some chives from the garden to make them pretty.  The carrots can also be done in advance and then microwaved.  The casserole will have to be assembled on Sunday and then baked until the beef goes in.  The beef is where it gets tricky.

I'm going to sweet talk the butcher into cutting 12 perfect medallions of beef.  The boys can season and sear, and once they're cool I'll wrap them, stash them in the fridge (note to self - clean out fridge!) and let them chill (ha) until it's time to bake.  My oven isn't very trustworthy, so I'll slip a thermometer in one of the packets (I'll eat that one).   

I think today I will sample some wines to go with dinner!

Happy Friday!