My husband and I are involved in a Small Group that meets every other Thursday night! Basically it's an awesome group of friends that gather to eat, pray and have a Bible Study. This is our 3rd year being involved in a small group and it has honestly changed our lives. Being around a solid group of christians often is so encouraging!
Each time we meet, me and a few other girls make dinner for the group! There are usually about 15 of us. It's definitely a challenge to try to find new recipes that pleases 15 people! But we have a blast! Gives us a chance to try new recipes and spend fun time together...just us girls! :)
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5th meeting:
Arden's White Bean Chicken Chili
FINALLY! We were able to celebrate the Fall/Winter weather at small group with this yummy chili(compliments of my very lovely friend, Arden!) :)
2 Medium Onions, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, chopped
3 cups Chicken Broth
1/2 tsp ground Coriander
2 tbsp Lime Juice
1 tsp ground Cumin
1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1 can (11 oz) White Shoepeg Corn
2 cans (15-16oz) Great Northern beans, drained
2 Cups shredded, cooked Chicken
Cook onion and Garlic in large pan until clear and soft.
Stir in remaining ingredients, exept chicken.
Heat to boiling, then reduce heat.
Simmed uncovered about 20 minutes.
Stir in Chicken-Heat until hot.
We served this soup with lots of garlic bread, some Chalula sauce and a big green salad.
...We welcome you, December weather!!
4th meeting:
Steak Tacos, lemon rice pilaf, Erin's Guac, and my [failed] brownies.
First, Erin marinated flank steak for about 2 hours. We grilled it up, until cooked to medium-rare, about 10 minutes...Then we "tent" cooked it(put steak on plate and cover with foil for about 15 minutes), so the meat was thoroughly cooked through, but not dry. Before serving, slice in long strips, squeeze limes over the meat and season with garlic salt.
Then Erin made up some of her family's famous Lemon Rice Pilaf. She cooked the rice in a rice cooker. Then after it was finished cooking, she sauted onion and garlic and oil in a pan, until the onion was soft...Then added the cooked rice and some lemon zest and salt and pepper to taste. So delicious, super easy and a great way to spruce up plain rice!
Erin, then made her "Guac"
...complete with Hass Avacados, lime, tomato, red onion pepper and oh-yeah GARLIC SALT(but did you doubt that?). We cooked up some of these bad boys.
Seriously, once you eat these-you may never go back to the traditional tortillas.
...Not as quick to serve(takes about 2 minutes to cook each tortilla) but definitely worth the wait.
We set out the meat, rice, torts, cheese, sour cream, and Tapatio and let the group build their own!
And while we enjoyed our meal, some brownies that i whipped up were cooking. I got them out of the oven, after they cooked(at the suggested temp and time, mind you) and though they looked absolutely perfect....to our surprise, they were anything but. I went to cut them up for the group and they didn't budge....
Uhm, yup. Hard as a rock. Or tile. Or marble. The bottom of the brownies were actually so pretty...I wouldn't be opposed to making them into a nice kitchen countertops. Sturdy too.
Tried taking a bite outta this monster.
...almost broke a tooth.
But seriously, in my defense...it was a new brownie mix that i had never made before(not good enough of an excuse?)...Also, I used Erin's crazy-professional-non-stick pan that was probably too large for one box of brownie mix. I adjusted the cooking time, but apparently not enough. Oh well, we got a laugh. Live and learn.
3rd meeting:
Grilled chicken, grilled veggies, sauted potatoes
How can you seriously go wrong with this yummy dinner.
We poured some marinade on the chicken and for the veggies...we cut up Zucchini and asparagus, poured a little Olive Oil on 'em and dashed it with some Garlic Salt(MY FAVE!). Then, Miss Erin put her grilling powers to action and did some work on that food! :)
One special trick that I learned from Erin...After the chicken is grilled...baste it in a mixture of melted butter and garlic salt. Replenishes the moisture that sometimes gets grilled out of your meat and adds delicious flavor! yumm!
For the potatoes, after i skinned and chopped 'em up in 1 inch sqares-sized pieces, I put them in a ziploc bag with olive oil, a generous portion of Lawry's Montreal Steak seasoning(kinda spicy if you add too much. But like i have said, i am a fan of spiciness) and some garlic salt. Then emptied the bag-o-potates into a heated pan, under medium-high, stirred constantly and in about 20 minutes...viola! perfect tasty potatoes. Seriously, guys...my favorite side dish eva.
2nd meeting:
Pasta!
My lovely friend, Erin, found a three-cheese baked tortellini recipe by Giadda that looked delicious, so we made it!
It was seriously the easiest thing ever to make! I really want to try the sauce just on regular pasta sometime(marinara sauce, mascarpone(or cream cheese!), fresh Thyme, fresh Parsley)-It was so creamy and flavorful!
1st meeting:
Appetizers and desserts only.
We weren't sure who or how many would show up, so we decided to go easy on food the first night(but not too easy!). We made...
- (amazing! DEFINITE crowd pleaser. Easy. Not spicy!)
- Mini Taco-bowl-things! (idea from a friend of a friend)
- So yummy and cute! Everyone that ate one could only describe it as "a fiesta in my mouth"! :)
Set out a bunch of Tortilla-Scoop chips- Fill them with your favorite taco fillings: Refried beans, sour cream, chives, cheddar cheese! (you can't fill them too much because they're so little! But that's why they're so awesome...bitesize with so much flavor!
(notice our technique...fill plastic baggies with your fillings, cut a corner and squeeze! brilliant!)
- Dessert...Scotcheroos! (friend's recipe! will post soon)
- think "classy Rice Krispie Treats" except instead of marshmallows, peanut butter. Then a rich chocolate topping! Decedant!
