schuh
06-03-2001, 07:57 PM
The Rochester, NY CL group met tonight for the second time. The first time was appetizers/desserts. This time we embarked on our first meal -- a cookout, which I hosted. The thinking was to invite husbands and kids (which we don't plan to do all the time) and make it a casual outdoor event. Well, the weather did not cooperate at all but we managed to have a good time indoors. I was impressed with the selections that people brought -- everything was out of the ordinary.
It was hard to think of something easy to grill for 13 people, so I selected Sunset Chicken with Grilled Vegetable-Rice Pilaf, from CL a few years ago (I posted the recipe on the Food bulletin board). Since the dish contained hot sauce, chili powder, etc., I thought it might be quite spicy but it was pretty mild. It had a good flavor. The only problem was that we grilled the chicken first and put it on a platter in a warm oven while the veggies were cooking. In retrospect, we should have done it the other way around, as the chicken got somewhat dry.
The person who brought appetizers did two from non-CL sources. One was Hot Black Bean Dip. The other was Spicy Dipper Rolls. Both were very good. I was shocked at my four-year old gobbling the bean dip -- I would never have thought that would appeal to him.
The side dishes, which all were very good, were:
Tropical Fruit Salad (CL Jan/Feb 2001)
Orange-Poppy Seed Salad (Southern Living -- maybe not technically light but who cares, it was tasty)
Garden Orzo Salad (USA Cookbook by Sheila Lukins)
The desserts were:
Banana-Cream Pie (CL -- several years back)
Fruit Trifle
I am not a pie eater at all, but this one was excellent. The trifle was also tasty.
It was funny because I thought the desserts would be too exotic for the kids and therefore I bought ice cream as a "fallback" for them. I shouldn't have worried -- they all had seconds and would have had thirds if we had let them.
We all agreed that we enjoyed the meal, and liked tasting things we wouldn't have tried otherwise -- such as the papaya in the tropical fruit salad (which I loved).
Can't wait for the next one!
[This message has been edited by schuh (edited 06-03-2001).]
It was hard to think of something easy to grill for 13 people, so I selected Sunset Chicken with Grilled Vegetable-Rice Pilaf, from CL a few years ago (I posted the recipe on the Food bulletin board). Since the dish contained hot sauce, chili powder, etc., I thought it might be quite spicy but it was pretty mild. It had a good flavor. The only problem was that we grilled the chicken first and put it on a platter in a warm oven while the veggies were cooking. In retrospect, we should have done it the other way around, as the chicken got somewhat dry.
The person who brought appetizers did two from non-CL sources. One was Hot Black Bean Dip. The other was Spicy Dipper Rolls. Both were very good. I was shocked at my four-year old gobbling the bean dip -- I would never have thought that would appeal to him.
The side dishes, which all were very good, were:
Tropical Fruit Salad (CL Jan/Feb 2001)
Orange-Poppy Seed Salad (Southern Living -- maybe not technically light but who cares, it was tasty)
Garden Orzo Salad (USA Cookbook by Sheila Lukins)
The desserts were:
Banana-Cream Pie (CL -- several years back)
Fruit Trifle
I am not a pie eater at all, but this one was excellent. The trifle was also tasty.
It was funny because I thought the desserts would be too exotic for the kids and therefore I bought ice cream as a "fallback" for them. I shouldn't have worried -- they all had seconds and would have had thirds if we had let them.
We all agreed that we enjoyed the meal, and liked tasting things we wouldn't have tried otherwise -- such as the papaya in the tropical fruit salad (which I loved).
Can't wait for the next one!
[This message has been edited by schuh (edited 06-03-2001).]