A Meal from the Blog-o-Sphere

I realize more and more how schedule-oriented my life is. In a recent conversation with Manning, we discussed the differences between our universities. While his friends can more easily call one another up and hang out or go to dinner, at my school, it's hard to catch anyone spur-of-the-moment to hang out with. We require a weeks notice and can't commit without planner in hand. I also am a notorious list maker. I have at least 3 lists for different things on my desk at any given time. So, naturally, when it was time to come home for Easter, I made a list of all the things I wanted/needed to do. One of the top items on the list was to have a dinner party for Manning's family and my family. And after all the great recipes I found last week, I knew this meal was going to become a Blog-o-sphere meal, inspired by recipes from several different blogs.


First there was smitten kitchen's artichoke and olive crostini recipe. I thought this would be a perfect appetizer. And the weather was beautiful, so we were fortunate enough to have our appetizers on the porch. The flavor combination of artichoke, olive and caper was delightful! Just salty enough. This is a great, quick recipe for appetizers that would even be good for a pasta sauce or dip.


For our main course, Manning and I cooked our favorite new recipe that I want everyone to know about! It's the BEST broccoli you'll ever eat! I discovered the recipe at The Amateur Gourmet site. Manning and I made it one night and could not get enough. We gorged ourselves on the Roasted Broccoli and Shrimp. We fell in love! It's so simple, fast, and easy. And the combination of spices is impeccable! This dish is a real winner, and I forsee it on the menu very soon! Here's a shot of the broccoli before it went into the oven.


While the broccoli roasted for 10 mins, Manning zested lemons for the shrimp. We've both done that by knife before, and let's just say, we were glad to have the handy little zester gadget my mom owns at our disposal.

We plated the broccoli and shrimp attop brown rice and served it alongside a Caprese Salad put together by my mom.
For dessert, we wanted something special and light that would be a nice compliment for the strawberries we picked. I saw a panna cotta recipe on David Lebovitz site and knew that was the dessert I had been looking for. When I describe panna cotta, I always say that it's like Italian flan. But panna cotta has it's own unique identity. It is a dish made with only creme, no eggs. It is light and refreshing -- a perfect pairing with vanilla and strawberries. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it!

It was a great meal with great company and conversation (I think I just completed my reqs in 'About Me.') We even got to share it with our new friend Mark! I hope we get to do it again soon! I'll have to keep scouring the blog-o-sphere!


***NOTE: There have been several changes to the format of the blog. I'm playing around with different stylistic layouts and will continue to throughout the duration of this little experiment I call a blog. But I wanted to give credit where credit is due, so thank you Manning for the AWESOME header!!!