Hospitality – Casual Friday Night Dinner
As I mentioned in my New Year’s Resolutions post, one of my resolutions was to have company for dinner once a month. I’m really working on getting better at hospitality and a few of you mentioned you would be interested in hearing about my experiences. (If you’re not interested, just skip this post and check back on Monday – I’ve got a great recipe to share!)
A few weeks ago (in January – I’m a little behind), we had a couple from our Sunday School class over for dinner. It was just a simple Friday evening meal with friends and games, so I wanted to keep the food laid back. Plus, I work until 5:00, so I knew there wouldn’t be much time to get an elaborate meal together.
Our meal consisted of:
with a side of Vegetables and Dip and Potato Chips
And it is my personal opinion that you can’t have guests over without serving dessert, so we had Chewy Brownies with ice cream! (By far the star of the meal).
My thoughts: This was just a simple, easy meal that turned out to be perfect for our get together. Because everything could be prepared in advance, I was able to focus on talking with our friends and having fun. The clean-up was simple, leaving us plenty of time for games, and everyone seemed to really enjoy the food. Sometimes it’s nice to take a step back, take the pressure off and enjoy simple, good food with friends.
Do you have a go-to menu when having friends over?
Welcome! I'm Megan and it's my hope that here you'll find food that has been made with love and recipes that are shared with joy. Thanks for stopping by! 
I love hosting dinner parties:-) Sounds like a fabulous meal and brownies with ice cream are a perfect ending!
This looks great! My favorite is a meal that uses the slow cooker so then I really don't have to work about any cooking/prep when guests are over!
I have a one pot pasta dish that comes together really quickly, but tastes so much more complicated than it really is. I've gotten so fast at making it that I can chat with dinner guests while putting it together. Using the slow cooker is great idea, though.
I like to spatchcock a chicken, brine it, roast it (all of which can be done a day ahead), then reheat it for 30 minutes or so before serving. If you have a timing oven you can put whole potatoes in in the morning and have it turn itself on at 5 pm or so. Frozen peas with butter are my salvation too.
i enjoy having baked chicken dishes or baked pasta…easy breezy! your menu looks fabulous too 🙂
I think lasagna is my go-to meal. It makes a lot and is delicious. A kitchen sink salad and crusty bread. For dessert I think a molten lava cake if its dinner at home but a blueberry cake if I am taking the meal to someone.
Your brownies look out of this world!
I love to have dinner guests! I'm glad you are getting that resolution going!
Megan,
This looks tasty! Tim would love this. I'll have to try it. Beth
I love having friends over for dinner. Your menu looks great:))))I will have to try those brownies!!
Wonderful meal for entertaining! I love that it's simple and delicious too.
We enjoy having our friends over mainly in the summer when we entertain frequently outdoors when we grill everything from burgers to steaks. Then the men can help too 🙂
Grea post Megan! I like those plates. I would like a close up picture of them. What company? The last 4 times we have had company we have made Emeril's Parmesan Chicken and Pasta and it has always been a success!
I have recently moved to LA and don’t have many friends …. My resolution for 2012 will be making friends and have some one over at least once a month too …. 😀 I would like to hear about more of your hosting and entertaining Megan 🙂 Best of luck
Thank you so much for your comment. I kind of backed off from the hospitality posts because I didn’t think anyone was interested, but maybe I will start them up again! 🙂