Our theme for this month was Farm Fresh. The idea behind this theme was to encourage everyone to use the bounty of fresh ingredients that are available in our area this time of year. We enjoyed a wonderful Mozzarella and Tomato Basil Salad, Sesame Green Beans, Vidalia Onion Bake, Ted’s Special Mini Loaves, Mojo Beef Kabobs and Strawberry Shortcake. We also had two delicious kinds of Sangria, Strawberry Daiquiris and frozen Margaritas. Everything was delicious, the company was wonderful and we had a great time. If you haven’t started a dinner club yet and you love friends and food, do not wait any longer! Get one started today… you will love it!

Before I leave you with a recipe, I have to give a little shout out to Anne of Cooking with Anne. A couple of months ago I won a copy of the The Healthy Beef Cookbook and $100 gift card from her blog. The premise of the giveaway was that once I received the cookbook and gift card, I was to try a recipe out of the cookbook and blog about it.  The Healthy Beef Cookbook is put out by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and is a cookbook that anyone who loves to cook with beef needs. This cookbook is going to be a staple at our house, especially over the summer grilling season.

The first recipe we tried were the Mojo Beef Kabobs and they were fantastic. Ignore the photograph… I’m sure that the Cattlemen are probably cringing at the site of the charred edges of beef on the kabob, but my husband started brushing  the sauce on the kabobs right before he took them off the grill and the edges of them caught on fire!! The kabobs were fabulous, nonetheless, and we will be making them time and time again. Thank you Anne and the Beef Assosiation! Readers, you can plan on seeing a lot more recipes from this cookbook on Dine & Dish in the very near future.

Mojo Beef Kabobs (from The Healthy Beef Cookbook)

1. 1 pound boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut 1 inch thick
2. 1 teaspoon coarse grind black pepper
3. 1 large lime, cut into 8 wedges
4. 1 small red onion, cut into 8 thin wedges
5. 1 container grape or cherry tomatoes (about 10 ounces)

Mojo Sauce:
1. 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2. 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3. 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano
4. 3 tablespoons olive oil
5. 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
6. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
7. 1 teaspoon minced garlic
8. 3/4 teaspoon salt

The post Dinner Club #4 Farm Fresh (Recipe Mojo Beef Kabobs) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Dinner Club came and went and I was so caught up in enjoying the company that I totally forgot to take pictures of the food. You will have to take it from me, everything we had was delicious!

I did manage to snap a photo of our table before everyone came. Much to the belief of some of you (DeAnn!), I am not Martha Stewart. I do not have a crafty, creative bone in my body. That is why, when I came up with the idea for the place cards for our Rustic Italian Dinner Club, I was especially proud of myself! My husband and I have a collection of wine corks that we have saved over the past ten years. I decided it would be neat to cut a small slit into the top of the wine cork, use a die cut to cut oval shapes out of card stock scrapbook paper (the paper had a black and white design on the other side) and write each guests name on the blank side of the paper. Then, it was as simple as inserting the card stock oval into the slit of the wine cork. Voila – you have a simple, inexpensive and creative place card for your dinner party!

Now, for those of you here for the food, here are some of the recipes from our Rustic Italian Dinner Club menu. Each couple is assigned to bring something. I was in charge of the main dish and the bread. If you haven’t started a Dinner Club yet, I hope that my posts encourage you to do so! With the right group of people, it can be a lot of fun!

Appetizer: Ali’s Amazing Bruschetta

Salad: Rustic Italian Summer Salad

Bread: Italian Cheese Bread

Side Dish: Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

Main Dish: Spinach Chicken Manicotti with Creamy White Sauce (I used Manicotti instead of Cannoli & added garlic. Recipe recommended to me by SB’s Bea from On My Plate)

Dessert: Italian Cream Cake

The post Dinner Club #2 Rustic Italian (Recipe: Chicken Spinach Manicotti) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

The Dine & Dish Dinner Club officially launched this past Saturday and we had such a wonderful time. I am so disappointed that it took us so long to get moving and get it off the ground because it really was a wonderful evening of food, friends and laughter. My husband and I made fajitas using this Beef and Chicken Fajita recipe from Cooking Light, which was a delicious hit! The couple who was going to bring dessert ended up getting sick that day, so I decided to tackle Fried Ice Cream. Delicious, fun, impressive and fit the evening perfectly!

Many people have asked how I got our dinner club started. Considering we just had our first one, I am no expert, but since it was such a success (lasting until 1am) I will share what we did to get our first Dinner Club off the ground.

• We decided to include five couples in our dinner club to start with. I invited two couples and asked each of them to invite one couple each. The couples we invited are people who we love to hang out with but don’t get to see as often as we would like to. The requirement was that they had to be willing to commit, were interested in food, and were fun.
• We have set our Dinner Club up to meet on an every other month basis, so six times a year.
• We will have the Dinner Club at our house each time we meet, but will rotate hostessing responsibilities. The “host couple” is responsible for finalizing a theme, the main dish, the adult beverages, the music play list and “the questions” (more about this later!)
• Everyone else is to sign up for an appetizer, side or dessert. (For inspiration, I told everyone to look at restaurant menus that fit our theme or to Google “Southwest Menu”.)
• Everyone brings a copy of their recipe to share with each couple. There is no going to the store to bring something not homemade. Even if you think you can’t cook, this is an opportunity to stretch yourself some and to make something from scratch.
• For those of you who have read about my dinner parties in the past, I always do “get to know you” type questions. They are slid into the place cards and after we are done eating, we go around the table and each person reveals their question. The first person gives their answer and then we go around the whole table and answer that specific question. Then we move onto the next persons question. Sometimes the questions are tame… sometimes a bit more controversial or racy. It makes for a very, very fun evening and is a signature part of my dinner parties!
• Choose a theme for each time you meet. Our next theme is “Rustic Italian”. Some other themes to consider – “Take me out to the ballgame”, “Cook from a famous chefs cookbook”, “Wine Country”, “Greek”, “Purple Foods”… the possibilities are endless!
• Keep it low stress. The idea of the Dinner Club is to have a fun, adult night out with good friends. It is not something that should be stressed about. Invite people who you know won’t take things too seriously.
• Just do it! If you are considering starting a Dinner Club, I suggest doing it right away. You will have a blast and it will make for a night that your friends look forward to each time you meet.

If you have a Dinner Club that meets regularly and have advice on getting one started or want to share what has made yours successful, leave your comment on this post. I’ll do a roundup of advice in a few weeks.

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Fried Ice Cream

Fried Ice Cream (from Recipezaar)

Prep Time 6 minutes minutes

Total Time 6 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Dine & Dish

Ingredients

• 1 pint ice cream
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups of sweetened corn flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• cooking oil for deep fat frying
• whipped cream optional

Instructions

• Place 4 scoops (about 1/2 cup each) of ice cream in a small pan.
• Freeze for 1 hour or till firm.
• In a small mixing bowl stir together egg and vanilla.
• In a pie plate carefully stir together cereal and cinnamon.
• Dip each frozen ice cream ball in the egg mixture, and then roll them in the cereal mixture.
• Return coated ice cream balls to freezer and freeze for 1 hour or till firm.
• Reserve the remaining cereal mixture.
• In a small mixing bowl stir together egg and vanilla.
• Remove coated ice cream balls from the freezer. Dip balls in egg mixture, and then roll them in the remaining cereal mixture and return to pan.
• Cover and freeze for several hours or till firm.
• In a deep fat fryer or a heavy saucepan, fry frozen coated ice cream balls one or 2 at a time, in deep hot oil (375°F) for 15 seconds or till golden brown.
• Drain on paper towels; return the fried ice cream balls to freezer while frying the remaining balls.
• Serve immediately with whipped cream (if desired).

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