Michelle & Nora's Greek night

Greek yogurt (from Walmart) with fruit, nuts, and honey

Greek Salad. https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/greek-feta-salad/

using this feta from Smiths

Pastitsio- I tripled the cheese in the bechamel

https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/pastitsio/

Portokalopita orange cake

https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/extra-syrupy-greek-yogurt-cake-oranges-portokalopita/

Galaktoboureko custard cake

https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/galaktoboureko/

Greek Salsa with Pita chips

Tzatziki.  I doubled the cucumber but really squeezed the water out.  Also upped the garlic and olive oil.

Oven Steak Fries.  Instead of rosemary and garlic, I added feta on top after cooking and squeezed lemon juice on top.

Sheet Pan greek chicken and vegetables

Michelle T and Brittany's couples night

 

Hibiscus Lemonade

https://www.theendlessmeal.com/hibiscus-lemonade/#What_does_hibiscus_lemonade_taste_like

This Easy Lemonade Is The Perfect Way to Cool Off

I used hibiscus herbal tea packets from Harmons.  I made a hibiscus syrup and a simple syrup and mix with fresh lemon juice to taste.

French onion tart

Classic Bruschetta  Brittany changed this up a little by adding 3 types of Basil (Italian, spicy globe, and the normal variety)

Pickled Peach, mozzarella, and prosciutto skewers

with Balsamic Glaze

Smoked Kabobs

https://meateatingmilitaryman.com/smoked-kabobs/

I used a sirloin cut for the steak.  Make sure to marinate the mushrooms too!

Liz’s Bistro Salad

Liz's Bistro Salad

This salad was crazy simple and yummy!  I chopped everything up before hand and added the dressing right before serving.  The onions are super easy to pickle, but they are available in store too!

LEMONY CHICKPEA FETA SALAD

Lemony Chickpea Feta Salad {Gluten Free + Vegan Option}

It works well to combine the beans, dressing and onion before to let them marinate.  Add the parley and feta right before serving.  If you are planning on leftovers, I would spoon the feta on individual plates.  The feta gets kind of mushy after sitting in the marinade for a bit.

Sourdough Focaccia

Sourdough Focaccia

The directions on this recipe are annoying.  I've weighed the flour, measured the flour, and I still end of with a VERY loose dough.  I usually end up adding at least a cup of flour, so don't worry if you need to add more.  The dough is still too loose to kneed so I just do it with the mixier.  

I've made it serval times and here is my order: 

1- wake up my starter either the night before or day before

2-make the dough, no need to wait to add the salt (do 1/2 the salt amount as recipe indicates) just have your mixer kneed it.

3-let rise 5-6 hours or overnight

4-put in pan with olive oil, let rise, top with flake salt found at world market or Harmons and Italian seasoning

5- bake (it only took 20 minutes in my convection oven)

6. top with olive oil. It's always yummier when I am generous with the olive oil.

Lemon Blackberry Cake

I doubled the amount of blackberries.  It uses an crazy amount of lemon zest, so make some lemonade too!  One large lemon equals about a one tablespoon of zest.  I just made the cake again and added less powdered sugar to the icing and omitted the milk.  I liked that it was less sweet.  I just used lavender from the neighbors.  Culinary lavender is harvested before it blooms.  Mine were already blooming, but I think it worked just as well.

Michelle T. and her Grandma host dinner

 Brine your chicken!  This is a fancy brine, but there are simpler ones out there.  It makes such a difference when baking or smoking chicken.  I smoked the bone in and skin on chicken breasts at 225 for 1 hour and 350 for one hour.  The temperature and times work well for a whole chicken also.  I seasoned the chicken with a mixture of butter, olive oil, garlic and chopped herbs (rosemary, thyme, and parsley).

https://www.recipetineats.com/chicken-brine-recipe/comment-page-6/#comments

Spring Green Risotto

Spring Green Risotto Get Spring Green Risotto Recipe from Food Network

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Prosciutto

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Prosciutto Get Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Prosciutto Recipe from Food Network

Perfect Pie Crust

4 cups flour

1 T sugar

2 t salt

1 3/4 butter flavored shortening

Mix together the flour, sugar, and salt, then cut in the shortening until crumbly.

Mix together the following in a small bowl.

1 T vinegar

1 large egg

1/2 cup water

Add liquid to dry ingredients with fork until moistened.  Divide into 3 large balls. Roll out between 2 sheets of plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for easier handling.

Pecan Pie- Dear Abby

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup brown sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups pecan halves

Beat eggs, add the rest of ingredients.  Pour into pie shell.  Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

For this recipe Michelle substituted butter for margarine 

For the Orange Bread, just cook orange rinds for 15-20min (not until reduced by half)

Michelle T and Nora's Couples night

 Michelle's recipes:

Walnut & Cinnamon Biscotti - Once Upon a Chef

Almond - anise biscotti: https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/almond-anise-biscotti.html

Cranberry orange biscotti: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/231047/cranberry-orange-biscotti/

(I needed 3 oranges for 1 tablespoon of orange zest and added 8-10oz of cranberries vs the 6oz on the recipe)

Coconut Curry:  https://jessicainthekitchen.com/coconut-chickpea-curry-recipe/

Roasted Butternut Squash, Romaine and Goat Cheese Salad

Champagne Vinaigrette

Couples Soup Night (Michelle Thurber, Lindsay Stevens)

Michelle Thurber's recipes 

Apple Walnut Salad

Apple and Walnut Salad Is the Simplest Salad to Make

Corn Chowder with Chilies

I added one potato thinly sliced.  I used frozen corn and liked the sweet variety best.

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a9492/corn-chowder-with-chilies/

White Chicken Lasagna Soup

This soup is very heavy as written.  I omitted the corn starch and exchanged the whipping cream for half and half.  I also added 2 tablespoons of Better Than Bullion instead of the bullion cube in the recipe.

ONE POT White Chicken Lasagna Soup (with Video!)

After Chicago I couldn't stop thinking about the pistachio churro and what made it better than the other pistachio desserts we had there.  Wilson has discontinued their pistachio extract and other brands didn't have very good reviews and wouldn't get to my home in time test.  I tried Flavor Delights Pistachio flavoring and I think it did a pretty good job. Here are the Amazon links for the pistachio flavoring and pistachio butter.  Next time you find yourself at an Italian market or Italy itself, look for pistachio cream.  It looks amazing!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H47HPMH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DYTQP9S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pistachio Drop Cookies

I replaced the almond extract with 2 tsp Flavor Delights Pistachio in the cookie and added 1 Tablespoon to the icing.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pistachio-cookies/

Chocolate Pistachio Cream Thumbprint Cookies

I exchanged the pistachio extract with 2tsp of Flavor Delights Pistachio flavoring in the cookie and 1-2 T in the pistachio cream.

Chocolate Pistachio Cream Thumbprints | Love and Olive Oil

Stilton-Stuffed Baked Pears

Stilton-Stuffed Baked Pears Recipe

Lindsay's recipes

Thai Shrimp soup

Pumpkin Doughnut Bundt Cake

I used the option for individual bundt cakes and bout the little bundt pans on Amazon.

For the pesto grilled cheese appetizer, I just used store bought sourdough (or you could use any loaf you like), and spread pesto on one slice of bread, then added white cheddar cheese.  Cook them like you would a regular grilled cheese sandwich!