Last night I hosted a dinner for 25 adults and children. I think I nailed the “diet riot” pretty well. By dessert time, even the gluten frees and calorie counters succumbed to platters of yummy bar cookies! Everyone had their favorite dishes to eat, and a few people enjoyed sampling it all.
Everything but a couple of the desserts were made the day of the party, attesting to the fact that simple, fresh and flavorful is always better than overly complicated heavy fare.
Almost all of the recipes came from my Indigo Jones Unrecipe Cookbook, and are previously posted on the site where *.
We started with small nibbles:
*Parmesan Shortbread Crisps
*White Bean Dip with a choice of pita chips or baby carrots
Assorted Olives
*Spiced Nuts
For dinner, we served:
*Baby Arugula, Radicchio and Fennel Salad with Toasted Pecans and Cranberry Vinaigrette
*Herb Roasted Salmon
*Sticky Asian Chicken Wings
Marinated Pork Loin
*Brown rice, with Corn, Shallots and Fresh Mint
Roasted Green Beans
Assorted Rolls
Dessert was an assortment of bar cookies:
Chocolate Marble Cheesecake Brownies, Chocolate Chip Blondies, Pecan Toffee Bars, and Lemon Bars.
I had options for the gluten free, chicken averse, sauce avoiders, vegetable haters, and fish phobics. Weight watchers, cholesterol controllers, vegetarians, and the generally fussy were covered as well (I hope). Although some of the pickiest eaters found only 1 or 2 items to try, nobody went hungry; score!
The casual dinner went on until 2 a.m. so we can assume it was a success!
I hope all of your celebrations are happy ones. Enjoy!
Tags: Asian chicken wings, bar cookies, blondies, brown rice with shallots, buffet, celebrations, cheesecake brownies, corn, dessert, diet riot, dinner, Food, food issues, fresh mint, green beans, herb roasted salmon, lemon bars, marinated pork loin, olives, parmesan shortbread, spiced nuts, white bean dip
Indigo jones 
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