Drink: Strawberry infused moscato
(Reminiscent of our cheap strawberry wine shenanigans in our college days!)
Very easy to prepare - Just slice up your fruit or fruit peels and pop in the bottle - let it infuse overnight in room temp, and pop in the fridge to chill a few hours before serving. You get an added light fruity flavor to your favorite wine!
Next time I think I want to try some muddled raspberries, blackberries, or as Ashleigh recommended, mango! Janney was too busy enjoying the wine itself to make any suggestions, haha.
Appetizers:
Whole grain crostini with roasted garlic and olive oil
Roasted Garlic (made the night before)
Whole grain baguette
Olive oil
To make roasted garlic: Slice the tops off whole garlic cloves, peel off the outer layers of skin leaving one layer or two behind. Place in some tin foil, drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt, pop in the open for 45-60 min. I found that 50-60 they come our caramelized and mushy, if you like your roasted garlic a little firmer for slicing, keep watch around 30-45 min mark for your preferred texture. For my crostini, I wanted it mushy so that I can spread it on like butter.
Slice baguettes at an angle for an oval cut and use pastry/basting brush to apply light coat of olive oil. Set on cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set your oven to broil and place your cookie sheet on the top rack. This is going to be very quick to lightly toast the crostini (I don't like it too hard) so make sure you WATCH your oven until the edges are browned, then remove from oven.
Take your roasted garlic and squeeze out onto a plate, or bowl, and take a butter knife and spread that garlicky goodness onto your warm toasted bread. I roughly chopped up some parsley and sprinkled over for garnish.
Caprese salad bites:
Mozzarella Pearls (usually in the deli cheese section)
Fresh Basil
Cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)
Sweet balsamic reduction sauce
Olive oil
Pretty simple, just assemble each ingredient on a toothpick, drizzle some olive oil and balsamic reduction sauce.
Watermelon and mint salad with sweet balsamic vinegar sauce
Watermelon (I bought pre-cut at Publix)
Fresh Mint
Sweet balsamic reduction sauce
Cut the watermelon into bite sized cubes, and sandwich a leaf of mint between two cubes. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. I love this, its so clean and refreshing!
Sweet balsamic reduction sauce:
(I made the sauce the night before)
Balsamic Vinegar
Sugar
Water
In small saucepan, pour in 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water. Whisk around to dissolve sugar a bit. Heat on high until it comes to a boil, then set heat to med. Stirring occasionally. The sauce will reduce to a thicker consistency within 15-20 minutes. Around the 10 min mark, I reduce the head to a low simmer and watch for the next 5 minutes on how thick I want the sauce. I dip a spoon in the pan and if it coats thickly and doesn't run off too fast, its ready.
Entree:
Roasted Shrimp Scampi with whole grain angel hair pasta and Parmesan Frico.
Dessert:
No Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake
I got this recipe courtesy of Pinterest/Apartment Therapy. You can find the super easy recipe here.
The food was great, we all got to catch up and reminisce with stories with the prefix of "Remember when..."
Just reminds me of how lucky I am to have met these girls and that I was able to spend four awesome years of my life with them 24/7 (the good and the bad!). The team runs, puking on the sidelines from deathly sprints, late nights up to no good, memorable achievements on the field, and most of all that bond that is more than just a friend, these girls are my sisters for life.
So glad I put this together! This may become a tradition every time my friends pop into town.
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