Stella & Dot Jewelry Party

I hosted a Stella & Dot jewelry trunk show for 12 of my girlfriends. It was a true girls night out and we had so much fun! Our stylist, Wendie Christensen DeLano couldn’t have been more knowledgeable and helpful. Her sister, Beckie Christensen Thompson came along to help as well.

I served two different cocktails: Sangria and “Stellatini’s”.
Here’s my recipe for the Sangria:
3 Liters of Barefoot Pinot Grigio (that’s two 1.5 liter bottles)
2 cups of Triple Sec – orange-flavored liqueur
1 sliced orange
1 sliced lemon
several sliced strawberries
Combine, chill and serve.

Here’s the recipe for the “Stellatini’s
Strawberry lemonade
Sprite
Vodka
For each 1/2 gallon of lemonade, add 2 cups of Sprite and 2 cups of Vodka. You can add pink sugar around the rim of the glass by adding a couple of drops of red food coloring to white sugar. (I skipped that part.) The cocktails were a big hit!

Everyone really liked the dip I made. It couldn’t be easier to assemble. Just layer, on a tray or large serving dish, hummus, crumbled feta and kalamata olives. Sprinkle with oregano. Serve with fresh bread, pita or pita chips.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, you can still shop from the website for the next week and your purchase will count towards my trunk show. Go to www.stelladot.com/wendiedelano and click on “find your hostess”- then enter Katherine Hammond.

Cheers! Happy Shopping!

A Happy Father’s Day – 2011

We had a wonderful Father’s Day. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time. My last few posts have been about family occasions. I guess that is because, for me, family and good food always go together. I like little glimpses into people’s happy lives and I hope you enjoy mine too.

The menu was grilled pork loin and several summer salads, including my “infamous” potato salad and fruit salad. I also tried a brand new recipe for a salad with arugula and fennel.

In my last post I told you about the nice package I received from the T. Marzetti Company. I decided to try their Arugula Pomegranate Salad recipe with their Simply Dressed Pomegranate Salad Dressing for our Father’s Day BBQ. I substituted dried cranberries for the pomegranate seeds. I skipped the goat cheese part and just served it as a tossed salad, family style. It turned out great and everyone loved it.

The grilled pork loin was in a garlic rosemary marinade for about 4 hours. I substituted Thai fish sauce for the oyster sauce and dried chili powder for the chipotle chile sauce. It was delicious.

My grandson, Benjamin, loved the pork and managed to chew it with all of his five teeth while repeating “Yiayia”. Quite a feat for a 16 month old! It was a great day. Hope yours was too. To all the Dad’s and Granddad’s out there, Happy Father’s Day!

 

Simply Dressed

In a recent blog post I mentioned a new cole slaw dressing that I really enjoyed, “Simply Dressed” by Marzetti. So I posted a link to that post on their Facebook page. The next day I received an email from Jennifer Noncek on behalf of T. Marzetti Company, “Would you be interested in receiving samples of other Simply Dressed flavors and recipes with additional ways to use the dressing?” To which I replied, “OF COURSE I WOULD!”

A few days later here’s what landed on my doorstep…

…two bottles of dressing, a recipe book and a wooden salad bowl. What a wonderfully generous box of goodies! There are definitely going to be some great salads in the future for my family and me.

I haven’t decided which one yet, but I plan to make a salad from this recipe book for my Father’s Day BBQ. That’ll be a future blog post for sure.

I’m sending a big thank you to Jennifer and the T. Marzetti Company and I recommend you try any one of these dressings. They have 10 different varieties and are available in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. They’re made with all natural, simple ingredients. An added bonus is the dressings have no preservatives, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, MSG or artificial flavors.  Try them and let me know what you think!