I love having dinner parties, especially in the summer when we can eat on the deck and enjoy the fresh air! There are a few obstacles to having an outdoor dinner party and the biggest one is: BUGS!! They like to eat your guests and land on the food. In an effort to lessen that problem, we set out the food on the dining room table and loaded up on OFF. It seemed to work pretty well.
Our company from last night included three of my friends from school and their husbands. We began to mentally prepare for school over Sangria and fresh guacamole. 🙂
On to the menu: It was an easy meal to prepare with guests here because there are a lot of things I did ahead of time!
Warm Almond Crusted Goat Cheese and Berry Salad
Berry Salad:
- 1/2c. wheat berries
- 1/2 strawberries
- 1 nectarine grilled
- romaine lettuce
- sliced almonds
- TJ’s raspberry dressing
Warm Almond Crusted Goat Cheese:
- 8 pieces of goat cheese – 1/2in. thick slice
- 1 egg + 1 tbsp. water
- 1/2 c. flour
- crushed almonds and breadcrumbs
Roll the slice of goat cheese in flour and then the egg+water mixture. Then roll it in either almonds or breadcrumbs and place in a glass baking dish. Before serving, place in the oven at 350 for about 10 min, so the inside warms. Place the goat cheese on the salad and serve!
Warm Summer Vegetable Quinoa
( Recipe Soon)
Mojo Pork Tenderloin
Mojo Pork Tenderloin
- 3 c. orange juice
- 1 c. lime juice
- 1/2 c. fresh cilantro
- salt and pepper
- 3 T. fresh chopped garlic
- 1 T. chopped oregano
Rub the pork with garlic and salt and pepper. Marinate the pork for at least a few hours. I marinated it for almost 24 hours because I wanted it to be very tender. I made sure Brady continued to add marinade to the pork while it was on the grill. When it was done, we sliced oranges and limes and squeezed the juice on the pork. It turned out very tender and flavorful!
Fruit Salad
Fruit Salad
- watermelon
- pineapple
- strawberries
- honeydew
Served in a watermelon!
We also had corn on the cob – (boring picture) and dessert!
Light Lemon Fruit Pizza
(Recipe Soon) 🙂
the fruit pizza is gorgeous! and I love the idea of serving the fruit salad in the watermelon! so cute!
Anything less than fabulous?! I think NOT!
Girlfriend’s got some SERIOUS game, I see! So lovely!! Seriously, every ounce of this meal is so classy and wonderful, not to mention absolutely PERFECT for a summer dinner party! The warm Goat Cheese salad looks so beautiful too! I can’t remember if I’ve left a comment before, but if not, shame on me! I adore your blog and you truly have a gift, Missy! Would it be okay if I added you to my blogroll??? 🙂 I hope so! Just let me know!
Have a Wonderful Saturday and I cannot wait for the Recipes!!
Amazing dinner last night – I was lucky enough to get to try everything on the menu and it was fantastic – the pork was fabulous, and although I was scared of the quinoa at first – it was perfect and tasty! 🙂 The dessert was refreshing and light, and I didn’t even think twice about hte calories or about not finishing it b/c I knew it was good for me! 🙂 Thanks Ali for the wonderful night of slimming food ! 🙂