{outdoor moroccan dinner party recap}

I am so excited to share all the details of how our outdoor moroccan dinner party came together with the help of Pier 1 today!  You've already seen the initial inspiration board here as well as the shopping/party prep here.   After spotting all the moroccan inspired lantern options at Pier 1, I knew that filling the table with a few different styles would be the perfect centerpiece rather than flowers.  Since this was going to be an outdoor party, the candles would add an extra romantic touch after the sun went down.  Instead of a traditional tablecloth, I picked up 2 and half yards of this bright pink fabric to really give the table a vibrant pop of color.  To top everything off I accented the awesome trellis pattern melamine plate set with touches of gold with the glassware and flatware.

Chris helped me develop the perfect Moroccan inspired menu based on some of our favorite dishes on our trip to Morocco.  The biggest factor when planning this menu was making sure the dishes were simple to make with most of the prep being done the day before the party so that we could enjoy alongside our guests.  To take even more work off our plate, we picked up a selection of desserts from our local middle eastern grocery store and served them alongside classic moroccan mint tea to end the meal.  Links to all the menu items are the bottom of this post!

 {charger plate  |  melamine dish set  |  crochet edge napkins}

 {large lanterns  |  orange lanterns  |  small colorful lanterns}

 {floor lanterns}

 {mini appetizer trio set + recipes from this post}

 {prepping veggies for the grill}

 {melamine serving bowl}

 {our guests happened to be the two other couples that had joined us on our trip to Morocco!}

 {lanterns at night}

{ending the evening with classic moroccan mint tea in these glasses}

MENU:

Mini Appetizer Trio

Simple mediterranean salad

Preserved Lemon Chicken

Fresh Grilled Veggies

Pita + Hummus

Garlic Dipping Sauce

Find what speaks to you.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Pier 1 via Mode Media. The opinions expressed 

herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Pier 1.

{roasted cauliflower & chickpea tacos}

Growing up in Southern California instills a love for good Mexican food practically from birth (its hilariously discussed in this UK article) and I am no exception.  My favorite is a good plate of small street tacos and I love to give them a gourmet makeover at home like these ones we made for our Oscar viewing party.  In an effort to eat a bit lighter after our two weeks of traveling, we decided to whip up this recipe for roasted cauliflower and chickpea tacos with lime crema from Two Peas & Their Pod.  We made one slight change to the recipe by pickling the jalapeños and onions in a little vinegar to give them a bit more tart crunch.  The spicy cauliflower and chickpeas made a great substitute for our normal main ingredient of meat or soy-rizo.  It's hard to believe that with all the flavor (especially from the delicious lime crema) that this could even be a lighter dish! 

{a thanksgiving holiday tablescape}

Chris and I decided not to travel home for Thanksgiving this year (flights are insane and we have been traveling like crazy this past year), but instead of spending the holiday alone in Chicago both of our families decided to travel to us!  Both our parents and siblings rented an old victorian house together in Lincoln Park and the best part of the place was the super old school dining room (complete with cheesy teal tufted chairs!) where we got to serve Thanksgiving dinner.

I really wanted to make the dinner special for our families since they traveled so far to be with us and BBJ Linen helped me bring my vision to life by giving us access to their amazing catalogue of designer rental linens and chargers.  I would have loved to go super modern and use this striped linen or use some punchy colored chargers, but I decided to keep it classic with a luxe navy blue damask topped with their gold braided glass chargers and some simple texture of with these marquis napkins.  I finished the look of the table using my own white dinnerware and gold flatware (is anyone tired of seeing this flatware yet?!?! because I'm certainly not. ok good).   For the centerpieces I made one large arrangement surrounded by five smaller arrangements then mixed in gold taper candles and gold votives.

 {check. out. those. chairs.  pretty sure they have been there since 1886 when this rental home was built}

 {the federal damask linen looks even better in person than it does in photos if you can believe it!}

 {we pre-ordered some flowers including decorative cabbage, garden roses, mums, thistle, hypernicum berry and eucalyptus from Whole Foods then arranged them as a family the night before}

 {gold vase from Target}

 {in addition to the linens BBJ gave us, we rented some luxe Murano glassware from Hall's.  Renting linens or glassware for special occasions really takes the entire event up a notch and its surprisingly resonable- it only cost $55 for us to rent 13 place settings of this Murano glassware which included red wine, water and a champagne flute!}

{I know that Crackers like this are traditionally used for Christmas, but I just love the lighthearted-ness they add to the beginning of dinner and they come with a prize (like mini playing cards, a yo-yo or pocket mirror), a joke AND a paper crown- who's going to turn that down!?}}

 {garden roses are some of my all-time favorite flowers I just can't resist them when they are available}

{we were having so much fun at dinner that I forgot to take any photos of us all together at the table- but my sister in law did capture this one of a portion of the guests near the end of the night- wearing the paper crowns from our crackers of course!}

{thanksgiving menu}

We will be hosting 13 of our family and friends here in Chicago for Thanksgiving dinner next week which gave me a mild panic attack when it came to starting to devise a delicious menu!  This past weekend, armed with the latest issues of our favorite food magazines and pinterest, we worked out our entire menu and the subsequent shopping list of over a 100 items!  So to save you a little time with your menu planning or selecting the dish to bring for your Thanksgiving pot luck, I gathered our entire menu and links to the recipes (with some modifications) right here:

Charcuterie & Cheese Tray: after enjoying a morning with this decadent french toast and a dozen mimosas we will put a big spread of charcuterie and cheese for guests to graze on during the cooking.

Batch Cocktails:  I'll whip up a batch each of The Bee's Pajamas & The Brown Derby for our guests to sip on along with the appetizers.

Kale Caesar Salad:  This is a classic salad in our house.

Shaved Brussels Sprouts: This will serve almost as another "salad" option and we will be adding a few cups of brown rice and pancetta to this recipe.

Simple Green Beans: because not everything can be drowning in cream or butter.

Braised Short Ribs on a bed of sweet potatoes:  I love turkey, but I love red meat more and so does most of my family so we will be braising a big batch of short ribs and serving them over sweet potatoes.

Classic Stuffing: most of our guests are coming from out of town, but the one couple coming locally will be bringing their favorite stuffing recipe.

Pioneer Woman Mashed Potatoes:  We have made this recipe a few times in the past and the best part of it besides the fact that its super tasty is that you can make them the day before!

Gulliver's Corn:  This dish is definitely more cream and cheese than corn which seems perectly appropriate for Thanksgiving- plus it's a recipe we have made for the past 20 years of Thanksgivings in my family.

Alton Browns Turkey: because Chris is obsessed with anything Alton Brown does.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Sour Cream Marshmallow topping:  this sounds like the fancier more decadent version of pumpkin pie. I'm in!

{party inspiration: a grilled cheese soiree}

You might have seen on Instagram that last Sunday night we hosted a little grilled cheese soiree at our place and it might just be my new favorite party theme.  We purchased a bunch of bread and butter then asked guests to B.Y.O.C. - bring their own cheese and desired toppings.  Of course there ended up being a little friendly competition among guests to make the best grilled cheese combination- some of the front runners included jalapeño pesto pear with gruyere, baked beans with cheddar, and a surprising combo of american singles with hot dogs!  This is such an easy inexpensive last minute party idea that requires minimal set up and it gets guests involved!

{pumpkin ravioli with crispy sage & brussel sprouts}

I have owned up to it in the past, but Chris definitely handles waaaay more of the cooking around here than I do (but I do think I am valuable support staff!).  When I'm left on my own for dinner, I generally opt for some sort of ready made meal like Trader Joe's salads or sandwiches- which is fine, but let's be honest it just not that exciting.

I decided to try out elevating a some pre-made Trader Joes pumpkin ravioli and brussel sprouts with a few simple cooking steps (something even I could handle).  In addition to the pack of pumpkin ravioli and brussel sprouts, I picked up a pack of fresh sage and saved some of the pepitas from these arrangements.  Rather than boring ravioli and steamed veggies, I created pan-fried pumpkin ravioli topped with crispy sage and roasted pepitas alongside pan-fried brussel sprouts (full explanation at the bottom of the post).

This dish serves two, but could easily be doubled or tripled to use for a dinner party which means you have no excuse to not host a few friends over this holiday season!

what you need:

• 1 pack pumpkin ravioli
• 1 pack par-boiled and seasoned brussel sprouts
• fresh sage leaves
• roasted pepitas
• butter
• vegetable oil

1. Pull off about two to three sage leaves per person and quickly fry in oil following these directions. Set aside on paper towel to drain excess oil. 
2. Boil water in medium saucepan and cook ravioli for about 6 minutes. Strain and set aside. 
3. While ravioli water is boiling, place a healthy tablespoon of butter into a pan on medium-high heat. Toss in brussel sprouts until they get slightly browned on each side- about 8 minutes. Set aside. 
4. In a separate pan, place another tablespoon of butter of medium-high heat. Gently toss in pasta until slightly crispy on edges- about 2 minutes. 
5. Place pasta and brussel sprouts alongside each other on plate.  Garnish with crispy sage and roasted pepitas.
6. Never eat a boring salad for dinner again.  

{easy dinner party menu}

You're busy, I'm busy....everyone is busy right now, but that doesn't mean you can't still have friends over for dinner and cook them an amazing meal in a short amount of prep time! We whipped up this simple menu last night for a group of 4 in almost no time at all by using fresh available ingredients and straightforward unfussy recipes.  A platter of charcuterie accompanied by fresh bread and a quick ricotta spread to start the meal followed by an easy watermelon feta salad and a marinated flank steak on a bed of arugula with sliced heirloom tomatoes.  Rather than make a dessert from scratch, I opted to pick up a selection of mochi ice cream flavors from our local Trader Joe's and skewer them for easy serving.  Scroll down to the bottom of the post for links to all the recipes and a download for the menu printable!

Honey Lemon Thyme Ricotta Spread served with fresh bread & selection of charcuterie

Watermelon Feta Salad

Pan Seared Rib Eye Steak served on bed of fresh arugula with Lemon Vinaigrette and heirloom tomatoes

Mochi Ice Cream in Mango, Strawberry & Chocolate

MENU PRINTABLE

{gourmet taco night: duck tacos}

For our Oscars Viewing Party back in the winter, we served three different types of "fancy" tacos -one of which was a duck taco inspired by the menu at one of our favorite taco places near our Chicago place.  Turns out pretty much the only way to buy duck is in frozen breast fillets and we just so happened to have a few leftover in our freezer (and yes, it was still good!) so we decided to make our weeknight taco dinner a little extra gourmet this past week.  These tacos have rich flavor from the duck, but are nicely balanced with the crunchy spicy "slaw" and creamy avocado.  Invite some friends over and whip up some tequila cocktails then lay these duck tacos out on the table and watch people's level of impressed go significantly up.  Recipe at the bottom of the post!

what you need: 

• two frozen duck fillets - you can find these easily at Whole Foods
• one red bell pepper
• one cup of coleslaw (we used the broccoli slaw from Trader Joes)
• 1 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• pinch of kosher salt
• 6 corn tortillas
• 1/2 an avocado
• fresh cilantro for garnish

1. Combine the coleslaw with a table spoon of sour cream, a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and a pinch of salt in a bowl and stir to combine.  Set aside.
2. Finely chop the cilantro and red bell pepper. Set aside.
3. Score the skin side of the duck breast in a cross-hatched pattern and heat a non-stick pan over medium heat.
4. Sear the duck, skin side down for two minutes or until golden brown and fat has begun to render.
5. Flip and cook for another two minutes.
6. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes.
7. While the duck is resting, heat the tortillas over an open flame or in a dry pan.
8. Cut duck into small pieces and assemble the taco: tortilla, avocado, coleslaw, red pepper, and cilantro.
9. Garnish with a lime wedge and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. 

{grilled summer dinner menu}

Is there anything better than getting outside and cooking a seasonally fresh meal almost entirely on the grill?!?  This past weekend while still in Huntington Beach after celebrating the 4th, we decided to make this entire Sunday Supper meal from Serious Eats (one of my go-to websites for recipes!).  The only change we made was to serve the meat on a bed of lightly dressed fresh arugula and we added in a side of simple grilled bread. 

This dinner menu is full of color and flavor while needing little to no preparation which is really the main goal of summer cooking right?  My favorite part of the menu was a toss up between the nectarines which would make for a wonderful summer appetizer on their own and the basil butter on the corn which was also amazing smeared on the grilled bread.