Thursday, June 13, 2019

Today is my dear husband’s birthday!  We’ve now been together for 22 birthdays of his;  we actually didn’t meet until he was 30 and I was 25.  He likes to tease me that he expects a surprise because I’ve surprised him so many times.  One of my best surprises for him was a Reds baseball game with tons of his friends.  He thought it was just going to be the two of us.  He prefers a low key celebration or no celebration at all.  Many years he just wants me to cook a favorite of his.  He is low maintenance and easy to please.  This year our boys are recovering from wisdom teeth surgery so it will definitely be low key.  He does want to see Men in Black so if the boys feel up to it we may all go.  I will let you know what we ended up doing in my Hello Monday report!  

So, today I’m going to talk about what I did Tuesday evening with my two best friends since freshman year of college.  They both live here but I rarely get to see them because this is a busy stage of life for all of us.  

One of the two has a crazy work schedule in this season of life; she works from home but her schedule right now is 11 am-5 pm and 8 pm-11pm.  I offered to bring happy hour/dinner to her house and have our other friend come, too during her 5-8 break.  It was so much fun!  

Let’s go backwards and start with dessert:

I made the Trader Joe’s truffle brownie mix and if you have never had them they are decadent!  And, I made sopapilla cheesecake bars (I halved the recipe because I also had the brownies)  The bars are to die for.  If you love cheesecake, you will love these:

2 tubes of crescent rolls

1 and 1/2 cups of sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 blocks of cream cheese (I use the lighter neufchatel)

1 stick butter

1/4 cup cinnamon

Lay out one roll of crescent rolls in a 13 x 9 pressing the perforations closed

Use a hand held mixer to mix together the cream cheese (soften slightly in microwave or leave out on counter) and only 1 cup of the sugar.  Add the vanilla.  Now spread this on top of the crescent rolls.  Add the second tube of crescent rolls on top, seal perforations, and try to kind of close the edges of the two layers so the filling won’t come out.  Now pour the melted stick of butter on top (you could probably reduce the butter because it’s a lot).  Mix together the 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle on top of the butter.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.  

 

Then, I made Lisa’s (from Coast to Coast blog) avocado, cucumber, feta, lemon juice mixture.  This is to die for.  My friends loved it!  

We got to sit on my friend’s lovely portico/porch and we started with chips and salsa.  

And, for the main dish I made my Mexican Lasagna.  You basically use flour tortillas cut in strips instead of pasta noodles and the mixture in between is chicken, salsa, sour cream, corn, black beans and shredded cheese.  I have talked about this on the blog as a great dinner to bring to new moms.  Put some sour cream on the side or over the top.  

Our cocktail was a low calorie Paloma.  Tequila, grapefuit juice, Fresca and a little bit of lemonade powder if you want.  I think this is a great alternative to a margarita.  

So, we had a lovely evening together.  Sometimes restaurants can be too noisy for good conversation.  Or, maybe I’m just getting old!  

Do you prefer someone’s home in the summer or a restaurant?  

What are your go to meals for entertaining?  

Thanks for reading!

Amy