Family dinner

Sunday dinners are ones where the whole family gets together. It's a great idea. Right now, the family is the 2 parents, 7 kids (spouses included) and 4 grand children. That's a lot for one kitchen to hold. Not to mention another grandchild is due any day now.

Well, 3 Sundays ago was my mother-in-law's birthday. When Jesse and I went to the kitchen we saw that she was making dinner for the whole family ON HER DAY!!!! I was appalled. I thought that the dad would have planned for something else, seeing as how he had Jesse, his younger brother and he do breakfast for Jesse's grandmother, mother and me. Since I knew everyone wouldn't be back down for another 2 weeks, I suggested to Jesse that we cook the next family dinner. He said fine. Then, I told his mom, we would take care of everything. She was happy to know that. She even kept asking if there was anything she could do. My reply was always no, because she already does so much for everyone.

Well, the time came to plan out the dinner. I knew it had to be diabetes friendly, because my father-in-law has type 2 and my sister-in-law has gestational. So, I went online with a plan sort of in my head. I knew there was a recipe for these yummy lasagna rolls. I saw Giada make them on the Food Network. I pulled that recipe. I knew we would have a green salad and vegetables, but that wasn't enough for me or for those who would only be able to eat one lasagna roll. Well, I kept thinking. Then, I thought what a great appetizer I saw Giada make, but I couldn't think of the name. I knew it had mozzerella and tomatoes, and that was all I knew. So, I kept searching for more ideas. Suddenly, I thought of stuffed chicken! That would be great for everyone. I also wanted a nice bread appetizer. One with grilled french bread topped with a creamy cheese, spinach and herb mixture. So, I had this great plan ahead of me. I found a nummy stuffing recipe for the chicken and an easy funnel cake recipe for dessert, also with the help of Food Network. With much searching I found that mozzerella 'salad' recipe, and it's name is mozzerella caprese.

The plan was set. We would have 1) mozzerella caprese, 2) toasted bread appetizers, 3) lasagna rolls, 4) stuffed chicken with a roasted garlic pesto, 5) green salad, 6) green beans, 7) corn, and 8) funnel cakes for dessert. What a great menu I thought. Then came the news. My father-in-law cannot only not have the refined sugars, but no pasta, no fried foods, and pretty much anything that has a lot carbs. So, limited breads, starches, etc. Then, I went searching for food deals. I got a great price on frozen spinach (thankfully before the ecoli scare), and that was about it. I was able to find a store that was having a special on chicken, only the frozen though. I can deal, but it wasn't big enough for everyone to have one whole one. Well, after all was said and done. I knocked out the bread appetizers, the funnel cakes, the corn and reduced the stuffed chicken to stuffed chicken rolls, which meant we spent $65 on food for the whole dinner. That's a WHOLE lotta money to us!

I started prep on the dinner Saturday night. I got the pesto and the filling for the lasagna rolls made. Jesse kept complaining that I was doing too much for one dinner, but I knew that if I didn't, we wouldn't have had dinner in time. Plus, I had fun. Then, came morning. Most of the chicken had thawed. I spent the morning pounding it out, filling it and rolling it up to be steamed just before dinner started. Needless to say, I got just as much help from Jesse prepping the food as I did the night before. By the time I got it all done, it was noon, which meant church was in an hour. Jesse didn't shower and Carter was still in pajamas. We got to our 1 o'clock ward late! Then we left early, because Carter didn't nap. As soon as we got home I changed and rushed back to the kitchen to finish the rest of dinner. This time Jesse was a great help! He helped with the bechemel sauce for the lasagna, and he made the green salad, cut the tomatoes for the caprese, and started the green beans. We were only a little behind schedule, but that was okay.

Dinner started soon after. Jesse's brother-in-law was so excited that he was like a child on Christmas day, and he's 33 yrs old. So, half way through dinner and after all of Jesse's complaining, I got many great compliments. The best one from the brother-in-law, which was this had to rank as his #5 top dinner he's had with the family in the past 8-9 years. That's a lot of dinners, which meant that was pretty good. I mean I can't really compete with Honey Baked Ham, but I was close enough.

Later on, I read Jesse's journal, which he lets me read. For that day he commented on it. He said how good it was, and how impressed he is with how talented I am (when I want to be). From the beginning, I thought he would be so unimpressed and stressed with it, because he knew how much work I put into it just so the family could have a nice dinner. Then I find out later that he really enjoyed himself. I was so confused and came to a conclusion: Aren't husbands funny!