Second sunday

Once again our family potluck fell on a Girl Scout Sunday.  My mom did not want to wait until January so she took the lead with organizing.  She suggested an Italian theme so of course I said ziti and alfredo, clarifying that alfredo sauce in the jar was unacceptable which essentially meant that I volunteered myself to make it.  A menu of baked ziti, grilled chicken alfredo, mussels, salad and bread was established and my mom started making phone calls.  On Sunday morning we wondered if that would be enough food, thinking we should've asked Liz to make spaghetti instead of bringing mussels.  I said, what about meatballs or ravioli?  I truly did not have time to make meatballs and ravioli gets tricky because my kids only like the 4-cheese (it balances out the ricotta) so I said I'd pick up the ravioli and figure out a sauce.

After Girl Scouts I went to 3 markets and then came home and got started on the ziti.  I had to wait for my mom to arrive with the alfredo ingredients (my sister's donation) - I think I went too far with the cholesterol (still working under the influence of Julia Childs) - it was loaded with butter, heavy cream, and so much cheese...I ended up sauteeing the chicken (my mom had sliced and marinated it in Italian dressing) and we ate it over linguini.  For the ravioli I decided to make a cream sauce that turned out delicious but I'm not sure I could duplicate - butter, garlic, onions, sun dried tomatoes, half and half, cheese, spinach - I wanted to do a splash of white wine, but that hadn't arrived yet so I used vegetable broth instead.

They arrived with so many mussels that I had to make two batches (at least 10 quarts).  Everything was delicious, including the stuffed mushrooms that flew off the plate.  On Thursday or Friday my mom mentioned that she might want to make stuffed mushrooms a la Red Lobster and asked for my input...I had no idea but I made up something and didn't tell her that I had never made stuffed mushrooms until Sunday.  Claw crabmeat, mayonnaise, worcestershire sauce, orange peppers, breadcrumbs, seasoning - stuffed into baby bellas and topped with cheese.

Unbeknown to us, my aunt had made spaghetti and one of the Neicy's brought a Stouffer's vegetable lasagna, so we had a ton of food which translated into a ton of fun. It was maybe 15 adults and 10 kids. We ate, talked, danced, drank sparkling grape juice, and had a blast....we also planned the next potluck.