A busy weekend

My cousin got married and Jacob was in the wedding. We catered both the wedding and the rehearsal. We had a great time. The wedding was beautiful. My friend Melanie handled all of the flowers and I think we made a good team! Most of the food was stuff you've seen the recipe here for. Except:

Marinated Cheese Salad:
1 lb cubed cheddar cheese, 1lb cubed pepper jack cheese, 1 can black olives, 1 can of artichoke hearts, 1 jar of roasted red peppers, 1 jar of green olives, 1 jar of pickled mushrooms. Mix together. For the marinade: 1 bottle of balsamic vinegar, 1 bottle of red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 package ranch dressing seasoning, 1/2 cup of season 'tup. Allow to soak for at least 24 hours. If you're going to hold this salad for a while...and it will hold for a good while, wait for about 2 hours before serving to add cheese. It will start to dry out after a day or so.

Monday was Labor Day AND Jacob's birthday. We had a weekend of party food. Not that there's anything wrong with that!


Today, I felt a little down. I think sometimes that happens when I've been blown away and busy. When I've accomplished everything I needed to and have the chance to decompress, I find that the slow pace can be mistaken for being down. So tonight we needed something hearty, something different. I think mixed influences and took fusion to the limit. I'm thinking this was Greek sauce, Middle Eastern Meatballs and Semi-Indian vegetables. But, it seemed to work.

Sauce:
Blend together: 1 small container of cottage cheese, 1 cucumber, seeded, 1/2 cup of mint, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup of milk. It was simple and a great dipping sauce for the meatballs. I think it would work well as a summer salad dressing too.

Meatballs:
Mix together: 1 lb of ground lamb, 1lb ground beef, 1 cup mint leaves chopped, 1 shallot chopped, 1 teaspoon cilantro, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon season 'tup. Form into a patty and skewer with 2 bamboo skewers. A small skewer will hold about 3 of these patties. Grill for about 3 or 4 minutes per side. Ours weren't quite done so we microwaved for about 2 minutes.

Vegetables: slice mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper. salt and drizzle with olive oil. Microwave for about 7 minutes. Heat 1 can of coconut milk, 1 tablespoon mint, 1 teaspoon green curry, 1 teaspoon garam masala seasoning, 1 tablespoon splenda/sugar.

I think it was just what we needed.