Do you have friends that are vegetarians?

Do you have any friends that are vegetarians? We sure do. I found this kind of amazing but on Labor Day at our home we had about 30 people here and can you believe that we had 2 vegetarians here??? When you figure that as a percentage it is almost 10%. To me that seems like a whole lot. Does that mean that in the real world close to 10 in every 100 people are vegetarians? It certainly is starting to seem that way. Now...don't get me wrong. I could not be a vegetarian. I love meat and I also like nice leather purses, shoes etc. Anyway you get the point. But when we invite people to our home for a meal I think it is very important to be able to accommodate peoples religious and personal preferences so we always prepare a special something for them. On Labor Day Tony outdid himself. Everyone was hoping for a little taste of what they were eating!

Here's how you can duplicate this. This is not just for our vegetarian friends!

****Tony helped me out and wrote out this recipe. He is a true foodie and his recipes always sound complicated when he writes them. This one is not. Do yourself a favor and try it out. If you have any questions about it or anything that you need clarified please email me at info@nofearentertaining.com .

Boursin Cheese Stuffed Portabella Musrooms (serves 2 but can be doubled or tripled)

4 large portabella mushroom (with stems removed)
2 small blocks of flavored boursin cheese (found in your specialty cheese section)
olive oil
1 shallot (Green onion) minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup Port Wine
1/2 cup Red wine (whatever you have)
salt
pepper

Do ahead of time:
Red wine and Port reduction
over medium heat flash sear (heat quickly) shallots stirring constantly 1 minute
add garlic and saute additional minute it will toast or brown and that's a good thing
add Port wine watch for flame up (keep your head back) scrape down pan
add Red wine ( I use Cabernet but any decent red will work)
reduce to thickness that will cover the back of a spoon (syrupy)
salt and pepper to taste
You can hold his for days in the refrigerator. Congrats you just made a sauce to die for

Mushrooms
Brush all sides with olive oil
Put Boursin in a freezer bag and warm to room temp
season mushrooms with salt and pepper thoroughly
and grill over medium heat bottom side first for 3-4 minutes
flip mushrooms grill 2-3 minutes
cut the corner of Boursin bag and pipe Boursin onto mushroom caps evenly
put the Mushrooms up on the warming rack of the grill and close lid 4 minutes
Remove mushrooms and plate 2 to a plate
Warm your Port Reduction in the Microwave and drizzle over mushrooms.
Serve and wait for the pats on the back
Your vegetarian friends never eat this well at a gathering they will Thank You.

****Tony wrote this recipe and it is not nearly as complicated a it sounds. He is a real foodie and loves what he does (so does everyone else!!!). If you need any further info on this email me at info@nofearentertaining.com . It really is worth the work!!!!!

Happy Entertaining!!!!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

What would salad be without the toppings?

Is anyone doing anything fun this weekend...maybe having a party and stuck for ideas on what to serve? It is Labor Day you know. That means 3 whole days off! How about inviting some friends over and doing something simple like Hamburgers on the grill? Maybe a choice of Hamburgers or Hot dogs? My husband is convinced that you can serve people just about anything as long as you have lots of toppings! About a year ago we were making some Black Beans and Rice. Pretty simple meal but we ended up inviting some of our friends over and we had about 10 people for a real simple dinner but everyone agreed it was all in the toppings! For toppings we had crumbled Mexican cheese, jalapenos, onions, hot sauce, sour cream, tomatoes, and avocado. It sure makes the meal. What would salad be without the toppings? A bowl full of lettuce!

I guess in all of my rambling what I am trying to say is be a little creative with your toppings. If you are serving Hamburgers try putting out some sliced avocado, BBQ sauce, different types of cheeses (blue cheese burgers are big right now), different types of mustard, tomatoes, maybe bell peppers sliced. Just try something different. Your guests will just really appreciate being invited and all the special attention to toppings will truly make the meal!

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

P.S. My FREE monthly newsletter will be going out the first week of September. You don't want to miss it! Sign up now at http://www.nofearenertaining.com/

Are you running out of getting together time?

I was at my children's school this morning and I was fortunate enough to run into a very smart woman that I have known for several years and talk to whenever I can but we never really seem to have as much time as I had today. I wasn't very rushed and she didn't seem to be very rushed so we were able to chat for a few minutes. While we were chatting I told her what I had been doing (building a website etc.). I told her that my website was about entertaining and how I wished that more people would do it but it seemed that most people thought of it as too much work or they were too busy to do it. She brought up a very good point and that is that we are all say to our friends "let's get together soon" but very rarely do we ever follow through with it. Is it because we are afraid that it would take too much time, too much effort etc.? We have all done this...but what if we found out that our friends were leaving and moving out of state and that we have run out of getting together time! It happens to all of us that live in Florida. People move away ALOT! I would be very sad to think that I had run out of getting together time with one of my friends.

Cooking for your friends can be very simple. I love hamburgers cooked on the grill! What I am saying is that it doesn't have to be spectacular. It can just be a very simple afternoon by the pool with some burgers and a couple of drinks. As long as you are sharing this with friends you can't go wrong!

This weekend is Labor Day and there is no better time to call up your friends and invite them over for an afternoon or evening. Most of us have 3 days off so you can't make the excuse that there isn't enough time to do all the preparations! Keep it simple! Your friends will appreciate it I'm sure!

Happy Entertaining,

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Am I in A Panic? No Way!

If you have been following my Blog you will know that I am in the midst of planning a party during the Labor Day weekend. I now have a guest list of over 30 people. Am I freaked out? Am I suffering from "fear of entertaining"? No Way!!! I love this. I follow the "7 Golden Rules of No Fear Entertaining". By following these rules I am able to save myself a lot of time, energy and money! You can get these FREE by going to my website at http://www.nofearentertaining.com/ and signing up for my FREE monthly newsletter (which I am currently working on and it is going to be GREAT) and automatically you will receive the "7 Golden Rules of No Fear Entertaining" as an added bonus!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Deciding on a Menu

We have pretty much decided what we are going to serve for our Labor Day party. Now we have to figure out where to get the items from. I have found some really good online sources for some of our menu. I have put some of those links on my website at http://www.nofearentertaining.com/ on Our Favorite Links page. Check them out!

Maybe Labor Day?

I have been trying for days now to get my husband, Tony, to commit to having a party during the Labor Day weekend. It would be just perfect...3 days long. I have a Partylite party to go to on Friday but then the rest of the weekend is empty! I think why he is hesitating is that in just our regular invitees we are up to 22 people. Not really a big deal for us but then there are always others that we want to include at as well. I can see this being a 30 person party. My moto is the more the merrier. Lots of good food, plenty to drink and great friends to share it all with. This would be kind of the last hurrah for the summer. Our children started back at school yesterday so it wouldn't be a back to school thing but Labor Day always sort of signifies the "official" end of summer. Now, coming up with a menu will be no problem at all seeing as my website is www.nofearentertaining.com. which has a newsletter that is full of recipes, tips, and ideas. We have been having parties like these for about 15 years and each one is better than the last!
Maybe I can get him to commit to a date today...wish me luck!