A little info about our Gourmet Group:  We are 4 couples who enjoy cooking, entertaining, and most of all, each other’s company. 

We take turns hosting in our homes.  The hosts decide on the menu (theme) from appetizers to dessert for the evening.  The hosts cook most of the meal, but give at least one course (along with all the recipes) to the other couples to prepare.  We love trying new recipes and ideas.  So most of the time the recipes are ones we haven’t cooked before, but they don’t have to be.

Our evening was “All Play & No Work” with this FUN dinner theme!!

Another couple hosted our Gourmet Group recently. Our hostess happened to go to Target a couple of weeks before our Gourmet Date.  At the time, Target had their typical late-summer big display of back to school supplies on sale, and it was that display that inspired our hostess to come up with a Back to School Dinner Theme for our Gourmet Group.

Here’s a look back at our evening.

APPLES

Bringing an apple for each of my favorite teachers (our hosts) was a must…

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THE TABLESCAPE

Who doesn’t love a new box of crayons?!!

~ New pencils, crayons, cool lunch boxes, felt letters & numbers ~

Each “student” at the table had a printed name plate, and a fun snack bag of Goldfish…

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A CLOSER LOOK AT TABLE DETAILS

I love her idea to use the lunch boxes as vases, and the simplicity of only putting two flowers in each of them…

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When was the last time you saw flash cards??

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Decorated chandy…

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She covered part of the table with a long sheet of white paper so we could draw on it with our new crayons…

THE MENU

Even though, it was a Back to School Theme, it was not peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for us.  Their menu went far beyond your ordinary school lunchroom offerings…

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APPETIZERS & COCKTAILS

She carried the Back to School Theme in the kitchen as well…

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Corn Fritters with Spicy Zucchini Salsa

We were in charge of cooking these…

A couple of pics from the preparation

Chopped tomatoes, zucchini, onion, and other ingredients mixed, and then roasted in the oven…

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Cooking the corn fritter mixture – the recipe called for cooking spray and not oil (Yeah!)

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Corn fritters & salsa ready to eat…

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Bruschetta

Made with red and green grape tomatoes and fresh basil

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Summer Salsa with a Shot

Who doesn’t love chips and fresh salsa – even better with a shot of tequila added to it?

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SALAD

Spinach salad with cranberries and wheat berries

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MAIN ENTREÉ

Creamy Coleslaw

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Pork Chops with Maple-Cranberry Glaze

Parmesan Potatoes

This was a recipe from Epicurious – I’m not usually a huge fan of pork chops, but these were really delicious!

Toppings for the Parmesan Potatoes

They had 2 toppings available for the Parmesan Potatoes:  Sour Cream and Sour Cream with Chives & Lemon Juice

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DESSERT

Brownie Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream

Decadent dessert recipe from Ina Garten

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Special Note:  Our hosts will be donating most of the new school supplies they had purchased for our dinner to a local school and/or church.

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Photo Source: andertoons.com
via Google Images