Good morning friends!
We had another crazy weekend with a lot of cooking, this time getting ready for our FIRE group to meet at our house. FIRE is our home-based catechism, so we meet as families instead of dropping our kids off to church for faith formation each week. (Which was called “CCD” when I was a kid.) We only host twice a year, so it's totally doable, and much better for the kids we all agree, especially to hear the Moms and Dads all talking with them about faith things. Thankfully our two youngest kids love to help me in the kitchen and they did a TON and helped me for hours!
We decided on “Olive Garden” night, so here's what we made:
- Tortellini soup — with plenty of meat and tomatoes and broth and other goodies to ladle up with or without the tortellinis for those who are GF.
- Chicken and rice soup — basic chicken soup with a yummy homemade broth, rice, carrots, celery, herbs, etc.
- Low-carb broccoli soup — grain-free and so creamy! Only I made it with spinach and Parmesan this time.
- For salad: a big bowl of organic greens with sides for people to choose: tomatoes, black olives, red onions, organic croutons, freshly shredded Parmesan cheese, the homemade Olive Garden dressing I told you about last week (so yummy!), and some homemade ranch for the kids who didn't want the other. See more salad bar options here!
- I made this feta herb veggie dip for an appetizer and served with celery sticks, organic corn chips, and some pretzel chips I found.
- For another appetizer I made some garlic, buttery, herbed shrimp (the kind with no preservatives), but unfortunately they turned out tough. Obviously I over-cooked, but I wanted to get it hot and get the flavors all through. I bomb at shrimp a lot lately.
- Then we made a basic vanilla cake for dessert but with fancy frosting using this new frosting decorating pump tool thingy that I LOVE, which I'll post about soon.
It was all delicious and I was very thankful for my kitchen helpers!
Jill says
Oh my word, your Olive Garden themed menu looks AMAZING! What a great way to feed a crowd too! I’m so going to copy your idea and use those recipes!
Karas says
Hi Kelly, I’m wondering if you know more about that duck fat you linked to. My first instinct was to ask how the ducks were raised and fed. We should be concerned with how our other animal products are raised and fed so I assume the same is true with duck. Problem is I don’t know how ducks should be fed. Are they the same as chickens. Do you know how ducks should be fed and if this particular duck fat is produced from healthy ducks?
Jill says
Hi, Karas! I help Kelly out with the blog and actually found that product for her. I looked at their website, but coudn’t find any information on that for that particular product.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Karas,
I’m still trying to find out more about this and not having much luck. If anyone finds something please let us know!
Kelly
Tina says
Hi Kelly….can you post that shamrock shake graphic to FB so we can share that?
Thanks!
KitchenKop says
Tina, it’s on my FB page, just scroll down there and you’ll see it. 🙂