Dinner with the Parents

So, my Mom called me this afternoon wanting to know if we wanted to come over for dinner. Of course, I said Yes! I don't think we have turned down dinner with them ever.

Grilling was the choice of cooking the salmon steaks, Citrus Shrimp and Londron Broil. Dad was the "Grillmaster" for dinner to night and it all turned out wonderful!

We kept the side dishes pretty simple. First was the Lemon-Basil Bow Ties that we have enjoyed on several occasions and some Pesto Pasta. The Lemon Basil Pasta, has been modified to be just whatever pasta shape we choose as well as more basil and lemon. The Pesto Pasta is just rotini noodles and store bought pesto. Both are very quick and very simple. The original recipe we used was from Food Network but I can't find their link for it, but the one above is what we have based our version off of. Unfortunately, because the amounts of lemon, garlic, basil and parmesan can vary each time it is made, it is short of impossible for me to get a "correct" recipe on here.

Mom said that she was going to pick up some strawberries on the way home and was going to get those little dessert cups for them to go in. Well, I told her not to get the dessert cups, that I would bring something to eat with the strawberries instead. I used the recipe for Basic Angel Food Cake on page 692 of The New All Purpose Joy of Cooking but instead of making a cake, I made cupcakes! I also added some lemon zest to the recipe. They were extremely good. The strawberries were just sliced and sprinkled with sugar and topped with some whipped cream. I think that making these cupcakes has turned me off of those dessert cups from now on!

Thanks Mom for the invite to dinner!!!