Thank you dinner

This week, with apologies, I have no grocery bag to offer.   This is partly because we have been feasting on leftovers for most of the week!  This past weekend we hosted all of T's junior residents and significant others for "Thank you Dinner" for all their hard work during his last rotation at the VA hospital.  We had a great night with lots of fun people and wonderful food.  Here was our menu; since the leftovers have already graced our table in various ways this week, this is as close as I can come to a grocery bag :)

Thank You Dinner from T & B

(T made the menu--didn't he do a great job?)

Starters

Cheese Fondu

Sweet Tea with Lemon

Main Course

Caramelized Pork Loin with braeburn apples, sweet onions, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar

Old South Grits with Canadian bacon, red bell pepper and sweet onion

Whole Kernel Creamed Corn served Southern-style

Sweet Potatoes with brown sugar and vanilla

Sister Shubert's Yeast Rolls served warm

Dessert

Brownie Trifle with dark cherry chocolate, whipped cream and peppermint

Coffee

If any of the above sounds appetizing, you can find the recipes below.  I will admit that I tweaked several of the recipes just a bit to fit our tastes, but not in any substantial way.   All of the recipes below are either old favorites or new attempts that turned out great.  All worthy of repeats!

Caramelized Pork Loin with Apples from Health Magazine

(an outstanding pork recipe, easy enough for a beginner like me!)

Grits and Greens from Cooking Light Magazine

(wonderful savory grits recipe. Prepare right before serving to prevent grits from firming up)

Creamed Corn from Southern Living Magazine

(T's favorite creamed corn, tastes just like grandmother Johnson used to make)

Soul Sweet Potatoes from The Pioneer Woman

(My favorite way to make sweet potatoes, T could eat a whole batch himself.  

I confess that I only use 1/2 of the sugar called for in the recipe--

but sweet taters are so sweet that we never notice and no one ever complains.)

Brownie Trifle from Southern Living Magazine

(Outstanding trifle and easy to make!  We replaced the coffee and toffee candy with chopped peppermints and dark cherry chocolate.  It was delicious and pretty for relatively little work.)

Blessings on your kitchen this week!