And Now The Hosting Begins- 4/10/09

Starting tonight, we will be hosting my parents for 6 nights as well as feeding other visiting family and friends. It will be the first true test of the Gourmet cooking project. Can I successfully make Easter dinner, Passover Seder, and 4 other meals for at least 5 people without any really big disasters? Well, Night One went well. My parents aren't a tough crowd. They probably would have raved about anything but we ate at a reasonable time, everything tasted good, and Dad even did the dishes!
I made the Lemon-Oregano Chicken on page 58 of this month's Gourmet. I had thought Eyrleigh and I might go and meet my parents at Cloudland Canyon State Park earlier today so I wanted a quick main dish. This recipe used chicken thighs and I had only bought 4. Eight thighs would have been better for 4 people. The chicken was flavorful and made up for its small size. The oregano sauce coated the chicken well and made the skin crispy while leaving the meat juicy. I did have to put foil over the chicken for the last 10 minutes of baking to keep it from getting too brown.
Since we were a little light on chicken, having a good dessert was important and as I've mentioned before, there are plenty of them in this month's Gourmet. I made the Lemon-Glazed Butter Cake on page 87. Yes, the little confetti sprinkles are not sanctioned by Gourmet, but they do add a cute Easter touch to this classic butter cake. The cake was very simple to make and the glaze was just two ingredients, lemon juice and confectioner's sugar. The cake was very moist and had a fresh lemon flavor. Night One of Hospitality Week was a success!
Lemon-Oregano Chicken- B
Cost-$6.98
Calories per serving-
Lemon-Glazed Butter Cake-A-
Cost-$5.51
Calories per serving-480

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