My girlfriends and I try to get together every other week to chat, hang out, and eat great food. But we have brought ladies night to a whole new level. Each month we are getting together at someone’s house and cooking dinner together. Not only are we cooking together, but we are applying themes to each dinner party.
We started our tradition at my house last Friday. We chose an Italian theme to begin since I was sent a Macaroni Grill Frozen Entrée to review. The sample was provided by Macaroni Grill through My Blog Spark, and I thought this would be a great chance to try it out!
I wanted this night to be special and made sure to add special touches to everything. I set the table with a carafe of Perrier with lemon, a carafe of still water with rosemary, and a carafe of olive oil for bread dipping. This olive oil carafe was sent to me by Xcell along with the awesome seasonings I used in the olive oil. I thought it was adorable and perfect for this Italian themed get together.
We started the night out with fresh Italian bread and olive oil dippers. I had one dish with Garlic Gold and Dean Jacobs garlic & sea salt seasoning, one dish with Dean Jacobs rosemary and garlic seasoning, and one dish with balsamic vinegar.
Everyone was supposed to bring their ingredients and cook at my house, but since it was going to be pretty late by the time everyone got here we decided to make this time more like a pot luck. So each of my friends brought something to share. We had mini salad caprese bites, flatbread pizzas, veggies and dip, pita chips with spinach and artichoke dip, The Macaroni Grill Basil Parmesan Chicken, and Tiramisu for dessert! It was quite a spread.
We all had a little bit of everything, and enjoyed some good wine my friend brought back from Italy.
I wish I took this picture before I put the dressing on the caprese bites. It ruined my pic. You live and you learn! :-/
A special thanks to Macaroni Grill and My Blog Spark for sending me the Macaroni Grill Frozen Entrée to review. It is super easy to make and takes no time at all. I’m all about the quick and easy. I mean look at the 2 step directions!
However, I’m wasn’t that impressed with the nutrition facts.
The entree is pretty high in fat, calories, and sodium. On the plus side it is also high in protein. The ingredient list is not as bad as I thought it could be so I’m ok with that. The pasta itself was ok. It didn’t taste home made or like the restaurant version, but what do you expect from a frozen meal? It tasted like your typical frozen Italian meal. The flavors were all blended together, and it mainly just tastes like pasta with cheese and broccoli. It wasn’t horrible, but I wouldn’t go back to the store and buy one myself.
All the other food we made was delicious though. I loved the bite sized mini caprese bites my friend Kelly made. And I have to say my pizza’s were pretty good too. I did mess up half the dough so I substituted pita bread for the dough on 2 of them. All in all it was a fun Italian night!
Do you have themed dinner parties? What was your favorite theme?
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Those tomato bites look amazing! I must make them! It looks like you guys had a great time.
I thought my friend did a great job on the tomato bites. Aren’t they adorable! And delicious and healthy too! You must try them.
I love this! It reminds me of the Thursday night “book club” get-togethers with my girlfriends that rarely involve book discussions but ALWAYS involve food and wine.
Sarah-
That’s so funny you say that because my friends and I are starting a book club too! But I think we will not be talking about the books much and just drinking wine! Thanks for the comment.
Everything looks amazing!!
Thanks so much. It was a blast
That looks like one amazing night, and mmmm tiramisu!!!
It was SOOO good!