Big Party On The Cheap

I love having people over to our house, though we don't do it nearly often enough. Last night we had family over and it always, always makes me feel good when people ask for seconds.

Here's what I made, and there isn't much left.

Macaroni and Cheese, Mahogany Drummies, Greens with Lemony dressing.

Mac and Cheese you can figure out yourselves. If I wanted to get fancy, I'd add a blue cheese, but I didn't want to get fancy. I just made a gigantic pan of it, and there's not much left.

The drummies are supposed to actually be wings, and it's supposed to go like this: 1 and a half cups soy sauce, 2/3 packed brown sugar, 2/3 cup white sugar, heat, pour over wings, bake at 325 for an hour and a half, turning every 30 minutes. BUT, I was low on soy sauce, so I used a bit of teriyaki sauce and orange juice in addition to the soy sauce, and I also added a bit of sesame oil. AND I used drumsticks. THey turned out fabulous.

At the last second I decided to make a salad, and I whipped up this dressing. All I had was good greens, and the ingredients for this dressing. But I promise it's the most fabulous salad ever and there wasn't a speck left. Get some good greens, some cheap asiago cheese ( a brick that you can shred yourself) make it cheap because that will assure these two crucial things: it's slightly wet, and it's really salty and grainy.

And here is the dressing that will have them begging for more, and is a fantastic brightener to dreary winter weather:

Lemony Sort of Caesar Dressing

juice of one lemon
about 3/4 teaspoon anchovy paste (I promise it won't taste fishy)
about 3/4 teaspoon prepared garlic (it will be garlicky, oh, yes it will)
slightly more olive oil than lemon juice
ground sea salt & ground pepper to taste

pour over greens and top with grated asiago. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with sea salt and ground pepper. Prepare to swoon.

For dessert, brownies with crushed peppermint (from the Ghiradelli's mix - thank you Costco).