WIAW #3: Dinner Guests Galore!

I wanted to let y'all know that I'm guest-posting for Jessica at Prayers and Apples today!  You can find the post here.  I'm extra excited about this because it is my first guest post on another blog, so check it out and be sure to let me know what you think :)

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Now, on to What I Ate Wednesday!  Thanks to Jenn for hosting the link-up!  Check out her site if you'd like to learn what WIAW is all about.

This week, we've had a lot of dinner guests!  I wanted to share what we've been eating when we've had people over.  For me, hosting dinner guests requires a recipe that makes a lot of food, is easy to make, and yields a delicioius and nutritious meal.

On Sunday, I made stuffed peppers for the first time!  I followed this recipe that Julie @ Running in a Skirt posted for Julie @ PBFinger's Crock Pot Challenge.  She highly recommended it, and it looked easy enough for me to give it a try.

This is certainly not a set-it-and-forget-it recipe with minimal prep.  It's perfect for a weekend when you have about 30-40 minutes for prep and 4 hours to cook in the slow cooker.

Prepping the filling

Hollowed-out Peppers

I followed Jessica's recipe exactly, except for leaving out the mushrooms (I just don't like them!).  I think I left the peppers in the slow cooker too long because one completely fell apart when I was trying to take it out with tongs!  My suggestion: either reduce the amount of water to 1-1.5 cups in the slow cooker OR cook for less than 4 hours.

I served the stuffed peppers with Al Fresco Chicken Sausage (Sweet Italian) which made for a very tasty meal.

On Monday, I made spaghetti squash!  This was the first time Joe tried it, so I served it with some Ragu (7-herb tomato), chopped onions, green peppers, and cherry tomatos.  I also cut up some more of the sausage from Sunday and put it on top.  It went over very well with our guest (she loves vegetables!), and Joe (not as in to the healthy stuff) even said that I could make it again!

After putting too much olive oil on the squash before roasting it last time, I put just 1/2 tsp of EVOO on each half.  It added flavor without making the squash too slimy!

Last night, I tried another new Crock Pot recipe from Peanut Butter Fingers: Garam Masala Chicken and Chickpeas.  I love Indian food and thought this would be a good one to try (and very easy to serve multiple people!).  This is a great set-it-and-forget-it recipe with minimal prep work that can be done the night before.

Image Source...y'all KNOW my food pictures aren't that good!

I was nervous when I walked in the house after school.  It smelled like something rotten and/or cabbage in the house, and I was afraid this recipe would be a bust.  Luckily, it tasted much better than it smelled.  I did add in the cilantro and Greek yogurt as Julie suggested in the recipe, and those two were great additions to the dish.

Three straight nights of dinner guests is quite exhausting, so tonight's dinner will consist of leftovers!  We have plenty of them, and I need an easy cooking night after all the preparation and cooking that went in to the last three nights.

Question for you:  Do you have a go-to dish for dinner guests?
I usually make some sort of baked chicken with vegetables, but I've gotten more adventurous lately and am trying lots of new recipes!