What Inspires You? Cooking For Friends

What inspires you? Cooking for Friends

I am planning a small dinner party tomorrow night with a few friends that I rarely get to see and a few new friends. I am planning to start with a ginger and lemon grass martini. (cut up ginger and lemon grass in a big pot and fill with water and cook for ½ hour, add honey and store in bottle for later use. Then add vodka for martini or rum for a variation.) Then for dinner we will start with a butternut squash coconut soup. I made a tester batch the other night and it was so delicious. I usually look at recipes for inspiration but always change it depending on the ingredients I have on hand. I steamed the butternut squash and carrots (not in the recipe), pureed it with an apple (not in recipe) that was the last one in the fruit bowl. Added broth to thin it out, then reheated it with coconut milk, a dash of Bragg’s amino, dash of chili sauce. Seasoned it to taste and served it. It was so good. So I plan to make it again for the dinner party, which I will also prepare lemon chicken. A friend is cooking a mushroom risotto. I will serve salad from my garden. For dessert, a simple vanilla ice cream topped with a raspberry couli I made last week (cook fresh or frozen raspberries with ½ cup of water and sugar) puree it, cool and serve over cheesecake or ice cream. I put mine in a squeeze bottle for easy use. I will top the ice cream with the raspberry couli, add a splash of raspberry liquor (my favorite is Chambord from France) and whip cream.