My brother-in-law was in the area to visit his mother this week and of course we want to get together with him while he is near. His trip was a last minute event that we could not plan around, so our schedules are in the normal hectic to crazy level and his is still undecided and fluctuating momentarily. Now add food to the equasion, because every family gathering must include food. This is a law of physics, I have come to believe.
With our food allergies, the food part is harder to solve than the schedules. We used to meet halfway for dinner at a restaurant. As dining out is nearly impossible with our combination of food issues, we invited everyone to our house. Everyone includes my brother-in-law and his family as well as my Mother-in-law and her husband, plus our family. Since my parents are local and get along well with my in-laws, they were invited also. We also offered to bring a meal to my MIL's home for everyone if that would be easier.
There is a lot of back and forth discussion with no firm decisions made for several days. We only have one window of opportunity to spend with him while he is here and we can't get a firm answer if it will work for them or not. Finally the morning of our one day of opportunity arrives and I don't know what or how much food to prepare for dinner. A flurry of emails is exchanged and my husband announces: "Do it!" This is my cue to prepare a dinner party for tonight, they are apparently coming up.
I pull some lamb out of the freezer. Sarah and I had already held a discussion about possibilities. We had lamb a few days ago, as well as other red meats this week already. Last time we prepared a meal for MIL, we did a pork dish, so we need some variety in the offerings. We also have poultry on the menu quite a bit this week and we, nor Father-in-law, are big on seafood. This leaves us in a dilemma, but we had decided lamb it would be if we do the dinner. SO, back to my story, I pull a leg of lamb and two shoulder roasts out of the freezer. Is this enough meat? I sure hope so. Now, how to prepare it and what to serve with it? How many people do we have coming anyway?
My trusty crockpots to the rescue again. I made the leg of lamb with one recipe and the shoulder in a different crockpot with a Honey Dijon Roast. (Full disclosure: I did not have time to marinade the lamb overnight, so it marinated in the crockpot.) Might as well make everyone guinnea pigs, right? No better way to compare two recipes than side by side comparisons and this is the perfect opportunity.
Out the door we fly, for we have dentist appointments this morning. Followed by an appointment with the allergist. While waiting for the appointments, I am searching for good ideas of sides that will go well with lamb. This is made more daunting by not only the fact that I have never prepared a lamb roast before to know what will pair well with it, but also by the fact that my FIL is a diabetic and I need to incorporate his needs (as best as I understand them) into the plan.
A few errands to run, including grabbing any needed ingredients for the as yet undecided sides, and pick up one of the attendees for 4H sewing this afternoon at my house. Head home, unload groceries (and girls) and prepare for the sewing project meeting.
Once tables are set up and extension cords are readied, we make croutons and rolls for the dinner party. Our friends begin to arrive and our house is busting with needles and thread, as well as the young hands learning to use them, for two hours. We clean up, take home the attendee whom we had picked up, and begin the process of creating the still yet unknown side dishes.
The side dish winners were an apple cranberry wild rice, a fruit salad and a tossed salad. I don't know if it was good for FIL's diet, but I was out of time and had to have something to serve to my guests. I have to put some of the responsibility on him to determine what is safe for him to consume. I was still chopping and cutting as our dinner guests arrived and joned me in the kitchen. Some sitting and visiting, others rolled up their sleves and grabbed kitchen utensils. I love when we can be ourselves and family just loves us the way we are.
The rice was another new recipe and a huge success. Next year, I will have to put up more cranberries so I could use my own (which would be lower in sugar than the commercial ones we are currently using) as my family has suddenly realized the wonderfulness of this tiny little fruit.
Wow! It was a long and exhausting day, but we were able to pull off a wonderful dinner party for our family. Martha Stweart may not have been impressed, but we all had a great visit that resulted in full bellies and warm hearts. It is rewarding to create a satisfying meal that accomodated everyone's food issues. A year ago, I could not have done this party without a week's warning to research it all. Today, I did it in the minutes of opportunity between appointments and events. Plus, we ate healthy, real food. If our food allergies did not limit us, we would have taken short cuts, like dining out, that would have been less rewarding for our bodies or our souls.
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