Trying it On My Own

Meg and Nick wanted to come out to Ocala this weekend to hang out with us.  We were excited to have them visit, and told them that we usually go to Hiatus Brewing Company on Friday nights with Uncle Phil.  They were happy to go with us especially since Nick had never been.  Meg said that they didn't have a lot of excess money in their budget, however, with their trip last weekend to the Midwest.  When I heard that, I offered to make something.  She really liked that idea and I started thinking about easy recipes that I could make to go along with our plans.

Meg first suggested bruschetta as she had a recipe that would only take ten minutes and that I could make ahead of time.  She sent it to me, and it looked easy enough.  With that in mind, I decided that I would make another appetizer and quickly looked up the refried bean dip recipe that we had made many times over the past few years.  I was excited about those two dishes but knew that we would need more food than just those two.  Thus, I thought back to everything that I had made in the past and settled on cheesy potatoes.  I would leave out the sausage this time as I knew that would work with the crowd I was feeding.

Everyone had a great time trying a few beers at Hiatus before returning to our home for dinner.  The potatoes cooked in the crockpot while we were gone, and I put the bread for bruschetta and bean dip in the oven as soon as we got back.  Everything was delicious, and I was very happy with how well everything turned out.  I am not noted as the cook in our family but was proud of my first attempt at making everything on my own.