A Big Italian Dinner

Yesterday, The Blog Tech and his wife and my daughter came over for Sunday dinner.  I made Italian food.  Willie had one too many and passed out on the floor.

Winnie does not imbibe so she was very perky. Actually, they were both intoxicated by the smells.

I made a giant lasagna.

 The first cut is always the ugliest but I forgot to take pics of the other pieces.

My kids love Olive Garden.  Where did I go wrong?  So, I made them a copycat Olive Garden salad.  I've never eaten there but they said I nailed the recipe.

 I made braciole.

 It's beef that has been pounded thin, covered in prosciutto, breadcrumbs, cheese and fresh herbs, then rolled and browned and braised.  The sauce is delicious.  It's made with red wine, beef stock and 20 cloves of garlic.

It was quite the hit.  I hadn't made this in years.

I also made meatballs.  My kids love meatballs.

 This is a new recipe for me.  Ricotta and herb scones.

 I ran out of ricotta so I used cottage cheese and 5 different herbs from my garden.  They were a flavor explosion.  Most excellent.

I also made my olive, mushroom and cheese bread.

And then there was dessert.  I was being lazy and decided to just serve sundaes. I made a pan of toasted walnut shortbread.

 And chocolate fudge sauce.

 Caramel sauce.

Maple walnut sauce

And butterscotch sauce.  I made some whipped cream too and strawberry sauce.  I placed a slice of shortbread in each bowl and topped it with scoops of vanilla ice cream.  Then I let everyone add their own toppings.  I have no pics because it rapidly turned into a gluttonous feeding frenzy.  The Blog Tech topped his with some of everything.  And he ate two of them.  Then he walked around groaning that he ate too much...duh! They took all of the leftovers so they will have food for the week.  My daughter fed The Chef when he came home from work last night.  Sunday dinners are so much fun!