Here's to Neighbors!

Warning!  It's 3am and I have no idea why I'm awake but I figured since I can't sleep I'd get up and chat with myself in my blog.  That ought to put me back to sleep in no time :)

My friend Dee was pretty grumpy about not having her morning reading material since I did not blog yesterday.  Too funny!  Apparently it's become a necessary part of the day.  Like toilet paper perhaps :)  She wanted to know... what's for lunch?  I guess I mentioned on facebook that I had invited my neighbor over for lunch. So... I'm gonna tell ya!  But before I do I'd like to know why my cat thinks he can just walk up and sit right down on my arms while I'm trying to type???   Seriously!  How rude!

Recently my neighbor Sharon found me on facebook.  Or... maybe I found her... but we live next door to each other and never see each other.  Ridiculous right?  Well... when I say next door I really mean next farm over.  If I were to pop over for a cup of sugar I'd most likely get in the car.  Anyway... we both work from home and decided we should get together for lunch so I invited her over to my house.  (I think I'm ready to go back to bed :)  Unfortunately I've made coffee so I can't waste it which means you could be in for a long post.  Poor you!  Remember... it's ok to stop reading!)  On Wednesday when I remembered I had invited her I immediately thought about what I needed to go to the store and get.  Then I decided I could probably rummage through my pantry, freezer and fridge and just make something.  I always have too much food in the house for two people anyway.  Somehow I decided on chicken salad and after coming up with my newly canned peaches and unearthing some dried figs in the rummage fest I zeroed in on peach/fig chicken salad.  I had chopped up some of those figs and simmered them on the stove along with some peaches to make a sauce to bake the chicken in.  That was very tasty and I put that pic on facebook and was devastated when one of my favorite cousins whom I will not name (Robin Knight) said it looked "nasty" and said I should have just fried the chicken :)  But I was in too deep to turn back so I pursued the idea.  Here's that nasty chicken getting ready to go in the oven



and here's what it turned into

I had some fancy lettuce from the farmers market that I lined a small glass ice bucket with and put the chicken salad in that.  I served it over salad greens. I opened a can of the fresh peaches I put up a few weeks ago.  Oh and I had previously bought some cinnamon raisin bread from the farmers market and cut a few slices and put some peanut butter and huckleberry jam into tiny little jars and set them out for "dessert".  We never actually got around to eating that but the jars were adorable.  I bet Aubrey (little granddaughter) would love the little jars of P B and J.  

I decided I might need something hot since everything else was cold so I made some green beans.  I added bacon, sun dried tomatoes, red onions and sprinkled them with feta cheese and backed them in foil.

I made basil-lavender iced tea:

 

and I gathered a few herbs from my herb pots for a little bouquet for Sharon to take home

It's sage, lavender, rosemary, lemon thyme and blooming oregano.  Making this bouquet made me think of my sweet mommy who is THE most awesome hostess.  As long as I live I will never be able to cook as good as she does or set a beautiful table like she does.  Anyone who knows her will agree!

I also made a caprese type salad (cukes, zucchini, fresh mozzarella, basil, pine nuts with EVOO and balsamic vinegar) that you will see in the next pic of how it all came together.

We had a nice visit which was a real treat for a work day lunch and it was great to get to know Sharon a little better.  So now you know what I made for lunch and now I can go back to bed!

Ciao!  :)