š©āš³ Easy Recipes that Gather People š„° Making Life Simple and Tasty š Ringing in the NEW Southern Belle
āØ My Favorite 'Looks Impressive' Dinners
|
Hi, Sweet Friend! There's a little phrase I come back to often: Ease creates elegance. For the longest time, I thought beautiful dinners had to be complicated. More ingredients. More dishes. More time in the kitchen. But the older I get, the more I realize that some of the loveliest meals I've ever served came from one pan, a simple salad, and good conversation around the table. This week, we're leaning into recipes that look special enough for company but are easy enough for a Tuesday night. Because the goal isn't to impress anyone. The goal is to create enough margin that you actually get to enjoy dinner, too. š½ļø This Week at the TableThis dinner looks super impressive, but it's essentially grilled chicken and salad with bread! āSteakhouse Chicken with Caprese Caesar Salad is one of my all-time favorite recipes I've ever developed. Why do I love this so much? ā
Chicken needs to marinate overnight. Once you have all of your components made/ready to go, this becomes an assembly production! If you're using this menu for a dinner party, you can grill the chicken once all your people are there. (I even asked a friend to grill it up!) Then, you plop the lettuce and tomato salad on a big platter, add the chicken and butter, and some crispy bread. ā Y'all, these chicken skewers are the almost dairy-free Marry Me Chicken you're craving in this hot month of August. Served with a simple lettuce salad, dinner is complete! And lunch?? Wrap that up into lavash bread, and it's amazing. Dip of the Week: Boursin Marinara. I served this (again!) at a dinner party I hosted last week! It's so good, y'all! May your table remind you that ordinary days are worth celebrating. May simple meals become favorite memories. May your kitchen feel peaceful instead of rushed. And may you discover that the most beautiful dinners are often the ones that leave room for laughter. With love, Ashley |
Hi! I'm Ashley!
š©āš³ Easy Recipes that Gather People š„° Making Life Simple and Tasty š Ringing in the NEW Southern Belle
Happy Thursday, Sweet Friend! There's something about Thursday afternoons that always makes me start looking toward the weekend. By now, the workweek has settled in. The groceries are mostly bought. The laundry is (hopefully) folded. And my mind has dreamed up the answer to one of my favorite questions: "Who could I gather around the table this weekend?" Sometimes it's Sunday supper with my parents. Sometimes it's a girlfriend coming over for happy hour. Sometimes it's a full dinner party...
Happy, August, Sweet Friends! The first week of August always feels funny to me. Summer isn't over, but you can almost feel everyone rushing toward fall. Pumpkin recipes start showing up, school supplies appear overnight, and suddenly we're all expected to pretend it isn't still ninety degrees outside. I'm not ready. I want one more month of iced tea in the afternoon, tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes, and dinners that don't require turning the oven on. This week's recipe ideas are...
Hi, Sweet Friend! At the beginning of this month, I told you I wanted us to create more margin. Not more hustle. Not more pressure. More breathing room. As I've been writing these Wednesday notes, I've realized something. We're not just talking about recipes. Or organizing. Or dinner parties. We're talking about building a life that's easier to say "yes" to. Yes to inviting the neighbors over. Yes to a cup of tea on the porch. Yes to using the good dishes on a Tuesday. Yes to slowing down...