Sunday Dinner

Our Sunday night tradition is to go over to my parents for dinner every Sunday...well, when we are both in town (which is sometimes a rare occurrence!). My Mom is an AMAZING cook and my Dad an amazing griller...and great cleaner-upper. ;) It is fun going over for dinner there on Sundays as Mom is always trying new, delicious, flavorful and healthy recipes. She always makes complicated recipes, yet gets them done in a timely fashion and manages to have everything together perfectly. Every Sunday we come over we are excited to see what will be on the menu for the evening.

This past Sunday was different. Daniel and I had my parents over to our new home, instead. Now that our kitchen is in working order, it was our turn to have them over. We ate our first meal at our new dining room table...used our fancy wedding gifts that we hadn't used yet (finally!!!), and made our first "complicated" meal. (Our meals before this have been horribly easy to throw together) We are all kicking ourselves because we forgot to take pictures of the big event. The four of us had a great time, and Daniel and I kept saying how grown-up we feel to own a large, formal dining room table. Yozers! (haha)

On the menu for Sunday night was:
-Sweet and Sour Tilapia
-Zucchini bread (recipe in post before this)
-Brown Rice
-Fresh green beans (you know the ones you snap the ends off...yum)
-Summer salad
-Tri-Berry Trifle for dessert

Since it's been 100 degrees plus, I wanted to do something light and cool for dinner. I found the tilapia recipe from Cooking Light and it turned out good, but not great. I will not share the recipe because I did not love it, so it's not worth the post. :) I didn't do anything fancy with the green beans, but my Mom usually boils them in fat-free chicken broth...this adds some good flavor. I would have done this but didn't have the broth on hand, so I just used water. For the summer salad, I mixed up fresh spinach, blueberries, chopped cashews, and a little bit of Gorgonzola cheese, then tossed this with a fat-free raspberry vinaigrette...yum-o.

Lately, I have been on an eating local kick...mainly for fresh, local, farm-grown fruit. I have been eating my weight plus in blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc. this summer. I usually eat a lot of fruit, but man---this summer I basically have fruit with every meal, plus for snacks. I can't get enough. I don't want summer and all this fresh produce to end!!!! So, for dessert, I made a Tri-Berry Trifle. I think this was my most favorite part of the meal. I got this recipe from a web-site called: "You've Got Supper"...great cooking web-site for those of your interested. Here is the recipe:


Servings: 8 Prep Time: 20 min.
Berry deliciousness!!

INGREDIENTS:
• 2 cup(s) whipping cream (I used 2 containers of light cool whip and it worked great!)
• 1/4 cup(s) sugar (I used a little less than this b/c it's not really needed)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 lime(s)
• 1 cup(s) blackberries
• 2 cup(s) blueberries
• 2 cup(s) raspberries
• 1 angel food cake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Beat together heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Fold in lime zest from one lime.

2. Set aside 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/4 cup blackberries and 1/4 cup raspberries in separate bowl. Combine the remaining berries in a flat dish and gently crush with a large spoon to release the juices. Add juice from one lime and stir.

3. Cut angel food cake into 1/2 inch cubes. Place half in bottom of glass trifle dish. Top with half of crushed berry mixture and then 1/2 of whipped cream. Repeat layers with remaining angel food cake, crushed berries and whipping cream. Top with reserved bowl of berries.

*This is SO delicious and so easy. I was curious to how this would taste, but it is sooo good and the lime really makes the dessert. I have to thank my mother-in-law for her inspiration with trifles. I looove trifle desserts and think of her everytime I make or eat them. :) She makes a mean coffee trifle and berry trifle!

Love,