As long as I can remember, having people over for dinner always meant trying new recipes, or at least making something complicated that I already knew how to make.  I’m not sure why that is the case.  Even something “easy” like quiche, I would make it more complicated by putting in ingredients like sliced potatoes and asparagus that had to be cooked and sliced and diced before going into the quiche.  And as far as the new recipes were concerned, because I had never made them before, they never really came out as good as they looked in the cookbook and I was often left disappointed.

Recently, eight weeks after the birth of my second child in 20 months to be precise, my husband wanted to invite a few friends over for lunch.  I knew I wasn’t up for cooking a big meal.  The guests offered to bring some fruit and bread.  Now what?  I looked at the ingredients I had on hand and came up with a simple menu that I thought would be pretty good.  It ended up being summery and thoughtful, but still easy and casual–perfect.

First there was egg salad that I made the night before, served in a beautiful pottery bowl, garnished with a sprig of parsley from the plant growing on my balcony.  Then there were chips and salsa.  So far not sounding too elegant, right?  Add in a homemade guacamole that consisted simply of a mashed avocado mixed with a little lemon juice and ranch dressing.  I had some nice cheese, mini pita breads, arugula. My guests brought a baguette, tabouli (a perfect accompaniment), fresh local strawberries and homemade applesauce.

Basically picnic fare, and had I opened the bag of chips and the jar of salsa and set them as is on the table, it would have felt too casual, but served in nice serving dishes and eaten at a table of adults, to me this was a simply fancy meal.  And the topper was that my 21 month-old enjoyed it as much as the adults.