Dinner in A Jar

While I was home for Spring Break a few weeks ago, I had some friends over for dinner. Naturally I had to come up with something different for them to try, so thanks to Pinterest and the Internet I was inspired to combine several different ideas together into one fabulous meal! ;)

So. . .We started with hot dogs and spaghetti hot dogs and spaghetti.  

Note: We did use veggie Smart Dogs so no worries, no animals were harmed in this process. 

 You take the dry spaghetti and push it through pieces of hot dogs like so. . .

(Also pardon my ghostly white hands I really am not an albino just white from winter.)

  

Once you have gone through the package of hot dogs you have a nice pile of strange looking creations such as above.  You then boil in water (following spaghetti cooking instructions), drain, season, and serve.  I didn't take pictures of this process because it wasn't very attractive but this was the end result.  We seasoned our spaghetti dogs with butter, salt and pepper, and Italian herbs. Two half pint jars were placed in the middle of the table filed with shredded Asiago cheese so each person could "cheese" their own spaghetti dogs as they saw fit. 

  

Next came the Caprese salad.   My inspiration came from the website but I significantly modified the recipe as 1.) Iowa doesn't have some of the ingredients and 2.) I wanted to make a balsamic reduction. So this was my recipe, and it was pretty good. 

Caprese Salad

Layer of Mixed Greens in the bottom of the jar

about 2 teaspoons of shredded fresh basil per jar

half of a Roma tomato diced per jar

fresh mini mozzarella balls - about 9 per jar

Dressing

For the dressing I sprinkled a little salt and pepper then drizzled my balsamic reduction over the top. 

Balsamic Reduction

About 1 1/2 cups Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar

Directions: Bring Vinegar to a boil - add sugar and stir till dissolved. Reduce heat to simmer.  Stir occasionally so it doesn't burn.  When it gets syrupy turn off heat and let it cool - it thickens as it cools also.  Then drizzle over your favorite recipe's.  Is very good on most anything sweet or savory.

 Next were the dinner rolls - which I had nothing to do with - unfortunately because they were amazing but I don't know how to make them so I can't share.  My mom did this part of the dinner.  She also made a spicy marinara dipping sauce for the rolls which was equally amazing but that I also do not know how she made.  The marinara sauce was also served in half pint mason jars. The rolls were served on the mason jar lids.

 

Finally, for dessert, we went with a store bought brownie mix and baked it in half pint mason jars.  We thought we had chocolate syrup for the topping, since the brownies turned out more like cake texture vs. brownie texture, but ran out so. . .we got creative and put a teaspoon of apricot/pineapple jam on the top with a basil leaf for garnish.  It sounds strange but the apricot/pineapple/chocolate/basil combination was actually really, really good. 

 

So this was the completed look at each place setting.  

Oh we also served ginger lemonade in a pint jar to drink. 

To make ginger lemonade. . .slice ginger root and boil in a large pan of water for about 15-20 min.  Turn off heat and let cool a bit.  Strain water to remove ginger chunks.  Add lemon juice and sugar to taste (it is lemonade) and serve.  Can use lemon slices to make it look nicer and add more flavor.

 This was the whole table, set and ready to eat.  

It was probably one of the most fun food meals I have made so far and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

If you try it let me know! I'd like to hear about it or even better see pictures. :)