This past Sunday my husband and I hosted several of our kids and all of the grand babies for Father’s Day.  As I was doing the last minute prep one son showed up with a CAR as his gift for his dad!  As you can see a little assembly was required but once finished it was a HUGE hit with the little guys.  They were so cute as they took turns pushing their cousin all around the great room and hallways!  Our golden retriever, Bubba was less impressed!

Dinner was somewhat Greek in inspiration.  The menu was:

-Spanikopita (I used Trader Joe’s frozen appetizers which are consistently great.)

-Deviled Eggs (made by my daughter. Half were basic filling but the other half contained some jarred horseradish). I loved the spicy ones.

-Lamb Burgers were grilled by my hubby, and they were served with store-bought Cedar’s brand tzatziki sauce.  I like this brand because it’s not too garlicky.

-Roasted Roma tomatoes were slowly roasted by me in the oven.  The original recipe calls for garlic but I omitted that.  What’s so delicious about these is that when guests arrive the house smells like heaven.  One of my daughters calls these pizza tomatoes!

-Moroccan peppers and onions.  This was originally a weight watchers recipe but I modified it by slightly increasing the amount of olive oil and substituting a few dashes of Tabasco sauce for the Harissa sauce.         

Also I substituted finely sliced fresh basil for the mint.  (One of my sons routinely gives me a kitchen gadget for Christmas.  Here I’m using a neat herb 

slicer that allows me to slice the items right over a dish.  There are five vertical blades that are sharp and allow me to cut the basil without bruising it.  It also comes with a little comb that allows me to readily and safely clean the blades.)

-Dessert was Duncan Hines’ chocolate cake (my hubby likes this more than home made!) with the delicious chocolate frosting that’s on the back of the can of Hershey’s cocoa.  I swear it tastes like homemade fudge!  All with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  It was actually the younger grand son’s first taste of chocolate cake.  He loved it!

The tablescape involved a trick I often employ.  First I put down a neutral tan tablecloth.  Then I placed a red cloth that has cute roosters on it across the table on an angle.  I do this often because it allows me to use different sized tablecloths, even short ones to create a layered look.  Then I used old Crate and Barrel red rimmed plates, red napkins (Amazon), and red glasses(Homegoods).  I love these red items as I can reuse them at Christmas as well as Valentine’s Day (stay tuned…).  For flowers I cut sunflowers (Trader Joe’s) short and popped them in jelly jar tumblers(Crate and Barrel).  The votive  candles are thankfully unscented and come from Amazon as do the votive holders.  (It’s always a good idea to use unscented candles as scents can compete with the food smells.  In addition as a migraine sufferer, scents are notorious offenders.)

My outfit is a heather grey sleeveless cotton tee shirt dress from a cute company called Uniglo.  One of my girlfriends turned me on to this store on my recent trip to New York.  It’s a fun shop and very reasonably priced.  I wore turquoise sea glass earrings (old), a turquoise silk neck kerchief from Ann Taylor and a long lucite and silver chain necklace to add a little sparkle.  (The necklace was from another great friend.) Lastly I wore Ked’s leather sneakers.  A comfortable look for a fun family Father’s Day!