Friends & hosting

Something I have really grown to enjoy is hosting. When Paul and I were first married the idea of hosting intimidated me a little bit and looking back 4 years ago I'll admit I was not the best at it. My mom was always such a great host and I really admired that growing up. Even just a simple get together with my aunt and uncle or a couple of her closest girl friends. She had a bottle of wine open ready to serve, always had the best appetizers. To this day I still look forward to dinner parties at her place mainly due to her pre-dinner snacks. She made hosting look so easy!

Overall I know that I notice and appreciate a great host and because of that I've really made it a point to grow in that area! Recently I had a little get-together at my place for the premier of Parenthood's final season. I'm a little devastated.

It's been a little warm out still so I decided that a simple summer sangria and a chilled lentil dip would be a great mid lunch/dinner snack. A friend introduced me to this awesome lentil recipe, it love it and it's super easy to make!! Only 3 ingredients and you can pick them all up at Trader Joes.

If you don't have a Traders nearby I'm sure you can find these items at any grocery store but what you will need is lentils (I like to get the pre-cooked ones), Crumbled feta cheese and a bruschetta mix. First add put lentils into your serving bowl and mix in bruschetta and feta to your liking! Serve with corn tortilla chips. 

For the sangria, I used a new recipe that I found on Pinterest! You can find it HERE. One thing I ended up doing differently is adding 1/3 cup of sugar. Both Paul and I decided it needed some sweetness after sampling it. I was serving to a smaller group so I cut the recipe in half. It was super good!

Happy Hosting!