Hostess with the Mostess?

I've never been the hostess type.  Homebody type maybe, but never hostess.  I think years of tiny living spaces and my aversion to cooking made it something I've just never been into.  Mj is out of town again so I figured it would be a perfect time to invite some ladies over for a little get together.  It's amazing how much prep was required just for my small group.  I did my grocery shopping Saturday.  I woke up Sunday morning and cleaned, got into the kitchen, then ended up running to the store again because I was afraid I didn't buy enough tortilla chips.  It's so hard to tell how much people are going to end up eating or drinking.  I was ready by 2pm.  It was a pretty last minute decision and a very small group but it turned out well if I do say so myself.

So what does a non hostess serve to her guests when her much better at hosting husband who cooks is out of town?  Surprise, surprise, but not EVERYTHING came from the frozen foods aisle.  Only some of it.  One of my girlfriends didn't even think I'd have any actual food but she totally underestimated me.  Ok, so it wasn't anything nearly as fancy as Mj would have come up with but I think I did a pretty good job.  It was actually nice being in control of the food because I got to make it so that everything was pretty healthy.  I put out tortilla chips and put together a cheese and crackers spread for starters.  I bought some Jose Ole Chicken Taquitos and Garlic Parmesan Flat Bread that I was able to pop in the oven for 10 minutes.  I made two side dishes.  Baked red potatoes in the oven and whole grain pasta salad with light Italian dressing.  For dessert I bought two kinds of pound cake (one in a Sugar Free version) and light Vanilla ice cream and we had plenty of wine flowing from start to finish.  Easy and simple works for me.

We listened to music and got caught up on what everyone has been up to.  We are all so busy with work and life that we often go a long time without getting together and when we finally do it's usually happy hour so it was really nice to have them over hanging out at my house.  We've been in our house a year and some of them hadn't even seen it.  Oops, I just realized I forgot to put out the salsa!  Oh well.  Everyone had a good time and enjoyed my offerings despite my novice hostessing abilities.  I would never be mistaken for the hostess with the mostess but I work with what I got and it's good enough for me.