Carnival of the Recipes: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Edition

If you do search for friends and food on Google, you get 179 million returns. It's no surprise. Add good friends and great food and you've got a recipe for a good time. And that's kind of what Carnival of the Recipes has turned in to over the years - an electronic buffet of all of our favorite dishes that we share with our friends. And this week, if you wished, I encouraged all to bring their friends to share in the Carnival fun.

I want to introduce my blog friend, Lisa (or "bliend" as she decided it should be a while back). She doesn't consider herself much of a cook and I might believe her if I had not eaten dinner at her house on a trip to Washington, DC. Last November, Lisa and I took our friendship offline, so to speak, and actually met in person. (It's a brave new world and we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.) ;) She's a Texas transplant and made me her Texas Oven Brisket. (I guess I will have to wait until my next trip to DC to get a bite of Stuart's Cheesy Winter Pasta Bake.)

Peggy at Blabber-Heads would like to introduce her friend, Niki - and her recipe for Acorn Squash Rings. The BBQ General brought his neighbor, friend and willing taste-tester Wild Bill to the party - and Hot Dog Chili and BBQ Baloney for us all to enjoy.

Grill Maestro starts us off with a recipe for a Ferburger that was stolen from a friend of a friend. (We prefer "borrowed" in the South, but they usually are stolen in reality.)

Sunday suppers are often shared with friends - and Amy at Mom Advice offers up Roasted Chicken. Best of all, it's made in the crockpot, so you don't have to stand over the stove. You have more time to visit! Maureen at Trinity Prep School has another great crockpot recipe for us to try out on our friends...Easy Italian Beef.

We can all use a little help from our friends. And Joe is offering to help us lose weight - he has some tips that will help us keep our family and friends fit and healthy.

Henri Charpentier, cook to J.D. Rockefeller, said you should carve a ham like you were shaving the face of a friend. Well, Geezer's Corner reserves this kind of carefulness for his melons, which probably has led to the success of his Chicken, Spanish Olives and Saffron Rice recipe. It was given to him by a friend years ago. It's gotten lost since but Mr. & Mrs. Geezer have successfully recreated it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “We dare not trust our wit for making our house pleasant to our friend, so we buy ice cream.”  Thanks to Dr. Fuhrman, we don't have to buy it. He's offered up three healthy homemade sorbets. (And nothing quite attracts friends on a hot summer day like homemade ice cream.) Second only to ice cream for attracting guests would be freshly baked bread straight from the oven - so try George's Tasty, Tasty Flatbread or The Common's Room's Cheesy Onion Bread too.

Cervantes' Don Quixote believed that a man must eat a peck of salt with a friend before he really knows him. Some say the same of spicy foods too, so try A Weight Lifted's Grilled Curry Chicken on your heat-loving friends - and keep the Cucumber Raita nearby to cool it down some. Now that you've got their full attention, offer up TechnoGypsy's Stuffed Pickled Jalapenos, Green Chili Burritos and a Portugues Host Sauce (just for Riannan).

They say three things are needed for the good life: good friends, good food and good song. This is especially true while camping. So gather 'round the campfire for another round of songs - and enjoy Jami Leigh's Fried Apple Soda Bananas.

Marilyn Kaytor said, "Condiments are like old friends - highly thought of, but often taken for granted." No one can accuse Men In Aprons of such drivel. Their Curry Coffee Grilling Glaze will remind you what the right condiment can do for a dish.

John Gunther said all happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. And what's a leisurely breakfast without marmalade? Kit of Fabienne.net gives us her recipe for Three-Fruit Marmalade. (This so makes me want some hot biscuits right now.)

According to Louis Diat, there are five elements: earth, air, wind, fire and garlic. Blog d'Ellison would agree. And he shares with us some great garlicky recipes to keep the friends nearby but the vampires away.

Riannan loves avocados - and traveling with friends. She shares a guacamole recipe that she and her friends concocted while vacationing in a cabin on Roan Mountain (and three other recipes from Health magazine, just to be friendly.)

George Bernard Shaw once famously said, "Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends." But Simonne at All Tips and Tricks is convinced that she can make cauliflower our friend, too, with her Baked Cheese Cauliflower.

Sometimes two best friends in the kitchen - and desperation - lead to the best recipes. With the computer down and no access to the online recipe of the key lime pie they intended to make, two friends make do..and give us all Kiwi Lime Pie to share with our friends.

The French once believed that it was mainly through the table that one governed (which is how they justified their exquisite dishes). The British are obviously catching up and have placed a ban on that most dangerous of foods, the Polish Potato. As an act of rebellion - and a show of spud-like support - Triticale is offering his in-laws' Polish Potato recipe.

Miss Manners believes there is no kinder, more adaptable friend in the food world than soup. And Kicking Over My Traces offers up her Basic Beef Stew this week sure to get you some new friends (because there's nothing quite like the smell of a big pot of soup simmering on the stove either).

And at Carnival of the Recipes, we count on our friends to keep the food coming. Thanks to The Common Room for volunteering  to keep us all going for next week. If you would like to lend a hand at some time in the future, just drop me a note at recipe.carnival@gmail.com and let me know if there is any particular date you would prefer and if you have a theme in mind. Otherwise, you can send recipes or links to recipe.carnival@gmail.com by noon CST on Saturday.

For a line-up of future Carnivals, visit our Carnival of the Recipes page on Blog Carnival. (You can also review all past Carnival of the Recipes there too.)