Hosting friends!

Heya!

While Bryant watches Top Gear in the kitchen I thought I would peel myself away from Pinterest and post an update on the DittmerDigest.

Life is going along swimmingly at our cottage and we have even made several successful meals in our foreign kitchen. Bryant and I have been feeling so confident in our skills that we have invited over friends. But not just any friends, mind you, English friends. Well, Stella is technically Welsh, I think, but that's getting a bit technical.

The young pals from Church we always sit with at our Freedom in Christ course are coming over tomorrow for a Chili Dinner! Bryant has cooked up a spicy bean-less chili recipe and also a beany, boring version for those who like to taste their food without heartburn (me). You can find the recipes here and here although Bryant thought his wasn't spicy enough and I thought mine was rather bland. :( Super disappointing, Martha Stewart! Tomorrow when we heat it up for our guests I plan on adding some brown sugar, more chili powder and a bit more salt.

Boilermaker Tailgate Chili (spicy)

Martha Stewart's 30-Minute Chili (not spicy)

I have a recipe for a yummy cornbread casserole that a coworker gave me that I think you'll like, and hopefully our guests will, too. I don't have a photo because I haven't made it yet, but it's just a big yellow dish that tastes better than it looks. Most yellow foods are like that, aren't they?

• 14 oz can of whole kernel corn (drained)
• 14 oz can of cream style corn
• 1 box of 3.5 oz Jiffy corn muffin mix
• 1 stick (melted) salted butter
• 8 oz of sour cream

• Mix together & Bake in 9x13 pyrex dish @350ºF for 45 minutes or until lightly browned

In other endeavors, we have made another Coconut Pumpkin Pie for tomorrow and managed to find ice cream sandwiches to introduce to our English friends. Who knew that the UK didn't have these? Our friend confessed he thought it was ice cream between two slices of bread when he first heard of the idea. I am SO excited to show them that they are SO GOOD!!

...make that two coconut pumpkin pies.

Well, do you think our guests will enjoy their American meal and paper-wrapped dessert? We do plan on sending one of those pies home with them, by the way. If they like it well enough they shouldn't go home hungry!