Low Carb Meet-and-Greet

What fun! The Low Carb Meet-and-Greet happened yesterday, and it was just so much fun. About twenty folks came, along with Jimmy and Christine Moore, of course, and Amy and John Dungan and their kids, Matt and Rachel. I hadn't met Matt and Rachel before; they're great kids -- smart, personable, well-behaved. The Dungan family came Friday night, so we all had dinner together, and Saturday morning Amy, Rachel and I went to the local farmer's market to buy fresh local vegetables for crudites, not to mention a local cantaloupe for an easy dessert.

When we got home, Amy, Rachel and I cooked, while John and That Nice Boy I Married got things set up outside. (Christine Moore helped cook too, when she and Jimmy arrived. So did guests! Lots of people pitched in. So nice of everyone.)

We had tons of food! I served:

Veggies with tuna dip
RW Garcia Flax-and-Soy Tortilla Chips (Provided by Carb Smart)
Avocado Cheese Dip (Recipe in 500 Low-Carb Recipes)
Salsa
Deviled eggs
Cantaloupe
Grace Island Cheese Crisps (Grace Island creator Kalista Johnston came to the party! And brought even more Cheese Crisps. YUMMY!)
Mushroom Bombs (Recipe in 500 Low-Carb Recipes -- but these are fresh mushrooms wrapped in bacon and grilled until the bacon is crisp.)
Grilled chicken wings with Wing Time Buffalo Wing Sauce, also provided by Carb Smart.)
Go Lower bars (provided by... Guess who? CarbSmart!)

We had both Zevia and Blue Sky Free natural sugar free sodas, plus Arizona Iced Tea and Arizona Lemonade.

Oh, and Scott Merritt brought a huge jar of Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds, which are phenomenal. What a great, chocolate-y, crunchy, sugar-free treat.

The weather was perfect, just couldn't have been any prettier -- mid-80s, sunny, not too humid. We sat out and chatted, and ate, and just basically socialized. My neighbor Keith, the Organic Gardening God, took anyone who was interested on a tour of his little (but wildly prolific) farm. I took anyone who was interested on a walk through our woods. Dexter the Pug, Jed, and Spike the Cat charmed everybody. (Especially Dexter. Pugs are good at that.)

So now I have twenty new friends and a fridge full of leftovers. I'm going to ask Jimmy if he wants to do it again next summer, since he and Christine come to this neck of the woods every year around this time for a family reunion.

Hope we see even more of you then!

Now, shall I have an avocado cheese dip omelet for dinner? Or some leftover wings? Hmmm...