Reluctant Entertainers and Greek Chicken Thighs Recipe
This Greek Chicken Thighs one-pot dish is made with chicken, kalamata olives, feta cheese, fresh tomatoes, and Greek spices–good enough for company!
Friends, I love getting emails from readers here at RE, so please feel free to contact me about anything you have a question or you want to engage about, possibly a fear, an idea, or you want to make a change in your life when it comes to opening your life up to others!
Friendships can be tricky! I think many have been burned by past relationships, and have a hard time opening up again. Then the opposite spectrum is that many have opened their hearts and lives to others on a regular basis, and the outcome has been a beautiful thing. It’s almost like night and day, with a few in between, maybe in the delicate early stages of building friendships, and not sure which ones will be keepers and which ones will fall away.
Courage to invite.
It takes courage to invite people into our homes. I do know that.
I jotted down some feelings I had the other day, and I thought I’d share them with you. They’re random thoughts, but I know we all have random thoughts at times!
-We need to have this family over, it’s been too long.
-Our schedule is so busy right now with traveling, soccer (my husband is a coach and out almost every night), how will we fit it in?
-We really miss the ___ family, but it’s their turn to have us over. (Yup, I had this thought–bad, I know!)
-We’re really missing some of our best friends, I don’t care what my house looks like, I’m texting them now and getting a date on the calendar for this weekend.
-I’d love to have a fall dinner party, but it takes a few days to pull off a big event (plan, clean, yard prep, all the details).
-My Dad and Ginny come first, they’re first on our list. (Invite done! Had them for dinner last night!)
-I’d love to have ___ over, but I feel like I have to make all the details perfect for them. (Another bad thought, I know.)
-I’d love to invite ___ over, but would they really make time to come to our home? (A little intimidation here…)
See how much we worry about the details? Even I worry about the details. But I’d not be honest if I didn’t share those thoughts with you. Some are silly, and have nothing to do with hospitality, some are real feelings that we deal with.
It’s a progression.
Inviting others is a progression; sometimes it’s one step forward and two steps back. For example, you have people over, and it’s a great time. You invite again (different people), and they decline (you feel defeated on the spot).
You have to have courage to keep pushing through. Friends, it’s so worth it. At least for our family, some of the richest memories with people in our lives have been dinners forging friendships, getting to know people, investing in their lives, and taking our minds off of “us”. Do you ever feel like that? Your life consumes you?
Who can you bless?
It feels so much better to give, to feed others, and just love them!
Bottom line: We all need people in our lives, the ones who can come last-minute, with very little notice, and the ones that are always booked and you need to plan months in advance. Whatever the situation, figure out WHO you want to spend time with, or who you can bless.
I do believe there are people out there just longing for a dinner invite, and they do not care about all the silly details that we hostesses put on ourselves.
Greek Chicken Thighs.
I’m also sharing a delicious one-pot meal today, that I think you’ll love.
It’s good enough for company, too! :)
Now that I shared my thoughts with you, would you share with me what is holding you back from making that invite?
Get the Recipe:
Greek Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano, plus leaves for topping
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs , (about 2 lbs.)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pt. cherry tomatoes, each cut in half
- ½ cup rinsed pitted kalamata olives
- 1 ½ tablespoons chopped garlic
- 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° with rack set in upper third. Combine salt, pepper, chopped oregano, and lemon zest. Coat chicken with oregano mixture.
- Heat oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken skin side down until well-browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer chicken to a rimmed baking sheet and discard all but 1 tbsp. drippings. Return chicken to pan, skin side up, and surround with tomatoes, olives, and garlic, making sure to leave the skin uncovered.
- Bake chicken until no longer pink in thickest part (cut to test), about 20 minutes.
- Top chicken with feta and oregano leaves.
More chicken thighs recipes:
Easy Crock Pot Salsa Chicken Thighs
Slow Cooker French Basil Chicken Thighs
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Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
This morning I feel that you are talking directly to me. I did send out an invitation for a luncheon two weeks from now. Thank you Sandy.
I think the one thing that holds me back is the size of my home. It is very small and can only accommodate 4 at my kitchen table comfortably. I do not have a dining room. In the spring and fall it is a little easier as we have a large deck with table chairs and plenty of room. But, the problem with that is, if the weather turns out rainy or too hot or too cool, we have to move inside and there again – small house and not a lot of room. I do have my family over a lot though, with family we can put up t.v. trays, card table and move into the living room and sun room. I also have older furnishings and my home is not fancy. I can feel intimidated when I go to other friends and family homes because it is not only small but simple. I really need to do more inviting though and stop using excuses. I need to be thankful for my home and use it to bring God glory and show His love to others. Your blog encourages me to do this!
That’s awesome, Beth. It sounds like you do a great job and I love the TV tray idea! Perfect!
Thanks, Beth. Always love to hear how you make hospitality work in your home … even with only 4! I’m sure it’s encouraging to others as well. :)
yum!! Lookin’ good.
For us, the main thing is time, with hubby’s new job he often isn’t home till after 6:00, sometimes later and it’s never a for sure, so we’d have to do weekends, which we could, we just haven’t, though we did meet friends for breakfast sunday morning in portland which was wonderful. The other thing is in the last year we had some circumstances which had us leaving the church we’ve been in for years (hence the job change for hubby), and many that we thought were “friends” have just seemed to drop us off the friendship grid. So at the moment it feels as though friends are few and far between and it makes us ask “wow, what were those friendships really based on? Agreement or did they go deeper? apparently not.” which is sad. Hubby is not a huge social person so it’s hard to just invite “new” people over for him.
BUT we do often go to my inlaws and between us and them we will find people to invite over, either ones that we haven’t seen in awhile or ones we are trying to reach out to.
Ugh. Sounds like a rough season, as you’re sorting through “real” friendships. I’ve heard this happen to a lot of people, so you are not alone. I bet it’s a matter of time and you’ll rebuild what was lost! Hang in there, friend!
It’s great that you go to your inlaws and find a way to invite people there. There are so many styles of hospitality that work, it’s great to hear. Lots of people have been burned, it’s good to talk about it, forgive, and then move on! Thanks for sharing Kirstin!