What did you make OP? Update please!

Veal parmesan. Angel hair pasta. French cut green beans. Mixed greens. Baguette. Fruit tart. Sparkling water and awesome wine.

Make your own fajitas. And/or taco bar. W/ chips & guacomole and salsa. And margaritas

Shish kebob skewers on the grill!

Chicken Marbella (a famous Silver Palette cookbook recipe.)
Serve with orzo or couscous.

Or homemade lasagne with an antipasto platter and garlic bread.

I've made this broiled salmon many times for dinner parties:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/article.asp?docid=317
(I usually do the spicy citrus-cilantro version)

^^ I forgot to mention the drinks...

- I think I am going to make strawberry basil sangria with Chardonnay as the base. I am not sure about that yet, though.

- We also have beer, Prosecco, and wine.

We are having good friends over for dinner tonight. Here's our menu. It's all really simple and the best part is that it's kid friendly, as well.:

Appetizers:

-Chips and salsa (keeping it simple)

Main:

-Flank steak with rub
-Red potatoes cut in little wedges with olive oil and Kosher salt
-Roasted brussels sprouts with shallots, garlic, and olive oil
-Baguette

Dessert:
-I made a homemade chocolate pie. It's super easy. It's sweet chocolate squares, cream cheese, a little bit of sugar, a little bit of milk, and Cool Whip on an Oreo pie shell that is then frozen. My Mom made this all the time when I was growing up (she used a graham cracker crust instead).

I like risotto--its elegant but easy. Tons of variations--i recently did fennel and gorgonzola. THe only thing is that you're stirring for 30 min so I usually hang in the kitchen drinking wine with the friends but if that's not your thing, then my current favorite interesting do-ahead meal is a chicken and green olive tagine, served with apricot/pine nut couscous and carrot salad, and maybe a ricotta cheese dessert (super easy and relatively healthy, puree in food processor 1 regular and 1 low fat ricotta with some grand marnier and some orange marmalade until creamy, spoon into martini glasses, top with chocolate chips or raspberries, etc).

Taco bar and choice of beer and wine!

Duck:
http://saramoulton.com/2010/09/duck-confit-in-an-oven-bag/

paella--looks festive, pretty easy to make

Two very simple recipes that have worked out well for us recently:

Chicken medallions pan fried in butter with chiffonade of sage and squirt of fresh lemon juice. Served with a nice brown and wild rice pilaf and vegetable of choice (it was steamed broccoli the last time, but have also served with steamed aspagarus with a mustard vinagrette) Also worked with salmon, but you have to be careful with the salmon...larger pieces end up with very cooked outside and very rare inside vs smaller pieces which have a tendancy to break apart as you pan fry.

Chicken breasts topped with salsa (we even used jarred Safeway brand salsa) and sliced provalone cheese browned in the oven. Served with cheesy polenta and a mixed greens garden salad.

BBQ. It's what's for dinner. Unless you're vegetarian.

Any menu suggestions for a casual dinner part ( 6 people)? I am out of ideas! I find myself making the same boring dinners over and over.