Party foods!

Cafe Society
21

If you’re going to buy a frozen pie, buy a good, expensive one. Not one of those cheap, gluey things they put on sale simply to get you into the store. They’re only good for filling up the stomaches of kids and big eaters who don’t care what they’re eating as long as there’s plenty of it!

Low class, but cocktail franks baked in crescent roll dough (you can wrap three if you snip one triangle of dough into three strips with scissors) with good mustard, ketchup, or BBQ sauce, will be the first thing to disappear. I’ve seen some frozen, wrapped in phyllo dough, to upgrade them a bit.

Chicken wings with a bowl of blue cheese dressing? Men love chicken wings as opposed to UFO’s - unidentifiable fried objects!

22

If you have or can borrow a small crock pot dump in a package of little smokies and a bottle of BBQ sauce.
Let cook for an hour and a half set out with toothpicks.
They will disappear in no time.

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Don’t forget Little cupcakes, and they dont have to be just cake, they could be meatloaf with mashed potato frosting. Finger sandwiches, like for high tea, with cucumber, or tomato. It’s Your party, what do you like ?

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Tortilla roll-ups are easy and can be prepped a day ahead. Just spread a good bit of cream cheese on a flour tortilla, then put down some pastrami, chopped black olives and chopped green chili. Roll them up and let them sit in the frig (covered). Just cut them into rounds before serving.

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A certain variant on the tortilla rolls, that we’ve been doing for several years now, is a pickle roll. Since I’m on a low-carb diet, I use nori instead of a tortilla, but it works well either way. Start out by warming the cream cheese a little to make it more easily spreadable, then spread a thin layer of cream cheese on all of a sheet of nori except for a rectangle, an inch or half an inch from one side. Cover the cheese with a layer or two or three of somewhat thickly-sliced ham (or turkey, or even smoked salmon), then (optionally) add another layer of cream cheese. On the side opposite that untouched inch, lay two pickles, end to end, so they go across the sheet. At this point, it’s best to have the whole setup on one of those bamboo sushi-rolling mats. Use those pickles as the center of the roll, and roll the nori up around the pickles. That extra bit of nori is just there to keep cream cheese from leaking out. At this point put the roll in the refrigerator (probably best to make several of them at once and refrigerate them together) overnight, or for at least a few hours. Bring them to the party and slice them there, roughly 3/4" slices. When slicing, keep in mind that right in the middle is the space between the two pickles; slice an odd number of slices if you want pickle visible on both sides of the slices, or an even number if you don’t want one slice that is mostly cream cheese without much pickle.

These go very quickly and they’re easier to make than it sounds here. There are all kinds of options too; you could add a layer of sweet-hot peppers, or sakura denbu (sweet fish flakes), or gari (pickled ginger).

–H

26

OMG, I’ve never seen that site before. I love you. And I hate you. And I’m incredibly hungry.

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Sugar doesn’t come in cones in the US…

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Sugar cone?

29

Inspiring stuff - thanks!!

I have an enormous quanitity of Hubbard Squash - got one yesterday, dropped it on the steps to crack it open, washed it and roasted it. The flesh yielded something like 4-5 quarts. We’ll use some for Thanksgiving of course, but then maybe I’ll freeze the rest for mini pumpkin tarts.

The grocery stores near me do decent platters as well, which will help.

Love the idea of the cocktail wieners and the meatballs… I swear I read somewhere that one surprisingly tasty sauce for those involves chili sauce and grape jelly (as horrifying as that sounds!!).

Must do much planning…

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Hmmm - I wonder what I might do with that to make it finger-foodable… line mini-muffin pans with phyllo?

31

1 12 oz. bottle chili sauce
8 oz. grape jelly
1 small onion, chopped
1 package Hillshire Farm Little Smokies

Saute the onion and sausages in some butter till onions are soft, and smokies are somewhat browned. Pour in the chili sauce and the grape jelly, stir until the grape jelly is melted and it’s simmering. Serve with toothpicks.

My husband wants me to make this for the Chicago/San Fran game tonight in lieu of dinner. He’s strange. :smiley:

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Same idea but different site is tastespotting:

http://www.tastespotting.com/

33

Cream cheese dips are easy and better if made a day or two ahead.

Let the cream cheese sit out for an hour or so to soften. Add flavorings and mix well (an immersion blender works great for this, but a fork will do a dandy job too). Put in a serving bowl and fancy it up as desired. If you’re making it ahead, cover & stick in the frig until needed. Serve with crackers.

Flavorings:

Garlic and onion is always a favorite. WARNING: do not use fresh garlic. The cream cheese doesn’t like it. You can use roasted garlic or garlic power or fried garlic. I use the last two, plus dehydrated onion and onion powder. Some white pepper, some seasoned salt, whatever else seems good. You can add chopped scallion greens or chives if you like, or use them to decorate the surface like a cheese ball.

Herb is also popular. Use a little garlic & onion powders, white people, season salt, maybe a dash of dry mustard. Add fresh herbs of choice. Pretty much any herbs will work - I’ve gone out to the garden and just used a bit of everything that I found, really weird combos, and it was fine.

Hot - some like this one. Start with the basic garlic/onion/pepper/salt/whatever. Add ground cayenne and/or red pepper flakes to taste. I recommend garnishing with a bunch of paprika to make it easier to spot the hot one.

One note: you can use the neufchatel / low fat cream cheese just fine for these. If I’m using full-fat, sometimes I will drain & blend cottage cheese and add about a quarter cup to an 8 oz block. It lowers the calories & fat a bit, but mostly it loosens up the dip and makes it easier to spread cold. I’ve not had much luck doing that with the low-fat cream cheese, though, it just gets funny-tasting.

Always popular: Chips & salsa & queso. Tortilla rollups. Little smokies (many variations). Swedish meatballs.

ETA: I’ve had the grape jelly little smokies. Sounds disgusting, but yum.

34

Thought of another one he likes.

1 package of the same little smokies.
Wrap in a piece of bacon (not a whole piece, one that’s cut up to fit around the little smokie.) Secure with a toothpick.

At this point I would think you could freeze them. Then thaw when ready to heat them.

Sprinkle brown sugar over them and cook them in an electric skillet turning now and again - the brown sugar carmelizes and they turn out really good. Easy to serve in the electric skillet, too.

Oh and he said to tell you about the sausage stuff. It’s one pound of spicy breakfast sausage, 1/2 pound ground beef, 1 pound velveeta, small chopped onion, a dash of worceshtire sauce (however you spell it) and a little garlic. Brown the sausage, ground beef, onions, and garlic. Toss it with some worchestire sauce (eyeball it. I don’t know how much I use - maye a Tablesppon? That sounds like too much but it’s a lot of sausage and beef and cheese.) Cube up the velveeta and melt it into the sausage and beef and onions and garlic and worchestire. When it’s melted and cooled, you can freeze it.

When you want to make it, thaw it, get a package of cocktail party rye, spread each slice with some of the mixture, then bake at 350 till bubbly. They keep well on a hot plate.

I’ll see if I can think of any more.

Oh - here’s a dinner one that could be downsized.

1 Pound Wite Mushrooms
3 T Chopped Parsley
2 Scallions thinkly sliced
8 oz Package of Cream Cheese
1 17.3 ounce package frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 Egg, lightly beaten
3 T Olive Oil
Grated peel of half a lemon
1 t Lemon juice from the lemon whose peel you grated

Preheat oven to 450. In a large skillet heat 3T Olive Oil over medium high heat. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the liquid evaporates (10 - 15 minutes). Put mushrooms in a bowl with the parsley and the chopped scallions and lemon peel. Season. Stir in the cream cheese and lemon juice.

On a lightly flowered surface, roll out 1 puff pastry sheet to an 11 inch square, then halve it (or at this point, make small squares that are appetizer sized). Do the same iwth the other sheet. Arrange a quarter of the filling on each half leaving a half inch border. Brush the borders with some egg then fold the pastry to enclose the filling. Cut two vents and in each and crimp them shut then put 'em on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush with more egg. Bake until puffed and golden brown (about 18 minutes - check them if they are smaller - it may not take as long) Let rest for five minutes before serving/cutting.

You can freeze them before baking and then when you’re ready to make them thaw them for fifteen minutes then bake.

35

My mother-in-law does something similar with grape jelly, chili sauce and meatballs. She adds instant coffee to the mix and puts the concoction into a crockpot, I believe.

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Spiced crackers: Arrange saltines or whatever crackers you like to cover a cookie sheet, drizzle with plenty of melted butter (unsalted is best if your crackers have salt), sprinkle lightly with spice of choice, bake a few minutes, let cool. I’ve had them with red pepper flakes, but chili powder, curry, or herbs would work.

For dessert, do the same thing with graham crackers and brown sugar mixed with cinnamon or a pie-spice blend.

37

A magazine I read just reviewed frozen appetizers but I lent out the issue and I can’t remember which brands they recommended.

There were several brands of spanakopita that they liked (one was from Whole Foods and one was from Trader Joe’s) … I think their favorite was from Costco. They also reviewed mini tacos and mozzarella sticks. They only liked one brand of mozzarella sticks.

Go to the grocery store and thumb through the December issue of ShopSmart :slight_smile:

38

I recently saw a mashed-potato bar. A huge batch of mashed potatoes with an ice cream scoop as a server. Then surrounding that were grated cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, and some more exotic type stuff.

They used the cupcake papers that have aluminum foil on the outside as serving containers, and those little spoons that come with ice cream cups.

There was a similar one on TV with macaroni and cheese + various fixin’s. That would be especially good if children are coming.

Also, a favorite bite of mine is always the little spinach salad in a red cabbage leaf. Baby spinach, ham bits, grated radish and grated carrot in a small cabbage leaf with squeeze bottles of dressing at hand. I prefer a very strong balsalmic, but you could put some ranch out too. These are really quick to make masses of if you’ve got a quick grater. You just pull off the cabbage leaves onto a tray and then deal the ingredients out like a deck of cards. (provided the store has those little cabbages, otherwise don’t torture yourself.)

Seriously though, I’ve found that for less than the price of ingredients I can get everything I need from the freezer section at CostCo. It’s worth considering.

39

Ohh, Missy2U reminded me…

cheese-stuffed bacon-wrapped jalapenos. I don’t have a recipe, but someone else used to bring these to parties and they were snarfed rapidly.

They just sliced theirs in half, cleaned out the pepper, and filled them with cheese, wrapped with bacon, and baked. I’ve seen them done whole (cored out to remove the seeds) instead, but that would be more work.

I’ve had them with cream cheese filling and with cheddar. Both good.

40

I’m throwing a surprise bday for my husband in three weeks and cooking all the grub. This is the menu thus far.

Appetizers: Imam Bayildi, Spanikopita, 7 Layer Dip with chips, Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates and some Trader Joe’s stuff that I can reheat.

Mains: Vegetarian Moussaka and Pastitsio ('cept with Turkey) with Salad

Dessert: Birthday Cake from local bakery

Drinks: hopefully Trader Joe’s Chistmas Ale and Sangria…I’ll probably buy a whole box of that Ale.

I already floated “We’re having a holiday party darling” past my husband to prepare him for the sudden food influx in the fridge.

Slightly complicating is that one of our guests is a vegan and my nephew has a dairy allergy so I’ll have to make some separate stuff that has the dairy taken out for them, and maybe buy a set of 6 vegan cupcakes or something.