Food For Thought

June 11, 2010

A Feast for Dad

Filed under: Entertaining, family, holidays — Tags: , , , — Penny Hawkins @ 2:28 pm

This Father’s Day, give Dad a break from the grill and satisfy his craving for meat and potatoes with this easy-to-make feast from your oven. The star of the meal is a hearty Beef Brisket Sandwich in a tangy barbeque sauce, served on your favorite bun or hoagie roll. Co-starring with these savory sandwiches are a cool and creamy Easy Coleslaw and zesty Seasoned Steak Fries. This terrific meal is a breeze to make, giving you more time to spend with your favorite guy on his special day!

Beef Brisket Sandwiches

The great thing about this recipe is that you do most of the work the day before. On the day you want to serve it, all you basically have to do is slice and reheat! Don’t be concerned about the beer; it helps to tenderize this otherwise tough cut of meat and the alcohol will evaporate during cooking. Also, you don’t want to leave out the horseradish; this is the secret ingredient that gives the sauce its’ zip!

1 (4 lb.) beef brisket
1 cup beer (any kind)
1 cup ketchup
1 cup water
4 tablespoons vinegar (white or apple cider)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon horseradish
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper  
  1. Place beef brisket fat side up in a large (13×9x2 inch) oven-proof casserole or baking pan.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix beer, ketchup, and remaining ingredients. Using a whisk if you have one will make this go faster and eliminate lumps. If you don’t have a whisk, try using a fork to beat the mixture.
  3. Pour beer mixture over brisket and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, covered loosely with plastic wrap.
  4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and bake brisket in a 300 degree oven for 4 hours. Remove from oven and let cool. Refrigerate covered with plastic wrap overnight.

On the day you plan to serve brisket:

  1. Skim fat from top of sauce in pan. Remove beef from pan (do not remove sauce). Cut beef in slices to desired thickness across the width (short side) of the brisket and put back in pan with sauce.
  2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Cover beef loosely with foil and re-heat in pan with sauce in a 200 degree oven until heated through, about one hour (you will want to check beef after 30 minutes, and every 15 minutes or so after that to avoid drying it out). Serve beef in buns with extra sauce spooned over meat, if desired.

Note: Meat can be served cold after this and leftovers can be frozen with sauce.

Easy Coleslaw

1 bag pre-shredded traditional coleslaw mix (cabbage and carrots)
1 jar coleslaw dressing (there are several very good ones in your store- look for them in the salad dressing aisle)  

In a large bowl, toss the coleslaw mix with about ½ jar or bottle of dressing. If slaw seems dry add a bit more, but remember that the cabbage will give off some water as it sits in the dressing, so don’t add too much or slaw will become watery. Refrigerate for several hours to let flavors combine. When you are ready to serve, if slaw seems dry, add a little more dressing until it seems right to you. Remember, you can always put more dressing in, but you can’t take it out!

Seasoned Steak Fries

1 bag frozen steak-cut French fries
Seasoned salt or your favorite salt-free seasoning blend (find this in the spice aisle of your store) 
  1. Bake fries as directed on bag on a large 15×10x1 inch cookie sheet.
  2. While fries are still warm, sprinkle with seasoned salt as desired.

June 2, 2010

Cater Your Own Wedding and Save

Filed under: Entertaining, How To, frugal — Tags: , , — Penny Hawkins @ 3:39 pm

 

It’s June and that means time for weddings! The Wedding Report.com estimates that the average wedding costs about $23,040, not including the cost of the engagement ring, honeymoon, wedding planner or bridal consultant! They also report that $11,790, or about one-half of the total wedding budget, is spent on the wedding reception. With the reception accounting for one-half of the total wedding cost, it’s easy to see why a bride on a budget may want to consider self-catering as a money-saving option!

I experienced this first-hand when my daughter got married a few years ago. Just like many other brides, she was on a budget, and just like many other parents of the bride, my husband and I were watching the costs add up as she talked to us about what she wanted. In the end, through compromise and some creative strategies like purchasing her gown at a discount bridal shop, using silk flowers, and catering the wedding ourselves (including the cake which I baked and decorated- pictured above) we were able to hold the cost of the entire wedding to less than $3,000! From our experience, I assure you that it can be done, but there are a few things you should consider first.

If you are a bride considering catering the reception yourself, you should know what you are getting yourself (and friends and family) into. Among other things, you should consider these factors:

Where do I have the reception? You will need a location that allows self-catering and has adequate facilities and equipment. Church reception halls are ideal for this, and many are available for a reasonable fee. Keep in mind that serving alcohol and playing secular music may not be an option if using a church reception hall. Ideally, you will want the wedding ceremony and reception locations to be either in the same place or reasonably close together. We held the wedding and reception at a church near our home which was convenient and affordable.

Who does the work? Make no mistake, catering a wedding is work! As the bride, it will be difficult for you to contribute much to food preparation, especially in the days leading up to the wedding when last-minute details will compete for your time and attention.  Keep in mind as well that friends and family members who are doing the food preparation will probably also want attend the ceremony, so you will need to decide who stays behind to get the food out before reception guests arrive. All our food was prepared by family members of the bride and groom, and two very generous friends volunteered to stay behind to heat up food and get things placed on the buffet tables.

What do I serve? Fortunately, this is easier than it seems, and there are lots of creative solutions that will easily fit into your budget. One of the easiest ways to control what you serve is by carefully choosing the time of day you hold your wedding. Guests attending an afternoon (and I mean after lunch!) wedding will not expect a full meal, while guests attending an evening wedding will expect and deserve to be served something more than finger foods. If your budget does not accommodate a full-meal reception, choose the afternoon for your wedding instead. My daughter’s wedding was at 2:00, so we were able to serve a buffet of finger foods without her guests feeling slighted or hungry. Tip #1: A buffet saves you money because it requires no wait staff, although people will usually take more food when serving themselves. If you plan for this, you will still come out ahead. Tip#2: Use smaller plates for your buffet as guests will not put as much food on them. The larger the plate, the more food people will put on it. I purchased 7-inch plastic dinner plates at Sam’s Club for my daughter’s wedding and they were ideal.

Now that you have the time of day determined, what about the menu? The internet and cookbooks are good resources for finding menus that accommodate 50 or 100 guests ( I do not recommend trying to cater for a group larger than this yourself)! To help you get started with menu ideas, here is the menu from my daughter’s reception as well as some of the recipes we used (we expected 75 guests so we cooked for 100):

Sliced Beef Brisket with Rolls- See recipe for brisket below. Rolls (8 dozen) were from a local bakery and sliced at home.

BBQ Meatballs- 12 lbs. frozen pre-cooked meatballs and sauce (4 bottles your favorite bbq sauce).

Shrimp and Cocktail Sauce- Approx 4 bags of 75 pieces frozen shrimp purchased from Sam’s. We purchased 4 bottles cocktail sauce.

Potato Salad- 6 lbs. potato salad purchased from Sam’s Club and “doctored” with 1 small diced onion, 2 cups sour cream and 6 chopped hard-boiled eggs.

Veggie Platter and Spinach Dip- Baby carrots (no cutting required!), celery sticks and grape tomatoes. We purchased 3 lbs. carrots, 1 ½ lbs. celery, and 3 qts. cherry tomatoes. Dip (4 qts.) was purchased from Sam’s and cost less than making from scratch.

Cheese Ball and Crackers- See recipe for cheese ball below. Two large boxes fancy crackers purchased from Sam’s.

Carved Watermelon Fruit Basket- This had to be assembled hours before the wedding due to the number of fresh ingredients. Plan for 5-6 pieces of fruit per person. We bought the following:

1- 18 lb. watermelon
1- 4lb. pineapple, cubed
1- 3 lb. honeydew or cantaloupe, cubed
1- lb. strawberries, sliced
1- lb. seedless red grapes
1- lb. seedless green grapes
1- pint blueberries

Robert’s Beef Brisket (Thanks to my friends Robert and Stephanie for sharing this delicious recipe) Makes a 4 lb. beef brisket-serves 12 people.

1 4lb. beef brisket
1 cup beer
1 cup catsup
1 cup water
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. dried minced onion
4 tbsp. vinegar
1 tbsp. horseradish (do not leave this out!)
1 tbsp. yellow mustard
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp. pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Place beef fat side up in an oven-safe container. Pour mixture over and refrigerate several hours to marinate. Bake in a 300 degree oven for about 4 hours. Refrigerate overnight. Remove beef and drippings from pan. Skim fat from drippings. Slice beef against the grain, put back in pan, add drippings. Heat in 200 degree oven until warmed through. Beef can also be served cold after this and leftovers can be frozen.

Note: This recipe was scaled to accommodate the required number of servings. There are computer programs such as MasterCook that will do this for you accurately. To help with portion control and save time, I paid a local deli to slice the meat for me. This is the best way I know to serve beef to a crowd without the expense of a carving station (I purchased 25 lbs. of brisket from a local meat market for less than $3.00 per pound)

Dried Beef Cheese Ball (I doubled this recipe and made one large cheese ball)

8 oz. cream cheese
3 oz. dried beef, chopped
3 cloves garlic
¼ tsp onion salt
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce  

In a medium bowl or food processor, combine cream cheese, dried beef, and garlic. Mix well and then add onion salt and Worcestershire sauce. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

February 16, 2010

Retro Recipe- A Blast From the Past!

Filed under: Entertaining — Tags: , , — Penny Hawkins @ 2:02 pm

I thought it would be fun to bring ya’ll a retro recipe today and this one is straight out of 1972. It’s called a “Sock-it-to-me” cake, and those of us of a certain age recognize the name as a reference to Rowan and Martin’s “Laugh In”, a hippie-culture sketch comedy show that was on tv from 1968 to 1973.

The name might be based on a comedy show, but there’s nothing funny about this cake because it’s some seriously yummy eating! Back in 1972 when my mom got this recipe, it was all the rage, and any hostess worth her salt served this for tea parties, brunches, card parties, or even for dessert after dinner. My parents entertained quite a bit, and let me tell you…we ate a lot of Sock-it-to-me cake at our house!

Here’s my mom’s recipe (with a few updates from me). So what do you say? Wanna party like it’s 1972?

Sock-It-To-Me Cake

 For the cake:
1 Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Butter Recipe Golden Cake Mix
8 oz. sour cream
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
4 eggs
 
For the filling:
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup cinnamon
 
For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease and flour a bundt pan. In a large bowl, combine cake ingredients; pour 2/3 batter into prepared cake pan. Combine filling ingredients in a medium bowl; sprinkle filling over cake batter in pan. Pour remaining batter into pan. Bake at 375° for 45-55 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 25 minutes. Remove cake from pan and place on serving plate.

Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over warm cake.

January 3, 2010

The ultimate cupcake

Filed under: Baking Tips, Entertaining — Tags: , , — TrishB @ 2:26 pm

cupcakes100 people for New Year’s Eve dinner. 18 house guests. 29 items (or more) on the menu. 3 days later and I am still exhausted. That’s correct, I did not accidentally add a zero to the number 10. On New Year’s Eve I had 100 people for dinner in my home. I awoke this morning realizing that amidst the craziness of the last week I had forgotten to write my Sunday HHM blog post. So today’s will be short and sweet. Of the 29 plus items on my menu one of the favorites of both adults and kids were the cupcakes I baked.

If you are a cupcake connoisseur, and know New York City, then you know the Magnolia Bakery. Their cupcakes are sinfully delicious and ridiculously expensive. Thankfully, they have a cookbook. So whenever I make cupcakes I use their easy to follow recipes. I cannot state with absolute certainty that this is exactly how they make them, but I do know that cupcakes made from their recipes get rave reviews. I think next year cupcakes will be the only thing on my menu, and a little bubbly, of course.

CUPCAKES

– 1 1/2  cups self-rising flour
– 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
– 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
– 2 cups sugar
– 4 large eggs, at room temperature
– 1 cup milk
– 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
In small bowl, combine the flours.  Set aside. In a large bowl, on medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. Ice with Vanilla Buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing (makes enough for about 2 dozen cupcakes):


1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6-8 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of a good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar.
If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly.  Use and store the icing at room temperature. Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

December 1, 2009

Cookbook Review: The Entertaining Encyclopedia

Filed under: Entertaining, How To, Recommended Cookbooks, holidays — Tags: , , , — Penny Hawkins @ 10:13 am

Denise Vivaldo is a culinary consultant whose advice and services are much EntEncyCoversought-after within the cooking community.  With expertise in food styling, recipe development and testing, food writing, and professional culinary training, there is no doubt that Ms. Vivaldo can be considered a true authority on cooking and food-related topics. In her latest book, The Entertaining Encyclopedia, she successfully de-mystifies the whole process of planning and pulling off a successful party by walking her readers through party planning step-by-step.

In Part I of the book, Ms. Vivaldo takes all the guesswork out of party planning and execution by breaking down the entire party planning process into separate componets that she calls “Essential Party Elements”. Each of these “essential elements” contains sub-sections that explain in detail anything and everything the potential host or hostess needs to know about that specific topic. For example, in the section called Essential Element 3: Decor, she walks her readers in detail through such topics as the importance of ambiance, choosing linens, china, flatware and glassware, centerpieces and flowers, pulling your party look together, and party favors. Each section is extremely thorough and contains lists, diagrams, hints and tips that tell you everything you need to know to ensure success.

In Part II, Ms. Vivaldo covers Recipes and Menus, providing “essential recipes” for everything from appetizers to beverages. The menus are impressive, and yet none of them requires hours in the kitchen or specially-orderd expensive ingredients. You can pull off any of these menus with a trip to your local store! In addition, she helps give your inspiration a kick-start with a fun list of party theme ideas complete with recipes and tips to make your themed party a success. From Afternoon Tea to a Hawaiian Luau, there are lots of fun themes to choose from. My husband and I chose her “German Feast” theme for a dinner party we had for our new neighbors (one of whom is from Germany). Our party was a big success, and our neighbor appreciated that we brought him a little taste of his homeland in a new place. In fact, he got quite sentimental over the Red Cabbage with Apples, which he said tasted just like his grandmothers (it was savory, sweet, and delicious!).

Part III of The Entertaining Encylopedia contains a handy reference guide that explains and defines terms and techniques used in the book. Don’t know what “Mise-en-place” means? Confused about the difference between crostini and bruschetta? Part III has the answers, explained in an easy-to-understand manner for cooks of any level.

I highly recommend The Entertaining Encyclopedia as the only book that hosts and hostesses of all experience levels will need to plan and execute a successful party.  With this wonderfully thorough guide, there is no need to consult multiple cook books, ettiquette guides, or other references…absolutely everything you need to know is here!

Note: For those of you who will be attending Camp BlogAway next year, Denise Vivaldo will be one of the featured speakers! Please be sure to visit her website to find our more about Denise.

Try this amazing recipe from the book! Thanks to Denise and to Trina Kaye at The Lisa Ekus Group for providing the recipe and cover art.

                                                      Pear Bread Pudding 

 This sweet dessert is out of this world when served with warm       
 caramel sauce.  Serves 6 or can be multiplied up to 4 times
13 x 9-inch, preferably glass or ceramic casserole baking dish, generously buttered
1/2 cup (125 mL) all-purpose flour       
1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar      
1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cinnamon   
4 eggs, beaten             
1 cup (250 mL) heavy or whipping (35%) cream           
1/4 cup (50 mL) butter, melted 
1 teaspoon (5 mL) almond extract       
1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) vanilla extract      
1 pound (500 g) firm ripe pears, peeled and chopped  
1 loaf Italian bread, crusts removed, cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces (about 4 cups)
2/3 cup (150 mL) caramel sauce, warmed        
  1. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat flour, sugar, cinnamon, eggs, cream, butter, almond extract and vanilla until well combined. Fold in pears and bread.
  2. Pour into prepared baking dish, cover loosely with foil and let stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325°F (160°C).
  3. Bake, covered, in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for about 15 minutes or until top is golden brown.
  4. Scoop into dessert dishes and drizzle with caramel sauce.

Tips: Italian-style loaf bread works best for this recipe. A standard sandwich bread doesn’t have enough backbone to hold up during baking.

Make a double batch of this recipe, baking in a lasagna or roasting pan baking dish and increase baking time to 55 to 60 minutes. If you need more servings, make double batches and rotate baking dishes in the oven partway through to ensure even baking.

Easy Extras: Garnish each serving with a few raspberries or sliced almonds. Stir in 1 cup (250 mL) semisweet chocolate chips when adding the pears.

Excerpt and recipe from THE ENTERTAINING ENCYCLOPEDIA: ESSENTIAL TIPS AND RECIPES FOR PERFECT PARTIES
by Denise Vivaldo  (Robert Rose; October 2009; Softcover/$24.95)
This is not a paid product endorsement

 

October 11, 2009

Easy Entertaining

Filed under: Baking Tips, Entertaining, Religious Holidays — Tags: , , , , , , , , — TrishB @ 2:00 am

A few weeks ago Jews around the world celebrated the religion’s holiest day of the year, Yom     Kippur.  During this holiday, celebrants pray in synagogue and fast for 24 hours to atone for sins committed that year. A dairy meal is traditional for “breaking” the fast. As a child, my family always hosted this meal.  It was a time spent with family and friends after the final religious service and completion of the fast.

Since then, I have married and had my own children.  The “break” fast meal has been handed off by  my mother to me and is now my responsibility.   This year we planned to host friends and family, 36  people confirmed the day prior to the holiday.  By “break fast” we picked up another 9 and we were  up to 45 people.

So why did I choose this event for my “half hour meals” blog post?  I can’t say I prepared the whole  meal in half an hour but many of the dishes can be. I have found the key to having successful meals  for large parties is to prepare a number of dishes, any one of which could be a family meal  prepared in 30 minutes or less.

I choose dishes that are easy to prepare, delicious, and can be frozen after preparation. I’ve  learned this lesson the hard way.

I used to spend the 24-48 hours prior to a party cooking with little or no sleep. Preparing for these  larger events over a longer period helps me maintain my sanity and has kept my husband from  divorcing me. Okay, I’m not 100% but I’m definitely better.

THE MENU

Bagels, white fish, tuna salad, smoked salmon, cream cheese and all the  trimmings…
Mushroom crepes
Asparagus crisp
Pineapple Noodle Kugel (pudding)
Creme brulee french toast – I never make enough of this!
Bulka –   a traditional South African pastry made for break fast.  Served warm  with butter they are similar to cinnamon buns but not as sweet.  Forget the  recipe..these are a two day process and certainly not a half hour meal.
Fried Tilapia with tartar sauce

DESSERT

Pecan Puffs
Shortbread cookies
Scones with jam and cream – find it in the bread and baked goods section of Half Hour Meals
Brownie Pops – these are my quick version of those amazing cake pops that  Bakerellas has made famous in the food blogging world)  I probably should have  stuck to her recipe because they didn’t come out like I would have liked but they  looked pretty…not perfectly round like I would have liked, but pretty enough for  the kids to dive in.
Chocolate chip cookies
Poached peaches
Almond tart
Coffee meringue with strawberries and whipped cream

So here are a few pictures from our most recent Yom Kippur “break” fast a some of the easy recipes that you can prepare in advance or last  minute till you learn the hard way…

ASPARAGUS CRISP

2 cans asparagus, drained

1/2 cup mayonnaise (can use low fat)

1 cup cheddar

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2-1 tsp lemon juice

plain potato chips

paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease a pyrex.  Place asparagus in a single layer in dish.  Mix mayo, cheddar, sugar and lemon juice (to taste).  Spread over  asparagus.  Sprinkle cheddar over asparagus and mayo mixture.  Sprinkle with paprika.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Mayo mixture can be prepared a day in advance.  Put all ingredients together morning of party and bake before guests arrive.

CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST

(the prep time is very fast but you do need to let it sit overnight)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

6 (1 inch thick) slices French bread or 1 Challah bread cut into 1” slices

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with Pam.

Melt butter over medium heat.

Add brown sugar and corn syrup, stirring until sugar is dissolved and consistency is smooth.

Pour into baking dish.

Remove crusts from bread. Arrange in the baking dish in a single layer. You can squeeze the pieces in so they fit.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half,  and vanilla extract.

Pour over the bread.

Cover, and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the dish from the refrigerator, and bring to room temperature.

Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. The french toast should be puffed and lightly browned.

SWEET PINEAPPLE KUGEL

1 Packet medium egg noodles

3 eggs

1 pint cottage cheese

1 pint sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1 scant cup sugar

1 (8oz.) can crushed pineapple, well drained

Frosted flakes (or corn flakes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook noodles 8-10 minutes.  Drain.  Place in a bowl.  Add butter and stir until melted.  Add remaining ingredients (except for frosted  flakes) one at a time. Stir after each ingredient is added.

Place in a 9 x 12 x 2 inch pyrex, sprayed with Pam.  Cover with crushed frosted flakes.

Bake 1 hour.

Can be prepared a day in advance and baked day of meal.

POACHED PEACHES

4-6 peaches

4 cups of water

2 cups sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Make an x in each peach.  Pour boiling water over peaches for a few minutes.  Peel skin off peaches.  Bring water and sugar to a boil.  Turn down and simmer in a heavy saucepan. Stir to dissolve sugar.  Add peaches.  Cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, making  sure peaches don’t get too soft.  Remove peaches.  Add lemon juice to syrup.  Pour over peaches when cool. Refrigerate at least 3  hours.  Serve cold.

Can be made 3 days in advance.

PECAN PUFFS

1/4 lb. butter

2 tbs. sugar

1 tbs. vanilla

1 cup finely ground pecans or walnuts

1 cup flour

Confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar.  Add vanilla and pecans.  Add flour.  Roll the dough into small balls and place on greased baking sheet.  Place  in freezer for about half hour.

Bake in oven for approx. 40 minutes.  Roll while still warm in confectioners sugar.  When cool, roll again in confectioners sugar.

Can be stored frozen.

& Brownie Pops,  the kid’s favorite…
of course

September 3, 2008

Fast Serve-able Snacks

Filed under: Entertaining — Tags: , — April Boland @ 12:22 am

If you’re like me, you probably enjoy having friends over to talk, watch movies and nosh on some good food. (If you don’t, you should try it sometime!) These “nights in” can save you all a good deal of money when you consider what it costs for each person to make or purchase a small dish and rent a movie as opposed to dinner and a movie out. Yet some foods are faster to prepare and easier to eat than others, especially at intimate potluck events such as I am describing. Here are some ideas for what to serve your guests that will not take hours to prepare or wind up staining your carpet.

  • Cold cut roll-ups – You may remember this from childhood, but nicely paired slices of cheese and meat can be rolled together and served on a platter.
  • Crudité – Raw veggies and dip are healthy, simple and ever popular. You can use baby carrots, celery sticks, cauliflower, broccoli, cherry tomatoes or cucumber slices. The dip is also easy – a 60-cent bag of dip mix combined with fat-free sour cream will yield one that is tasty but not too calorie-heavy.
  • Pigs in a blanket – Mini hot dogs rolled in biscuit dough and baked in the oven. These are perfect hors ‘d’oeuvres. To lighten this up, you might try turkey or vegetarian dogs and light or wheat biscuits.
  • Fine cheese – Spring for some Brie (they even sell a light version!) and serve it to friends with wheat crackers or crusty French bread. You can also make a fruit/cheese plate by adding grapes and pear or apple slices on the side.
  • Asian chicken lettuce wraps – These are not too difficult to make. Buy a ready-made rotisserie chicken (or throw a couple of breasts into the oven) and construct your wraps using large lettuce leaves and Thai peanut sauce (available in the Asian section of most supermarkets).

Happy hosting!

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