Desperate Non-Housewife

[cjsmith]

How did I get myself into this?

In two and a half weeks I'm hosting anywhere from thirty to sixty people (RSVP percentage is still low). There will be a lot of "walk around and talk to people" going on as I do not own anywhere near that many chairs. The start time is advertised as 7pm. I have NOT specified pot luck, and it's a bit late to change my tune. There will be wine. That much I know how to do.

WHAT DO I FEED THESE PEOPLE?

I do not "cook". I can make a basic meal, but it ain't party food, and in general it will impress no one. Plus I'd like to be able to enjoy myself; last time I "cooked" for guests I spent all day and evening in the kitchen and merely heard rumors later that others had had a good time. So I'm looking for something requiring no or little or simple preparation, and something that can be fully prepared well ahead of time.

- They'll be mingling and carrying both food and drink. Finger foods?
- Some may arrive as early as 7. Something substantial?
- It'll go on all evening. Foods not requiring heat or chilling?
- There are a LOT of people. Foods I can distribute over several tables throughout the place?

Any ideas meeting these basic criteria are very welcome. :)

edit: Likely closer to 30 people. If all our maybes and nonresponders show, we get 40; if our nonresponders all bring guests, 50 tops.
edit2: The party was billed as an "informal gathering", holiday, no gifts.

Comments

Re: thoughts

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, hummus... there's a good way to get somewhat-filling finger food that will sit well for hours without heating or chilling. Thanks for the wide variety of food ideas. It's good to plan ahead for things that will be okay an hour after they've been put out there.

Cookies can be made IN ADVANCE, which is a big big win. Yay! (Further ideas for types of cookies are always welcome, though I'm a big time cookie baker anyway and will be all right if you don't get back to this thread.) If this were a smaller group I'd even make some roll-and-cut and do a "frost your own" area, but it's probably too messy for a space that'll be this crowded.

Thanks!

Re: thoughts

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Others have mentioned a couple of things I'd like to expand on. First is the idea of rolled sandwiches. That's probably a good thing to consider. Easy to make up in advance, they keep well in the fridge, and you can cut into pinwheels just before serving. We've recently discovered "FlatOut" bread at the Safeway. My daughter loves it. Sort of like Lavosh, but softer, it comes in rectangles for easy spreading and use. She likes cream cheese and avocado, but if you use Avocado be sure to mix it with some lemon juice or it will look yucky by the time you put it on the table. Various deli meats work fine, of course. Any veggies you use (tomato, cucumber) are best julienned, or they tend to get lumpy and not roll well. Chopped olives can mix into the cream cheese well. Sandwiches of any kind don't keep well on a buffet table, but these probably won't stay around terribly long anyway.

Also, if you want to use your one crockpot on an EASY, tasty dish, I recommend my hubbies favorite: Hot Dogs in Sauce. Brainlessly simple. Take ye a couple packages of Oscar Meyer Weiners (really, these are the best--OM All Beef will work. Don't use off-brand or even Hebrew National, though), and cut them into 1/2 - 3/4" rounds. Dump in 1 bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce (find in the Ketchup section), and 1 "regular" jar of Cherry Jam or preserves. Other flavors will work, but cherry's the best. Mix it all and heat it, preferably till the hotdogs "plump" a bit. Serve with a slotted spoon and/or toothpicks. For a Crockpot, I'd probably make at least a double recipe, so maybe 4 packs of hotdogs and 2 sauce recipes. I swear this is an amazingly tasty recipe and gets eaten up at every gathering we've taken it to (as long as they aren't all vegetarians). Keep the crock pot on low and they'll keep all evening.

Cookies in next comment. :^)

Re: thoughts

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

OK, need more detail on Hot Dogs in Sauce please.

- Bottle of Heinz chili sauce = how big? About the size of those old-style ketchup squeeze-bottles in a diner? That's what I picked up. (times 2.)
- "Regular" jar of cherry jam = how big? I found one that looked quite a bit bigger than what I'd ever buy, but then, I don't eat jellies and jams.

THANK YOU! This one is easy & I'll be happy to have it.

Re: thoughts

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

We just made this over the weekend, as it happens, so I looked at the bottles. The chili sauce (Heinz) was 12 oz. The cherry preserves (Safeway brand) were 18 oz. We used one recipe of sauce with 4 packages of hot dogs in a 2 quart microwavable dish. That's kind of squeezed, and not as much sauce as we usually prefer, but it worked. I'd still recommend 1 recipe of sauce for every 2-3 packages.

BTW: Letting this cook for a while makes the hotdogs taste more exotic and less like hot dogs. "A while" in this case means more than 10 minutes, but probably not more than an hour in advance of the party. They will sit quite happily in the crock pot on low for a couple of hours, though, as long as there's enough liquid left.

Re: thoughts

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo, excellent detail for the newbie. Thank you! Safeway cherry preserves is exactly what I've got. :) My crock-pot is 4qt, so 2 sauce / 4+ pkgs hot dogs ought to fit. Yay! I can't wait to EAT some of this stuff.

Re: thoughts

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Sounds like that should work perfectly. Honestly, once you've got that going, you shouldn't need to do more than check the liquid level occasionally and give it a little stir. A slotted spoon would probably help with serving.

Sounds like you've got things pretty much under control at this point! Good luck!

Re: thoughts

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

On to the Cookies--since you are a baker, you probably have plenty of ideas already. Here are a few of the quickest ones that we used to do.

Commercial Brownies, topped with a mint-flavored frosting colored red or green (we would do one tray of each). If you have time, drizzle with German's sweet chocolate for extra elegance. Keep cool (the garage was always good enough for us), and cut into small (1 - 1 1/2") squares shortly before serving if possible. Happy to send actual recipe if you need.

Pinwheel cookies: Using a sugar cookie recipe, divide into equal parts, and color each part a different bright color. Optionally, flavor each color differently as well. Be careful of color/flavor combos, though, as some work better than others! We used to do things like white/vanilla, green/almond, red/peppermint, yellow/lemon. Refrigerate the dough. Then take each color, and roll into rectangles of approximately the same size, layer two colors on top of each other, and roll into logs. Refrigerate again, wrapped in plastic. Cut crosswise, forming pinwheel designs, bake, and store layered in wax paper in airtight container. These keep very well, need no frosting, and look great. You can also use the same dough in solid logs, and roll them in a generous layer of chopped nuts, coconut, or jimmies, too. Two styles of cookie for one dough--yay!

My mom also used to make a cookie with a blondie base, chocolate chips sprinkled on top while warm and then spread, sprinkled with chopped nuts and/or coconut while warm, and drizzled all over with caramel after. Again, happy to find recipe if it sounds good to you. These we'd cut into *parallelograms* (cut lengthwise one way, and diagonally the other), for variety in shape. You need a cookie that won't crumble on the tip for that, though.

You can also make any non-crumbly bar cookie into triangles by a similar method. Cut diagonally both directions, and then crosswise to separate the diamonds into triangles.

If you have time for rolling into balls, then "thumbprint" cookies are a good choice. Fill centers with jam, candied fruit, nuts, or (my fave) Hershey's kisses pressed into center while still slightly warm (NB: I saw bags of UNWRAPPED kisses the other day!). Again, great variety available for low effort.

If you insist on frosting cut-out cookies, consider piping the frosting on with a pastry bag fitted with a fairly large tip. Quickest frosting method we ever found.

Mmmmm... cookies. Now I'm hungry! :^D