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

[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!