Tag: party

Recipes for a Great End of Summer BBQ

It’s the last weekend of summer, and the perfect time to have one more BBQ.  These  recipes will ensure that all of your guests have fun and leave your party well fed.

Let’s start with beverages.  How about this Watermelon Cocktail or some White Wine Sangria?

 

 

Get the grill fired up early, and make some homemade Roasted Red Peppers to add to your standard burgers.  If you’re looking for something a little different, try these Bacon Cheese Inside Out Turkey Burgers!

If you’d rather not serve burgers at all, try these pizzas on the grill.  Everyone can customize their own personal pizza!

 

Looking for a something a little fancier?  Maybe you’d like to serve a Mediterranean Chopped Salad buffet, or these Grilled Portobello Mushrooms with Manchego cheese.

 

 

And of course, you can’t forget dessert.  Your guests will love this Mocha Ice Cake.  But if you’re short on time, just go for old fashioned smores.  There’s nothing like toasted marshmallow and melted chocolate to make you forget that summer is ending at all.

 

 

Cheesy Spinach Dip

There are about a thousand recipes on the Internet for cheesy spinach dips.  In fact, I posted about Spinach Artichoke Dip just last year.  But I have to confess that most times, these dips all taste the same to me.  What I like about this recipe is that it uses ‘real food’ cottage cheese and sour cream, rather than cream cheese.

Last week I made the mistake of spoiling my dinner with a dip, so this week I planned dinner to be an appetizer plate.  The dip was great with both crackers and carrot sticks, and fulfilled my craving for a fun and cheesy meal.

 

Cheesy Spinach Dip

1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 c. low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 c.  low-fat sour cream
1/4 c. + 1 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 T whole wheat flour
Black Pepper

Mix spinach, cottage cheese, sour cream, 1/4 c. Parmesan, cheddar cheese, and whole wheat flour in a large bowl.  Season well with black pepper.  Top with remaining 1 T Parmesan.  Pour into an 8″ pie plate coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

Almond Brownies

When people stop by your house to meet your newborn, or perhaps play with your active toddler, it’s always nice to be able to offer them a chocolatey treat.  Or at least that’s what my Mom and I told ourselves when we decided that we should bake some brownies for my sister.  See, we had stocked the freezer but not the cookie jar.

Our mission was to bake something sweet that did not require a trip to the grocery store.  These cocoa brownies from Smitten Kitchen fit the bill.  Requiring just butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla, eggs, and flour, you just might have all the ingredients in your kitchen right now.  And I would urge you to go ahead and make a batch, because these brownies were smooth, rich, and fudge-like, similar to flourless chocolate cake.

We added 2/3 cup of chopped almonds which provided a bit of crunch, but that almost detracted from the silky texture.  Next time I would skip the nuts and keep all the attention on the chocolate.  It’s amazing what cocoa powder and butter can do. 

 

Tangy Potato Salad

I bookmarked this Red, White, and Blue Potato Salad from RecipeGirl a while ago, thinking it would be perfect for the 4th of July.  Of course that didn’t happen, but when I was invited over to a BBQ Friday night, I decided to make the recipe with local red potatoes from the Brookline Farmer’s Market.  I made a few other tweaks, using a heavier hand with the mustard and a lighter hand with the salt.

Since I needed to rename the recipe anyway, I thought I would reference the flavor – this potato salad is tangy!  With the mustard, red wine vinegar, and black pepper, there’s a lot of zing.  I enjoyed it though, and a few guests really liked it as an alternative to mayonnaise-based potato salad.  But no matter what kind of potato salad you make, I guarantee it will taste better if you’re relaxing in the backyard with a tiki torch.

 

 

 

Tangy Potato Salad

5 large red potatoes, scrubbed and cut in 1 1/2″ chunks
1/4 c. chopped red onion
2 T chopped parsley
2 T chopped chives
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 T mustard
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t salt

Place cut potatoes in a large pot of cold water.  Bring to a boil, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Rinse with cold water and allow to cool slightly.

Mix cooked potatoes with onion and herbs.  In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, oil, mustard, pepper, and salt.  Pour dressing over potatoes and toss well.

 – Recipes adapted from Recipe Girl

Chicken Taquitos

A few weeks ago, I went on a quick trip to Mohegan Sun.  I am not really a big gambler, but love to people-watch.  The hotel room was gorgeous, and the air conditioned environment was very enjoyable in the middle of a heat wave.  But my favorite part of the trip was our meal at SolToro, a Mexican restaurant at the casino.  We ordered a bunch of appetizers to share, including the Chicken Taquitos which were amazing.  I immediately declared that I had to try to recreate these myself.

This Baked Chicken Taquito recipe served as my primary guide, although I altered the tortilla preparation as suggested in the comments.  This is a great party recipe, because you can do most of the work in advance and just fill and bake the tray of taquitos right before serving.  They are perfect for dipping in salsa, guacamole, or sour cream (or all three!)  These taquitos don’t have the same fried taste as the ones at the restaurant, but they do have a fantastic flavor.  If you’d like them a little spicier, I would add some cayenne pepper to the filling.  I almost did that myself, but was too nervous since I was cooking for a group.  And rest assured, a vegetarian version of these taquitos is already swirling around in my head…..

 

Chicken Taquitos

1 T canola oil
1 c. chopped onion
2 t minced garlic
1 t cumin
1 t paprika
2 c. shredded cooked chicken
1/2 c. chopped cilantro
15 corn tortillas
1 1/2 c. shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Heat oil in a large skillet.  Add onion, and cook for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Add garlic, and cook for 2 minutes.  Add cumin and paprika and stir to coat.  Stir in chicken and cilantro, and remove from heat.

Place 5 tortillas between two damp paper towels, and microwave on medium power for 30 seconds.  Fill each tortilla with about 2 T chicken mixture, and 1 1/2 T shredded cheese.  Roll up, and place seam side down on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Repeat with remaining tortillas.

Lightly coat filled tortillas with cooking spray, and bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

-Adapted from Whole Foods Market

Salsa and Guacamole

Last year for my Mom’s birthday, we had an elegant dinner of bruschetta, eggplant gremolata, penne with vodka sauce, veal scaloppine, and mocha ice cream cake.  It was certainly a meal to remember, and we enjoyed the earlier courses while our littlest family member was awake, and then had the later courses after his bedtime.

This year, we had a much more low key Mexican-themed meal, but it was just as much fun.  And this time, the littlest person got to stay up right to the end, to sing a well practiced “Happy Birthday”.  Of course, every Mexican fiesta needs to start with some homemade salsa and guacamole.

For the salsa, I turned to this Salsa Fresca recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  It’s a simple recipe with the usual ingredients: tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, and lime.  The salsa was fine, but not spectacular as we’ve come to expect from Deb.  To be fair, I am not a salsa eater so need to rely on the opinions of others.  Still, I think it was nice to eat salsa that didn’t come from a glass jar.

For the guacamole, I turned to Jenna from Eat, Live, Run and what she calls the only guacamole recipe you’ll ever need.  It’s another easy recipe, calling for avocados, onion, lime juice, jalapeno, and salt.  I may not enjoy salsa, but guacamole is something I’ve grown to love.  Some people thought the lime flavor was almost too strong, but I really liked it, and the jalapeno gave the guacamole just the right amount of kick. 

 

You may think that homemade salsa and guacamole are no big deal, and to you I say, just wait for the next recipe, chicken taquitos!

White Sangria

 

 

The summer was halfway over when I finally had my first glass of white sangria at a local Boston bar.  And sadly, when I ordered a second glass, the waitress informed me that they had run out.  So what’s a girl to do but concoct a pitcher of white sangria the following weekend?  This was literally a game of “Let’s Check the Liquor Cabinet” followed by “Let’s See What’s in the Fruit Basket”.  The final game was the most difficult: “Let’s Wait For the Flavors to Blend”.  We lasted about 30 minutes before glasses were poured.  It was really hot out!  Here’s the final recipe:

4 c. white wine (nothing fancy, the kind from a box)
1/2 c. triple sec
1/4 c. brandy
2 c. club soda
1/2 cantaloupe, peeled and diced
1 ripe necatrine, pit removed and diced
1 ripe plum, pit removed and diced
1 tray ice cubes

The sangria was light and refreshing, and the perfect way to kick off a summer evening.  Cheers!

S’mores on a Stick

This recipe has been making it’s way around the blog world, most notably on CarrotsnCake.  It’s a dessert that’s super simple and super cute.  When my sister wanted to make them, I quickly agreed that we should give it a try.

All you need is marshmallows, chocolate chips, animal crackers, and skewers.  You put each marshmallow on a skewer, roll it in melted chocolate chips, and then roll it in crushed graham cracker.  After chilling in the refrigerator for a bit, they’re ready to eat!

 

Any S’mores purist will tell you that toasting the marshmallow is, like, the most important part.  And I kind of agree, even if I do manage to burn my fingers every time I actually try to make them.  But this is still a quick and easy dessert in it’s own right, and great for parties because guests can pick at them throughout the evening.

Mediterranean Chopped Salad

One of my favorite meals this weekend was Mediterranean Chopped Salad, which I made by loosely following a recipe from Oprah. I love that we served it salad bar style, and everyone could pick and choose their own salad ingredients. The choices included chopped Romaine, grilled zucchini, eggplant, and red onion, roasted red peppers, grape tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese. Everything looked so pretty on an antique tablecloth from my grandmother.

The salad bar was great, but the basil dressing stole the show. I used a smoothie maker to blend everything together, and the result was incredible. I was a bad blogger and didn’t document the exact measurements, but the dressing roughly contained:
    • 1 chopped shallot
  • 1 spoonful of minced garlic

 

  • 1 spoonful of mustard

 

  • 1 spoonful of sugar

 

  • 1 cup basil leaves

 

  • 1/2 c. red wine vinegar

 

  • 1 c. olive oil

 

  • 1/4 c. water

 

Here is a shot of my Dad’s (first) bowl, ready to be enjoyed with a glass of wine on the deck. We may have to make the Mediterranean salad bar a Fourth of July tradition!