Party Food Archives - Feeding the Masses

More Wedding Thoughts–What Went Right?

December 16, 2022August 5, 2020 by Debi Simons

Image by jerriek from Pixabay–not my cupcakes, but the cupcake stand looks identical to mine

I had a comment on my previous post asking about what went right for the wedding food I made this past weekend, so I figured I should write a little more about that. (Although I did have a few positive things to say in my previous post, I always figure that warnings to someone who may be doing the same thing are more useful than my raving about how delicious everything was. Which it was!)

For one, the little lemon tarts were fabulous, with the crusts staying crisp even after sitting for awhile. I’m not going to re-write the recipe here but instead will direct you to “A Set of Sweet Mini Tart Variations” earlier in this blog. The lemon recipe is the fourth one down. The brownies also came out well, and as it turned out these two items had the most leftovers, for some reason. In spite of my agonizing about the oversized cupcakes and cheesecakes there weren’t really all that many left when all was said and done. The tarts and brownies were the most freezable of the items I made, so they’re now safely ensconced in freezer bags out in our extra garage freezer.

Post-Partay Thoughts (And a Great Pistachio Cupcake Recipe)

March 9, 2020March 9, 2020 by Debi Simons

So . . . this past Friday, March 6, was the Irish concert by the Cherry Creek Chorale, a great, great occasion. And afterwards was the reception (which, thankfully, is held only after the Friday-night concert, not the Saturday-night one.) I made three items: my Spicy Cheddar Cookies, Guinness Brownies, and Pistachio Cupcakes. Follow the links to the first two recipes if you’re interested. And for the wonderful frosting I made, go here. I’m giving the recipe for the pistachio cupcakes below. For the Guinness Brownies I’m linking to the post over at Sally’s Baking Addiction. Note, though, that I ended up just using the white chocolate-cream cheese frosting linked to above for those as well as for the pistachio cupcakes. I had made a double batch of the frosting and realized that I had plenty for all of them. I

A Fabulous, Rich Chocolate Tart That’s Vegan–But You’d Never Know It

February 6, 2020January 9, 2020 by Debi Simons

Image by code404 from Pixabay; to see original photos go to https://bojongourmet.com/gluten-free-vegan-chocolate-tart-tahini-caramel/

I’m not a vegan myself nor do I plan to ever become one, but it’s an interesting challenge to have a vegan guest for dinner. My friend Aubrey had made some vegan chocolate tartlets last year for our church Christmas party and I just about passed out when I ate one of them. Astonishing! I couldn’t believe that it didn’t have any butter or eggs in it. So I set out to reproduce this experience as part of our desserts for my sister-in-law’s birthday dinner on Dec. 30 since a vegan friend of hers was coming, and I found one online that sounded pretty good. The original was also gluten free, but I had no need for that and didn’t want to buy tapioca starch and sweet rice flour. I can’t stand being told that I need some specialty ingredient but only a small amount! The original called for only two tablespoons of the tapioca flour, so I’d be buying a whole bag that would then sit on my pantry shelf. But one item that the recipe does call for and which you should always have on hand is tahini, that is, sesame-seed paste. I’ve bought high-end tahini through the mail (and paid a pretty high-end price), but actually I like the stuff you can find at the grocery store just fine. Tahini and chocolate are an inspired combination.

A Christmas Grab-Bag

December 25, 2019 by Debi Simons

Hi folks! Today is Christmas Day. I started this post two days ago, but company and outings and cooking interrupted me. Probably no one is going to read this post until tomorrow, but if you do get to it today—Merry Christmas! You can think of this as a holiday grab-bag.

First, an idea articulated by my husband, one of those blindingly-obvious statements that never occurs to anyone:

One of the reasons why you had less trouble with your weight as a child then you do now as an adult is that children aren’t in control of what food is available. Adults are.

Some Scattered Food Thoughts As We Head into Christmas–and a Great Punch Recipe

December 14, 2019 by Debi Simons

Hi everybody! My last post was before Thanksgiving, with a promised post-mortem on the meal. I’m afraid I’ve let events get the better of me on that, so here are some thoughts on TG and also some projections into the future:

1. Dry brining is the way to go with any type of meat. I would refer you to a massive Serious Eats manifesto on this subject: “Dry brining Is the Best Way to Brine Meat, Poultry and More.” I did something along their lines for my turkey breast at Thanksgiving and it came out quite moist and delicious. I also dry-brined some steaks recently and they were, like, totally awesome–flavorful with a great crust.

A New Occasion for Feeding People—And Some New Lessons Learned

December 16, 2022October 21, 2019 by Debi Simons

There’s been a friendly rivalry of sorts going on at our church between another woman and myself over who gets to do what food events. Neither one of us is actually running a business per se, but we both enjoy(?) putting on big meals. I had done our church Christmas party dinner (60-75 people) for about three years, then I said it was just too much. So my friendly rival (henceforth designated FR) took it over and did a spectacular job. I stayed out of the fray except for making desserts and my famous pink eggnog for several years, but then I sort of missed it. Last year I asked the woman in charge if I could do it. “Oh, I’m so sorry, but FR already asked if she could do it again this year, and I said yes.” So I stuck with my usual role. FR had also done the food for our annual women’s retreat for a couple of years, with the 2018 one being especially good. She made her grandmother’s green chile (chili? I can never remember when to use which spelling), and it was awesome. Plus she made this cold strawberry soup for dessert. Man! Plus, she made some little chocolate tarts that were . . . vegan. And in spite of that drawback they were honestly one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth. So rich!

Plans for the Par-Tay

August 23, 2019 by Debi Simons

Tomorrow is the annual member picnic for the Cherry Creek Chorale, with about 75 people attending. I went to Costco this morning to pick up the food for the items I’m making, and I had the same experience that I’ve had many times before: going ahead and getting started on the preparations gave me a shot of adrenaline. I’d been going around in a state of low-level anxiety about this event, but now that the fridge is loaded up with the food and I have a plan for tomorrow I’m looking forward to it.

The 400 Treats of a Fine August Wedding

October 8, 2019August 12, 2019 by Debi Simons

Hope you got the Dr. Seuss reference.

Anyway, we had a lovely, lovely wedding at our church Saturday. The colors were navy blue and yellow, the flowers were sunflowers and baby’s breath, and all in all it was truly charming. They even had little packets of sunflower seeds at each place setting, and while normally I think such things are a total waste, somehow this little gesture seemed quite fitting even though I have no plans to actually, like, plant them. (I’ll probably give them to my mother-in-law.) People had labored to put up draped

How to Make Your Own Pie for the Fourth of July (Or Any Other Holiday)

July 23, 2019July 9, 2019 by Debi Simons

I’ve decided that I will be making two pies a year from now on, the Brandied Butternut Squash Pie from the peerless Melissa Clark that I made for Thanksgiving last year and this apple pie for July 4^th. (I don’t think pies count as “massive.”) While I’ve made apple pies in the past, and I liked them okay, there were problems:

1. The apples always seemed to be partly raw.

2. The crust tended to be soggy on the bottom.

But in spite of these drawbacks I wanted to make an apple pie sometime during the July 4^thweekend. This desire was mainly fired by a Sally’s Baking Addiction post in which she demonstrated how

Make the Effort to Serve Real Food

June 13, 2019 by Debi Simons

I have a number of posts in mind—a great new muffin recipe, some more anti-fad-diet rants—but for today here are some ideas for you to ponder as you head into the rest of the summer with all of its get-togethers. I’m sure there are cookouts and weddings yet to come, family visits and maybe even block parties. (Jim and I are pondering that last one.) There’s always the temptation to simply check off boxes for the menu. We have potato salad from Costco—check. We have fried chicken from King Soopers—check. We have a cake from King Soopers or Costco