This years Halloween party was another winner. Since I'm currently not working the party prep was so much easier because I had the whole week to prepare vs just taking off the day before. As always I cooked way too much food, some things disappeared, some things were barely touched and some things didn't work out very well. Each time I have a party I try and do a party review after the fact to see what worked and what didn't. The funny thing is it's always different. Some winners the year before don't always continue to be winners and visa versa. I'll post the winning recipies.
2010 MENU:
DIPS & CHIPS: This was one too many dips for sure. Next year only do 2 dips at the most.
Greek Dip & Pita Chips: Hardly got touched. I made homemade hummus which is a winner with my family and has gone over well when I had a few girls over for drinks and a couple of appetizers but adding it to this Greek Dip with was a layer of softened cream cheese with chives, hummus, chopped tomatoes & black olives, feta was a bust. Maybe because there was too many other choices, maybe because the Stacie's Pita Chips were broken crumbles or maybe because it wasn't exciting. I won't make it again because I don't think the cream cheese added enough except calories. What I will try though is to create a Greek like salsa and top the hummus with that.
Bacon Cheese Ring with Triscuits and bread slices: I have made this several times before like for a Christmas party but this also didn't go over well. Since it has mayo in it, it's also not a great thing to sit out for a long period of time. I had forgotten that it only contains a package of cooked bacon, a lb. of cheddar, cayenne and mayo and served with strawberry jam. People were not sure if it was to be served with the crackers or bread. I think it's best on bread but you can do either. I will make this again but probably not for a Halloween party. Unfortunately I could make it next year and it could disappear. It depends on the crowd.
Salsa & Tortilla Chips: I purchased salsa from Costco, premade and didn't even finish off one bowl. I also didn't have this sitting with the other food. It was on the coffee table so the only one's who ate it were those sitting on the couch. When you separate food in various locations, although it is suppose to make people mingle, it sometimes simply gets forgotten.
Ranch Pretzels: These were also sitting on the coffee table. This will always be a winner even though I didn't need to refill the bowl. I did hear those who were eating them ask for the recipe.
Fruit and Veggie platter: A guest brought the sliced fruit and almost all of that went. All the veggies I put out also went. Maybe people are getting healthier because I can't count the number of times that none of the veggies go. I didn't put out the Brie. The Antipasti skewers were beautiful but need to be assembled way ahead because it's too time consuming. I assembled about 20 and then put out the rest for people to assemble on their own. This worked out fine.
COLD FINGER FOODS: Two of these were perfect. Only problem was that I had to assemble these last minute because I don't have a place to store platters.
Crostini: Slices of sour dough baguettes, spread with cream cheese mixed with horseradish, topped with caramelized onions, thinly sliced roast beef and a roma tomato slice. These all went. I only made about 20. This was good because there was no mayo unlike the Cucumber Toastie dip.
Cucumber Toasties: Slices of sweet french bread with Hidden Valley Ranch flavored cream cheese with mayo topped with a cucumber and sprinkled with dried dill. All but two of these went. I assembled about 20 so just like the Crostini I had leftovers that I didn't make more with. If I only made one flavor I may have gotten rid of them all.
HOT FINGER FOODS IN SERVER (meatballs, sausage saute and pulled pork) I had a ton of leftovers with these. I think the sausage saute was too spicy for some, the pulled pork and the meatballs are hit and miss, people love them but they don't always disappear. I think some don't want to bother making a sandwich with the pulled pork and some don't even lift the lid to see what's inside. I did enjoy the homemade meatballs better but next time I'll try a different sauce vs the chili and cranberry. I think assembling them the week before and baking them the day before was the best idea.
BAKED LAST MINUTE HOT FINGER FOODS: I only made one of the three here which was enough. The ham and cheese crescents all went and even cold they still taste good. Since they don't have mayo they will last until they are gone. If you are going to have more hot foods I think it's best to bring things out in stages and pass them around. Unfortunately at my parties that doesn't work for me. After a couple of drinks I don't want nothing to do with the kitchen.
DESSERTS: I made rice crispy treats which I individually wrapped in plastic wrap (great idea). I shaped them in balls, colored them orange but the orange color needs to be darker. I wrapped them in green plastic wrap but next year I'm going to look for orange and avoid the food coloring. Then I tied them off with green curling Christmas ribbon which looked like the pumpkin vines. I had a few leftovers but that's OK by me. The cookies disappeared. They were my Twice Loaded cookies. Everyone loved these. The problem however with the deserts was that people didn't know there were deserts on the dining room table until I pointed it out. The candy cake was a great centerpiece but not much of the candy disappeared.
DRINKS: Beer worked out well, red wine wasn't touched but someone did come late with a couple of bottles that he opened and shared. He is known for his wine so this was quite a treat. Next year I will not open any wine because frankly I like good wine but at a large party like the Halloween party I can't afford to serve multiple bottles of great wine and I don't know a good inexpensive version. The punch was a hit but I had way too much leftover. The last time I ran out and people wanted more so I was prepared for two batches. Funny thing is you never know and this year one batch would have been fine. I think I'll reduce the vodka next time some thought it was too strong. If it was weaker the drinkers would have drank more and the non drinkers would have been OK with it. I did have two shots ready to go but only served one and only went through 1/2 of it. Next year only one shot.
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