Tuesday, May 24, 2011

It's Party Time!

This weekend I threw a surprise party for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary. It was the first time that I have had to prepare food for such a big group and the task seemed a bit daunting at first. To start I had no idea what appetizers to serve nor had I ever really made many appetizers. In the end I settled on one dip, a fruit salad and a pasta salad. All were easy to prepare and only one required the oven, which worked out perfectly. The most difficult part was the sheer amount of prep work. Fortunately I had a handful of kind and helpful family members offer to help. My advice is to set up several stations, then no one is in each others way. We had a fruit and vegetable washing, cutting and assembly stations. I also had a separate area to work on the dip.  All I have to say is that I'm lucky my parents have a decently large kitchen. In total it took 3-4 of us about an hour and a half to prepare all three dished for 20-30 people. In the end it was a big success and everyone seemed to enjoy the food, especially the buffalo chicken dip. The recipes are as follow:


Garden-Fresh Pasta Salad


Ingredients
    1 pkg. (16 oz.) whole wheat farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
    2 cups  broccoli florets
    1 each red onion and red pepper, chopped
    2 cups  halved cherry tomatoes
    1 bottle (8 oz.) KRAFT Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette Dressing
    1/2 cup  KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions

    COOK pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt and adding broccoli to the boiling water for the last 3 min.

    DRAIN. Rinse with cold water; drain well. Place in large bowl. Add all remaining ingredients except cheese; mix lightly.

    REFRIGERATE 1 hour. Stir gently before serving; top with cheese


Fruit Salad



Ingredients

    * 7 ounces Greek yogurt (recommended: Fage Total)
    * 1/3 cup good bottled lemon curd
    * 1 tablespoon honey
    * 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    * 2 cups sliced strawberries (1 pint)
    * 1 cup raspberries (1/2 pint)
    * 1 cup blueberries (1/2 pint)
    * 2 tablespoons sugar
    * 3 tablespoons limoncello liqueur
    * 1 banana, sliced
    * Fresh mint springs

Directions

For the lemon yogurt topping, whisk together the yogurt, lemon curd, honey, and vanilla and set aside at room temperature.

For the fruit salad, carefully toss together the strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, sugar, and limoncello. Allow them to stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes to let the berries macerate with the sugar and liqueur. Gently fold the banana into the mixture.

Serve bowls of fruit with a dollop of lemon yogurt on top. Top each with a sprig of fresh mint.

Buffalo Chicken Dip




 
Ingredients

    * 1 8-ounce package cream cheese
    * 2 cups cooked chicken (store-bought rotisserie or canned), shredded
    * 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce, recommended brand Frank's red Hot
    * 2 tablespoons butter, melted
    * 1/2 cup blue cheese dressing 
    * 1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Cover the bottom of an 8x8" dish or pie plate with cream cheese.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the shredded chicken, wing sauce and butter, and pour over the cream cheese-filled dish or pie plate.

Top with just enough blue cheese dressing and mozzarella cheese to cover (adding too much cheese will cause a thick skin to form that will make eating the dip difficult once the cheese cools).

Heat the dip in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve with Scoops (Tortillas or Fritos) alongside for dipping.