Party Food
As I mentioned, last weekend was Mr. Fob's graduation as well as Father's Day. My parents and sister came up to visit, as well as Mr. Fob's mother, so we had a lot of fun entertaining everyone for the weekend. As I've mentioned before, one of my favorite things to do is cook so I love throwing big parties. This time the food all turned out so well that I thought I'd post a few recipes. On Saturday evening we went to the park and had a nice picnic dinner by the water. I made chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, Asian coleslaw, potato salad, and chocolate-cream cheese cupcakes. We had friends who brought fruit and chips and it turned out to be the perfect picnic. Then on Sunday after church (we all went to see S-Boogie sing in sacrament meeting) we had vegetable quesadillas with guacamole, cilantro rice, black beans, and strawberries. For dessert on Sunday we had a cake that S-Boogie decorated at the grocery store on Saturday morning. Yes, I'm kind of sucker, but at $4.99 it was cheaper than any other Father's Day present I could think of and she got to decorate a cake while I went shopping. Little Dude thought the cake was awesome because it had candy legos on it. And now, the recipes. Well, first of all I didn't have a recipe for the chicken salad. I just used canned chicken with some mayonnaise, plain yogurt, mustard, green onion, celery, dried cranberries, and spices. Also, for the quesadillas, I just followed this idea and used sauteed summer squash, mushrooms, and red onion. They were super tasty. Here are the rest of the recipes:
Asian Coleslaw (from More Healthy Homestyle Cooking)
5 cups shredded green cabbage
2 cups shredded red cabbage
2 carrots, shredded
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tbls. soy sauce
3 tbls. brown sugar
2 tbls. pineapple juice (or vegetable oil)
1 tbls. sesame oil
1 tsp. finely grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
Mix together the vegetables in a large bowl. I actually usually use two packages of broccoli slaw because I like the texture and it's just easier that way. As long as you have about 8 cups total of shredded cabbage and carrots. Then mix everything else together for dressing. I generally substitute a hearty shake of dried ginger for the fresh; the pineapple juice is a lower-fat option, but I don't often have it on hand. Mix the dressing well with a fork to incorporate all the peanut butter.
Potato and Green Bean salad
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
6 small red potatoes, cubed
1/2 purple onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
In large pot of boiling water, cook prepared green beans for about 7 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and immerse in ice water for 5 minutes to stop cooking process. Completely cool and drain well. In large pot of boiling water, cook potatoes until tender. Repeat cooling procedure with potatoes.Place beans in large serving bowl. Add potatoes and onion. In small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegars, garlic salt, seasoned pepper and sugar. Pour dressing over vegetables; toss gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours, stirring or tossing a few times while chilling. Remove salad from refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving; toss just before serving. Taste and adjust seasonings. I also added some sliced black olives to the salad the other day and they were delicious. I think feta cheese would be good too. This is a great salad because it doesn't have mayonnaise so it holds up well on picnics. It actually tastes better when it's not cold.
Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes from The Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor (and a comment on Lindsay's blog last week)
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup miniature chocolate chips
1 package plain devil’s food cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
½ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1. Place cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Add vanilla and egg. Beat another 30 seconds on low until egg is incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.2. Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. 3. Place cake mix, water, oil, and eggs in large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed for 1 minute. Stop and scrape down sides. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 more minutes until thick and well combined. Spoon batter into the lined muffin cups, filling each liner 2/3 of the way full. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of the filling onto the center of each muffin. The filling will sink into the batter as the muffins bake. Place pans in oven.4. Bake until muffins spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 23 to 27 minutes. Remove pans from oven and place on wire cooling racks for 5 minutes. Remove muffins carefully to wire racks and cool for 15 minutes before serving. The filling actually just stayed on the top of my cupcakes, so I think next time I would actually try to bury it in the dough.
Cilantro Lime Rice (from The McCulloch Family blog--you're awesome!)
1 c uncooked rice
1 t butter
2 cloves minced garlic
1 t lime zest
1 15 oz can chicken broth
¼ c water
squirt of lime juice
2 t granulated sugar
3 T fresh chopped cilantro
Combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro, set aside. Combine all remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and cook 15-20 min, until rice is done. Pour sugar mixture over the top of the rice before fluffing rice. This is another recipe where I just sort of make it up--I generally just use one lime and zest the whole thing into the rice, then use all the juice for the sauce. I like this because it's simple to make, but tastier and fancier than plain rice.
Asian Coleslaw (from More Healthy Homestyle Cooking)
5 cups shredded green cabbage
2 cups shredded red cabbage
2 carrots, shredded
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tbls. soy sauce
3 tbls. brown sugar
2 tbls. pineapple juice (or vegetable oil)
1 tbls. sesame oil
1 tsp. finely grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
Mix together the vegetables in a large bowl. I actually usually use two packages of broccoli slaw because I like the texture and it's just easier that way. As long as you have about 8 cups total of shredded cabbage and carrots. Then mix everything else together for dressing. I generally substitute a hearty shake of dried ginger for the fresh; the pineapple juice is a lower-fat option, but I don't often have it on hand. Mix the dressing well with a fork to incorporate all the peanut butter.
Potato and Green Bean salad
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
6 small red potatoes, cubed
1/2 purple onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
In large pot of boiling water, cook prepared green beans for about 7 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and immerse in ice water for 5 minutes to stop cooking process. Completely cool and drain well. In large pot of boiling water, cook potatoes until tender. Repeat cooling procedure with potatoes.Place beans in large serving bowl. Add potatoes and onion. In small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegars, garlic salt, seasoned pepper and sugar. Pour dressing over vegetables; toss gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours, stirring or tossing a few times while chilling. Remove salad from refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving; toss just before serving. Taste and adjust seasonings. I also added some sliced black olives to the salad the other day and they were delicious. I think feta cheese would be good too. This is a great salad because it doesn't have mayonnaise so it holds up well on picnics. It actually tastes better when it's not cold.
Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes from The Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor (and a comment on Lindsay's blog last week)
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup miniature chocolate chips
1 package plain devil’s food cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
½ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1. Place cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Add vanilla and egg. Beat another 30 seconds on low until egg is incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.2. Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. 3. Place cake mix, water, oil, and eggs in large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed for 1 minute. Stop and scrape down sides. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 more minutes until thick and well combined. Spoon batter into the lined muffin cups, filling each liner 2/3 of the way full. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of the filling onto the center of each muffin. The filling will sink into the batter as the muffins bake. Place pans in oven.4. Bake until muffins spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 23 to 27 minutes. Remove pans from oven and place on wire cooling racks for 5 minutes. Remove muffins carefully to wire racks and cool for 15 minutes before serving. The filling actually just stayed on the top of my cupcakes, so I think next time I would actually try to bury it in the dough.
Cilantro Lime Rice (from The McCulloch Family blog--you're awesome!)
1 c uncooked rice
1 t butter
2 cloves minced garlic
1 t lime zest
1 15 oz can chicken broth
¼ c water
squirt of lime juice
2 t granulated sugar
3 T fresh chopped cilantro
Combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro, set aside. Combine all remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and cook 15-20 min, until rice is done. Pour sugar mixture over the top of the rice before fluffing rice. This is another recipe where I just sort of make it up--I generally just use one lime and zest the whole thing into the rice, then use all the juice for the sauce. I like this because it's simple to make, but tastier and fancier than plain rice.
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