We had a gathering over the weekend to kick off summer!
Figured i’d put together my list of offerings as far as food goes, and then tell you how the left overs ended up moving forward!
Main Dishes:
Louisiana Hotlinks (basted with Famous Dave’ Spit Fire BBQ Sauce)
You can find these hot links at Costco – they are a staple in the this house! We usually separate the package into sets of 3’s for personal use, but for the party – the package was able to remain whole!
Beer Can Chicken
I use a brine recipe that a friend gave me, I take the frozen chicken out Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, and brine till Saturday. Takes a couple days to defrost in the fridge anyway and as it does, it’s in all that goodness!
Then i use Love Rub, and let it sit in the fridge for a couple hours prior to cooking.
Check all the info on a previous post!
Usually i take all the bones from the chicken, and my “left over veggie nubs” and make some stock. Alas with a party, things sat for waaay to long, so it got tossed, oh the sadness… (Hint: i learned this from the 365 crock pot lady, when you cut up veggies (carrots, celery, onions, garlic etc) wash everything, including the skin, as you cut those pieces off, save them in the freezer, when you need stuff to make a broth, you are all set! I also throw in jalapeno and green pepper pieces)
Black Bean Burgers
I just get the big old box from Costco – it’s our favorite, they don’t stick to the grill and they taste great! Only 2 minutes or a side, or until you remember about them!
For my appetizers:
I went will almost all 365 crock pot lady recipes!
Since i have my triple dipper (more info on my crock pot love here)
Pizza Dip (i freeze shredded cheese in 1/2 cup or 1 cup portions for easy creation of this dip!)
Brie with Apricots (i was able to freeze a wheel of brie with no adverse affects when i made this, even easier to cut off the rind when frozen)
Mommy Crack (for this recipe i pre-cook all the sausage when i buy a whole bunch, then i’ll freeze the pork with a box of cream cheese in a food saver bag, so when I’m ready, whala, all dumped into the crock pot and good to go!)
Reuben Dip (i get brisket on sale, cook it up, de-fat it, chop it up, and freezer it till i’m ready. Again freeze the cheese in correct portions, then everything is pretty much plop and go)
Desert:
This was thanks to RR magazine and a long plane ride! We experiemented with it at easter, and decided, it a fabulous desert to bring for a crowd! It does indeed rival Liquor cake!
The rest was mostly thanks to costco
Stacy’s Pita Chip, a giant back of tortilla chips, french baguette and french loaf of bread (safeway, day of) but costco’s little baby baguettes re-constitute rather well, and a bag of asian cracker mix!
Left over uses!
You can make sandwiches with the Reuben spread
I used the pizza dip in my polenta lasagna (now i don’t bother with the pre-made polenta, i just do quick grits, and smooth it between the levels) I used the left over pasta sauce from the pizza dip at the bottom level, put the veggies, then smoothed the pizza dip, then more polenta, veggies and the dip and a little bit of the left over sauce
Brie if pretty tasty just warmed and cut into chunks
There is never any left over mom crack…
Never any left over chicken
And the peanut butter bowl only had the bottom, so it was tossed, so it didn’t become breakfast!