Hints for Entertaining Family, Friends, a Crowd, Co-Workers, with easy recipes and how to's

Everyday solutions... for small and large gatherings!

Hints for Entertaining

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Entertaining Hints:

This is a time of year that many of us are involved in entertaining family, friends, and co-workers for one reason or another. A few of my tried & true HINTS are:

- Wine, for a 20 minute quick chill - put the bottle into a bucket of 1/2 ice cubes and 1/2 cold water.

- Meat slightly frozen slices easier for recipes like fajitas, stew, stroganoff, etc.

- add a little color of red to your lettuce before you use it to line a food plate of appetizers by dipping the edges of leaf lettuce in water & then in 2 T. of paprika that is on paper towel.

- prepare a couple of punches so that the guests can serve themselves & you’ll have more time to visit with everyone.

- put maraschino cherries, lemon, lime or orange sections in each ice cube tray section before you add water or a punch ingredient, then freeze.

- keep your meatballs round by baking them on a cookie sheet in a 350° oven for 10 to 12 minutes (for walnut size meatballs) Cool them on cooling racks that are placed over a double layer of paper towels.

OR: BOIL the meatballs in beef bouillon for 10 minutes then drain.

- make the meatballs ahead and freeze them on a cookie sheet so that they do not freeze together. After they are frozen -quickly put them in a freezer type zipper bag & then into the freezer. This way you can just remove the number of meatballs that you want & return the rest to the freezer.

- Foods in 1 to 2 bite sizes are best so that quests can keep their hands free to hold drinks and move around the room easier.

- When serving a variety of finger foods figure that you will need at least 6 items per person. So if you have 20 guests, you’ll need a minimum total of 120 pieces.
(Note: this is adding up ALL of the different items – not 120 pieces of each food you’re serving.

- Be sure to have plenty of toothpicks or bamboo skewers for guests to use. These are less cumbersome than forks.

- Have plenty of cocktail size napkins. These are also easier to hang on to than dinner size napkins and quests will appreciate the feeling that they can toss a soiled one and get a new as needed.

" This stuff really works!!! I use it on many things.
Email me if you want more info. on how I use OxiClean." Holly

holly@HollysHints.com

Entertaining
Recipe of the Month

HOLLY'S SPINACH APPETIZER
...................... a real crowd pleaser

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 eggs

- 1 c flour

- 1 t baking powder

- 1 pkg dry ranch salad dressing

- 2 T melted butter

- 3/4 c grated Monterey Jack cheese

- 3/4 c grated Swiss cheese

- 2 - 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach; thawed & drained

- 1 c sour cream

DIRECTIONS:

- BEAT eggs in a large mixing bowl

- MIX in the flour, baking powder, dry dressing mix, and butter.

- BLEND together.

- STIR in the grated cheeses and spinach.

- SPREAD the mixture in a greased 9” X 13” pan.

- BAKE for 30 minutes in a 350° oven

- COOL for 10 minutes

- CUT into 1 1/2 “ squares

- SERVE with a dollop of sour cream on top of each one.

HINT: This can be made ahead to reheat in the microwave as served.

It also freezes well.

Enjoy!

Hints:

** Make ice cube molds out of an ingredient of your punch so that the ice mold doesn’t dilute the punch with water.

** Those of you in the northern states – during the winter – to save refrigerator space I chill my champagne, pop, etc. outside on the deck in our large cooler or by just sticking them in a mound of snow.

J J J J J J J J J J J J J J

             DO YOU WANT YOUR
         Eyes to stay dry when you cut up
         an ONION?

You can - by trying out these methods -

1) Never cut the root end off first. That end
contains most of the 'tearing' vapors. Start cutting
at the 'top' - the pointed end.

2) Put the onion in the freezer 5 - 10 minutes
BEFORE you cut it up. Chilling it first slows down
the 'tearing' vapors.

3) Try not to buy onions that are pointy at both ends.
This shape tends to be stronger than the
squatty, flat, root end ones.

4) Keep candles handy.
Place a lit candle next to your working area
the 'tearing' vapors will go toward the heat of the flame
and stay away from you.

5) If need it chopped up, just
Peel & cut the onion in 3 - 4 pieces. Put in a blender
add enough cold water to cover it
Pulse the blender on & off several times
then drain off the water using a drainer or sieve.

If you want, you can combine these methods
I recommend you at least use
method 1)
with any of the other 4 HINTS.

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Hints for Entertaining

	Due to so many special diets - consider using low salt and reduced fat crackers
	Serve a punch so it is easy for guests to serve themselves. Note: even ice tea can be served 'punch' style
	Make ice cubes using the same ingredients as the punch so that as the ice melts it does NOT water down the flavor.
	Candles stored in a freezer for a day or so will BURN SLOWER -
	NEVER leave a candle in any room burning with no one in there.

J J J J J J J J J J J J J J

Basic Herb Butters:

Herb butters are the unsung heroes of food preparation -but once you try them -
you're hooked !!

This is a collection of blends that can add a little zip to some old favorites like baked potatoes, broccoli, green beans, grilled or toasted bread, corn on the cob, steamed zucchini, and even popcorn!

For every 4 Tablespoon of butter use only 1 of the following ingredients

- 1 t tarragon leaves (fresh or dried whole leaves)

- ¼ t garlic granules (or 1 clove smashed)

- 1 t or more of sliced fresh basil

- ¼ t dill weed (or 1 t chopped fresh dill)

- 1 t fresh thyme rubbed off the stem (or ¼ t dried)

- ½ t marjoram fresh (or dried)

Combos: use any combination of the above but use half of the amount, you can increase the amounts after tasting to get the flavors you like.

More Combos:
- 1 t fresh thyme + 1 t fresh sliced basil

- 1 t lemon peel zest (rub clean whole lemon in a circle motion on a grater) + 1 T chopped fresh parsley

- 1 ½ t sun dried tomatoes chopped up + 1 t chopped chives + 1 clove crushed garlic

- 1 t fresh thyme + 1 t fresh dill or ¼ t dill weed

- 1 t tarragon + ¼ t turmeric

     IMPORTANT
     HINTS for
     Successful
     Herb Butters:

     HINT: - Refrigerate after completely
       mixing the ingredients into the butter.
       It is best done at least 1 – 24 hrs. ahead
       of time to infuse the flavors into the spread.

HINT: - DO bring the herb butter to
room temperature before serving.

HINT:
Check my Recipe Box.
for more appetizers and
crowd pleasing foods.

J J J J

Use the "Equivalents" button above.
Check it out!

J J J J

J J J J J J J J J J J J J J

Idea ........

Impromptu get-togethers are lots of fun and quite successful.
So don't hesitate to call people that day
to come over & let them know it is a last minute -
'why not have a party' time. Feel comfortable asking
them to bring a snack and what they want to drink.
If you have a theme, let them know or what to expect
like - we'll play cards, a trivia game, etc.

J J J J J J J J J J J J J J

Online Shopping Sources

Perfect Gifts from Hallmark.com! Holly's Hints Shopping Guide

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