Thursday, July 21, 2022

Party recipes

The food I made for last night's book club was a success! Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but nevertheless I wondered why I went to so much trouble when everyone would have liked simple food/store bought stuff almost as much. Still, I host the group so rarely that I wanted to go to the extra trouble and make some good stuff to share.

I started the night before and grilled fresh corn. After it cooled, I cut it off the cob and added drained and rinsed black beans, diced red and green bell peppers, red onions, and halved cherry tomatoes. I made a salad dressing to stir in with lime juice, olive oil, chili powder, garlic, salt, and cumin. After refrigerating it overnight, I added soft crumbly Mexican cheese to the salad and it was ready to go.

Next, I made guacamole, which I'm known for in our group. It's very simple: mashed avocados*, finely diced red onion, minced jalapenos, lime juice, and sea salt. It's so simple to make, and there's never any left over. I like to serve it with both white and yellow corn tortilla chips. 

I also made a faux Boston Creme Pie. The recipe called for making a yellow cake from a boxed mix in a 13x9 pan, letting it cool, and poking large holes all over the surface. Then you mix up instant vanilla pudding, and before it sets you pour it over the cake so that the pudding seeps into the holes. The cake (it's called pie but of course it's really cake) sits in the refrigerator until cool, then you add the chocolatey topping. The topping is made by bringing heavy cream to a simmer, pouring it over chocolate chips and a tablespoon of corn syrup, and stirring it all until it's smooth and glossy. This gets poured over the custard-y top of the cake and then you pop the whole thing back in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. It was delicious, and probably the biggest hit of everything I made. It tastes just like a classic Boston Creme Pie.

Yesterday I made the other two things I planned to take. BLT pinwheel sandwiches made with crumbled bacon, romaine lettuce, diced heirloom tomatoes from my garden, and a spread made with cream cheese, mayonnaise, and chopped sun dried tomatoes packed in oil with herbs. All these ingredients were rolled into sundried tomato wraps. They were a lot of trouble, but scrumptious. 

The last thing I prepared was a medley of melons: cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon, cut into balls and using half of the watermelon rind for a bowl. It came out really nice and the cool melon was perfect for a hot day. 


*Anyone else having trouble finding good avocados these days? No matter where I shop in Florence it seems like they're slow to ripen, somewhat hard even after they turn dark, and just not good quality in general. 

34 comments:

  1. You can cook for me any day! I love all those dishes--except the melons. Sadly, I've never developed a taste for them.

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    1. I'm not crazy about cantaloupe, I like watermelon if it's a GOOD watermelon (they aren't always good) and this particular honeydew was the best I'd ever had. Cool and sweet and delicious.

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  2. It all sounds delicious but most of the ingredients are quite foreign here in the UK.


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    1. I'm intrigued! Which ingredients are foreign in the UK?

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  3. I love guacamole but rarely buy avocados here.
    All your food sounds great, and especially now that you can use some of your own produce, I bet everyone loved it!

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    1. I was proud to use my tomatoes, the glory of my garden! :)

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  4. Wow, you pulled out all the stops! Treats and goodies are extra-special when people know they are homemade. Anyone can buy stuff from the grocery store, but homemade things take skill and love!

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    1. Skill and love...and time. Lots and lots of time. I enjoy it, though.

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  5. Wow, this sounds DELICIOUS!!! I'm sure people appreciated the homemade goodies!

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  6. I know what you mean about wondering sometimes why we go to such extremes in our cooking for others. We are obviously the people who believe that food is love and that we show that love by making the food ourselves to feed others. Everything you made sounds so perfect and now I want to try those pinwheel sandwiches!

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    1. I've decided feeding people is one of my love languages. I know it's the same for you!

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  7. Wow! What a terrific feast you put together! Everything sounds delicious! Well done!

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  8. Oh that "bowl" of cool melon balls would be delightful on a hot summer's evening. So much work though! I bet the other book club members would have been grumbling to each other - "Our food will never be as good as Jennifer's!"

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    1. What a nice comment! Thanks Neil! I was especially proud of the melon balls. I thought the same thing, that fruit would be perfect on a hot summer night. It was all a lot of work, but it was fun for me.

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  9. Strangely, all my recently bought Avocados have been perfect. It can't last!

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    1. I wish I could find some perfect avocados right now! They've been so hard I have to buy extra to make sure I get enough useable avocado to make the guac.

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  10. I love guacamole! I might have to make myself some!

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    1. I thought of you and all the fabulous food you eat in Spain while I put it all together, Mitchell.

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  12. I am pleased to say that at my book club meeting last night we just had crisps ( I think you might call them chips?) and a couple of bought dips....taramasalata and hummus and few cut veg to dip and the host, being a lady who likes to bake, had made some cheesy biscuits. I would not want to have to provide the wonderful spread that you did!

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    1. I like chips and store bought dips! Most of our members don't make so much homemade stuff, and I wouldn't either if I hosted more often. It's my way of showing love to my friends.

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  13. I am in awe! I felt tired just reading about the dishes you prepared. Each one was a work of art. That Boston Cream pie sounded amazing. Cream, custard and chocolate are "my favourite things" when it comes to dessert.

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  14. I LOVE Boston Cream Pie! I'm just like you in that I love custard and cake and chocolate, putting them all together is heavenly.

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  15. You created a feast, everything you made sounds delicious and especially the Boston Cream Pie version. Your Book Club members must love you.

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  16. Robin said what I was going to say! I like cooking for people. O hope your guests tasted all the love that went onto it.

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  17. That IS a lot of work, but you obviously enjoy it too. And it all looks beautiful!

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  18. Avocados are OK here as we get them from CA or from Mexico. nearby

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  19. you are amazing..and as for avocado's? the ones I find are so expensive I don't buy them..

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