Over the holidays an easy way to entertain at home is hosting a brunch. This is also a great way to feed your overnight house guests. Below are three easy brunch menus that are real holiday guest pleasers.
I love having home parties. Nothing beats sharing great food, drinks, and conversation with friends in a relaxed atmosphere. What I don’t like is being trapped in the kitchen while my guests enjoy the party! Over the years, I have learned some easy entertaining tips that will help make your next home party a stress free success.
3 Great Tips For Easy Home Parties
1. Keep it simple – for a successful home party, you are not required to serve a 5-course meal or offer 20 different appetizers. Put together a core group of quick and easy appetizer recipes that can be modified for the season/holiday. Appetizers are the perfect party food — throw in a simple dessert (chocolate fondue or a make your own sundae bar are always hits), add a signature cocktail (also offer a non-alcoholic version) and your home party will be an instant success.
2. Do most of your prep ahead of time –
I learned this the hard way. I used to think my menu had to be 100% from scratch. The morning of the party I would wake up stressed, thinking of all of the food prep that needed to be done. By the time my guests would arrive, I was ready for a nap.
Enter the TSG line up — From dips to salsas, bread mixes, sauces and seasonings, prepping your menu items a couple days before to the day of, is a snap. Also, don’t overlook grocery store convenience items – my current favorites include rotisserie chicken, egg roll wrappers, and frozen cooked meatballs.
3. Make your home inviting – with candles, flowers, and music
These are my three home party musts. Candles add warmth and a beautiful glow…flowers add unexpected pops of color (I buy a large bouquet of bright colored flowers and break them up into smaller groupings). Make sure to have a good mix of music on hand — you never know when the mood to dance might strike!
3 Easy Party Recipes
Brazen Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Wing Dip
This dip is usually the first to disappear. Stir together ½ cup mayo, ½ cup ranch dressing, 8 oz of softened cream cheese and 2 TBSP of Brazen Buffalo Blue Cheese Seasoning Blend. Stir in a cup of diced rotisserie chicken and chopped celery as desired. Spread in 8×8” pan – top with shredded cheddar – bake in 350 oven until cheese is bubbly – serve with pita chips, breadsticks, or your favorite dippers. Can also be made with low fat mayo and low fat cheeses.
Crockpot Meatballs
This is a low fuss, low maintenance addition to any home party. You can serve right from the crockpot. Mix a bottle of TSG Vermont Maple Dijon Grilling Sauce with 1 can jellied cranberry sauce. Place frozen precooked meatballs (appetizer sized) in a crockpot – pour sauce over and heat on high for a couple hours until sauce bubbles and meatballs are heated through.
Caesar Salad Bites
Try this fun take on a Caesar Salad. Press wonton wrappers into miniature muffin pan cups coated with cooking spray. In a small bowl combine melted butter and garlic powder – brush over edges of wonton cups – bake at 350 until lightly browned – about 8-9 minutes – let cool. Mix ½ cup mayo, ½ cup sour cream, 2 TBSP Great Caesar’s Ghost Seasoning Blend – thin with buttermilk to desired consistency. Toss shredded lettuce with the dressing to coat. Spoon lettuce mixture into wonton cups and top with freshly grated Parmesan.
Super Bowl Sunday is almost a national holiday! I’m pretty sure where most of you will be on Sunday, Feb. 7 – and it isn’t at the mall (although if it’s not your team a chick flick might be a good idea! The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock is a great film.)
For those of you who will participate in this national past time, make a resolution to make this year one you can enjoy with your guests! While there is lots of mindless eating going on, you can still stand out as a great hostess.
The number one food to make the guys happy is Pigs in a Blanket – whether you buy them ready made or make them yourself (just wrap refrigerated crescent roll dough around your favorite little sausage – we like smokey links) and dip in Racy Wasabi Raspberry Mustard.
What’s your favorite recipe?
If you want to go beyond just mixing up your favorite TSG seasoning with some sour cream and mayo for a quick dip, here are 5 great ideas to kick off your successful Sunday afternoon!
1. Pigs in a Blanket with Racy Wasabi Rasperry Mustard
Be prepared for unexpected holiday guests, have some extra snacks!
Well, it’s official, we are again in the holiday season. Lights are up and expectations are high to be jolly, happy or oozing with extra good cheer – it’s enough to make you crazy. As a Mom, you feel like the happiness of everyone around you is dependent on what you do! But give yourself a break – if you are not happy, neither will anyone else be.
There are now three days before we leave to visit my mother for the holidays. I’m a little stressed. So I will do what I always do – make lists. If I can take a big task and break it down into little ones, I feel much more successful and things will get done. I will make Christmas lists, and hit the internet. I will make shopping lists and store them on my phone. I will make packing lists, so that I can keep things in one suitcase – and I will put them all on the calendar so that as I get closer to THE DAY, the list will shrink instead of grow and I will feel better not worse.
But more importantly, I need to realize it is not my job to make everyone happy. True, it’s easier now that the children are grown and I can realize that much of the struggle we had during those teenage years was as much my problem as theirs. They were trying to show me they were responsible for themselves, and I had to learn to let them be responsible.
This year my family is beginning to scatter around the U.S. as we become part of other people’s families and celebrations. They each have a desire and responsibility to contribute to everyone’s happiness – and they want to. The joy of making others happy is now the gift they have to share - that and a few recipes from home. Let me know how you and your family share the holidays.
Still there is that central role you have to play – so make it easy for yourself, at least on the food front.
5 Steps to Making Holiday Cooking Easier
1. Put out a plate of fresh, ready to eat fruit for the day. Let them help themselves. In many European countries it’s a tradition that they put out a plate of food for the 12 Days of Christmas – one for each day. It includes dried fruit (like apricots), cheese, nuts, fresh fruit (like clementines and grapes) and some wrapped candy.
2. Prepared food is good food. – Make a pot of soup – only twice what you would normally prepare – freeze half for the day so that you’re ready for guests coming at odd hours or those running late. If you don’t have the extra time now, a roast chicken from the grocery store is a great, warm dinner.
3. Keep It Simple – As much as I love to cook, I am always humbled by the fact that the family seems to love easy comfort food as much if not more than things I slave over. We had a week full of delicious dishes – but my son, Scott was happiest with the easy mac he made for himself. It was inexpensive and easy, and reminded him of being a kid again.
4. Let People Help!! - I’m always guilty of this one. I invite people over, they say “what can I bring?” and I say “Just Yourself!” What was I thinking? I am learning to say, “Thank you, yes” and everyone feels better.
5. Keep some “extras” on hand! – The one thing I have trained the family to do, is put something on the grocery list when they use up the last one. Particularly around the holidays, there should be some no thought food around. For a late night meal, I take a can of tomato soup, add a can of minced clams and a little milk and I have a wholesome meal. When people drop by, I have some mini-bagels, frozen pigs in a blanket, TSG Cheeseballs or a jar of Sweet and Spicy Pepper Jelly over cream cheese – and everyone is happy!
If you are relaxed and happy, so will be those around you. Give up control and enjoy the holidays.
Over the holidays an easy way to entertain at home is hosting a brunch. This is also a great way to feed your overnight house guests. Below are three easy brunch menus that are real holiday guest pleasers.
