It will probably be for about a dozen people. I'm thinking appetizers and finger food. I've got a few recipes in mind, but I'd like to have some more (affordable) options from which to choose. I will make most of it, but I don't mind shopping for ready made foods if they are good and not too expensive. Do you have a "go to" party food or place to shop for party foods? Do you make your own appetizers? If so, where do you buy your ingredients, at the grocery store or specialty shops? I love to at least go look in the specialty shops to see what goodies they have. Even better if they're having sales or offers.
Deepfried batter covered everything. It could be chicken breast cut into finger strips. It could be some fish fillet marinated in lemon and thyme. It can be root vegetables like celeriac, sweet potato, turnips and Pumpkin fries and zucchini fries are also best sellers. You can also offend vegans and do something exotic like frog legs. Your visitors will have clogged arteries but everything deep fried will make people go feeding frenzy.
Ha! Thanks for the giggle and the ideas, @Beast_Titan. That does sound like an affordable way to fill people up fast, but I'm not so sure I want to fry everything. Aside from the clogged arteries, they will all be ready for a nap. That doesn't sound like much fun. Fried zucchini is definitely a winner though. I think I will add that to my list. I saw some sweet potato fries at Walmart the other day, so that could work too. I might add some of those soft pretzels as well. Everyone seems to like those, and they come in bite size ones as well. There will not be any vegans in this crowd. They are all meat eaters. Meat can be kind of expensive, so I'll probably choose chicken, unless some other type is on sale. Plus, I can do a lot with it.
Another thing you can do are canape sandwiches. You can cheat by buying ready made sandwiches and cut them into small squares and keep the mini squares intact with toothpicks. There many amazing canape sandwiches you can find online.
I like finger sandwiches and fruit salad when I go to a mini family gathering. They are both easy to make and very affordable. You may either make croissant or regular bread sandwiches, I feel that the croissants gives it a better flavor. For the fruit salad you can add a couple of nuts and yogurt to it to make it a bit tastier.
Oh, that sounds nice. Where can I buy these at a good price? I don't think I've served canape sandwiches before. This sounds like a super easy menu plan. I could buy the sandwiches as described by @Beast_Titan, and cut them into finger sandwiches. Fruit salad sounds perfect with it. While many fresh fruits aren't exactly in season here right now, I can always find frozen fruit. I like the ones at Dollar Tree. They have no sugar added, and of course the price is right. They usually have a good selection too. I could then just add whatever fresh fruit I can find to the mix. Now, I have a taste for fruit salad, ha ha.
As for appetizers go, I love anything with salt. Let's take peanuts with salt and honey or simply potato chips or even cheese. Taking it to the next level we can make some tuna or shrimp pate and have it with mini toasts. We can also go to the healthy side and put some fruit on the table. A wide variety of offers.
Oh, we would get along well then, @to7update. I like salty snacks as well. That's why I want to have the soft pretzels, although I do like the crunchy ones too. Oh, speaking of mini toasts, I need to try to find some of those mini cocktail loaves. Those are always good for making finger sandwiches, and they are also good for thick dips like spinach dip. I saw a recipe for BLT that they would work with too. I'll have to see where I can get some. Maybe the Amazon pantry or something, because they are really hard to find around here. I live in a rural area, so shopping online can be a real benefit when it comes to finding things that aren't easily available around here.
The usual appetizers we serve for house guests during occasions are nuts and chips. But when the guests are known to drink beer, we serve chicken feet adobo and barbecued intestines. These are considered exotic finger foods that go best with beer and liquor. What's good in chicken feet and intestines is that they are very cheap.
For our family use, the homemade "atchara" (grated papaya meat, soaked with vinegar, added with various spices like ginger, garlic, with sugar and salt to taste, and some ground turmeric for coloring). It enhances your appetite to eat and enjoy the food is served with gusto.
Just reading the thread title made me hungry. Felt like having my favourite starters like dry chilli paneer (cottage cheese). For home purpose we have a mixture of groundnuts and lots of other homemade gram flour items that we call "chevdo" and usually serve this or salad/papad etc depending on the ethnicity of the guests.
My personal favorite are jalapeno halves with cream cheese and bacon and deviled eggs, I feel like these are fairly enjoyed by most, and maybe make a cheese and fruit tray or a tasty dip (Mine is a creamy sausage sauerkraut dip with chips because people are always surprised how tasty it is!)
We can also put some bread and cheese in the oven, maybe add some prosciutto, let me tell you than when we eat it straight out of the oven, it's delicious and really cheap to do. We just need to get our imagination going, and we can make really creative stuff.
I'm glad you found my idea useful. You have a good idea there useing frozen fruit from the dollar store if some fruits are not in season. This is an appetizer my mom and I always used to make for putlocks and was always easy and cheap. We would add apples, bananas, cantalope, grapes, and strawberries and topped it off with natural flavored yogurt and peanuts with raisins.
Frozen fruit is actually a great idea, not only is healthy, but it looks really good to have different colors on the table. Mmm, that description you make with all those fruits, yogurt, peanuts and raisins seems delicious, but I would skip the raisins, or at least I wouldn't put too many of them as they can be hard to chew.
When it comes to having to whip something together in a short amount of time, I have always found that just having veggies in the home makes it so much easier. A lot cheaper too, because you can really add whatever you feel like.
The issue with veggies for appetizers is that they are raw, so what are you going to do with raw vegetables for a quick appetizer? I am not saying it's not possible, but apart from tomato slices with cheese, I really don't use veggies much for appetizers. What veggies to you use @larryl332?
A few friends came over recently for a winter get together and I made some food for us all to eat to soak up the alcohol. One of my guests doesn't like sit down formal meals so I did a buffet. Depending on how much money you want to spend, I made a fish platter. It looked really impressive on the table and everyone tucked in and enjoyed it. I put crab sticks, prawns, smoked salmon, kippers and mackerel as well as king prawns and mussels. All placed on a bed of mixed leaves with lemon and lime slices. Everyone could just help themselves to what fish they wanted. I also made a hot main course of rice and mushroom stroganoff but the starter turned out to be really popular.
Thanks, @larryl332. I do like to serve a veggie tray sometimes, and I always have vegetables on hand. You can make a pretty tray of sliced vegetables and then I also make a dish of homemade ranch dip to go with them. Oh, that's another good one, the tomatoes and cheese. I like to slice small tomatoes in half, open side up, and brush them with a tiny bit of olive oil or Italian dressing. Then I season with a little oregano, garlic, and pepper. I top them with mozzarella cheese and broil them until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown a little bit. These are a big hit in my family. @janemariesayed that sounds so delicious. In fact, you made me hungry. This particular party is for a child's birthday, but I will keep this idea in mind for later use. I have to figure out where to buy the necessary items anyway. There aren't a lot of choices around for shopping for good fish and seafood. I'll need to do some investigating.
Spanish have something called tapas, that are nothing more than a bunch of appetizers, and delicious ones. So basically they don't do them as appetizers, as they have tapas bars where we eat that all night, and have a few drinks, and that's dinner really.
