Archive for the ‘Ideas’ Category
Raclette: The Perfect Winter Dinner
After over a year of listening to my French-man say how much he missed eating Raclette during the winter, I finally went out and found a Raclette machine to gift him at Sur La Table. Though I’d had Raclette in Switzerland years ago, when we had our first Raclette dinner here in NYC, I was [...]
Stoplight Punch
when my friends threw a party at my house, they brought over two great punches. one was bright red and the other was bright green!! they tasted great, but the best part about them was that the red one had alcohol and the green one didn’t. why is that so great??? because when i asked [...]
Flavoring Your Own Yogurts
I love yogurts, but I’ve noticed that even the ones that claim to be healthy are loaded with many artificial flavorings that probably aren’t so great for you. Be especially awar eof “lowfat” and “nonfat” yogurts like yoplait, which use high fructose corn syrup as thickeners.
Because of this, I decided to start flavoring my own [...]
Fancy but Easy Baking – Cheesecakes, Pavlovas, Souflees & Creme Brulees
Whether you’re hosting the upcoming holidays or are invited elsewhere, wow your family and friends with desserts that seem complicated, but aren’t. Pumpkin and apple pies are ubiquitous with the holiday season, so when I want to show off I try for a dish that sounds like it’s straight off a restaurant dessert menu. But [...]
Play Games Instead of DVDs
During one of my first parties, I made the mistake of playing a dvd during the party, meant to just provide some visual interest and provde some audio as well. It haulted all conversation and before I knew it, the whole party died and just turned into guests planted on the sofa watching the screen. [...]
Throw a Tea Drinking Party!
i felt like spicing up my parties, so last week instead of a normal party, i had a tea party! i asked guests to bring their favorite tea, and we would make and taste all of them. i also served little sandwiches and cookies. 24 people showed up!!! i was amazed at how many people [...]
Great Healthy Lemon Rice Dish
I threw together this rice dish last week and my husband went nuts for it. The funny thing is – it’s really healthy! If you have a rice cooker with a steamer attachment, great, but if you don’t, just cook the rice on the stove, and pan sautee the veggies and tofu in a separate [...]
Hosting a Chili Cook-off: 5 Tips to help you go crazy for chili!
As the weather gets colder, some people enjoy cooking up a nice hearty pot of chili to chase away the bitter weather. Myself, I prefer to do everything in excess. I tried making ten kinds of chili in one day, but it was really expensive and well, sort of crazy. So I came up with [...]
Throw a Potluck Party!
one of the biggest problems i have when hosting a party is that food is sooo expensive!! especially when you are expecting more than 10 people, and chips and dip can only go so far. so what do you do??? what i have found works surprisingly well is asking guests to each bring a little [...]
Easy two-ingredient dips
Keep sour cream on hand (even the light version!), and you can whip up a flavorful dip real quick for football game eats or spur-of-the-moment entertaining.
Serve with crackers, chips, tortilla strips, veggies, or fruit (the last couple of suggestions are for sweeter dips).
What can you mix into this versatile dairy product?
- A pack of taco [...]