Easy Party Planning

Since we like to cook often Matt & I plan too big for parties & end up spending the whole day of the party making numerous dips. I remember one whole afternoon spend making bite size puff pastry shells & then filling them with 6 different stuffings. We end up with no time to relax before the party, though everyone always seems to love the food. For the wedding shower we through last night we decided to give ourselves a little break. Since the party was a game night we decided to create trays of finger food that we could get from the deli & salad bar of the local grocery store, giving people things they could snack on all evening.


This tray contained a nice sharp cheddar from Vermont, pickled asparagus, Italian salami, marinated mozzarella with fresh cherry tomatoes, and an olive mix.



This one had fennel sausage sliced by the deli, balsamic onions, sweet picante peppers, marinated artichoke hearts & herb de provence sausage.


The final try had a Hayley Farms' goat cheese with apricots, Spanish Serrano ham, wine and black pepper biscuits, wensleydale cheese with cranberries, chicken & pork pate with port, and a slice of Brillat-Savarin.

We just sliced a couple baguettes & everything was ready to go. I actually think this food went over better than all the dips we'd done in the past plus putting it all together was super easy.

The cookies we'd made the night before along with small tangerines were the perfect sweet.