Party Foods

I have a tendency to overdo it.  This is especially true when I am planning a party.  Apparently, it is also the case when I am GOING to a party at someone else's house.

And, for those of you who might be curious, I don't mean the kind of overdoing it that leads to a headache the next day.  I mean food. 



Tonight, a friend-couple of mine is having a Holiday Game Night.  For starters, I decided to bring some sweet things.  My latest obsession from the bulk section at the grocery store is dark chocolate covered pretzels.  The salty sweet crunch is outstanding.  They went into my large trifle dish.  An easy, but nice, presentation. 

Secondly, one of the boyfriend's favorite cookies (also from the bulk section) are the peanut butter stars.  They have vanilla, raspberry, chocolate, cinnamon, and peanut butter. I bought all but raspberry (they were a little too pink for my liking).  I put them mixed together and put them in my medium-sized trifle dish.   

We were asked to bring a nibble, and the hosts mentioned that they liked cheese balls.  As if planned, I saw a recipe in my daily(?) Real Simple email - Goat Cheese with Pistachios and Cranberries.  I went to the store.  I was going to essentially follow the recipe to a T (which isn't too hard, given the three ingredients).  However, when I got to the store, the logs of goat cheese available in my regular grocery store were very wee.

What was a girl to do?

I thought about buying three of the plain goat cheese, smooshing them together to make a larger roll, and then following the recipe.  But then I saw the different flavors - plain, honey, and garlic/herb.

A plan started to develop.

I ended up making three kinds: Honey Goat Cheese with Pistachios and Cranberries, Plain Goat Cheese with Cajun Sesame Crackers, and Garlic and Herb Goat Cheese with...well...more herbs.

For the Plain Goat Cheese (far left in the picture above), it took me quite some time to determine what I was going to crush and put on the outside, but I went with the sesame sticks that you often see in party mixes.  I wanted more than the regular plain sesame stick taste, so I decided to up the ante by going with the Cajun sesame crackers.  It worked out really well.

For the Honey Goat Cheese (middle in picture), I bought some plain roasted pistachios.  I added some dried cranberries to the bag and started banging on them with a wine bottle.  Once they were all mostly crushed, I put the crumbled concoction on a plate and rolled the honey goat cheese in it.  I used both hands and made a point to press the crumble into the goat cheese.  I then put some leftover crumble in a piece of cling film and rolled the cheese into a little log, tucked the ends under, and put it in the fridge.

Then, maybe my favorite, is the Garlic and Herb Goat Cheese.  For this one I used some dried oregano, dried basil, fresh cracked black pepper, and some garlic powder.  Super easy, and just sort of pushed up the flavors that ran throughout the cheese itself .

They were a hit.  I might have eaten a lot of cheese last night. :-)