How to Hostess on the Fly

I love to have people over.  I love to throw ridiculous, elaborate parties.  I love to cook for my friends.  I love showing off our house projects and our mad grilling & cupcaking skills.  And I love spending time with great friends.  But sometimes you send a text, hoping to make plans for a week away and you end up inviting friends over for the next day.  And sometimes when that happens you have to speed decorate your house (see yesterday's post)

When all of these things happen, it helps to have some stand by goodies that are easy to throw together.  And it helps to have the kind of friends that when you invite them over, they want to know what to bring.  So, we settled on everyone bringing our favorite snacks to share.  I whipped up two snacks to serve my guests.  And a pitcher of lemonade, you can never go wrong with lemonade in the summer.  I always buy the lemonade concentrate in the freezer section and put it in a pretty glass pitcher.

So, you're wondering what I served?  I'm so glad you asked.  I was too busy to take pictures but I can share some super yummy recipes and tips for those recipes.

My favorite, I almost always make brownies.  These are my lazy/impressive brownies.  Buy a brownie mix, one of the family sized ones.  I buy the Betty Crocker mix for a 13x9 pan.  Also buy two big Symphony bars, the ones with toffee bits in them.  Make the brownies according to the box.  Grab a square baking dish, an 8x8 or 9x9.  Grease your pan and pour in half the brownie mix.  Put in both your Symphony bars, side by side.  It will be a tight fit, but it will fit, I promise.  Then pour the rest of your brownie batter on top and shove those bad boys in the oven at 350 for 40-45 minutes.  Let them cool and then enjoy with a tall glass of milk (skim so that it cancels out the fat in the brownies).

And I tried a new recipe.  Holy cow, I am in love.  It's one of those restaurant knock off recipes.  In fact I went to Chili's a couple weeks ago with the intent of ordering these, but they have soy in them so I couldn't order them :(  I was in luck though, I found a recipe on Pinterest that was supposed to be the same thing.  Chili's Southwestern Egg Rolls.  I am here to tell you, these are amazing.  I mean seriously, yum!  They taste just like Chili's but way healthier because they're not fried.  And soy free!

The recipe came from Cake & Allie

Southwest Egg Rolls
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1-15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-9 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry with paper towel
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
1-7oz can diced green chiles, drained
4 green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 package of egg roll or wonton wrappers

Preheat your oven to 425*.  Mix together all ingredients, spoon into egg roll wrappers, and roll egg roll style.  Put on a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes**.  Flip at least once during baking.
*I baked them at 350 because I was baking brownies at the same time
**Since I baked at 350, I baked for twenty minutes, ten on each side.

Avocado Ranch
3/8 cup mayonnaise
3/8 cup sour cream
3 Tbs buttermilk
1/2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 green onion, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 avocado, peeled and pitted

Place all ingredients in blender* and blend away.  
*You may think you can throw this in your Kitchen Aid mixer and just mix it.  Trust me, it's a bad idea.  I ended up with only half an avocado in my ranch because I tried to do it in the mixer and half the avocado shot out of the mixer bowl and landed in the middle of my kitchen floor.  So, don't do it, just drag out the blender, you will thank me.

Anyway, I will definitely be making these again!  So yummy.  And even pretty healthy!  Do you have go to party recipes?  Do you like to do pot luck style or do you prepare a whole meal?  Have you shot an avocado out of your mixer?  No?  Just me?  That's what I thought.