Peach mousse parfaits with raspberries...YUM!

Regarding appetizers, I love warm spinach/artichoke dip, For "porch party/summery," what about something like Caprese or antipasto skewers? Prosciutto-wrapped melon? Chilled herbed cheese ball? The crudité platter you mentioned? You also mentioned chips, guac and salsa. People are almost always happy with those. Even deviled eggs are usually well received. Just some thoughts...I'm guessing you know your friends' tastes pretty well.

Last time I did this I had a ton of food left over. Some folks didn't hardly eat a thing! I made a whole cake and no one ate any! It was chocolate with coconut frosting topped with sliced almonds, so I don't think the reason was because it was unappetizing! Everyone is watching their weight!! Maybe I should forgo the peach mousse and make a salmon mousse with Mom's old copper molds and then just have a cookie platter. I just want to do something to use some of Mom's old entertaining dishes. I thought I could try and keep the paella warm in Mom's old copper chafing dish . . .

Our dining room opens with French doors to the porch so I usually keep the main dishes, salads and desserts in there . . .

Another thought I had would be to grill shrimp and chicken on skewers and serve over rice, might be fun and give hubs something to do. This is mostly a gals weekend of old high school friends, although husbands and male friends are allowed. They tend to shy away though, for some reason . . . ;)

Everything you mentioned sounds delish. Not sure how many guests, but it almost sounds like you could have too much food? But must not lose the paella or tortellini salad!

You could simplify the beverages and reduce mess. How about some big jugs of sangria, maybe one red and one white, instead of many bottles of wine. Or a big punch bowl?

I've been thinking about alternatives to bread or chips, to go with dips for the waistline-watching or carb-reducing folks. I have an event myself next weekend and was going to try crinkle slicing veg (carrots, zucchini, cut on the bias?) then dehydrating to firm up the slices. Surely something in this house must be capable of producing a crinkle slice.

"Maybe I should forgo the peach mousse..."

Peach mousse just sounds so good. Do you have the fridge space to easily keep them all chilled? There would be nothing wrong...at all...with the cookie platter you mentioned. Or maybe cookies with some bars (such as brownies and/or lemon bars). Anything from your mom's collection for serving that?

John has a good question regarding too much food. I would often plan for too much. What works best for me these days is to keep it fairly simple, and do as much ahead as possible.

(Raising hand high) I'll be there! I'll help get rid of food by putting whatever you make into my tummy, and I'll help take those pesky leftovers off your hands, too!

Actually, the peach mousse with raspberries sounds light and refreshing so I'd vote to keep that.

How involved do you want this to be? Does the time of the porch party align with lunch or an early dinner? If not, then make it easy on yourself with light appetizers, finger foods, and peach mousse! If so, then you'd still want easy, right? and more substantial offerings like you mentioned above (personally, we love having leftovers so if you do, too, planned leftovers is a good thing!).

Smiles,

Sooz

sounds like you have made waaaay too much work for yourself....
For the parfaits, have some "lite" peach icecream in a styrofoam block to keep it hard for an hour or more and serve some room temp peach sauce....just peaches cooked with sugar until soft...people could spoon that in to the parfait glasses...
And its summer....stick to chips and salsa or hummus and pita chips....save the hot stuff for winter.
I like the flavored soda and wine idea....and provide fruit slices to garnish.....and forget flavored vodka....you are just making more leftovers...just plain vodka and the flavor comes from the fruit add ins.
I have a recipe for a bean salad that is not that southwestern thing...shout if you want it...it's mostly white beans and a lemoney dressing.And definitly a cookie or bar tray....make them ahead and freeze.

Sounds like fun!

I do have some fridge space on the porch and I just sort of want to pull out the parfaits already made. Mom used to do that for parties, although she made mostly chocolate pudding or Jello layered with Cool Whip . . . The rest seems like mostly make ahead to me, but maybe too much. I could forgo the paella, but that would keep in the freezer as a leftover. But maybe not doing the parfaits and doing a cookie tray would be good because leftover cookies or bar cookies freeze well. Mom has great cookie trays too. I may never use the parfait glasses, just don't have the heart to get rid of them . . . I could do a peach cake although I don't really have a recipe I like. I like my peach raspberry pie recipe . . .

I can buy spinach artichoke dip and hummus to make things easier, just not the low fat version of spinach dip like my home made. Crudites and chopped salad are dead easy, so the only thing that takes any time is the paella. I could do potato salad instead, maybe Greek style or with sweet potatoes slightly Mexican with maybe corn and red onion, but that take about as much time as the paella other than the baking time. I happen to love white bean and tuna salad with olives and celery and feta, but I'm not so sure about my friends . . .

"...and doing a cookie tray would be good because leftover cookies or bar cookies freeze well. Mom has great cookie trays too."

Cookies and bars would be great on one of your mom's trays. :-) I also have a nice memory of parfaits since my mom would make them, too. Hers were usually with ice cream layered some kind of sauce. Wish I had her parfait glasses.

Recipes vary but paella can be a somewhat heavy dish. Sometimes all you need is a green salad and good crusty bread. I've served it with Caesar salad and bread. It's been awhile but the last time I think I made a green salad tossed with a sherry wine vinaigrette. There's always tapas, but that could be a meal in itself. I'd keep it more simple.

The white bean/tuna salad sounds good to me, but I agree with your thinking it could be iffy with some people.

Ehhh, challenge people! One dish at the edge of their comfort zone is fine.

I really like the idea of using your Mom's serving pieces. Copper, ooo pretty. I might even lean towards dishes that will look good with copper.

How do you make your tortellini salad?

I would love to have the lemony bean salad recipe - sounds very good!

You should call your party

The forget your diet for a day splurge party

I'd stick with your starter , paella is enough for a main course and beautifully summery. People can pick out what they like to eat among chicken, mussels, prawns, squid etc. Do you have one of those wonderful big pans? And, your dessert will be magic. Go for it.

This is Deborah_PS’ (is she still on GW?) Paella Salad. It is fairly easy to make and can be done ahead. It makes enough for an army! I think when DD and I make it, we add some chunks of roasted chicken breast.

I don’t know why the shrimp is noted “(Costco)” unless someone in the group said the frozen cooked, peeled shrimp at Costco were good for the dish.

If you tap on the recipe, which is a screenshot, it will enlarge and be much clearer to read.

Here ya go John! I think my mom must have gotten this as a wedding gift. I have virtually no recollection of her ever using it. I might forgo it for this party. It would be OK for fondue, although kinda too shallow. I'd love to think up a recipe that would "look good" in it. I should get rid of it, it doesn't even have any sentimental value for my family, other than a reminder of a more elegant, sophisticated time in America. Julia Child would say make omelettes at the table with it for your dinner party or serve veal scallopini in it at a buffet. I can barely get my friends to come over even once a year, they are so sandwiched busy. Us too.

I did serve a fruit mixture in parfait glasses at the Michigan Run, with homemade shortbread "sticks" on the side, it was a nice presentation, so maybe you can use those parfait glasses for something else occasionally! Meanwhile, I say stick with the mousse, it sounds lovely and peaches are so good this time of year.

I'm with John, challenge your "audience", expand their food horizons. (grin) Plus, I love paella and you could "stretch" it with extra chicken, or use whatever ingredients that are available and here in Michigan you never know what may be available or not.

Although definitely not meant for paella, I think I'd still use the chafing dish just because it was your Mom's. Requirements are a little more relaxed now than they were years ago, so no one is probably even going to notice that it's not a paella pan.

I also think you may have too much food, you're falling into my own personal trap of adding to the menu and cooking too much. Your warm cheese dip and the salsa can both use the same chips. I think a chopped green salad or the crudite would be sufficient. I also like that white bean/tuna salad, but with seafood in the paella, you don't need tuna.

Remember to have fun, the company is more important than the food, and don't get yourself so busy that you can't enjoy them.

Annie

I love that you are using your mother's nice things.

The peach mousse sounds good. I did something easier that looked very pretty in parfait glasses. Small balls of vanilla ice cream and mango sorbet, layered with blueberries.

I just got back from the "farm to table" capital of MI and had a FABULOUS albeit expensive visit to a sort of tappas bar, and I'm rethinking my menu. The restaurant was a "small plates" place with an extensive alcohol list, so the idea was to pair exciting foods with exciting alcohol tastes. I had a French sparkling rose that was out of this world, and it should have been for 42 dollars a bottle (I only had a glass but asked if I could buy a bottle and then rethought after I found out why it was so much better than any other rose I had ever had). I'm not going to recreate that fancy of a menu or alcohol list, but I do like the idea of a couple of kinds of booze and keeping hubs busy grilling. But my friends are also still just as picky as ever so nothing exotic. I've known and teased them for decades, they aren't going to develop an adventurous palate at this stage, no matter how fun that might be! And their taste in booze is just as pedestrian.

So here's the new menu:

The same warm spinach artichoke dip but paired with a cheese plate with assorted fru fru crackers

I'm not sure what cheese to pick. I make a nice gorgonzola spread with walnuts I might do, and then maybe havarti and cheddar or smoked gouda or edam. As pedestrian as those are, my friends will still find them exotic. Nothing with a rind god forbid! And I'm doing parmesean in the spinach dip.

Now here's where it falls apart for me for one other appetizer. One thing would be proscuitto wrapped melon but I don't think my friends are going to like that. So perhaps a minted melon salad. One other option is a radish, crab and avocado salad, or crab salad inside an avocado half. Again though, not sure if it is worth the trouble as I'm not sure if my friends like avocados! Or crab! Guac and chips might be a safer, less expensive option.

Mixed grilled shis ka bobs with rice pilaf on the side. Just chicken and shrimp. Or if I do crab or shrimp salad as an appetizer, maybe chicken and pork and some tofu for me.

Grilled corn

Peach mousse and ranger cookies, as I have to make some cookies to use up some old trail mix I have left over from summer camp.

As for booze, still sangria but maybe a pitcher of daquaris or something like that too. Or perhaps some hard lemonade or hard cider. I love hard cider but it doesn't love me. I wonder if it has that affect on others. Some of my Brit friends say that cider gives them an awful hangover. It irritates my chronic cystitis so I can't drink it.

Re your appetizers, since the artichoke dip is warm, rich and creamy, I'd choose a second app that's basically veggies or fruit -- especially since you say your friends are dieting and aren't adventurous eaters.... something like antipasto on a stick, a fruit & cheese platter, a relish tray w/ vegs, olives, pickles, etc. Easy to put together and not think about. Or just salsa and chips, which is universally popular. :)

Chicken kabobs and rice pilaf are one of my 'go to' meals when entertaining in the summer! I usually make tzatziki, garlic green beans, and tomato & onion salad as sides, and if I add sweet corn I like it done on the grill. yum.

Did a run through of my appetizer selection last night with a visiting vegetarian friend. Guac and chips, baked jalepeno cheese bites, fontina cheese with crackers and carrot sticks with cherry tomatoes.

AWFUL "rose" spritzers in a can that come to find out, even though advertised as rose, were actually flavored fizzy grain alcohol. Bought a whole case, ugh, but probably could be added to real wine and be fine for my white bread friends.

Yes, PM, you are right, the apps were too rich and did not set well on my stomach being soft-dairy heavy. I'm mildly lactose intolerant in my old age, and the fontina cheese mixed with the rich guac was the stuff of literal nightmares!

This morning I opened my Anna BelConte Italian cookbook looking for some antipasta ideas and I think I might try fondue. There's a recipe in there for one using fontina and there's been some good bread on sale at the store so I have some in the freezer, plus I can do broccoli and cauliflower and steamed carrots for the low carbers. Then I'm thinking some relishes and chutney, I get the urge for canning this time of year anyway, and if I don't manage to get any done, I can buy some. That would be fun to sit around and eat. Then the grilled shish kabob for dinner with rice pilaf and some marinated vegetables like zuchinni and mushrooms. Then the mousses. I can always throw out a bagged salad and then use whatever is left over for chef's salads for later with the leftovers.

If prosciutto wrapped melon is too exotic, how about bacon wrapped shrimp?