Ahh. App = appetizers. I was just thinking you shouldn't be using your phone while driving.

ETA remember my nationality. Sarcasm comes to me like breathing. It was a joke.

Sorry, I edited the subject line.

Can I interest you in some car cooking? A long drive, you should be able to slow cook some ribs; I would brown first, then foil-wrap and start the car. LINK ‘Manifold Destiny’ Will Teach You to Cook on Your Car Engine | Eater

For eating in the car, I shudder at anything crumby juicy and sticky. If it were up to me, I'd allow each occupant a cheese stick and a bottle of water. Maybe a couple of grapes. Unpeeled.

LOL! Previous version, I'll bet there are apps that tell you the history and landscape/flora/fauna, based on your gps location, while sitting untouched, phone in holder.

Appectizers always make me think vegetables. Even carrot sticks get sad when too long warm, though. Must it be room temp? I have a glut of silver quilted delivery bags—I wish you weren't thousands of miles away. But surely you have some kind of cooler box, bag, cardboard carton, and can make ice bricks if you don't have Freez-r-brix (or however you spell the dry, long lasting, cold blocks).

If cold packs/ice are not an option, baked=>shelf stable seems prudent. Nuts, dried fruit, essentially anything that goes in trail mix, can be made into balls, sticks or bars, united with nut butter or honey or soft cheese and meal or crumbs. Personal ”cheese balls”. Grapes. Big juicy grapes. Nut etc. paste if not balls, filling rolled and selt-tied in endive leaves.

I can't think of anything else stable in potential heat.

Why not make the homemade Chex mix? It can be made regular or versions for allergies. Mine had to be made nut and dairy free.

Muffins would be good. Especially mini.

ETA: Someone at Christmas was making Spicy Pecan Halves.

Sorry, I should have supplied more info. It's a 1.5 hour drive and when I get there it will be total chaos, with people coming and going all day long. The appetizers/snacks will just stay out on the table. Hence the desire to bring something that can stay at room temp. There is never any room in the fridge there, nor is there room on the stove, in the oven, or on the counters.

Sherry, I love those spicy pecans!!! but I have brought them before and nobody else bothered eating them. :(

I think I've decided to also make an onion tart of some kind. And maybe roasted vegetables?

To bad about the pecans, their loss, lol. Do the homemade Chex mix.?You can buy it, but the new bought is not the same.

I love roasted vegetables, but I wouldn't want to eat them sitting out outside for hours. Nor anything else I can think of.

I'm not shilling for the company (Polar Tech), and left a syllable off the name Re-Freez-r-Brix, but they're quite impressive and stay cold much longer with no mess, compared to ice and gel packs. You could put some under the platters--or DIY with containers of water frozen as ice blocks, or whatever. A carton saved from recycling and packing paper or newspaper make a good, free, cooler tray.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009W7YCH4?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder_k0_1_7&amp=&crid=24628R9QJYQ56&amp=&sprefix=freez-r

" a 1.5 hour drive " ah, need to use the exhaust manifold then. Can you fit a pressure cooker in the engine compartment?

Take the chex mix..... no idea what it is ... but make SAUSAGE ROLLS!!! who doesn't love them? Make enough to last an hour on the table. Late comers can just hear about how delicious they were LOL And they travel so well.

That's the thing -- nothing that's good will last long on the table. Except spicy pecans, of course. lol! I'm not sure if this is a sausage roll crowd or not, but it sounds good to me. :) Chex mix is tasty, but the hostess sometimes makes it. This crowd loves anything with cheese!!!

A couple thoughts…also reasons I always have Hidden Valley Seasoning on hand.

Ranch Crackers

Parmesan Ranch Shortbread

Maybe a quickbread and spread plate? Quickbreads can be sweet or savory. Spreads can be butters or jams, maybe a cheese log or spread if it's something you think would go fast. Loaded focaccia breads can be good too and easy to cut up for service.

I've been making Cowboy Caviar lately and it's been a huge hit everywhere I take it. There is no dairy or mayo and nothing that will spoil at room temp for a few hours. If you don't want a bowl of something that people share, make it and put it in individual cups (or have cups for people to fill themselves) with cups of tortilla chips. If you have Trader Joe's, their Organic Corn Chip dippers are perfect to serve with it. They are delicious and the shape scoops and holds the dip easily.

I use frozen corn (I like TJ's) and sub lots of fresh garlic for the garlic powder and I skip the sweetener. Oh, and I sub an orange or yellow bell pepper for the green because I'm not as fond of green. I also finely slice some green onions and their tops and add to the veggies.

Prep:

Rinse and Drain Beans: Drain and rinse the black beans and black-eyed peas to remove excess sodium.

Chop the Veggies: Dice the tomatoes, bell peppers, red onion, and jalapeño. Chop the cilantro and cube the avocado.

Combine Ingredients: In a large bowl, toss together the beans, corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, jalapeño, and cilantro.

Add Dressing: Pour the dressing over the mixture and toss to coat everything evenly.

Fold in Avocado: Gently fold in the avocado just before serving to keep it fresh. I usually squirt more lime juice on it while waiting to add it.

Chill and Enjoy: Let the Cowboy Caviar sit for at least 10 minutes or several hours to allow flavors to meld. Serve with tortilla chips, as a taco topping, or as a fresh side salad.

I was procrastinating, so tried a websearch. Sad. The things we've discussed. More things are are some kind of dressed up cereal. Dips/pastes/puree salads and various dippable bready things. I mean that's all that's out there. And some heavy cheese snacks that look like they'd go all oily and limp out on a table, but perhaps not be dangerous.

But those reminded me of a favorite commercial snack which would be easy to replicate. Cheese crisps (tuiles) with pepitas and other seeds. More of a snack than an appetizer, but so are the (yummy!) spiced pecans, so maybe you'd want to try them. They're a bit of a bother to make, but really good. (Sorry, I don't have a recipe beyond grate fine, thickly lay on parchment (you need more cheese than you think you do), press in the seeds, bake until dry.)

Thanks, everyone! Whatever I bring is really more of a snack than an appetizer. We often end up with many hours of snacking before any type of meal will appear. :)

Chloebud, I don’t ever use HVR seasoning, but I did make blue cheese shortbread last year and it didn’t go over nearly as well as the famous ”cheese cookies”.

beesneeds, a quickbread sounds really good to me!

Olychick, I made cowboy caviar for one of my parties once and it was a huge hit, so I made and brought some to this 4th of July party. It wasn’t a hit with this group for some reason! They do love salsa & chips though, so BF is now planning to make salsa to bring. Someone here (Cookie?) found this recipe for him and everyone loves it, even with cilantro:

Restaurant style salsa

plllog, I would love cheese crisps covered with seeds…. I’ll need to experiment with that!

Thanks again, everyone! In case there’s anyone out there wondering about the cheese cookies, here’s the recipe and it’s the bomb. They disappear very quickly:

Rick Rodgers Cheese Cookies*

*Note the recipe says it makes 20 cookies but that’s wrong. I make 4 dozen from each batch.

Sherry, I think I was typing when you posted…. I would LOVE a pickle and olive tray! they would not. I’ve tried that before too and I think I was the only one eating them. lol!

So I guess I am not the only one in this group to have cooked hot dogs on a manifold? 🤣

Thanks for the memories John. Mine were cooked on a boat manifold so there was plenty of room with the hatch open. No charcoal required there. LOL

When the grand kids were little, they would hit the pickle tray and put black olives on all 10 fingers, then eat and repeat!

I have always had okra pickles, olives, Famous Daves Hot Sweet pickles, and pickled corn. Sometimes sweet gerkins. I can no longer buy the pickled corn local and have to order a case of 24 off A.

PM, when I posted about the tuiles, I had totally forgotten that you had already said you were making cheese cookies! Thanks for the recipe.

It sounds like you have a difficult crowd to please! With snacks open, I'll mention my favorite new thing is chili seasoned puffed water lily seeds. I'm not suggesting them for a crowd (they're pricey), and I think it's too damp there to leave anything puffed in the open, but perhaps, rather than making something else they won't eat, it might be fun to check out ethnic stores, if there are any nearby, or on the way there, and bring something new and weird to try. It could be a hit!

When we were on holiday last month, for one apritif evening I took a big tray of chicken schwarma bites. on sticks They had all shuddered when I mentioned spicy but the whole lot went very quickly. Anything chickeny goes down well and if you're going to use the "eat it quickly" strategy and too bad for late-comers, that would work. Any flavour.

We recently took a car trip to the Grand Canyon. We didn't know what we were going to have, food wise. We bought a cooler that can be plugged into the car, or into a regular plug in the hotel room! Main thing....it has to be plugged in at all times!

Islay Corbel, normally a tray of chicken schwarma on sticks would be great, but the hostess is planning to serve chicken.

nancyjane_gardener, I didn’t know that electric coolers were a thing. I’ll have to research that.

Thank you all. I‘m off to make cookies….

It's too late for new ideas now, but I hope you have a good time!

Those Rick Rodgers Cheese Cookies are the same that I've made for years and called "Cheese Thumbprints". I fill mine with homemade Habanero Gold, they're really good, but the neighbor here likes them plain. I'm sure they will be very well received and unfortunately, you probably won't have leftovers to snack on at home.

John, I've kept things warm on a truck or tractor manifold, but never actually COOKED things. A hot manifold warms a sandwich nicely, even after the machine is turned off. Coffee too.

No celebrations going on here, we processed chickens, LOL.

Annie

I'm guessing that's the kind of thing the colonials would have done. ;)

Probably the colonials, LOL. However, our decision was purely rational. The chickens were big enough and they were struggling in the continued heat which we are not equipped for or accustomed to here in Michigan. With 89F yesterday and 91F today and the Cornish Cross being prone to things like heart attacks, it seemed reasonable to change the date which was originally July 6. I wasn't sure they could survive the continued heat wave as they have been very uncomfortable even outside in the grass in the shade with lots of water. No moderation in the heat seems probable, maybe cooler and rain tomorrow then back up into high 80s and 90s.

I hate it, incidentally. I live in Michigan because it's never supposed to be 90F, sheesh. And yet, here it is.

I'm hoping it wasn't that hot for PM's party!

Annie

Poor chickens. Annie, we were in the hills, not far from Cooperstown. Gorgeous day — it was a high of 72F with a strong breeze/wind and plenty of sun. Your 90s is headed our way and should arrive tomorrow. sigh.

Yikes! Poor chickens! Good thing their date could be shifted a couple of days. Traumatized is bad all around.

I feel for you. I have lizard parentage, and would be immobile in your Winters!

Of course, I would call PM's party, bring a coat…

PM, that sounds wonderful, I'm glad the weather was good for your party. So, other than cheese cookies, what was there?

Here it's just hot and sticky, and no rain for several days so it's dusty too. No one wanted to stand over a grill or have a picnic or do anything that didn't involve air conditioning. It's dry enough that there are burn bans and people have been warned about fireworks. Amanda and Dave have a boat, which they took out on the river, but space is limited to 7 or 8 people. A local orchard has pick your own sweet cherries available for $2.50 a pound, but it was even too hot for me to want to do that. So, no parties here, unfortunately. It's supposed to rain tonight, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

Plllog, it's all what you are used to, I guess. Elery's brother, SIL, sister and the twin granddaughters of his brother are all coming to visit from Tennessee in another week. They were hoping it would be cooler than their area but we've been about the same as they have been in Tennessee, although without rain. They aren't going to be able to find anything cooler here I'm afraid. Their air B&B is on a small local lake, so I think the kids will be spending a lot of time there!

Here the laying hens don't even seem to blink at the heat, as long as they have some shade. The big maple tree next to their coop provides that. The cows stay in the barn most of the day, it's kind of like a walk-out basement with hay in the top and animals underneath, so it's quite a lot cooler and the barn swallows keep it bug/fly free. They go out in the evening to graze and drink but the pasture needs some rain pretty soon or they'll be stuck with hay. Everything seems to just tolerate the heat except those poor meat chickens, I felt terrible for them.

Hopefully this heat wave won't last or we won't be having Labor Day picnics either. (sigh)

Annie

I can remember when our weather was nothing like Tennessee's weather. sigh.

It was fairly quiet with a smaller than usual group. One guy brought a boat so many spent most of the day on the nearby lake. Munchies were cheese cookies, salsa and chips, a large variety of cheeses, crackers, summer sausage, pickled peppers, olives, veggies, mini pitas and a lemon and dill hummus that was my favorite. Food was grilled chicken, pulled pork, salt potatoes, coleslaw, some kind of baked beans with cheese, a fluffy fruit salad, garden salad, …. etc. I brought my own beer so I never ran out. It was nice. lol!

The dill hummus sounds interesting, but you sure lost me on the cheese in the baked beans, that doesn't even sound good. Oh well, to each their own, I'm sure some people would love that.

I've never liked summer, it's my least favorite season, so I'm just going to complain anyway, LOL.

Annie

Omg, Annie, I felt the same way about the cheese on beans! It was a new recipe they were trying. It wasn’t bad — Just not a combination that made sense to me. And I think I am the only one in the world who doesn’t like marshmallows in a fluffy fruit salad. :)

I understand about some beans, like cheese and refried beans or cheese on black bean tacos but to me baked beans are sweet and cheese just doesn't seem to go there. I guess I shouldn't judge before trying it, especially since I'm not a great fan of cheese in general. I loved baked beans, though!

Nope, no marshmallows in fruit salad for me either, and I do not particularly like that "fluff" that's just fruit in whipped cream. We used to call that "ambrosia", and it had coconut too.

Annie

Agreed on all, though I think a savory baked beans might be okay with cheese. But then I think cheddar on apple pie isn't good (funk on sweet), and lots of people like that.

Annie, I woke up thinking about your miserable chickens (it finally got July hot here (dank June went away)). I appreciate so much hearing little things like that about real life. When I was young, there was lots of that, and there were farms here. No more. Everything's all citified.