Suitable for guests, special occasions, or for bringing to a dinner party or potluck. Some posts that are tagged this way are obviously designed for serving guests. Other posts may be tagged this way to signify that this is a special, high-quality, interesting dish that you’d be proud to serve a guest. Posts that contain entire menus are tagged in a subcategory of Entertaining called “all in one.” Search for it in the category drop down on the right hand side of any page.
Deconstruct a pie, using a free and easy shortbread instead of a crust. Perfect for when you’re in the mood for pie, but don’t feel like rolling, crimping, fussing, swearing, and guessing whether or not the filling has reached the right consistency while you worry that you’re over-baking the crust.
This bread gets its rich, fresh, depth of flavor from nuts, nut-meal, oregano, sour cream, and thyme. Starting with a sponge and kneading the final dough by hand are key to giving this bread its unbelievable texture and complex flavor. Refrigerating the dough helps you to manage time and the bread to develop character.
Enjoy banana cream pie bars from scratch without touching a rolling pin or turning on the stove. Chessmen cookies, Cool Whip, cream cheese, instant pudding. Trust me; this does not taste like an “easy version.” It’s the real deal.
This vodka infused rainbow Jello mold could be the hit of your next party. Six colors, twelve layers … yeah, it’s incredibly ambitious. And it’s also time consuming. But it doesn’t require special skills or a Ph.D in Jellology. Resist the urge to keep tasting it as you go, though, or you’ll never make it to the final layer.
Learning how to barbecue whole chickens on the charcoal grill will make you a backyard BBQ conqueror this 4th of July. You’ll be dripping with worthiness, heavily scented with the herbs of victory, holding your roasted foul high overhead like the Wimbledon trophy. All it takes is a bit of charcoal, a fryer or two, maybe some barbecue sauce (maybe not), and corn on the cob.
Baked or fried goat cheese (chèvre) medallions can turn a green salad into comfort food.
Baked or fried goat cheese (chèvre) medallions can turn a green salad into comfort food.
Martha Stewart’s coming over, and you polished off your croquembouche this morning for breakfast. All you’ve got is some Red Velvet brownies that are too dry to serve. Or maybe some leftover cheesecake. Well, fret no more. You can improvise a triple-chocolate trifle with whipped cream, pudding, and a little bit of cream cheese. Don’t tell her that you melted your chocolate in the microwave, though, or she’ll pack her bags and split.
Take a little bit of leftover cake, add whipped cream and a custard, lemon curd, or pudding, you whip up from scratch, and you can do a to-die-for trifle improv.