Prepared foods acceptable for entertaining

[Anonymous]

Hi - I'd love to do more entertaining in my home, but start to feel overwhelmed by food prep since I am a novice cook with limited time. Are there any prepared foods that taste homemade or work especially well with easy appetizers for having people over? This weekend I had a deli platter, but would love to combine some other prepared foods with easy homemade stuff. Like do turkey breasts from whole foods work well with homemade sides, etc?

[Anonymous]

Trader Joes has great appetizers. The stuffed mushrooms in the freezer section are delicious. Also good is the spinach artichoke dip. You can also buy some foods in Whole Foods salad bar that you can use in apps or salads like roasted or steamed beets and broccoli, which are a pain to prep. I don't think there is any shame in entertaining with pre-prepared foods as long as they taste great.

[Anonymous]

Oooooh, someone beat me to posting about Trader Joes. That's our go-to for party prep.

[Anonymous]

Also good and available at Trader Joes and other places: hummus with pita chips. Lots of interesting flavors -- serve with the chips or raw sliced veggies.

Mini quiches (frozen foods section)

A selection of olives or cheeses -- available at Whole Foods.

[Anonymous]

In all honesty, although many of my group are serious cooks and gourmands, it really doesn't matter. There are some who serve appetizers from Sam's Club and/or Costco and it works out fine. Usually it's more important that people enjoy themselves and that there are enough people with common interests. If they enjoy themselves, they'll be back. If they don't enjoy themselves, no amount of good food is really going to encourage them to come back. I've been to parties where everyone enjoyed themselves immensely and the food was barely touched.

[Anonymous]

We do lots of appetizers from trader joes or whole foods with wine. Then keep dinner simple, like burgers or a roast.

[Anonymous]

Oh, the caramelized onion and feta tarts from Trader Joes are also really good! Also good are the TJ ficelle s that you bake in the oven to a crispy golden brown. From WF, get some Adriatic fig spread and manchego cheese.

[Anonymous]

I'm hosting a holiday party next weekend - heavy on th TJ's apps. Throw in some veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, fruit and lots of booze and people will have a fine time.

[Anonymous]

I love TJ's frozen apps and don't ever get tired of them. It's nice to have something homemade and fancy, but I am equally delighted to see my favorites. And I will take a happy and confident host serving cheese cubes over a flustered one any day.

Pro tip: if the wine tastes good, you're already 90% there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, the caramelized onion and feta tarts from Trader Joes are also really good! Also good are the TJ ficelle s that you bake in the oven to a crispy golden brown. From WF, get some Adriatic fig spread and manchego cheese.

I love the TJ onion/feta tarts and what about the TJ vegetable nests? Love those too!

[Anonymous]

The mini hot dogs in puff pastry from Costco always go over well. And yes, I think that serving a whole foods prepared turkey breast is totally fine. As one of the pp's said, it's the people, not the food that is most important. I'm sure that your friends wouldn't want you to stress over entertaining them.

[Anonymous]

You can get a precooked ham from Giant--gasp, I'm sure TJ has them too. It's easier if they're pre-sliced. Put out some rolls and mustard.

Don't forget drinks--cranberry juice and seltzer and slices of lime. Very festive.

[Anonymous]

Cheese and crackers are always easy. Pick out a couple different ones--like a hard cheddar and a goat cheese.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP: get a selection of three cheeses, make little labels for them, set them out with crackers.

Trader Joes appetizers (my personal favorite are the mushroom turnovers)

Crudites with a dip (If you want to be fancy, you can make your own dip or hummus ahead of time).

Quiche.

If you're talking about having a sit-down dinner with some friends, I've found that a vegetable lasagna (which you can prep earlier and then throw in the oven), with a salad and pie with ice cream makes everyone happy and impressed that you cooked something from scratch.