OPEN HOUSE- help with food?!
OPEN HOUSE- help with food?
okay so im having an open house to celebrate my graduation and i need some help with the food. I want to do a fajitas thing but im having trouble with how to prepare the food. I want to have chicken with peppers and all that good stuff and i was going to cook it the night before and then the next day heat it up but i dont know how to do that and still keep the temperature on them good without making it so that people get sick.
Answers:
To be honest I would avoid foods like the fajitas. They are greasy messy and when old get limp and don't look very appetizing. Plus you have to keep them very warm or trust me people will get sick. Try some different cold salads, like pasta, greek, veggie trays, things like that that are easy to make or buy them and "punch them up" with some things you add in. All you need is to keep everything cold with ice. That's it no fuss no muss. For dessert, fruit salad, brownies, cookies. No cake or anything messy that people can make a chore of cleaning up after. Have fun
Don't try to cook too many different things at one time. If you do go with frozen foods that are ready to go. Chicken and peppers should be okay left in the baking dish for an hour or so, but you should probably do like smaller batches in case people show up late so that you can just pop it in the oven later.
You can cook it ahead of time. Heat it up in a oven safe pot or casserole dish. Keep it on low to keep it warm! Add a little water every so often to keep it moist. You could also keep it warm in a crock pot! If you have things that need to stay cool put ice in a large bowl and place smaller bowls in the ice.
(sour cream, cheese)
I'm with Sgt D, I'd avoid hot foods all together. If your guests were all arriving at the same time that would be OK but the idea of an open house is ( correct me if I'm wrong) is that people basically show up whenever they please between certain hours . You would either be racing backwards and forwards from the kitchen for the whole time and be unable to mingle with your guests or you would be running the risk of giving all or some of your guests food poisoning. Perhaps you could go with a couple of big antipasto platters, some open sandwiches, some interesting dips served with some Turkish bread or lavash. Something yummy that they wouldn't necessarily eat at home