Sweet Potato Casserole

Here was a favorite side dish from our Christmas in July party. It would also be great for a Thanksgiving/Fall meal.
Sweet Potato Casserole
4 cups mashed sweet potatoes, about 2 1/2 lbs (you can bake or boilthe potatoes, I normally boil but read some reviews that it is betterif you bake for an hour, I think I might try that this time)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon (Increase, decrease, or omit the spices depending onpreference, I like to increase)
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup packed brown sugar (I normally double the topping, my favorite part)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup chopped pecans

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, milk,salt, 1/3 cup butter, vanilla, and spices. Mix together and pour into a greased 13x9 inch baking dish.
2. To prepare the topping, combine in a separate bowl the brown sugar, flour, 1/3 cup melted butter and pecans. Mix together and crumble over sweet potato mixture. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F(175 degrees C) for 35 to 45 minutes.
submitted by Melissa Russell

Hawaiian Luau Party Ideas

Often Luau's are held in the backyard under tents, with palm fronds woven together to make windbreak walls. The tent poles are decorated with ti leaves, ferns, heleconia and red ginger. Entertainment is usually provided by friends with guitars and ukuleles and impromptu hulas abound.

FLOWERS

• When you throw your luau, be sure to decorate with plenty of silk flowers or you can even order tropical flowers, foliage and orchid sprays from lei vendors in Hawaii who will ship to the mainland (our name for the other 49 states).


• To save money buy silk leaves and do one large centerpiece at the head table or near the buffet bar and smaller flower bouquets at the guest tables.
  

MUSIC

• Hawaiian music is a must for your luau. You can buy a CD or tape by some of our great local musicians whose styles range from the traditional Hawaiian slack key guitar to Hawaiian-style reggae. Click for our music suggestions.
  
  

TABLES

• To decorate your tables you can create a traditional center table runner of leaves, ferns and flowers or you can go with an ocean theme and spread an ornamental fish-net topped with shells, sand and glass balls.


• Another great look is a Hawaiian print sarong used as a tablecloth. Raffia hula skirts look tropical edging the buffet table.


• Reproductions of the old travel posters from the '30s and '40s would look great on the walls and also make great art for your invitations.

CENTERPIECES

• Place a few real whole pineapples along the center of the table. You can also set out candles in real coconut shells or bamboo stalks.


• For a Hawaiian themed party, wherein you plan for a candlelight dinner, you can very well fit in a pineapple centerpiece. Take a pineapple and carve out small, oval shapes on three sides of the fruit. Scoop out the excess of fruit and let it dry. You can place small light lamps in these openings and place them at the center of the table.



• Another interesting pineapple centerpiece that can be easily made is Pineapple Appetizer Centerpiece. For this, take a pineapple and peel it off. Do not remove its crown. After this, chop other fruits into small cubes or take small fruit items such as grapes, cherry tomatoes, apricots, olives, chunk cheese etc. Now, take toothpicks and prick the fruits, tucking them onto the pineapple. Cover the whole pineapple with fruits and place it at the table. Your guests can pick different fruits with the help of the toothpicks and once they are finished, you can chop the pineapple for dessert.



• You can even make Pineapple Fruit Boat as your centerpiece. Take a pineapple and remove the skin from one of the sides. After this place the pineapple on a table, with the flesh side facing upwards. Scoop out the pulp of the fruit by cutting it into cubes. After you have removed the pulp, it will look like a hollow bowl. You can fill this with other tropical fruits, cut into small cubes. Set it at the table and enjoy the fruit salad.


• Fill up large shells with macadamia nuts, and use a child's beach pail to hold potato chips. Place the shells and buckets on the table.


• With the Hawaiian party theme, you do not have to spend a lot on decorations. You can make the buffet table your Hawaiian centrepiece. Decorate this with a Hawaiian party table centre or table runner and hey presto you have your party theme almost covered.

FOOD WITH A FLAIR

• Paper parasols and slices of pineapple on the edge of drinks will put your guests in a tropical mood.


• Check out our Luau recipes.


• Hawaiian's use a lot of chicken, pork, pineapple and rice in their traditional recipes.

SPECIAL TOUCHES AND FAVORS AND ENTERTAINMENT

• Be sure to greet your guests with a shell or flower lei and a big "Aloha" and have them leave their shoes at the door! You can also have loose flowers on hand for your guests to tuck behind their ears. If you're available romantically, put the flower behind your right ear. If you're taken, put it closest to your heart, behind your left ear.

If you also ask your guests to come dressed up in a Hawaiian outfit. This also helps to carry the theme into other rooms, without much in the way of party decoration. This fancy dress approach adds color to the room with you having too.

You might want to contact a dance school or hula halau in your area to have professional hula lessons or professional hula performers at your luau.

Make Hawaii themed cookies to use as place cards. Make a batch of sugar cookies and shape them in the form of flowers. Use icing and write each guest's name on a cookie. Lay it in front of the plate corresponding to the seating chart.

You could pack little take out cartons of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for party favors or check out Hawaiian Luau Party Supply for a variety of fun kitsch items (like our favorite - the wiggling hula girl sculpture shown here).

A Suggested Menu (for an authentic meal)
Kalua Pig
Poi
Sweet potatoes
Luau or laulau
Lomi salmon
Tropical fruit such as pineapple, mango and papaya
Haupia
Mai Tai Drinks

A Suggested Menu (for a more casual meal)
Skewered marinated meats
Grilled Veggies
Tropical Fruit
Smoothies

Hawaiian Party Recipes

Traditional Hawaiian Pork

Another good Hawaiian party food idea is the extremely popular Adobo. This dish originated in the Philippines but has since been adopted by Hawaiians. To make Adobo you are going to need:

½ a yellow onion diced
1 Head of garlic (yes, the whole head of garlic) minced
2 pounds of pork of your choice cut into1 inch squares
1 cup of vinegar
2 cups of water
½ cup of Balsamic vinegar
¼ cup of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of paprika
olive oil
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
2 tablespoons of water
Add a little olive oil to a pot and brown the onions and garlic. Add the water and vinegar to the onions and garlic and bring to a simmer. Add the pork and Balsamic vinegar and continue to simmer for 10 minuets. Add the soy sauce and simmer for another 10 minuets. Remove the meat from the sauce and brown it in a separate pan with the paprika. Mix the 2 tablespoons of water with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to make a slurry and thicken the sauce with it. Adobo is usually served with rice.

Candy Sushi

Looking for a way to enjoy sushi without having to eat raw fish? A great party favor!

You’ll need to brush off your Rice Krispie treats recipe and find plenty of fruit roll ups, Swedish fish, gummy worms or any other jelly candy you think might be fun to decorate the sushi with. Accents like candied orange or lemon slices are also really cute. The fruit rollups act as the seaweed wrap. The preparation is easy and the kids can do most of the work. (They’ll need a little adult supervision with the knife wielding portion of the project.) Enjoy this tasty treat!

Rainbow Cake- A sure party dessert hit!!

Sunny Day Rainbow Cake from omnomicon.com

2 boxes white cake mix

24 oz of clear diet soda (2 cans, ginger ale and sprite work well)

gel food colouring

16 oz whipped topping

2 oz instant fat-free sugar-free pudding mix (2 smallish boxes)


The Dieting
Mix the cake mix with the soda according to regular instructions on box. It will be lumpy afterward. Again, you can use any white cake recipe you want, this is just how I do it.

The Rainbowing
Measure the total volume (by my estimate, 64 oz), then divide by 6 and measure into separate bowls. There are 8 oz in a cup, so 64/6 = 10 to 11 oz, or 1 cup + 2 tbsp.
Stir colour into each bowl with its own spoon.





For the first colour into the pan, measure out 2/3 to 3/4 of your mix (in this case about 1 c) as close to the middle as you can. Drop in your first three colours, then work on the other pan with the last three colours. So if you’re doing rainbow order, the first pan should have red, then orange, then yellow, and now the purple, blue and green go into the second pan. As a recap, this is so both layers are roughly the same size.
Bake the cake for however long the box tells you to bake it. Check it when the box says to, but usually it’ll need an extra 5 or 10 minutes or maybe more because of the density of the soda method. Just keep baking, checking back every 5 minutes or so until a toothpick to the center comes out clean.


Let cool completely before moving to a wire rack.

The Frostinging
Meanwhile, make your frosting. Just mix the pudding mix in with the whipped topping for a few minutes. Dye if you’re into that.
Frost your fat-free cake with your fat-free whipped frost. Eat.

Lucky Punch

1 c. sugar
3 c. unsweetened pineapple juice
1 6 oz. can frozen orange juice
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 liter lemon line beverage

Combine 2 3/4 c. water and sugar till sugar dissolves. In blender combine 1/2 of pineapple juice and all of orange juice concentrate cover. Blend till smooth. Add orange juice mixture to sugar mixture. Stir in remaining juices. Transfer to a glass 9x13 pan and freeze one hour. Remove from freezer after one hour and break ice chunks. Add fruit juice mixture to punch bowl and pour in Sprite. Add raspberries.

This is a delicious juice and many had multiple glasses of punch and asked me how I made it.

Italian Dinner Party recipes

Bruschetta

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. ripe Roma tomatoes
2 tbsp. finely chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
2 tsp. red wine vinegar (balsamic is also nice)
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan shavings
Toasted crusty bread

Instructions:
Cut tomatoes in half, squeeze out seeds and excess juice. Dice, place in bowl. Add onion, garlic, basil, vinegar, salt and pepper (to taste), and olive oil. Let sit at room temperature 1 hour. Brush toasted bread lightly with olive oil. Spoon tomato mixture over bread, sprinkle with shaved Parmesan cheese. Devour. (Serves 4)

Baked Ziti with Sausage

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 lbs spicy Italian sausage, casings removed, crumbled
salt and pepper
1/4 c. dry red wine
1 (35 oz.) can chopped tomatoes, with juice
4 tomatoes, diced
1/4 c. chopped fresh oregano (or 2 tbsp, dried)
1 c. ricotta cheese
3/4 to 1 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/3 c. flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 lb. dry ziti pasta, cooked to al dente
1/2 to 1 pound mozzarella cheese, diced
olive oil

Instructions:
Heat oven to 425 F. In large skillet, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium. Saute onion in oil til soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sausage, sauté til sausage is browned. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drain fat, return to heat.
Add red wine, allow to boil mostly away. Add tomatoes with juice, simmer about 10 minutes, til sauce is slightly thickened. Add oregano. Taste to correct seasonings.
In a bowl, combine ricotta, half the parmesan, and the parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Combine drained, cooked pasta with ricotta mixture. Add sausage and sauce. Mix. Add mozzarella. Pour into large, shallow, greased baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan. Bake uncovered til bubby and lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Serve. (Serves 4-6)

*** these recipes were taken from the divinedinnerparty.com website

Chinese New Year Cupcakes

Good Day pattern above to copy onto frosted cupcakes

This would be a great dessert for my next Chinese New Year or Asian Dinner Party.
Whip up these Good Fortune cupcakes (familycrafts.about.com) to share your wishes of good fortune for the coming year. According to Chinese tradition, red is the symbol for fire that scares away evil spirits. The markings on the cupcakes represent good luck.

1 box of yellow or white cake mix

1 can of vanilla icing

red & yellow paste food coloring

cupcake liners

good luck pattern

Prepare cake mix as directed. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners and fill 3/4 full. Bake as directed and allow to cool thoroughly before icing. You will need 2 bowls: one for red icing, the other for yellow icing. Use the paste food coloring to color the icing. You will need quite a bit of red food coloring to achieve a deep red color. Make sure that you tint enough red icing to decorate all of the cupcakes because it is nearly impossible to match the same color red for a second batch.Frost the cupcakes red. Add the yellow icing to a baggie, creating an icing bag. Snip the very end of the bag creating a tiny whole. Draw the Chinese Symbol for "Good Fortune" (see pattern) on top of the cupcakes.