State Shoot

So it's been a week since my first official catering gig, and I have to say, it went better than expected.  Of course, little Miss Negativity here figured that I was doomed to fail in a fiery explosion of burned miniature cupcakes and undercooked chicken.  But, to my knowledge, everyone left full, satisfied, happy, and sans food poisoning, so I'm pretty much a happy camper.  And after sampling everything at least seven times, I do have to toot my own horn a little.  On a budget of $500, I had to serve appetizers and desserts to the 200 people who signed up for the event (that's only $2.50 per person.)  I served four hot dishes, three appetizers, two cold dips, and six desserts, all of which turned out surprising edible.  So yeah, toot toot!  I rock.  Go me.

And then I celebrated by eating my weight in sashimi and downing enough beer to drunkenly follow my sister around a nice restaurant chanting "gong gong gong gong" until she succumbed to my not-so-subtle hints, rang the giant decorative gong, broke the mallet, and ran way. 

Were there any hiccups? Of course- that's my life.  I spent two solid days in my kitchen running around like a crazy woman which was only interrupted by me going to the store to forget ingredients (I went to Wal-Mart twice to get green peppers.  Guess how many green peppers went in the chicken salad.  None.  Fail.)  Pretty much everything I made took at least 4 times longer than I thought it would.  My gi-hue-normous tray of cookie bars got broken into by some over eager guests (for serious?)  I got a late start setting up due to the facilities not being ready, and people wanted to eat about an hour early.  Oh- and the kitchen was upstairs, and the buffet was downstairs, and I wore not-so-supportive shoes.

But it's DONE!  I officially did it.  It's behind me!  And I can officially focus on my new and upcoming baking adventures (erm, I might have signed myself up to create a dessert buffet for my friends wedding.  I have no idea how this happened.)

Some of these are new, some of these are old, but all of these have been consumed by the fine shooters that attended the Iowa State Shoot this year.  

Hot Dishes

Italian Meatballs:  I made ten recipes, totaling just under 200 total meat balls.

Barbeque Little Smokies:  Ok, these really aren't my thing- but you have to think of your audience.  And pathetically enough, these were the first thing to run out. I made six recipes, which should have been about 100 servings.

Cheese Dip:  I'm not too proud to admit that I eat Velveeta.  I made three recipes, which was about 75 servings.

Buffalo Chicken Dip with tortilla chips:  This was by far the biggest hit of the hot dishes.  Recipe below.  I made four recipes which makes about 100 servings.  

2- 8oz. pkgs. cream cheese
4 or 5 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
2 cups cheddar cheese – shredded
3/8 cup buffalo sauce (Franks is best)
1 cup ranch dressing

   Mix and bake.  (Either in a crock put for a few hours, or at 350F until bubbly around the edges)

Cold Dishes

Dill Dip with vegetables: I made three batches which was about 50 servings.

Chicken Salad served open face on a roll: I made eight- yes eight- batches which should have been 100 servings, but was probably a lot more.  This stuff was amazing.  And there was no green pepper in any of it.  

Here are my proportions:
   14 green onions (a package) 
    7 cups celery 
    8 packages (6oz) cranberries 
    30 cups baked, cubed and cooled chicken 
    4 cups pecans
    7.5 cups mayo
    
 Spices the same (eight times what is listed in the link above.) 

BLT Bites: These were incredibly popular and delish.  I made about 90 servings. 

Assorted Pinwheels:  I made 16 tortillas worth which was about 175 servings.

Texas Caviar with tortilla chips: I made two big batches, but with a lot of modifications, as follows.  

   1 big can of black beans 26.5 ounces
   2 cans of normal black eyed peas 
   1 can of jalapeno black eyed peas
   1 can of tomatoes 
   1 large onion
   2 jalapenos
   1 yellow pepper 
   Double the rest of all the other ingredients. 

Desserts

Carmelitas:  My favorite thing of the day.  I made three batches, and cut very small pieces to have just under 150 bars.

Cookie Bars: I made two batches- pecan and dark chocolate chunk, and traditional chocolate chip.   

Miniature Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes:  I made a single batch with no ganache, about 60 cupcakes.

Miniature Almond Cupcakes with Buttercream: I made a single batch with no ganache, about 60 cupcakes. 

Birthday Cake Popcorn: I made six batches, which would be about 100 servings.   

Italian Meatballs

So a while back, I posted that I was going to start testing recipes for this catering gig I had coming up in August.  Fast forward to August- didn't practice anything since.  So, I'm going to be baking up a storm these next two weeks, and I'll be posting the fruits of my labors, sans my lengthy stories.

Ok, maybe a few short sentences to document how this all went down.

So on Sunday I made over 200 meatballs.  Holy freaking cow- that was a lot of meatballs.  Thank goodness for the husband, who stepped up and help me roll these suckers out, or I might still be up in my kitchen up to my elbows in raw hamburger.

Yeah, if that mental image doesn't make you hungry, I don't know what will. 

So here's the recipe- SUPER simple and easy and darned delicious.


Italian Meatballs
Recipe from http://www.food.com/recipe/authentic-italian-meatballs-92095 
I made 10 recipes resulting in about 200 meatballs

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (I used 85% lean)
1 egg
1/4 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon oregano 
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 jar of Pasta Sauce 



Directions 
Preheat your oven to 350.

Mix all of your ingredients by hand in a large bowl until fully combined.  Roll one ounce sections into balls, and place on a cookie sheet (with sides) lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray.


Bake for about 20 min, or internal temperate reads 160.


Serve in a crock pot with sauce.  

Bob's Brownies

So for the first time ever, I actually have a totally legit, cute story about my baking.  And it has nothing to do with me getting frazzled, ruining recipes, running out of ingredients or injuring myself in some manner.

I know- I'm just as shocked as you are.

So a few weeks ago I was totally ready for my triathlon.  Training- completed.  Taper- reluctantly completed.  Clothes and equipment- ready to go.  Hotels- booked.  I was totally ready for this.

Except one minor detail.  I have a dog.  A dog that generally needs to be fed and let out on occasion.  I mean really, that's about it- she moves only slightly more than your average pieces of furniture, but she does require her kibbles and the occasional potty break.  And she most certainly wouldn't be happy spending 60 consecutive hours in her kennel.  So that's a problem.

Thank goodness I have very sweet, kind and understanding in-laws that take my dog even when she subsequently poops on their carpet repeatedly (Well now, she showed them who's boss!)

So to say thank you for watching my dog/cleaning poop I decided to bake.  Gee- what a shocker.  (Here's where this story gets cute.)  I gathered up a bunch of potential recipes in my "Recipes: WANT" section of my Internet Explorer bookmarks, and grabbed the closest co-worker who would listen to help me make my decision. As I'm tabbing through showing my wonderful next-door-cube neighbor the recipes- she stops me at a recipe called "Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars."

This co-worker had a friend who passed away a few months ago, Michelle.  From what I know of her, she was pretty amazing.  Besides being an amazing friend, she was apparently a pretty incredible cook.  She catered, so she never shared her recipes, and they were all lost when she passed away.

Well apparently I stumbled across a blog that made one of her patented, crowd pleasing recipes.  Michelle always called these "Bob's Brownies," so that's what they shall remain.  I got to make these and give some to my co-worker to share with her family- and I'm happy that now they can have these any time they want.  It felt wonderful bringing back a little memory that she can now share with her family.


Bob's Brownies
Recipe From:  http://annies-eats.net/2010/05/19/chocolate-oatmeal-almost-candy-bars/

Ingredients
For the oatmeal layers:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used Irish)
2 cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I used Mexican)
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup salted honey roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped




For the chocolate layer:
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup salted honey roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

To make the oatmeal layer, in a large mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium-high speed until it is soft and creamy, about 1 minute.  Add the brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Blend in the vanilla.

With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour, baking soda and salt just until incorporated.  Mix in the oats and peanuts with a rubber spatula until evenly combined.
 
Reserve 2 cups of the mixture.  Place the remaining dough in the prepared pan and press over the bottom of the pan in an even layer.

To make the chocolate layer, combine the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter and salt in a double boiler.  Stir occasionally until the mixture is warm and the chocolate chips and butter are melted.  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and peanuts.

Pour the warm chocolate mixture over the oatmeal cookie layer and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Crumble the remaining oatmeal cookie mixture and scatter evenly over the top of the chocolate.

Bake for 20 -25 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the chocolate layer is starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Cut into bars as desired and serve.