What kind of appetizers do you like to make that can be made ahead and frozen? Preferably mexican/southwestern-ish. My go-to is I usually make tons of miniature quiches with various fillings, and crab cakes. But for my mexican party I can only think of Empanadas and those aren't even really mexican are they? But they would pass.
Maybe some sort of southwestern type of beef or pork you could cook in the slow cooker and shred? You could freeze and defrost something like that pretty easily. Mini tacos or quesadillas?
My appetizer is chips with local canned salsa and guac. Low key and easy to throw together the day of. I'm also making a Mexican bean salad that can be assembled the day before and put in the fridge.
I have discovered Mexican doesn't seem to be the best for "make ahead" food.
I would think some sort of taquito, and then you can just bake them. Southwest eggrolls would be yummy as well! I like the idea of a big queso, salsa, and guac! You could also make a huge nacho bar. I love Mexican food so much!
Post by The Foozzler on Apr 10, 2013 9:29:19 GMT -5
Mini taco boats. I use tositos scoops and I fill them with taco meat and cheese or other toppings. You can make and freeze the meat and then assemble them the day of.
Post by rainbowchip on Apr 10, 2013 9:34:48 GMT -5
Taco soup. I don't have the exact recipe off the top of my head but its taco meat, couple cans of kidney beans, black beans, corn, and diced tomatoes. You can have it in a crock pot and have people make their own or make some up right before serving but you put the taco soup in a scoop and sprinkle cheese on top.
I'm not sure about make and freeze ahead, but you can find tons of pre-made frozen grocery items that will be easy to throw in the oven day off. Trader Joe's has frozen taquitos and mini tacos. You could do chips and salsa/guac. You could also make nachos day off - just line a pan with tostidos, cover with cheese and add whatever you like: jalapenos, ground meat, etc. Then bake till cheese is melty and serve with sour cream.
Mexican food is the best. You're going to have a great party!
thank you all! Yes hubby says we should buy some trader joes things, those things in the corn husks? what are they called I can't remember. So we will buy some things and I plan to make guac and salsa.
Also I am thinking mexican doesn't lend well to advance prep. I mean how is the taco bar thing even going to work? People will be filing in at random times after noon. So do I have it all out by noon, or just have apps out then? the meat will all go cold? The guac will go brown? The shells/tortillas will be cold and stale? I just don't know how it will work unless I have like five crockpots going and I only own one now that the cat knocked my other one off the top of the fridge and broke it. Plus a bunch of crockpots to serve yourself from? that doesn't look very pretty does it.
Laura, don't worry! It will turn out great! Can you ask a friend to borrow a second crock pot for the meat or other warm items? Don't worry about the shells and guac- they will be okay out for a bit.
Completely off target but can you share your mini-quiche recipes?!
of course! I usually make martha stewarts pate brisee for my pie crust, its super easy. I believe it is 2.5c flour whizzed in the food processor with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Then you add 2 sticks of butter (16 Tablespoons) cut into bits, and pulse until coarse meal forms. Then water until it comes together. 1/4c to a half cup. I always end up using the full amount of water.
Chill it for a while (it also freezes fine), then roll it out.
For the filling I use 3 eggs and 1.5 cups of liquid, a bit of salt and pepper. Can be half n half, milk, cream etc. whatever you have on hand. The higher the cream content the richer they will be.
For fillings some ideas are:
prosciutto, parmesan and roasted red peppers diced apple and blue cheese diced ham and gruyere feta, olives and artichokes caramelized shallots and bacon goat cheese
basically anything at all!
I use mini muffin pans or regular muffin pans depending on whether I want mini quiches or really mini quiches.
I usually pre bake the crusts for a few minutes if using regular muffin pans, if mini I don't bother. Then fill them up with whatever and bake at 375 for maybe 20 minutes?
It sounds like a lot of steps but really it isn't that hard. And you can just make TONS of them and they freeze well for a while, just pop them out onto a baking sheet and bake from frozen, at 375 for 10-15 minutes ...
Laura, don't worry! It will turn out great! Can you ask a friend to borrow a second crock pot for the meat or other warm items? Don't worry about the shells and guac- they will be okay out for a bit.
I'm going to buy another one myself but I might ask people to borrow even more!
because what about the refried beans, wouldn't they be better warm from a crockpot too? And I was thinking of the tortilla soup, that also sounds good...
and then there is a vegan couple that may be coming! So I will have to have options for them too.
I fully bake them and freeze them! I layer them in ziploc bags and freeze them flat.
Also you can obviously buy piecrust to save time but its so much cheaper and really easy to just make it yourself, if you have a food processor. It can also be made using just a pastry cutter or two knives but it is more work.
Also I'm not sure if you can buy premade all butter crust. I like all butter crust better than shortening crust, and I know its supposed to be less flaky but I've never had any complaints. The quiches always go quickly!
I prefer the very mini size as I think people like them tiny as then they can eat tons of them, but it is more work as you have to cut out a lot more circles, and of course getting the filling into those little suckers can be hard! lol