Weekend Cooking- Two Parties, One Week

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Every summer we go back to central New York to visit my family. This year we rented a home on Skaneateles Lake with a pool and everyone had a great time splashing around. We invite our friends over for a party and it's always good to see everyone and catch up.

The beautiful pool area

This year we also celebrated my nephew's high school graduation with a small party. I decided to try some new Pinterest recipes, even though I generally don't make new recipes for the first time at a party, I felt confident that the ones I chose would work well.

As our appetizers, I made two sweet dips- Creamsicle Fruit Dip and Monster Cookie Dough Dip. My brother loved the Fruit Dip (it really did taste like a creamsicle) and the Monster Dip was a huge hit.

We served the Creamsicle Fruit Dip with strawberries, grapes, cantaloupe and pineapple, and I found the pin on SixSistersStuff.com


The Monster Cookie Dough Dip is served with mini pretzels, graham crackers and apple slices and everyone was digging in. The recipe came from TheGirlWhoAteEverything.com. 

The savory dips started with Seven Layer Individual Dips, which just looks so darn cute.


It aslo came from SixSistersStuff and everyone loved them.

I also made Mary Alice's Hoagie Dip, which my sister-in-law Brigette has made for several occasions and is always a fan favorite. She found it on FoodNetwork.com


My sister brought pulled pork from her pig roast, so we made sliders. I also added Walking Tacos, which became the talk of the party, much to my surprise. You cook the ground beef, add taco seasoning, simmer and place in a crockpot. Then you set out individual bags of Fritos and Doritos, along with your taco bar toppings- shredded cheese and lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sliced black olives and green onions, sour cream and taco sauce.

A sign with directions- grab a bag of Fritos or Doritos, crunch the bag a little, open the bag, add ground beef and then your favorite toppings, grab a fork and eat. There's no taco mess and it's so easy. Everyone was talking about it, how they are going to use this at their next party and we even ran out of taco meat, which shocked me. I got this recipe from my sister-in-law Kay, who served them at three graduation parties to much acclaim.

The mad rush for Walking Tacos

For our friends' party, I made another batch of Individual Seven Layer Dips, and So Cal Fajita Dip with leftover steak from dinner the previous night. This is always a big hit.

This one came from ohsweetbasil.com

We made a few batches of Raspberry Mango Sangria, which has quickly become our favorite summer party drink of choice.

This is from MarthaStewart.com

Maria brought her world famous Pumpkin Cookies, (which my family demolished the next day) and Barbara made Summer Pizza Squares, which also mysteriously disappeared the next day. I so love when people share their best dishes with friends.

Both parties were wonderful, we played corn hole and ping pong at the graduation party, and we all laughed so hard at our friends' gathering that we had headaches and stomachaches. One of our friends, Rick, really hit then nail on the head. He said that we could not see each other for ten years, and when we did get together, it was like no time had passed; we just pick up where left off. That is so true.

My favorite food from the week was this Creamsicle Cake, which came from Reese's, a local family owned restaurant that makes their own ice cream. This has been a favorite of mine for years, and  it brought back all kinds of great memories.

Creamsicle Cake- yum

What are your favorite party recipes to share? Tell me about them in comments.

Weekend Cooking- A Family Vacation

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food!

Every few years, my husband family of 28 (!) tries to get together for a weeklong vacation. We are heading back to a beautiful house in Dewey Beach, Delaware where we enjoy sun, sand, the ocean, great meals and each other's company. This year, we are leaving next Saturday, enjoying the 4th of July together.

With that many people, we try to be as organized as possible. We divide up kitchen supplies- paper products, condiments, cleaning supplies- and everybody signs up to bring what they have stocked in their homes (and can fit in their car).

There are six families, so we each take one night to cook dinner for all. It has worked out wonderfully in the past, with each family making their specialty. With Pinterest, we can share the recipes we are making and ask for input from the rest of the crew.

I made a board called Food For A Party, and I put recipes in there that I can make for just this occasion. My sister-in-law (the foodie) even created a board with restaurants she wants to try there; I love that idea!

This year we are bringing the first night's meal, which I will make this week and freeze. When we get to Dewey Beach, I'll put it on the stove and reheat. I'm making Pulled Pork Sandwiches from a recipe by Robert Irvine from the Food Network. I made this for New Year's Day a few years ago and it was a big hit.


We'll pair this with a pasta salad and a fruit salad, and for dessert, I found this super simple Reese's  Cookie Brownie Stack. I made trial run this week and they were gone in a very short time. It's got all of the sinfully good things we love- cookie dough, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and brownie mix.


We're doing Happy Hour too, and for that I'm making this new recipe I found for So Cal Fajita Dip. It's perfect to make using leftover steak and roasted peppers from the night we have roasted vegetables. I made this last week and the guys gobbled it down.


With this, we're making Raspberry Mango Sangria that we tried a few months back from Martha Stewart. It is a refreshing summer drink we first made a few weeks ago.


It's going to be a busy week leading up to vacation and I've got to make a Costco run to prepare. If you have any favorite recipes to feed a crowd, share them in comments.