onlastshidig, the last party I would have at the house. A casual affair, people coming and go from 1–9pm. Food that I made from the ingredients I have left in my cabinets or recipes I just wanted to try. My last foodie experience at my Edgebrook home.

The Menu

Lots of prep goes into throwing a party. And I needed to be creative with my menu because I tried to use up as much of my supplies as I could.

Left to right: lentil fritter ready to be fried, salsa ready to served, Oat BBQ chicken marinating.

The morning of the party I had a late start because I had to wait for the Chimney guy to show up. Got stood up and I was behind schedule by 2 hours. And the menu shows it.

• Gyoza–forgot to make
• Hawaii Mac Salad–no time to mix up, a giant bowl of macaroni, potatoes, and hard-boiled egg sat in my refrigerator for the party
• Lentil Fritters–like the Mac Salad, it sat in my freezer waiting to be fried up
• Beef Salad
• Asian Chopped Salad
• Kale Salad–add the Asian dressing, no time to make the sunflower seed dressing
• Carrot Harissa and Feta–forgot to add the feta
• Kalua Pork–forgot to serve up
• Oat’s Chicken
• Assorted Burgers–veggie and fish
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Lilikoi Coconut Pie
• Thai Tea Cupcakes–too hot to make up

 

 

I felt that there wasn’t enough food but I didn’t remember the other items. It was the heat and the humidity [stupid AC] plus lack of sleep. I wish I could have made more.

Party Rules

I created party rules, mostly because I wanted help with help with cleaning out my house.

1. Bring nothing
2. If you must bring something, bring your favorite drink
3. You must take one thing home with you
4. bring a folding or lawn chairs if you have it available

Most people followed was #4. We had more than enough chairs. The rule that most people broke was to take one home with them. At least a few people took things and that all I can ask for. One thing I learned in this past year is to be thankful for what you have and not to expect anything more.

The Event

It was a hot and humid day only made worst that my AC didn’t work. But all my friends were troopers and stuck it out with me and had a nice time.

My large yard came in handy for kids at my party. Running around, chasing each other, kicking and throwing a ball. It was so nice to see it being used for what it was made for.

Most of the food went. Had a lot of beer and wine left, which my neighbors were happy to take off my hands. I think my foodie experience was a success with many requests for recipes. I added links to the menu above for all the request recipes.

I wanted to make up takeaways for people but once again I ran out of time and gave into the heat and humidity. I made up one batch of harissa, sugar plum jam, and Princess Hot Flash Healthier Banana Bread. Not enough for everyone but a few people got some. Here’s the recipe for the Banana Bread. I adjusted a recipe from my old blog. It most definitely is better than before.

Princess Hot Flash Healthier Banana Bread

Bake: 350º
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes or tester comes out clean
Pan: 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan [5 mini loaves adjust bake time]

3/4 c butter, soften
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c non-fat greek yogurt, plain (I use full-fat vanilla greek yogurt for the bread at the party)

Dry Ingredients
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c grounded coconut, unsweetened
1/4 c grounded golden flax seeds

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed [I throw my ripe bananas in my freezer, I used 3 medium size ones]
1/3 cup golden raisins *

Grease pan with oil and flour, set on the side. Sift together in a separate bowl dry ingredients and set on the side. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a ​time, mix in well then add vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients alternating with yogurt in 3 addition, starting with flour, don’t over mix. Fold in bananas and raisins.

Watch your bread as it got really dark at the end. I tented it with foil for the last 1/2 hour so it wouldn’t burn. I tested it with a bamboo skewer to see if it was done.

*I threw the raisins into the flour mixture so they were coated with the flour so they didn’t sink to the bottom.