Party | Baked by Rachel

Spicy Stuffed Mushrooms

Posted by Rachel | Posted on 19-12-2011

Tags: appetizer, bacon, cheese, holiday, mushrooms, panko, party, spicy, vegetables

Who loves appetizers? *Raising hand* I have a hard time not filling up on them before a meal. Even when we’re at a restaurant, I get sucked in by the bread and appetizers. I have to struggle to leave room for my meal. I’m so thankful for take home boxes.

At home I tend to overlook appetizers. I’ll do the basic veggie platter and dip or cheese and crackers. Both are totally acceptable and fun to eat. They’re also not super filling which is a must if you’re having a meal as well. With the holidays literally right around the corner I figured now was a perfect time to whip up a new appetizer. Continue Reading

Happy 4th!

Posted by Rachel | Posted on 04-07-2011

Category : Home & Family

Tags: 4th of July, birthday, party, Summer

To many that means one thing and one thing alone. However, to me that statement has a double meaning this year. Four years ago today, this precious little baby was born. Yes, she’s my patriotic baby. The curse of a holiday birthday. My dad even joked over patriotic names… Liberty? No. Nothing against those that choose theme names, but it wasn’t for us. Continue Reading

Soft Pretzel Bites

Posted by Rachel | Posted on 25-01-2011

Category : Snacks

Tags: baked, baseball, bread, party, sports

Yesterday I wanted something salty. As much as something chocolatey sounded good it just wasn’t going to hit the spot. Salty was a must. I’m not one for the sweet and salty bit so I wasn’t about to combine saltiness with chocolate. Big no-no for me. Someday maaaybe I’ll give it a try but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Just like I can’t bring myself to get on board with bacon and sweets.

It was a toss up between attempting homemade chips or pretzel bites. I had all of the ingredients for pretzel bites, including course sea salt so I was sold! Soft delicious bite size pieces of homemade pretzels sprinkled with course salt and dipped in mustard. Yum!! Okay you don’t have to dip yours in mustard, that’s just my preference. I know some like a cheese sauce instead and I’m sure that would go equally well but I didn’t have any and wasn’t up to making some so yellow mustard for dipping would have to do the trick. Of course it did, it always does. Continue Reading

Buttermilk Chicken Fingers

Posted by Rachel | Posted on 20-01-2011

Category : Main dish

Tags: chicken, party, sports

I’m always on the hunt for a fun and yummy dish that is also kid friendly. What’s more kid friendly than chicken fingers, right? I mean there’s of course pizza and mac n cheese, but I don’t think I know a single kid that doesn’t enjoy chicken fingers. If it gets them to eat, then so be it. Plus, these are a perfect game or party type food as well. Kid and party friendly - double score! With the superbowl just weeks away, you might be starting to consider what kinds of items you’ll want to have for yourself or at a party. Chicken fingers and a handful of dipping sauces is an easy and fun option. Grab some ketchup, mustard, buffalo sauce, etc and you’re good to go.

The best thing about this particular recipe is how little hands on time it really requires. You prep the chicken the day before, letting them soak overnight in a bath of buttermilk and seasonings. The day of, you coat and fry those suckers up. These can easily be whipped up before the party or game. Toss cooked chicken fingers in an oven safe container and kept warm using your oven’s lowest setting. Usually it’s the mid to high 100′s. Continue Reading

Baseball Jalapeno Nachos

Posted by Rachel | Posted on 04-05-2010

Category : Snacks

Tags: baseball, cheese, party, spicy, sports

This is it, the final baseball food item. A while back, I asked friends what food came to mind when thinking about baseball. My own personal response was Cracker Jack and nachos. There is something different and so good about baseball nachos. The cheese is perfect. Lightly warmed. It doesn’t get hard or chunky and it leaves this lingering spice in your mouth. So good. I went in search of some good nacho recipes. Most seem to be your basic just melt the cheese and go. That’s not gonna do it. At the very least, I needed some spice to the cheese. Just a bit of kick and I’d be happy.

I tried this once and the cheese itself was good. It was a nice basic nacho cheese. So as Josh and I stood in the kitchen tasting, processing and discussing the options, we’d add in some more hot sauce. And a bit more. It wasn’t making sense. Why wasn’t the hot sauce adding any kick to the cheese? Our mouths should be burning. It dawned on us that milk helps in time of crazy heat. You eat something crazy hot and spicy, drink some milk and the pain will go away. So adding kick to a milk prodcut may prove to be harder than though. But even with that realisation, it still didn’t make 100% sense. This was some serious hot sauce (see picture below). The heat scale is pretty serious. It’s not your run of the mill grocery store hot sauce. You can’t buy this kind of heat just anywhere, as I mentioned in the Jalapeno Wonton recipe. I decided to table this recipe until I could try it again.