• Zayda said on May 11, 2008....

  Crock Pot:
  
  Sweet and Sour Meatballs
  Swedish Meatballs
  Almost any kind of hot dip
  
  
  
  Cold:
  
  Chicken Salad (take the ingredients with you and mix when you get there)
  Vegetable tray (easily purchased from a grocery store once you get to California)
  Cheese and Deli Meat tray (also easily purchased from a grocery store once you get there)
  Fruit tray (also easily purchased from a grocery store once you get there)
  Tortilla roll-ups (easy to make and store in a covered container then cover with ice in a cooler on your trip)
  Pesto Dipping Sauce (to go with veggies)
  
  
  
  Misc (No need to refrigerate)
  
  
  Smokey Nuts or Herbed Nuts
  Bread Crisps (use for the Chicken Salad and for other toppings)
  Blue Cheese Walnut Wafers
  Water Crackers (to go with meat and cheese tray)
  Biscuits (to make small sandwiches with the ingredients from the meat and cheese tray)
  Bread Sticks (can be made or bought at the grocery store)
  Various flat breads (could be bought at a bakery once you get there)
  
  
  Desserts:
  Biscotti (can be made or bought at the grocery store and doesn't need to be refrigerated)
  
  
  **If you want the trays of food to look fancier than a just bought at the grocery store, you can purchase silver plastic serving trays at any craft store (Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Ben Franklin) and then large doilies to go on them.  Then just transfer the contents from the store bought deli trays to the silver trays.**
  

• Zayda said on May 11, 2008....

  **These are easy to make ahead of time and quite tasty.**
  
  
  
  Herbed Cashews
  
  1 egg white
  1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  1/8 paprika
  2 cups lightly salted cashews
  1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
  ¼ teaspoon salt
  
  1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
  
  2. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat egg until foamy.
  
  3. Add mustard and paprika, beating just until blended.
  
  4. Add cashews, stirring to coat.
  
  5. Combine Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and salt; sprinkle over cashews, stirring well.
  
  6. Spread in a single layer on a lightly greased baking sheet.
  
  7. Bake 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  
  8. Cool completely on baking sheet.
  
  9. Store in an airtight container.
  
  
  
  Yield: about 2 cups cashews
  
  
  
  Note: Cashews may be frozen in an airtight container, up to 1 month

• JoyousLoving said on May 11, 2008....

  Zayda!  Thank you so much!  These sound great :-)  Here's my biggest problem.  I want the food to be fresh and our schedule is a bit weird.  We leave Thursday, drive all night, get to Colorado on Friday.  Pick up tux, wedding license, crash out from lack of sleep.  Then we have Saturday to make all preparations, get everything sorted, rehersal etc, get ready for the reception.  Sunday morning is of course for last minute stuff and getting prettied up for the ceremony, then straight out to get hitched and in to the reception.  So I prepare anything before we leave it would be on Wednesday and would have to keep through Sunday and still be yummy and fresh.  Yikes.

• Zayda said on May 11, 2008....

  Hmmm...Well any candied nuts or herbed nuts would keep.
  
  
  The rest of it, I would suggest buying when you get there, to keep it fresh.
  
  
  Walmart has great deli trays, to be honest. As do most large grocery stores. And if you can find a decent bakery, you can get some fresh bread items Sunday morning.
  
  
  Let me look through my recipes some more to see what I can find.

• silverwhisper said on May 12, 2008....

  JL, i'm afraid i don't have any suggestions--but i'm awfully curious to see what super z might come up with!
  
  JL, what kind of weather is expected on your wedding day?
  
  ed

• Zayda said on May 12, 2008....

  You could also purchase chocolate dipped fruits from a candy store--dipped strawberries, dipped orange slices.
  
  
  Or you could make cream cheese stuffed strawberries. You cut an X into the tip of the strawberry and then stuff cream cheese into the berry. That takes some time to do, though.
  
  
  A fruit salad made with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and chopped (or torn) mint leaves with a dressing of lemon juice, orange liqueur (or orange juice), and honey would give you a sweet option for food.
  
  
  
  The big problem is, of course, your travel and time issue.
  
  
  
  Berries won't keep well during the travel.
  
  
  Most meats and cheeses would keep in a cooler as long as you keep them covered with ice.
  
  
  Do you have anyone at all who would be willing to help you out with the food?

• Zayda said on May 12, 2008....

  Actually, with the fruit, if you avoid berries easily bruised berries and use something like the ingredients in the following recipe, you might be able to take the fruit with you in a cooler:
  
  
  
  Sunshine Fruit Salad
  
  3 tablespoons honey
  2 tablespoons lemon juice
  2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
  1 cup blueberries
  ½ each small cantaloupe and honeydew, peeled and sectioned (use a lemon baler to make melon balls, if desired)
  2 to 3 tangerines, peeled and sectioned
  ¾ cup red or green seedless grapes
  ½ small pineapple, cut into chunks.
  Fresh mint sprigs
  
  1. Mix 1 cup of water, honey, and lemon juice in a small sauce pan.
  
  2. Warm over low heat until the honey is dissolved; remove the pot from the heat and let the syrup cool completely.
  
  3. In a serving bowl, combine all the fruit and gently toss to mix.
  
  4. Slowly, drizzle the cooled syrup over the fruit mixture; gently stirring to coat.
  
  5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 1 – 2 hours or until ready to serve.
  
  6. Spoon the fruit into individual desert bowls, drizzle with syrup from the serving bowl and garnish with mint sprigs, if desired.
  
  

• JoyousLoving said on May 12, 2008....

  Zayda, you are a lifesaver!  As for help with the food.  My family lives in Colorado but will be driving for three hours to get to the location.  My mom isn't much of a food preparer and my sister will have her hands full getting the kids going.  And she's also kind of unreliable.  I just don't want to risk it.  Ya know?

• Zayda said on May 12, 2008....

  Here are a couple of other recipes for flavored nuts as well:
  
  
  
  Peppered Pecans
  
  3 tablespoons butter or margarine
  3 cups pecan halves
  ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  1 ½ teaspoons hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco
  ½ teaspoon seasoned salt, such as Lawry’s
  
  1. Preheat the oven to 250˚F.
  
  2. Place the butter in a 2-cup microwave safe container and cover it with a paper towel.
  
  3. Microwave the butter on high for 1 minute or until melted.
  
  4. Meanwhile, place the pecans in a single layer in a 9 x 13 baking dish; set aside.
  
  5. Remove the butter from the microwave and stir in the garlic, hot pepper sauce, and seasoned salt.
  
  6. Drizzle the butter mixture over the pecans and stir to coat.
  
  7. Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour or until the pecans are crisp, stirring every 20 minutes.
  
  8. Remove the pecans from the oven and cool to room temperature.
  
  9. Store in air-tight containers at room temperature for up to 1 month.
  
  Yield: 3 cups
  
  
  
  
  Sweet and Spicy Almonds
  
  2 ½ cups unblanched almonds
  ¼ cup sugar
  1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
  1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  1 tablespoon honey
  1 tablespoon water
  1 teaspoon olive oil
  
  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
  
  2. Spread the almonds on a rimmed baking sheet; toast until fragrant, about 10 minutes.
  
  3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, salt, and cayeene
  
  4. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the honey, water, and olive oil, stirring until well combined, 1 minute.
  
  5. Add the almonds to the skillet and toss to coat.
  
  6. Transfer the nuts to the sugar mixture (Do not scrape the extra glaze into the bowl.); toss to coat.
  
  7. Cool in a single layer.
  
  
  Note: These nuts will keep for up to 2 weeks. Let cool completely and store in an airtight container.
  
  
  
  Another thing to consider that you can pick up relatively anywhere is butter mints, which are pretty common at most wedding receptions.

• Zayda said on May 12, 2008....

  There marinated olives could be made ahead and, if you can keep them refrigerated on the trip, should hold up well. They do need to stand at room temperature for at least an hour before serving, however.
  
  
  
  Pepper Marinated Olives
  
  6 cups assorted olives (Greek, Italian, Spanish)
  2 limes thinly sliced
  1 head fresh garlic, separated into cloves and halved
  15 small dried chilies
  1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
  4 cups olive oil.
  
  1. Combine olives, limes, garlic, chilies, and pepper in a large glass container.
  
  2. Pour olive oil over mixture, stirring well.
  
  3. Cover and refrigerate up to 2 months, stirring occasionally.
  
  4. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.
  
  5. To serve, remove and discard lime slices; using a slotted spoon; transfer olive mixture to a serving bowl.
  
  6. Reserve remaining olive oil for other uses.
  
  
  Yield: about 6 cups olives
  
  
  
  Or you could simply buy a variety of jars of olives from a grocery store. They have some wonderful olives marinated in different wines, stuffed with garlic, or stuffed with almonds at most grocery stores.

• Zayda said on May 12, 2008....

  I just thought of this because I was trimming the leaves off radishes to put them in the fridge.
  
  If you cut up fresh vegetables to take ahead of time and put them in ziploc bags, they should be fine in the top of a cooler. You don't want to bury them in the ice because you don't want them to freeze.
  
  Most people serve sour cream based dips, which will spoil rapidly and are hard to keep in cooler for a few days. But, you can serve various kinds of hummus with a veggie tray, and hummus can be made ahead of time and will keep well for a few days in color. Or you can purchase different types of hummus at the deli of a grocery store: Red Pepper Hummus, Garlic Hummus, Mediterranean Hummus. Good dippers for hummus are sugar snap peas, cucumbers, carrots, radishes, green onions, and celery.
  
  If you go to the food network website and do a recipe search for hummus, they have a few good recipes there. I particularly like this one and this one.  (The second recipe is also for a shrimp dish to accompany the hummus, but the hummus is good with just veggies.)
  
  Also, you can buy pre-baked pita-chips to serve with the hummus as well.
  

• finalwarning said on May 16, 2008....

  Ok how about mastacciolli? Very simple.

  Crock Pot is good enough.

  I would say atleast double the recipe, if not triple.

  1 box mastacciolli noodles

  1 lb Hamburger

  1 onion

  1 large bottle of prego spaghetti sauce

  1 small tub of ricotta cheese

  1 bag of shredded mozzerella cheese

   

  Mix the meat and the onion first and cook before hand. Add noodles, sauce and ricotta cheese and then top off with mozz. Cheese.

  Very simple and tastes like a mix between spaghetti and lasagna, only without all the hassle!

  Good luck!

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