Stay Connected

Monday, November 11, 2019

Best Laid Plans . . .My Coffee Hour Duty This Weekend

http://educacaoecriatividadeeboasideias.blogspot.com/2013/04/gulodices-bolos-comididas-e-ideias.html


I had the best of intentions and a pretty great plan. Needing 4  1/2 dozen treats, I was going to use some of the frozen chicken legs/thighs, a portion of bread dough, and a bit of tomato paste, garlic, and herbs to make mini pockets for our church's coffee hour on Sunday. I knew this would take most of Saturday to put together, but I was prepared for this -- nothing major on my calendar for the day.

And then it happened. At first, it was just a little itch in my throat on Friday afternoon. Then on Saturday morning, I awoke fatigued and feeling awful, totally blowing my plans to cook some snacks and treats on Saturday. Finding a last-minute sub has proven to be really hard for this role.

I laid in bed and brainstormed all of my options. Both daughters had their own busy schedules on Saturday and cooking coffee hour treats isn't my husband's preferred way to spend a weekend afternoon. So I was limited to something pre-made or super-duper easy to make. 

I knew I could count on almost 2  1/2 dozen gingersnap cookies that I had in a tin from baking earlier in the week. But I would still need another couple dozen snacks. That's when I remembered that Fred Meyer had 8-oz blocks of cheese on sale over the weekend. So I pulled myself together for a quickie trip to the store, where I bought 1 block of cheese and a package of marked down pepperoni. 

I figured that if I just stayed in bed and rested for the rest of Saturday, took vitamin C throughout the day, and made an early bedtime for myself, by Sunday morning I would be able to make some little bites using the cheese, pepperoni, and toothpicks.

a couple of the iced gingersnap cookies

The next morning, I did feel almost like my normal self. The cheese and meat mini-kabobs were quick to pull together on Sunday morning when I was feeling better. (The kabobs looked almost identical to what is pictured at the top of this page, just skipping the olives. Taking photos was the last thing on my mind.) The total cost was $3.28 (cheese and pepperoni) for 32 individual snacks. Considering I was hoping to make something non-sweet, the cost was not too bad and certainly better than any other savory, purchased snack. It all worked out. Maybe not as inexpensive as I'd hoped, but no one is ever perfectly anything.

By the way, I've made mini cheese kabobs on several occasions, and they are very quick to assemble and always a hit on a buffet or snack bar.


13 comments:

  1. I hope that you are continuing to feel better. We are taking appetizers (among other things) to Thanksgiving dinner these look good for that. Thanks for telling us about them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you pulled it off quite well!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Life is all about how you handle plan B. Good one Lili! Hope you're feeling better!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Isn't that always the way? You had a good backup plan and I like your variety of sweet and savory. I'll have to file away your idea for an appetizer.

    I did a macaroni and cheese bar for my daughter's birthday party Saturday with her friends. I pushed the easy button and did Stauffer's mac and cheese, and then added little bowls of things like bread crumbs, mini-pepperoni, bacon bits, etc. for the girls to sprinkle on top. It was a huge hit and simple to pull off (in case anyone reading needs party food ideas!).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Live and Learn,
    Thank you for the well wishes. I'm lingering at not quite well, not quite sick, which in my opinion is heaps better than really sick, so I'm happy about that.
    I think appetizers are a fun item to bring to potlucks. There is so much from which to choose and the appies don't need to "match" what the rest of the meal is supposed to be. This year, I'm hosting 2 Thanksgiving dinners. I will get lots of help for both nights, so that's a good thing. The hardest part is coming up with ideas to make the second Thanksgiving seem interesting to me and my immediate family, as we have to eat both meals.
    I hope you had a pleasant day, and didn't have to work (Veteran's Day).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous said...
    I think you pulled it off quite well!


    Thank you! The good thing is they were very easy and seemed to be popular with our church friends. All's well that ends well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Kris,
    your macaroni and cheese bar is brilliant! What a fun idea. And I love that you used a frozen mac and cheese. So easy! I'll keep this in mind -- thank you for the idea!
    I hope you were able to have a day off. I know not everyone gets Veteran's Day as a holiday.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Ruthie,
    Thank you. I'm working my way toward better. You're right. So much in life does not go according to plan, enough so that we need to focus on developing skills to deal with unplanned events more than developing "perfection" skills. Thanks for the well wishes. I hope you had a wonderful day!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yet another very interesting and timely post, Lili. I had to smile as I was responsible for the snack for our LifeGroup at church. I made my plans two days before: Fall theme - pumpkin bread, apples, cheese, and popcorn. Apples from our trees, check. Popcorn, here, check. Cheese in fridge, check. Pumpkin bread: make Saturday afternoon...MISTAKE! I wanted to try a new recipe and suffice it to say I should know better! Major Fail! Will I ever learn not to try something new when needing a dependable outcome?. Rather than starting over and baking again, I made deviled eggs....abundant supply and easy. The snacks were very much appreciated (and I’ll be finding innovative ways to use the pumpkin bread!). I hope you continue to fight off that bug!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Cheese and pepperoni bites were a wonderful idea! The cookies look so good. I'm hungry now. :) I hope you are feeling much better.

    Angie

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Conni,
    Oh rats! That's such a shame with the pumpkin bread. But you made a great save with the deviled eggs. I can imagine everything was gobbled up quickly by your Life Group. Great work! And tell us, how did you use the pumpkin bread that didn't turn out right?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Angie,
    Thank you. I'm mostly better now. I think because of the hour that our church has coffee and snack service (12 noon), anything savory goes over very well. So, the cheese and pepperoni were quickly eaten. I'm very grateful.
    Have a lovely evening, Angie!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lili - To answer how the ‘failed’ pumpkin bread is being used (failure to rise and not much taste): I froze one loaf for the weeks ahead. The other loaf is sliced, and the slices toasted, then spread with a bit of cream cheese. It works fine for ‘eggs and..’ at breakfast because the flour is whole grain and it is honey-sweetened. Have a blessed day!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for joining the discussion today. Here at creative savv, we strive to maintain a respectful community centered around frugal living. Creative savv would like to continue to be a welcoming and safe place for discussion, and as such reserves the right to remove comments that are inappropriate for the conversation.

FOLLOW CREATIVE SAVV ON BLOGLOVIN'

Follow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be a voice that helps someone else on their frugal living journey

Are you interested in writing for creative savv?
What's your frugal story?

Do you have a favorite frugal recipe, special insight, DIY project, or tips that could make frugal living more do-able for someone else?

Creative savv is seeking new voices.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

share this post