Nothing says unexpected guests or spontaneous dinner party than the holiday season. The next big question is, what are you going to serve or bring along as a contribution? Leftovers, goldfish crackers or canned beans in the pantry?
On a recent trip to Costco, without a list of course, I found some great things to keep in the fridge/freezer just for these times. With anything you plan on “keeping” as a spontaneous dish, always look at the expiration dates. I so often pick something up to later find the expiration date that day. I picked up the 5lb bag of carrots this trip but fortunately caught it before I left, it expired that day. That would be a lot of carrots!!
All the items I found have January expiration dates and I can definitely vouch for tasting 3 out of 5 of these products, one thanks to a recent unexpected dinner at our house that 2 of these items came in handy. The guests had the palmetto cheese in their fridge!
Starting with the one I did not try but looks like a tasty and quick appetizer. This package comes with 2 toppings for brie. Just add crackers and you have a elegant dish. Costco just has the very large wheel of brie so I figured I could slice it in half and have enough for both toppings. (2 different occasions right here)
Of course hummus and pita crackers are always a hit.
This is the Palmetto Cheese spread that was brought to my house recently. Loved it so much I purchased it for my arsenal. Serve with crackers that we usually all have in our pantry, it was devoured with by 4 adults.
Bruchetta
I do not have a picture of this product as I made this pizza a while ago. I had purchased the fresh bruchetta from Costco for an appetizer and had some left over. Having nothing for dinner one night, I made some pizza dough–or purchase some, added some fresh mozzarella I had on hand and my kids said it was the best pizza they have had…
Now for Dessert.
I purchased these for guests over Thanksgiving. It makes 24 small cannoli. Since we only used 12, I froze both the shells and cream together in a large Ziploc bag. When our “unexpected” dinner party began, I threw the cream into the microwave on defrost for a minute. Just watch it. It was perfect. If it gets too melted. Just place back in fridge or freezer for a bit. So easy and very tasty.
What do you like to have in your pantry/fridge for these times. Comment and share with the rest of us.
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