Sweet and Spicy Pecans
Party Time
Next week I’ll be preparing food for 80. Most people gasp at the thought and want to know how I do it. So I thought I’d lay out a few of my strategies in today’s column.
I also wanted to share the party a bit with those of you who can’t come. Believe me when I say I understand. There are thousands of you spread across the country. I feel lucky that 80 will be here to share in the festivities but I have a couple of little tricks up my sleeve so even if you can’t come, you can participate.
As far as the food goes, I want to be able to play hostess more than caterer. What that means is I want to be spending time with the guests and not so much in the kitchen. Most of the food will be cold. It’s summer, so why not? And those items that are not cold will be able to sit in chafing dishes and not have to be monitored very often.
I can prepare much of it two days ahead. A few local guests have volunteered to help with prep. That’s always nice. Even if they are not cooks I can always use someone around who will chop and wash pans, pots and mixing bowls.
I decided to go kind of retro with my menu. I have chosen recipes from the 50s and 60s in some cases. Of course I have to Zola-fy most of them, but that’s easy for me now. I haven’t finalized the menu yet but I’ll share what I have with you now. This way you can help me plan my party. Choose the menu items you’d most like to eat. Vote for your top three picks. I’ll be sure to write up the recipes for the top 3 most popular items so you can make these at home. That way, you can have a little party yourself...
Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com
Sweet and Spicy Pecans
Related Recipes at PlanZDiet.com:
Chocolate Peanut Clusters
The Easiest Chocolate Mousse on the Planet
This is a ZReboot recipe. These are absolutely addicting and can be made with any nuts you choose. Guests at a dinner party just snarfed them up and asked for more! Love that!
I am not even going to give you quantities for this recipe. It’s so easy you just dust each ingredient over the nuts and roast. It all depends on your taste and how many nuts you want to make in one batch. I normally spread a couple of cups of nuts across the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan. That gives you enough for a small party or a few days of snacking.
Yield: Makes about 1 cup
Ingredients:
Pecans
Chili powder (You can use smoked or regular. Your choice)
Cinnamon
ZSweet or Swerve granular sweetener. This stuff is new and works great in things you heat in the oven. Truvia works sometimes but other times it gives off a tin taste when it’s been heated. So this is worth the effort to order it on line. I have never seen it in a store – not yet anyway.
Cayenne. I put about twice as much cayenne as the other things. I like the zippy to balance off the sweet. You can decide if you want to go that far.
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees or 375 convection.
Spray the 9-by-13-inch pan with olive oil spray. Then add the nuts. Spray the nuts lightly with olive oil spray.
Then dust on chili powder, cinnamon, sweetener and cayenne. Roast 12 to 14 minutes. Depends on your oven. You want the nuts to crisp up. I cook mine just until I start to see darkening on the edges or tops of a few nuts.
Then let start to cool. You can serve warm or room temp.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola
