Simple but crowd pleasing Oscar Party Foods

DELICIOUS & EASY OSCAR PARTY FOOD

Every year for the past 10 years or so I have been spending Oscar Night with my fellow Tiff Entourage friends.  We mostly go to restaurants and watch it together and of course we have an Oscar Pool and try and get prizes for the Top 3 Oscar Pool Winners.

This year we were going to try and use one of our Entourage team members condo theatre but that didn't work out so I was able to find a fairly new restaurant that is going to be showing the Academy Awards broadcast so we are going to be checking it out this year.

I had a Pre-Oscar Party warm up today with a my friends who can't make our Oscar Party because they have a young actress in the making to take care of so we had a little fun trying to put together a few things today.

You don't have to break the bank to have a great Oscar Party with friends and family.

It's about the presentation and the taste more than anything.
Make it fun by finding a few props and decorations first before even getting to the food portion set the scene.   Get a Party store award and set up your own version of a red carpet or an Oscar stage and let everyone take a fancy photo with it.  See how Kenzie does it with a simple shawl, a feather boa, some cheap beaded necklaces and of course a pair of fabulous sunglasses.  Party stores have great photo booth props but you can use these types of things that you can easily get in many places and sometimes even dollar stores.

For the food you can go really simple with some flavoured popcorn or you can get a star shaped mini cookie cutter and go as simple as crackers and cheese with the fancy twist of cutter the cheese into stars.   I picked up a box of Ritz Crackers from the cookie outlet and the cheese was on sale so it was a really affordable fast no cook appetizer.

The Academy Awards are very long and even though it's an hour less this year it's still longer than watching a movie so you better have great food to keep you going.

The next dish I made was a Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip.

1/2 package of frozen chopped spinach
2 tablespoons of olive oil or butter
1/2 jar of mini artichokes
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon of grated parmesan
half a cup of grated mozzarella
2/3 of a cup of cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Dried Basil and thyme optional

Directions:  Sautee the spinach in olive oil or butter and add chopped artichoke hearts to the pan and add flour.  Add the seasonings and stir well.  Add the milk and stir for about 5 minutes until it starts to thicken up and then add the cheese until it melts.

Pour the mixture into an oven proof container and sprinkle some parmesan on top and bake at 400F for about 20 minutes or until it is golden brown on top.   Serve with Tortilla chips or crackers.

You can also build a make your own mini pizza station.
I made my own pizza dough.  It takes about an hour and a half to put together and rest but it's worth it.   I mixed 1 package of yeast with half a cup of warm water and added a teaspoon of sugar and mixed until it started to foam and then added it to a stand mixer and added flour slowly until the dough came together and then you can add a tsp of salt.  Salt stops the yeast so I add it last.  Put it in a well oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and then you can leave it and go and get yourself ready.  Let it sit for at least an hour and then punch it down and then divide it into small balls and set it up for people to grab a ball of dough and make their own pizzas.  Set up the toppings and let them build their own pizza.  Way better than deliver and it's more fun.   Bake the pizzas at 500F for about 15 to 20 min depending on how thick and how many toppings there are.



I wanted to make cupcakes but they would have taken too long to cool and decorate and the same goes for cookies.  I really wanted to make Oscar cookies but I don't have an Oscar cutout and that would have taken a lot more time to decorate so I looked around and decided to make Haystacks and add some Gold Sugar sprinkles on top.  it's not the fanciest but it used chocolate and nuts and cereal that I already had.

In a bowl placed over simmering water i melted dark chocolate and some milk chocolate with about a tablespoon of butter.  It was probably the equivalent of one large Presidents Choice chocolate bar.

I added a splash of vanilla and melted the chocolate and constantly stirring until smooth and shiny.

Then I poured the chocolate over a mixture of Cornflakes, cashews and pistachios.  You can just use cereal or whatever you have.  Mix until well coated and then I used an ice cream scoop to drop it onto baking trays and then I sprinkled Gold sugar sprinkles on top to add sparkle.  I actually took it outside to cool since it's the winter and my fridge was full.  In about 15 minutes they get solid.
I stacked them on an inexpensive dollar store silver tray and surrounded by movie items it takes on a more glam look even though it's chocolate, nuts and cereal.  But it's easy and it's fast and affordable.

You don't have to cook everything either.  I picked up some great Presicent's Choice Shrimp sticks that you bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes and they are great.  I used a plum sauce as a dipper instead of the sauce included but you can use all kinds of dipping sauces with shrimp.

I did all of this in 1 day and you can do some things a day ahead like the Haystacks and getting the Spinach Artichoke dip ready to put in the oven and pre cut the cheese and I also cut up some carrot stars too.  It's quick assembly or heat up on the day of then.  You can add more things than cheese to the crackers but Cheese and Crackers are so classically good that it's a safe bet for a crowd.

Don't forget to print out lot's of Oscar Ballots and pick your favourite films and actors and most of all have fun because the Oscars only comes around once a year so make it special.  Roll out the Red Carpet and get ready for the Papparazzi.   

And the Winner is................................