The Painted Apron

Party Panache, Orange Everything!

Posted by the Painted Apron on August 20, 2014 · 12 Comments 

The 3rd annual Cook Your App Off party was last weekend, and this year the theme was Orange!  This is really my daugther’s party, I am just her assistant

I added an orange polka dot ribbon to the Party Wreath I made last year, which handily had some orange and blue kitchen utensils on it

Guests had to make an appetizer using at least one of these ten orange ingredients:  orange juice, orange peppers, sweet potato chips or BBQ  chips, peaches, goldfish, orange marmalade, carrots, shrimp, mac and cheese, or cheddar cheese

The first dish to arrive was “Sausage Skewers with Sweet Potato and Pineapple”

followed by “Mac n Cheese Cupcakes”

Things were looking good!

The kitchen table and raised eating bar were ready for the incoming masterpieces

DD’s house has lots of trees outside for a natural privacy screen so she has opted to keep her side windows undraped for maximum light…CC and Big Ben were helping with the set up~

Rose bouquets wrapped with orange burlap and twine dangled from the window frames for the party, just to add a little “festive”

We used the table tops and lanterns from June’s Family Reunion

The deck was ready for guests with tables for dining and sipping, the buckets were filled with ice for wine bottles and beer

Dishes ranged from the elaborate Orange and Blue Oyster Poppers

to the simple, Cheese and Crackers on a paper towel*

and lots of tempting things in between!

“Conecuh** Sausage and Cheese Biscuits” with a creamy dipping sauce

“Cajun Seafood Dip”

“Fresh Peach Brulee Burratta Bruschetta”

“Buffalo Mac & Cheese” was packed in ready to serve foil bowls, what a great idea!

“M & J’s Shrimp Canapes”

“Cranberry Orange Spread”

“Spicy Pimento Cheese”

We even had some surprise entries from Super Boy and HH and HHjr

Super Boy, 6,  dipped clementine sections in peanut butter, topped them with sprinkles and named it “Orange Casserole” 

He also helped HH with his “recipe” for Bacon Bombs

Bacon wrapped orange pieces garnished with candy corn and served with a bowl of “Gatorade Dipping Sauce”…let’s just say it was very creative and they definitely got into the orange theme… sometimes I wonder which one is the 6 year old…

*Cheese and Crackers on a paper towel was actually a joke, brought by HHjr, “Mr. Gourmet”

the dishes were labeled as they were brought in

and each dish had a blue jar for voting~the guests all get to vote for their favorite dishes

The voting station was nearby with jelly bean tokens in buckets and easy instructions

orange jelly beans for #1, blue for #2 and yellow for #3

This makes quick work of tallying the votes, DD and I could quickly tell the winners by glancing in the jars

Adjacent to the voting station were the party favors, an orange snack mix ready to grab and go

We provided Blue Moon Cupcake Bites and orange candy for dessert

and packs of goldfish for the kids

The prizes were on display for the lucky winners-more about these prizes to come~

So which dishes do you think were the winners? I didn’t get photos of the Buffalo Mac & Cheese packed in the individual bowls, so don’t forget about that one!

They were all winners in my book!  It’s a lot of fun to get the guests involved, not to mention an easy way to throw a party!

Coming up I will share the winning recipes and the details of the prizes and party favors~

**Conecuh Sausage is a smoked sausage in made in Conecuh County Alabama

to see last years Cook Your App Off, click here

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I will be sharing with the blogs on my sidebar and

Between Naps on the Porch