Game Time Snacks!
I can’t say for sure my mental powers were involved, but this little snow pea sprout appeared on Friday.
Saturday, June 3 was a super fun day for Mr. Food It Yourself and me. We were invited to join a bunch of friends for a game night. This is a semi-regular occurrence for us. Sometimes we spend several hours on one long and involved game (like Settlers of Catan), sometimes we play multiple shorter games (like Cranium or Flux). We always have snacks. Mr. Food It Yourself and I were planning to pick up a crudité platter at the grocery store and whip up a simple dip. (Mini-recipe: 1 envelope dry veggie soup mix, 8 ounce container of sour cream or plain yogurt, mix and let sit in the fridge overnight.) However, on Friday, June 2 something unexpected happened: the sun came out. My Super Awesome Supervisor, therefore, decided that I should go home early and play outside. After mowing the lawn and trying to will a few seeds to sprout in the Food It Yourself garden, I decided to use some of my extra time to make something a little more involved for the party.
The ideal snack for a game table is compact, easy to eat by hand, and not messy. Indeed, many historians claim that the sandwich was invented to allow for simultaneous card play and snacking. I decided on a miniaturized, decidedly sandwich like, spinach pie. I improvised the recipe based on a spinach nugget recipe I have committed to memory.
- Sauté until translucent:
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 clove of garlic, minced
- Thaw two, 10 oz. packages of frozen chopped spinach in the microwave. Squish out the extra water
- Combine the veggies above in a large bowl with salt, pepper, and oregano to taste as well as 8 oz. crumbled feta cheese
Here is the crust recipe- It also makes a good no-yeast pizza base!
- Mix together:
- 2 and 2/3 cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- Stir in:
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup oil
Here is what all that looked like:
Use a sieve and a spatula to smoosh the moisture out of the thawed spinach. Drier is better for this recipe.
Only took about 10 minutes for the onion and garlic to sweat out. You could totally substitute leeks or shallots here. Mushrooms would be good, too but I know another guest has a serious mushroom allergy. I’ll save that variation for a different crowd.
The grocery store had a special on tubs of pre-crumbled feta. You can easily crumble a whole block yourself.
Then there is the cutting and baking. I let the dough rest for a few minutes to I could roll it thinner.
No need to buy fancy cutters when a wide-mouth canning jar ring works perfectly.
Remember the cardinal rule of filled foods: Do Not Over Fill The Food. I put a steam vent in the top circle and crimped the tops to the bottoms with a fork.
I had to make a second batch of dough and still ended up with extra filling; I was able to fit eight pies on my trusty
They look so cute I could eat them up! Which is good because bringing ugly food to a party is considered bad form in Foodie-Boardgamer circles
cookie sheet at a time, and they baked in 25 minutes at 425˚F
Game night was a blast! We laughed, we snacked, we played this crazy word game that involved C’Thulhu and spelling. The spinach pies complemented the other foods guests brought, and did not leave our hands greasy or fall apart onto the game pieces. Mission accomplished! The most common negative feed back I got about the pies was that there was too little filling for the thickness of the crust. I think using a slightly larger cutter and rolling the dough thinner might help. I guess I’ll have to make them for next game night to see if I have fixed the problem.
We all get busy, but we all need to relax and socialize. Sometimes picking up something at the store helps save mental energy so you can enjoy the party. I totally get that. However, I love putting together a snack from scratch to share with friends. What are your go-to party snacks? Share in the comments!
