Saturday, January 29, 2022

Game Night Nibbles

 Game nights are big events these days.It's a fun way for families and small pods of friends to connect  over Twister or Scrabble. All that physical and mental work is demanding, Sustenance is needed in the forms of fun  snacks and sweets

Pizza is always a game night must. It is fun to order out however you can easily make  variations of it. Of course there are Totino's Pizza rolls which can be jazzed up with a dusting of oregano and garlic powder before being air fried. Pizza bagels are a fun and also filling snack along with English muffin pizzas. You can vary the toppings from pepperoni to olives. You could also make a four cheese white pizza or one that's all veggies. A different kind of cheesy treat are petite croque monsiuers. These delightful little bites are ham and cheese on French bread rounds. The bread is either buttered or have mayo spread on them and then browned in the oven for three minutes. Afterwards Dijon mustard is spread on the slices and then a square of good ham like Black Forest is put on them. A Mornay  sauce of Gruyere , butter , milk and flour is made and then spooned on the sandwiches. More cheese is sprinkled on the sandwiches and they're returned to the oven for a minute of broiling. Of course veggies and dip is always welcomed too. You can set up different bowls of dips. Try a simple vinaigrette or a homemade French  dressing made with mayo and ketchup. Add plain Greek yogurt to thicken the dips.

Of course there should be some kind of sweet bites too. You can set out the bowls of   sweet kettle corn and M & M's.Brownie and cookie cups are great nibbles. These are placing the dough in mini muffin tins and baking them. Filling them is exciting. You can go with a base of any kind of pudding and topped with fruit and Cool Whip. These also call out for ice cream and toppings. Have a small fixings  bars that has two or three kinds of ice cream, and mini scoopers or melon ballers that deliver the right amount of ice cream. Have bowls of different toppings form chocolate syrup to salted caramel to the various fruit ones like cherry and pineapple.  Make sure there's a  can of Reddi Whip for topping (or just as a filling itself) along with sprinkles and chopped nuts.Cake and coffee are always a good ending to games night. You can try the fancy Breton treat kouign amamn. a buttery bready kind of sticky bun. You could also go with a traditional coffee cake, Make sure you give the topping some large cinnamon laced crumbs which are good on their own. A variety of homemade cookies are also a great choice, perfect for munching between rounds.

Game night is all about fun. Make sure there are equally fun savory and sweet nibble for everyone to enjoy. They make the time together pop with flavor.