Party Planning: Cooking For a Crowd For Less (Part Two)

Hey everyone, remember that great video we posted some time ago called Cooking For a Crowd For Less ? (No? That's OK. I hardly remember it and I'm 99% certain that's me in just about every frame.) Well, we've gone and made a sequel, just in time to help you out with all your Spring and Summer party planning needs.

Check out what happens when I violate just about every common sense rule from the first video while preparing for my annual Easter party. Will the food be ready in time? Will people come? Is a chocolate bunny cake every bit as delicious as a white one?

Spoiler alert:  yes it was, yes we had 22 people attend the party, and yes, even more so!

One thing I did not mention in the video is that I've decided on a fifth rule for Cooking for a Crowd for Less: don't go too crazy with the cleaning. The reason I was so behind with the cooking was because I spent the entire previous day cleaning. When a bunch of people are about to descend on your house, all of a sudden you start noticing things you've never seen before, like the inch of dust on the top ridge of your bathroom mirror. So you panic and wonder what people will think of you and get a stepstool out and get to work. When in reality, the chances of anyone noticing the dust on the top of your bathroom mirror are very slim. And the chances of that person publicly humiliating you by calling you out at the party or maybe blogging about it are even slimmer.

If you are interested in making the artery-clogging-but-delicious Four Cheese Spinach Bake, I got the recipe from trusty AllRecipes.com. The white bean salad and orzo salad contain pretty much what you see in the video, mixed to your taste.

What are your favorite recipes for feeding a crowd on the cheap?