7 Party Food Ideas Inspired by This Year’s Oscar Nominees

Cake Whiz

If you’re planning on throwing an Oscar viewing party this year, it’s time to think outside the typical food spread. Instead of defaulting to frozen food appetizers and pre-made crudite platters, why not pay homage to some of this year’s nominees? Even if your favorite flick wasn’t exactly food-centric, with a little creative license and a bit of ingenuity, you can nod to this year’s nominees through your menu. Here are seven Oscar party food ideas, inspired by this year’s potential winners.

Mock Mini “Dove” Ice Cream Bites

Laury Raiken

In “I, Tonya,” the infamous figure skater is intent on celebrating landing a triple axel with Dove ice cream bars. Even if the closest you’ve come to the Olympics is watching it on TV, you deserve to treat yourself with a dessert this decadent. This dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan version no doubt will get high marks from all your guests. Get the recipe.

Chewbacca & the Porgs No-Bake Cookies

Sugar Swings

If you were one of the superfans who lined up at midnight to see “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” you’ve probably already fallen in love with porgs, the latest creature added to the franchise’s universe. (Fun fact: Porgs were only devised to cover up the massive amounts of puffins that populated the island where some of the movie was filmed.) You don’t have to feel badly about eating these porgs, which come in the form of crunchy and chocolatey no-bake cookies. Make some larger ones so Chewy can join the party, too. Get the recipe.

Cheese Platter

What food says “French hospitality” more than a deliciously over-the-top cheese platter? By using “Beauty and the Beast” and its setting as inspiration, you can come up with a spread that is sure to impress. Put your service to the test and pick out some of your favorite fancy cheeses, add in some salty and sweet accoutrements, and put it all on display on an attention-grabbing board. Your friends will be happy to be your guest(s). Here are some suggestions for making the perfect cheese platter.

Thanksgiving Leftover Gameday Sliders

Berly’s Kitchen

As seen in “Lady Bird,” the holidays can bring up a bunch of emotions for families of all stripes. When Saoirse Ronan’s character ditches Thanksgiving with her family, her mother is upset, but trust us: No one will be disappointed if you make this Turkey Day-inspired app for your own fete. Get the recipe.

Rainbow Fruit Loops Marshmallow Bars

Cake Whiz

If you can’t stop shuddering when you flash back to that Fruit Loops eating scene in “Get Out,” you’re not alone. Associate the cereal with something a little more positive by making them the star of this marshmallow bar dessert. Get the recipe.

Mexican Sweet Tamales

You can’t think of animated tearjerker “Coco” without thinking of tamales and the love that goes into making them. With a bit of legwork, you can put together your own sweet ones, perfect for a special occasion like the biggest award show of the year. Buen provecho! Get the recipe.

Parmigiano–Black Pepper Popcorn

You can’t watch a movie (or an award show about the movies) without popcorn! This savory version is slightly more sophisticated than your run-of-the-mill microwave version and is perfect for all those nail-biting moments before winners are announced. Get the recipe.

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Coconut Chutney

Braised Lamb Shoulder With Dried Chilies and Dates

Lacy Brown Butter and Ricotta Cookies

Get Recipe!

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We Ranked All of the New Diet Coke Flavors

I’m not proud of my soda habits, but I sure as hell own up to them. On many days, Diet Coke is my lifeblood, fueling my 9-to-5 grind with bubbly chemicals. I get caffeine and zero calories and maybe cancer (okay, so the verdict is still up in the air on that last one). But given the energy it provides and self-loathing it sustains, it’s totally worth it to me. As a result, it was only natural for me to indulge in Diet Coke’s latest line of fruit-inspired flavors. Here’s the verdict.

4. Zesty Blood Orange

The adjective “zesty” should be replaced with “deathly,” because this is by far and away the worst of the new flavors. It literally tastes like burning. And not the good kind of burning that’s reserved for whisky and unrequited love. After taking a few sips, I was rendered to a state of Ralph Wiggum-like pain from that time he “ate-ed the purple berries.” NEVER AGAIN!

3. Ginger Lime

This flavor is very subtle, but after the mouth scorcher that was Zesty Blood Orange, we’re not complaining. I could barely taste the ginger. If the word wasn’t in the product name I wouldn’t have known it was there at all. Otherwise, it’s essentially classic Diet Coke with a splash of citrus. This is fine.

2. Feisty Cherry

I’m a little biased. My platonic ideal of a soda flavor is cherry, so obviously this is my jam! (Almost literally because you can make cherries into jam!) The only reason this doesn’t take the top spot is the damn modifier in its name. It’s not just superfluous, it’s erroneous. There is literally nothing “feisty” about it. In fact, its smooth fruitiness is why it’s so delicious. Also, calling all conspiracy theorists, it tastes EXACTLY the same as the Diet Cherry Coke you can get in a fancy-schmancy fountain machine.  Maybe the word “feisty” is a way of attracting those hip millennial consumers who are prone to getting fired up over important issues like gun control and soda semantics. Way to subtweet the Pepsi Generation!

1. Twisted Mango

This is a trip. One sip and I’m transported to some tropical getaway. (Hey, when you’re broke, an eight-ounce can of carbonation suffices as a vacation.) It’s  sweet, very sweet, but in an ineffable way. I lack the vocabulary to describe it and would do a great disservice to mangos—and all fruit, in general—if I attempted to. This is a far greater beverage than diet soda. It is the bubbly syrup of the gods.

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Slow Cooker Taco Soup

A Cold-Weather Favorite

This slow cooker taco soup with ground beef is one of my favorite recipes to make in the slow cooker, especially in the fall and winter months.

The soup is so hearty and flavorful, and the beef gets so tender over the long hours of cooking. Let it cook all day and it just gets better.

Continue reading "Slow Cooker Taco Soup" »

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Slow Down and Smell the Spices at Oaktown Spice Shop

To walk into Oaktown Spice Shop is to take a step back in time. The shop’s hand-hewn, reclaimed wood shelves are lined with glass jars filled with colorful powders, whole chiles, and cut herbs. The air is scented—is that cinnamon? Turmeric? Step in a bit further and the aroma shifts. Sarsparilla? Burlap sacks filled with single-origin coffee add an alluring top note—vanilla. Or anise. The aromas alone are enough to entice even the most reluctant cook to start a conversation with the in-house spiceologists and that is exactly what owners John Beaver and Erica Perez anticipate in their interactive shop. “Customers love that conversation,” said Beaver, who set up the shop to allow customers to experience spices with their eyes, as well as the other senses.

The Oakland shop, located in a small strip of stores that lines Lake Merritt’s eastern shore, grinds, sifts, and blends all of their products on site, a distinction usually only offered to food service. This small batch production nearly guarantees that any cut product is in and out of the store within two to three weeks. The quick turnover is particularly important for delicate spices such as peppercorns. “Pepper oxidizes very quickly,” says Beaver, who notes that cooks using fresh pepper can capture the nuances of any given peppercorn varietal.

Perhaps because of Oakland’s proximity to wine country (Napa and Sonoma are just to the north and many winemakers now produce wines in the Bay Area), Beaver and Perez thought it made sense to build a spice shop that treated their wares like wine. And why not? The volatile compounds that are expressed as flavor in wine and other agricultural products are just as important to the flavor of spices and herbs.

Erin Scott

A peek at the peppercorn shelves reveals options such as single-origin, late harvest peppercorns, organic Kampot (Cambodia) peppercorns, and Quang Tri (Vietnam) peppercorns, in addition to more familiar varietals such as Tellicherry, Whole White Cream, and Szechuan. A sniff from each jar reveals the distinctions of terroir. “Late harvest Quang Tri peppercorns have a sweetness to them,” said Beaver, while the Tellicherry has that familiar bright snap.

Live Your Best Spice Life

Sweet Potato–Star Anise Soup with Ginger Cream

Montreal Steak Seasoning

How to Use Orange Bitters in Cooking and Baking

As the business has flourished, Beaver and Perez have expanded their product lines to include not just coffee and tea but “only in Oakland” goods such as you might find at the farmers market down the street from the shop. A line of bitters comes from a former employee who went to herbal school and Caged Heat hot sauce comes from a bartender at the neighboring restaurant. But other products reflect the needs of the community and of the shop’s core customer: the home cook. “Our first foray into tea was a chai blend,” said Perez. “Most people don’t want to purchase all the spices and blend it themselves.” The result is a spice-forward tea that fills your home with the rich fragrance of cinnamon, green cardamom, star anise, and cloves.

Erin Scott

Customers commented so frequently about the special aroma of the shop that Beaver and Perez designed an aromatherapy roller to mimic the scent. Called “Oaktown Spice Shop,” it contains lavender, orange, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger. It’s a best-seller.

Some might call Oaktown Spice Shop the avant garde of experiential retail and they would be right. Here, you can see, smell, and taste the store. The shop can be seen as a bulwark against the trend towards online retail, inviting customers to engage their senses rather than ignore them. There is a palpable excitement at Oaktown Spice Shop; one part thrill of discovery, one part sensation that this is home. Or as Beaver said, “It’s a foreign adventure.”

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How to Throw an Instant Pot Dinner Party

I have to admit something.

As I’m writing this, I just finished an ad-lib recipe in my own Instant Pot and I was devilishly careless. Working loosely from recipes for steak au poivre and beef stew, I paid far less attention to the things I normally do, like measurements and cooking times. I added a dash where a dollop was called for and stirred when I was supposed to whisk. I was bad, you guys. Really bad.

These all may sound like criminal offenses to the serious at-home or professional chef but I’m not to blame, I swear. These are side effects, sweet liberating side effects, of owning an Instant Pot: a magical machine whose praises we’ve sung before and one which allows freestyle cooks like myself to flourish in whimsy.

The oh-so-trendy Canadian-designed multi-cooker sports a self-proclaimed seven functions (in the basic model) including; slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice maker, steamer, sauté, yogurt maker, warmer, and time machine. Okay, so it’s not a time machine in the way that this is a time machine, but you know those rich, layered flavors that seem achievable only through an hours-long braise or by letting a sauce simmer all afternoon? Instant Pot’s pressure cooking feature has the ability to (safely) impart “all day” flavor and tenderness in shockingly little time.

Because of this, flavors integrate faster and better than other quicker cooking methods, causing individual ingredients and their distinct profiles to give way to a more nuanced and balanced quality. In other words, it allows us to take calculated risks here and there with far less potential for ruining dinner and much more for discovering kitchen greatness.

That’s not to say recipes don’t matter when using the Instant Pot; they most certainly do. So put down the leftover bottle of coconut rum—it’s not going in your chili. But Instant Pot does free up the free-spirited among us for a little controlled experimentation. And if you’re a spice-huckin’ Gemini like me, it’s a bit of a dream come true.

So, how did my lil’ o’ this, lil’ o’ that, hybrid au poivre/beef stew turn out, you ask? As good and as dinner party-ready as anything I’ve cooked all year. With a little nifty maneuvering, Instant Pot can get you through your next dinner party from courses one to five and beyond.

In honor of my culinary feat of near negligence, try these wow ‘em dinner party recipes in your Instant Pot at your next hosted gathering and wait for a slow-building round of applause.

Instant Pot Roasted Garlic

A Real Food Journey

There is almost nothing that will instill a sense “everything is going to be okay” quite like whole roasted cloves of garlic. Put these out with some crusty bread and olives to welcome your guests as they mingle and drink that first glass of wine. Get the recipe.

Savory Spinach and Artichoke Cheesecake

Peas and Crayons

Instant Pot is a dream device for cooking cheesecake evenly every time. This spin reimagines the beloved spinach and artichoke dip with a far more sophisticated presentation. Another nice one to bring out as guests are arriving or mingling. Get the recipe.

Instant Pot Carrot Soup

Plated Cravings

If you own an Instant Pot, you know why the soup course is now the best course. With the ability to jam-pack eons of flavor in minutes with the pressure cooking feature, this carrot soup with ginger and coconut milk will taste like a million hours. Get the recipe.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Real Food Outlaws

Cream of asparagus soup will be an unexpected first or second course and no one will guess it took so little time to prepare. So don’t tell them. Get the recipe.

Pressure Cooker Porcini Mushroom Risotto

New York Times Cooking

With a 15-minute porcini mushroom risotto, you can finally invite Tom and his vegetarian girlfriend Pam to a dinner party. Serve this as a main or decadent second course. Get the recipe.

Pressure Cooker Lamb Shanks

Nom Nom Paleo

Good lamb shanks can take as much as 5-7 hours to get right sans Instant Pot. This version tastes like the real thing, because it is the real thing…only in a fraction of the time. Get the recipe.

Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala

Savory Tooth

Chicken Tikka Masala is comforting, exotic, and pleasing to almost any crowd. This version takes less then an hour with Instant Pot. Serve with naan and basmati rice. Get the recipe.

Better than Sex Chocolate Lava Cake

Adventures of a Nurse

If it’s ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ you’re looking for to finish off the evening, look no further than this “better than sex” chocolate lava cake made simple and under 10 minutes with Instant Pot. Get the recipe.

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Drinking Can Help You Live Longer, Says Science

You probably don’t need another reason to to grab a beer but we’ll give you one anyway. A new study claims that drinking in moderation can help extend life expectancy. Maybe Betty White was really on to something when she credited vodka and hot dogs for her long life and career following her 96th birthday?

The 90-plus study led by Dr. Claudia Kawas, a neurologist from the University of California, Irvine, looked at over 1,600 nonagenarians (you know, folks in their 90s). It analyzed their food, drink, and lifestyle habits since 2003 and here is what they found: Those who drank up to two glasses of beer or wine a day upped their chances of living longer than those who didn’t by about 18 percent.

“I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity,” Kawas said in her keynote address at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference in Austin, where the research was presented. I love that’s she’s just as baffled as we are, and also willing to just go along with it. Ah, the power of science!

And here’s more good news for those of us who like to pig out. Those who were slightly overweight, though not obese, were reported to have a three percent chance of not dying as early as those who weren’t. Yay, let’s eat more pizza and french fries and ice cream in celebration.

Other habits correlated with longer life expectancy include having a hobby, as well as exercise. But no one wants to hear about how 15 to 45 minutes of daily physical activity also reduces their risk of an early death, because that’s boring and takes actual effort. Plus, the reported reduction was only by 11 percent, which is still less than drinking alcohol! Take that, treadmills.

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Coconut Chutney Recipe