Greetings and hello from the lovely planet Venus, where it’s cloudy and rains all the time. For our purposes, Venus is also known as Michigan.

For this month’s Foodbuzz 24×24 event, I hosted a Game Night — that’s with a capital G and N — and made oodles of easy-on-the-expensive-games snacks. I’m here to show you just how easy it is to have people over and serve amazing finger foods like tropical trail mix (above), asparagus frittata bites, blueberry-vanilla goat cheese on polenta dolce, cantonese roasted vegetables, and much, much more!

Err…just try not to make these foods all at once. These dishes dirtied themselves for your benefit in testing all the recipes out. I wouldn’t recommending doing this all at once!

At the end of this post you’re also getting the easiest recipe of them all: tropical trail mix.

planning board game night snacks

1. First of all, people aren’t picky. If you put out grub, they’re going to be happy. Chips and thick dips work for game night, as long as your guests aren’t clumsy Neanderthals. So do trail mixes of all kinds. Right here with step number one you’ve got savory and sweet already covered. But that’s just too easy. Keep reading if you want to get all fancy like.

2. Serve real food in bite size portions that can be skewered with a toothpick. You don’t want grubby hands mucking up your copy of Settlers of Catan hexes, do you? Well, I would, but then, I hate Settlers.

See that asparagus frittata there? It’s nice and dry and in little pieces.

3. Someone, let’s just call him He Who Shall Not Be Named, thought chocolate covered strawberries would be a good idea. After making them, Zach — er, He Who Shall Not Be Named — pointed out they were a bad idea, due to juiciness and instant garbage made by not eating the leaves. We ate the strawberries anyway, of course (duh!), but they weren’t allowed near the Dominion table.

4. All parties need an ice bucket and drink station. We can’t have the host sneaking drinks, now, can we?

“let” your guests bring food

5. Make sure your guests know you’re doing them a big favor by letting them slave away for you. They’ll be happy to bring things like really yummy seven layer dip with avocados on top instead of guacamole. Resist the urge to cackle evilly at your brilliance until you’ve ushered them out the door later.

6. Soft cookies > crunchy cookies when it comes to game night. Crunchy cookies will splatter crumbs all over your precious pieces and cards! Soft cookies hold their shape.

I was this close to making bite size cookies. But I didn’t. Instead I “let” Debi bring these cookies (as well as the dip above).

7. You can still be seasonal! This asparagus tart Linda brought, as well as the frittata bites above, have asparagus from my patch in them. Awesome!

8. Cut vegetables a bit bigger than bite size, and roast in flavory stuff. They’ll shrink to bite size and people can eat with toothpicks. See, these began bite size, so they got a bit small to be eating like that, but you know what? We soldiered on and still did!

9. Use timesavers, aka pre-made foods like hummus or polenta. Look at this. Blueberry-vanilla goat cheese. Sam’s had it in one-pound packages marked down to $4.81. I bought some prepared polenta — well, it was called something like “Billy Bob’s Corn Mush” — and cut it about one-quarter inch thick and fried it, then sprinkled some sugar on it.

OH. MY. GODS. These polenta slices were like fair food. Fair food, I tell you. And the goat cheese was just creamy, slightly sweet and slightly tangy and loads of blueberry-infused flavor smeared on top.

10. “Let” guests style your food for you. Debi arranged these strawberries, cheeses and wine. And did a great job! I might even “let” her do it as much as she wants in the future!

this is why we can’t have nice things

Bad Fang! Bad!

break out the skeezy cheeses and spicy mixes

I lied. Only one of these cheeses was skeezy. But I’m not the most adventurous cheeseophile. Linda picked them up at Whole Foods in Ann Arbor. That speckled one? That has mustard seeds in it. If you can imagine a mustard cheese, that is it. *Homer Simpson drooling noises*

There are also two goudas, a manchego, and one or two others I can’t recall.

Debi and Andy also brought this wasabi trail mix. More spiciness!

get down to business and play games

Armed with plates of relatively clean finger food and drinks of our choice, we settled in for some Serious Gaming. The cards in this game, Dominion, go through constant use and lots of shuffling, so we’ve already sleeved them in protective clear plastic.

No, I am not crazy. Every Dominion owner does this. Really. Trust me.

We got two games in, with a break in between for even more snacks, and I didn’t win either time! Take that, all you people who gang up on me saying I win all the time. I didn’t win.

list of the finger foods

Here are the finger foods I served at game night. I went overboard for purposes of this post, and recommend making one, maybe two max of the cooked items so you can spend more time relaxing instead of working and cleaning up!

• tropical trail mix
• roasted vegetables – cooked
• asparagus frittata bites – cooked
• roasted tofu cubes – cooked
• hummus and pita chips
• polenta crostini with blueberry-vanilla goat cheese — polenta was store bought but still cooked (fried)
• chocolate-covered strawberries – not a clean finger food after all!
• bread and cheese

Mini anything works too. I debated making mini pizzas, mini cookies, even quesadilla bites.

tropical trail mix recipe

Make this with unsalted nuts to keep guests’ hands clean. I’m a salt fiend and didn’t miss it. You can find unsweetened coconut flakes at natural/health food stores.

2 cups unsalted dry roasted peanuts
1 cup M&Ms
½ cup unsweetened coconut
½ cup banana chips
¼ cup Craisins^®

Crumble banana chips in hand to approximately bite-sized pieces. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl with a tight-fitting lid. Cover and store until serving.

I have a confession to make.

I cannot bring myself to bake or cook with fresh berries.

Why not? Their season is so short, it seems such a waste to transform them with heat, when frozen berries will do the job just as well. And you can whip out frozen blueberries in the dead of winter, anytime.

But fresh berries in the dead of winter? You know they’re out of season, so they’re being shipped thousands of miles, and hey! *snaps fingers* we’re trying to eat more local here. In that process of being shipped across continents, they’re losing freshness and flavor, and won’t be worth much fresh anyway, in my opinion.

Why not practice a more seasonally-aware cuisine? Gorge on fresh when it’s available, and freeze or preserve once you’ve gotten sick on fresh blueberries. (Tomorrow I’ll be freezing blueberries, and show you how, which is hardly necessary, as it’s so damn easy you’ll wonder why you haven’t done it before.)

In the spirit of practicing a more seasonally-aware cuisine, we’re now eating 99% blueberries and sweet corn. Ha ha.

13 ways of looking at a blueberry

Simple, as usual, is better. There are approximately 3 general ways to go with fresh blueberries. First is sweet, and mixed with dairy and/or grains. Second and third are savory, in salads or salsa.

We’ll get the obvious out of the way first.

1. Blueberries plain in a bowl, eaten with a spoon or by the handful. See the picture at the top of this post. My favorite. Sprinkle with sugar for more sweetness.

2. Top breakfast cereal or oatmeal with blueberries.

3. Top pancakes with blueberries. Okay, I’ll allow you to make blueberry pancakes with fresh blueberries in them if you want. Just this once.

4. Blueberries in a bowl, with milk, or half and half, or cream. Add sugar if you insist.

5. Crush blueberries slightly with a potato masher, and stir into yogurt. Drizzle with honey or maple syrup. Thanks to Sarah of Yummy Smells.

6. Another from Sarah of Yummy Smells: Mash blueberries with a touch of honey, and layer atop peanut butter on graham crackers. It’s rustic blueberry jam!

7. Microwave vanilla ice cream for 10 seconds. Sprinkle fresh blueberries on top, and stir in.

8. Remember that strawberry feta salad? Make it with blueberries instead of strawberries.

9. In fact, add blueberries to spinach salad too. Try spinach, blueberries, sesame seeds, goat cheese, and a sweet balsamic vinaigrette.

10. Make a parfait layering plain or vanilla yogurt, blueberries, and granola. Add wheat germ and banana slices if you like.

11. Top lemon, lime, or vanilla pudding with blueberries.

12. Blueberry and corn salad. Blueberries like corn, which is handy since they’re in season at the same time. Cut the corn off of a cooked or grilled ear or two, add a cup or two of blueberries, some fresh basil, a bit of olive oil and lemon juice, and salt and pepper. I’m probably going to make this and turn it into a post. :p

13. Blueberry salsa. Chop up blueberries, red onion, bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, cilantro, splash in some lime juice, season with salt and pepper. Serve atop grilled fish.

Oh gods. Rotting bananas on the counter again.

I don’t want banana bread. I’ll just put half of it in the freezer and forget it’s there.

Oh! A recipe for banana-chocolate chip muffins. I like chocolate chips, yes I do.

And about 45 minutes later these babies came out of the oven, all gently crisped tops and warm, moist, finely-textured insides. Crap. That sounds really dirty.

Don’t act so smug. I know I’m not the only one who went there.

those moist, finely-textured insides have chocolate chips!

Sis said these muffins were like a spice cake with banana flavor. The brother-in-law only got a bite and wanted more, pestering Sis until she made her own (not this recipe, oddly) the next day. She used mini chips and liked that even better.

Personally, I like the extra depth the cinnamon and nutmeg lend to the hearty whole wheat, rottingly sweet bananas, and chocolate. But if for some wacky, crazy, insane reason you don’t, just omit them from the recipe.

What do you like to do with overripe bananas, anyway?

whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffins

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, aka My Favorite Baking Cookbook Ever. Reprinted with permission.

prep: 10 minutes
bake: 23-28 minutes
to table: 45 minutes
servings: 18
oven: 350 degrees

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups (12 ounces) mashed ripe banana (about 3 large bananas)
1/4 cup (3 ounces) honey
2 large eggs
2 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin(s) with papers, and grease the cups with a nonstick vegetable oil spray, if desired. I didn’t spray them and they came apart from the papers without a problem.

Beat together butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth. Add banana, honey, and eggs, beating until smooth. Add flour and chocolate chips, and mix well.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. The cups will be nearly full — they don’t rise much. The original recipe supposedly makes 12, but I got 18 out of it. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Remove from the oven, and after a few minutes transfer the muffins to a rack to cool.

You may eat one while they are still hot if you can’t resist.

Dear banana-oat pancakes,

It’s not you. It’s me. I love bananas, oats, and ohmigod pancakes. And you’re fine. Better than fine. You’re sweet and oat-nutty and you never leave your dirty socks on the floor. Oh, sure, you might be a bit temperamental about griddle temperatures, but what pancake isn’t?

But you see, you’re too good for me. You’re so busy with those flavors you have going on. I know, I know, they work together! You’d be the perfect pancake for someone who looks for more in a pancake.

Me, however, I can’t help loving the simple pancakes best.

The buttermilk pancakes with their mad guitar skillz and artfully mussed emo hair. With the occasional earrings of blueberries.

The spelt pancakes with their Greenpeace stickers, dark soulful eyes, and selfless desire to change the world.

The buckwheat pancakes with their six-pack abs, skin-tight t-shirts, and the smell of clean sweat, oil, and black dirt.

You’re good, banana-oat pancakes. Really good. Kids would really go for you. You can easily catch yourself another woman, or even another man, if that’s the way you want to swing. The bananas make you sweet and smooth, while the coarse oat flour makes you a bit rugged and hearty.

I’m sure others will love you better than I can. I’ll stick with spelt pancakes, but you’ll always hold a special place in my heart tummy. And that’s why I’m going to share your recipe; so that the world may appreciate you for who you are.

recipe notes

1. When the recipe says, “check to make sure the batter is thin enough for your pancakes; you may need to add a touch of milk or water,” listen. Or, uh, don’t ignore it like I did. Immediately after mixing the batter, it should be thin: whole grain batters thicken up when they sit, and they have to sit in order for the liquids to permeate the bran.

2. The 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg I found a little overbearing. I will cut it to 1/4 teaspoon when I make these again.

3. Griddle temp. 350 degrees was too hot; my first pancakes got dark brown before the insides were cooked. When I put it at 300 degrees, they cooked through much more evenly.

4. If your batter is still a bit thick, manually spread the pancakes a bit with a spatula immediately after pouring onto the hot griddle or skillet. When they’re thick, it’s a tough balancing act to get them cooked through.

banana-oat pancakes

This recipe is from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book, aka My Favorite Baking Cookbook Ever. Reprinted with permission.

prep: 15 minutes
rest: 10 minutes
to table: 45 minutes (pancakes always seem slower to me than recipes imply)
servings: 10 pancakes
griddle: 300 degrees

3 small bananas (9-1/2 ounces), mashed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoons brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (3-1/4 ounces) oat flour
(see how to make your own oat flour here)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Stir together the mashed bananas, butter, lemon juice and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat in the eggs. Whisk together the oat flour, baking soda, salt and spices in another medium bowl.

Form a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir the batter just until the dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened. Check to be sure the batter is thin enough for your pancakes: you may need to add a touch of milk or water. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes before using.

Heat a nonstick griddle or a heavy skillet. If your surface is not nonstick, brush it lightly with vegetable oil. When the surface of your pan is hot enough that a drop of water sputters across it, give the pan a quick swipe with a paper towel to remove excess oil, and spoon the batter onto the hot surface, 1/4-cupful at a time.

Let the pancakes cook on the first side until bubbles begin to form around the edges of the cakes, 3 to 4 minutes. When the cakes are just beginning to set, flip them and let them finish cooking on the second side, until golden brown on both sides, about 1-1/2 minutes more.

Serve the pancakes immediately, or keep warm in a 200 degree oven.