Halloween Party Entertaining is a Breeze with Patricia Mendez' New Book

Patricia Mendez has catered and coordinated special events in the Los Angeles area since the early 1990´s. Her experience also includes coordinating a Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) community group for three years and working with women of all ages as a Director of Women´s Ministries for eight years. She met many "new nesters" who had the desire to entertain family and friends, but lacked know-how and experience. It was for this audience that she wrote her first book, EASY ENTERTAINING FOR BEGINNERS.

She has taught many cooking classes and currently teaches "Easy Entertaining for Beginners" cooking classes for novice hosts/hostesses in Torrance, CA. She speaks/teaches for women´s groups and has written articles/menus for print magazines and internet sites. She was recently a guest chef at Torrance Citicable Channel Community Cooking Show, airing in October 2008.

When Patricia is not writing or teaching, she is a home chef who loves to throw fun parties!

We interviewed Patricia to find out more about her new book and to see if she had any Halloween party tips to share with us.

Thank you for this interview, Patricia. Would you like to tell us briefly what your new book, Easy Entertaining for Beginners, is all about?

Hi, I designed and wrote Easy Entertaining for Beginners for people who would like to learn to host casual entertaining for family and friends but may have never done so in their lives. I want them to let go of worry and stress and enjoy their first entertaining experiences. So I wrote the recipes with extra explanation and assembled 13 full menus with ideas for entertaining for popular occasions. I added 16 full color photographs because I thought that was important for beginners. I wrote step-by-step checklists in each chapter that will help readers pace themselves and have a terrific time. There are a lot of other helps in the book and it is laid out in an extremely easy format to follow. I want my readers to gain confidence and enjoy their first entertaining experiences to the fullest.

Have you always loved to cook? Can you tell us if there was anyone who influenced your love for cooking and entertaining?

Yes, I have always loved to be creative and cooking is one of those creative endeavors. Taking fresh, healthy ingredients and turning them into delicious meals for those near and dear is really satisfying. Giving a gift of good food and warm hospitality to guests adds so much to enjoying life.

As far as influences, I the women in my family are all wonderful cooks and I´ve had many great meals at their tables. Just about anyone who has ever loved to cook or entertain would have to have a tremendous amount of respect for Martha Stewart as I do. I have a couple of her books and they are staples in my cookbook library.

Can you tell us about this "MOPS" Mothers of Preschoolers community group that you coordinated? How did that come about?

MOPS is a national organization who works with local churches to have a community program for young moms that is organized by young moms. There are MOPS programs all over the country and I highly recommend them. Young moms can attend a couple times a month to a community center or church and drop their kids off in the Moppets or children´s department. The kids go on to have a wonderful time while the moms get to meet and converse with other young moms from the community. There is usually a teaching leader who teaches on all kinds of practical subjects that are relevant to the moms who attend. There is also some type of creative project and goodies to eat. The moms always come away from MOPS refreshed and recharged. There is a steering committee that provides the leadership of organizing and hosting the on-going MOPS meetings. I served as an asst. coordinator for 1 year, the coordinator for 2 years and a Moppets Leader for 1 year. I also taught different subjects as a guest teaching leader at different MOPS groups in my area.

I was also starting to coordinate and cater a variety of different events and it was at that time that a lot of women would relate to me how they wished they knew how to entertain their family and friends. They lacked experience and some were overwhelmed with the thought of it and really didn´t know where to start.

With Halloween just a couple of weeks away, can you give us any Halloween party entertaining tips you might like to share?

If you are having an outdoor party, a pumpkin carving contest is fun. Purchase small to medium pumpkins and have a table set up outside with a large trash can, pumpkin carving kits or sharp kitchen knives (for an adult party), large spoons or scoops, sharpie markers. Have prizes for spookiest, most creative, etc. Let the party goers take them home at the end of the evening.

Also, if you have a large back patio, why not try a square dance? You can hire someone who calls for local dances and they can guide your guests to some easy square dance steps. There can be a lot of fun and laughter as most guests will be beginners. String some festive lights, have a few bales of hay for guests to sit on and perhaps some cornstalks and pumpkins for decoration. Square dancing is a hoot!

If you have an electric ice cream maker, homemade ice cream can be an extra-special treat for your guests. You can even have a sundae bar with toppings, brownies, candies that guests can assemble.

Can you share with us a recipe that would be fun for the preschooler crowd whose parents opt for a party instead of trick-or-treating?

For that crowd, I would recommend a food that could also be used as an activity at the party. Cookie decorating would be a big hit because afterwards the preschoolers get to eat the fruits of their labor!

Prepare the cookie recipe below in advance and use purchased vanilla icing and tint it orange with a couple of drops of food coloring. Purchase candy corn, black licorice, gumdrops, sprinkles or any candy that you find fun and festive to decorate the cookies. Or make it even easier and buy refrigerated sugar cookie dough, roll it out with a rolling pin to ¼ inch thick and use a pumpkin or other festive cookie cutter to cut out Halloween shapes and bake according to package directions. Sometimes at the holidays, nicer grocery stores even carry sugar cookie cutouts pre-baked just waiting for someone to take them home and decorate them. I´m all for easy! Trust me; preschoolers love these kinds of activities.

Sugar Cookie Cutouts – Makes about 2 dozen

cup butter or margarine, softened to room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

teaspoon baking soda

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Slowly mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda until dough forms. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour so butter will re-harden. This makes it easier to roll the dough out.

With a rolling pin, roll dough ¼ inch thick on lightly floured surface. (The flour keeps the dough from sticking). Cut with cookie cutters and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8-9 minutes or until very light brown. Remove with spatula and let cool on foil on counter. Ice and decorate after completely cooled. May be made in advance and stored in airtight container.

What would be a good recipe for an adult party?

This recipe is great for feeding a crowd.

Southwest Dip with Tortilla Chips

1 package (8 ounces) 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

cup (4 ounces) nonfat sour cream

1 (1.25 ounce package taco seasoning

2 (9 ounce) cans of bean dip

2 cups shredded lettuce

2 cups shredded low-fat cheddar cheese

1 medium tomato, chopped finely

1 (4.25 ounce) can of black olives, chopped and drained

3 jalapeno chiles, seeded, chopped finely

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Mix in taco seasoning; set aside. Spread the bean dip in a large clear glass bowl or large platter. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the beans. Top with layers of lettuce, cheddar cheese, tomato, olive and chopped jalapenos. Serve with tortilla chips.

TIP: You may add 3 mashed avocados mixed with 2 tablespoons of lime juice as another layer on top of the cream cheese mixture, if desired.

Who tested the recipes in your book? Does your family lend a hand with that?

I test my recipes several times myself first and then family and friends don´t have any objections with tasting and giving their opinion. I have heard of an author who rarely personally tests her own recipes. She has friends send out emails with the recipes she writes and has people over the internet volunteer to test them for her. They give her their feedback after they test them. I don´t necessarily think that is a bad idea, but I prefer to refine a recipe by tasting it myself and then asking others to share their input. Many times part of the refining process is trying to make the recipes simpler to follow, but with the same great results as my more time-consuming recipes since I like to write for beginners. It can sometimes take a lot of time writing, testing and developing recipes.

Can you tell us about a most memorable party?

One memorable party was a large 50´s party. One of the guests came dressed as a soda jerk and there was a soda bar set up and he made ice cream sodas for the guests. Everyone came dressed in poodle skirts and in 50´s fashions and we had a sock hop and danced to fun 50´s music. My husband, Augie made a 1957 Chevy cutout from plywood, complete with custom paint and flames. We had it set up as a photo prop and guests sat in chairs behind it. It looked like they were driving the car and we took photos of them so they could take them home as keepsakes. There was festive food and 50´s style candy that everyone enjoyed. The lip-syncing contest had everyone in stitches. It was a lot of fun.

Thank you for this interview, Patricia. Good luck to you and Happy Halloween!

Thanks so much for the opportunity. Happy Entertaining!