I'm having DD's 1st birthday party on Saturdy but it doesn't start til 3. We will be having come company here so I need to figure out what to feed them to tide them over until 3. We're doing hamburgers and hotdogs at 3 so I was hoping to stay away from sandwiches. Any ideas as to what could be cheap, light, and quick?

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Some sort of salad would be good. Here is a popular salad on allrecipes and it features strawberries which are in season.

* 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
* 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup olive oil
* 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
* 1/4 teaspoon paprika
* 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1 tablespoon minced onion
* 10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
* 1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
* 1/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour.
2. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.


BTW, my daughter will turn 1 on the 4th of July, so just a day after your daughter.

Veggies & Dip??

bagels, cream cheese & fruit

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"Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body." ~Anonymous

if they will be there early enough you could do a brunch casserole--then there is only one dish and it is easy. If not--I think the other posters had great ideas

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"Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts."
~Unknown~

Cheese ball and crackers, fruit tray, and punch. I also like the idea of bagels, cream cheese and fruit.

This is a favorite salad:

Ramen Slaw

(I usually double or triple this recipe because it goes FAST!)

1 bag coleslaw mix
2/3 c. sliced almonds ( I usually leave these out because the sunflower seeds are enough)
3.75 oz. bag sunflower seeds
1 pkg beef ramen noodles really crushed up

mix all of the above

dressing: ( don't put on until about 30-45 minutes before ready to serve)
1/3 c. cider vinegar
ramon noodle seasoning packet
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil ( I have done it with veg. oil, olive oil, sunflower oil , or a mix of all 3 - it tastes good either way.

You could do a cheese, fruit, olive, cold cut and bread tray or some sort of pasta salad.

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To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. -Elbert Hubbard

My first thought was to suggest little tuna finger sandwiches, but you said you wanted to stay away from sandwiches....

I would maybe make up a big appetizer tray with cubed cheeses, raw veggies with dip, tuna on crackers, ham rolled up with cream cheese and a slice of pickle in the middle (don't know what they're called), potato, macaroni, or pea salad, and maybe some fruit or chips and punch??

When we do this we usually do appetizers. Such as veggies, dip, chips, and salsa, and cheese cubes. This will fill them up with out over doing it. You could do some pasta salads, potato salad, etc. if you wanted to. They would also go well with the hamburgers and hot dogs.

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