Cups, Sticks & Nibbles: Unlock Your Inner Hosting Confidence with Stress-Free Tips & Recipes

By Nicole L. Meyer

You glance quickly at the clock, only to realize there are thirty minutes until the guests walk through your front door. Hopefully, that is, unless your neighbor shows up earlier than called for! Your heart starts thumping, realizing that the dishes still need to be set and the cheese board is waiting be plated. Oh waityour makeup still needs to be applied! Help!

Never again will this happen to you at least not under my watch.

Nicole Meyer loves to be hostess and cant wait to share with you all her hints and dishes that will bubble you over with party-planning courage. Whether it an intimate night of cocktails or family holiday feast for thirty, her serving suggestions and sassy, simple dishes will pull your event together in no time.

Cups, Sticks & Nibbles is a best friend, event planner, and cooking teacher all in one. Its inspiring suggestions are meant to rid you of those overwhelming panicky feelings and instead fill you up with newfound party fever excitement.

The mouth-watering nibbles featured in this book are handpicked from her blog, Nibbles By Nic, which she founded in 2011. Creations such as strawberry shortcake cheesecake shooters, pizza-meatloaf cupcakes, pineapple steak-roll-ups, and skillet stuffed eggplant are just a few of the menu items for you to include. Crowd-pleasing with easy-to-find ingredients and minimal steps involved give you every opportunity to celebrate and have the best time at your very own party!

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: May 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781489704184

Nicole L. Meyer

Nicole Meyer is the founder and creator of the cooking and entertaining recipe blog Nibbles By Nic. She enjoys teaching culinary workshops to children and adults, food writing, travel, reading, tennis, and aimlessly wandering around her favorite city, New York, sampling all of the culinary delights!

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Copyright © 2015 Nicole L. Meyer.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

LifeRich Publishing is a registered trademark of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

LifeRich Publishing

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-0419-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-0420-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-0418-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015905577

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 5/6/2015

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Acknowledgments

Nibbles by Nic followers: you are forever guiding and inspiring me to create more and more nibbles … xoxox.

Mama Jane and KK: we are the musketeers, and you are forever my hostesses with mostest.

Eric, Ella, and Noah: for always patiently waiting for meals until the perfect photo is snapped.

Taste of Home: for taking this journey with me!

Contents

Introduction

The Party-Prep Timeline

Entertaining Must-Haves

My Top Ten Hosting Tips

Nic’s Favorite Knacks

Let’s Do Brunch

Cocktails and Bites

Grill Time

Family-Style Nibbles

Kid’s Bits & Nibbles

Sweets, Treats, and Goodies

Introduction

It all started with turkey meatloaf.

Back when I first moved into my neighborhood, a group of about five of us girls were chatting in the local park about our weeknight dinner rotations. Chicken cutlets, baked ziti, and chicken meatballs were all mentioned, and then, without thinking, I chimed in, spreading around my grandmother’s zesty turkey meatloaf recipe. It was nothing fancy and had no crazy ingredients; in fact, I believe she got it from the back of a soup can. However, it was tasty, required only one pan, and had vegetables scattered around it, creating a complete meal all in one.

I suddenly realized I had the complete attention of this new group of friends and that I was in heaven sharing recipes! Shortly thereafter, one of the girls asked me to e-mail her the recipe, which of course I gladly did. Before I knew it, I was sending it out to twenty more people, all the while happily thinking of other recipes that I just knew would simplify my friends’ dinner planning. After turkey meatloaf came chicken marsala, and then mozzarella, basil, and tomato pasta salad. Sharing the recipes became addictive, and my weekly recommendations were reaching more than three hundred people. A colleague of my husband’s suggested I start a food blog. A what?

At the time, I didn’t know the first thing about blogs and technology; it just wasn’t my thing. However, with my computer server unable to keep up with the e-mail traffic, I decided a blog was the way to go. My readers helped me decide on Nibbles by Nic for the title, as it captured what my recipes were evolving into: portioned meals that hit the spot.

A party seemed in order to celebrate the launch, and nibbles needed to be noshed. I was excited to cup and skewer samples of my foodie fare for guests to enjoy as I floated on air, embracing my second-favorite passion: hosting. What’s more fantastic than creating your very own menu and theme in your very own home? Not much!

Through my love of entertaining, I realized a couple of things. First, proper planning is essential. I’ve had some disasters in my time, which typically involved me being unprepared. Time management is key, and there’s a simple formula for it.