Southern Style Bunco

Ideas for hosting a Southern Style Bunco with 12 of your friends: Southern Style decor, food, and recipes.

Tuesday night was either the 10th or 11th Bunco I’ve hosted.  That’s hard for me to believe.  It doesn’t seem like I’ve been playing Bunco that many years.  I clearly remember the first night I was asked to join the group.  It was their Christmas party and I knew no one.  I’d only stepped out of my comfort zone so I could meet some of the other ladies in our neighborhood.  My family was still at home asking each other, “What is she doing?” (Their way of saying, “Has she lost her mind?”) 😀 Being the only shy person in the family, they were almost as uncomfortable as I was.  They kept phone contact with each other to make sure everything was ok.  I think they thought I was going to come crying home and hide under the bed … well, maybe in the closet.

And just like I thought, it was horrible.  I left telling Gina, the talkative gal in the neighborhood who had invited me, that I wasn’t very social and I didn’t know …..   “Just come and play”, she said.

I did go and play.  I thought it was the stupidest game ever.  No skill, no strategy.  Just count the dots.  But you won prizes!  And you got to eat dinner without having to cook.  Winner!  And I did meet other people that were nice.  So, I kept playing.  And now it’s 10 or 11 years later and I’m still playing.  And I love it.   I don’t think the game is stupid any more.  You don’t have to have skills or strategy, but you do have to be able to keep your mouth shut long enough to keep score unless you’re super talented and can have a conversation AND count dice.  And yes, you also have to be able to follow directions, which you’d think would be a given for adults, but just watch 12 talking females try to rotate themselves through 3 tables and keep the correct partners without a hitch.  Not going to happen!  And did I mention you win prizes!  And it seems I happen to be kind of a lucky person, unlike some other highly competive people who use “tangibles” to help themselves win.  Ummm … you know who you are!!  😀

So there’s lots of fun to be had playing Bunco …. mostly laughing at ourselves!!  But back to Tuesday night.  Southern Syle Bunco.  I’d been thinking on this Bunco idea for a couple of years.  I thought the Southern Style would be easy to pull off and I’d have a lot of resources to pull from already on hand: cotton, vintage dishes, crockery, wild flowers, southern food, etc.

Southern Style Bunco

I always start decorating at the door.  I already had the milk can and the black chair I purchased about a year ago at an estate sale for $5.  Chris repainted it for me and it now looks great with that gorgeous mum that I picked up at Walmart.  Perfect items for this Southern Style Bunco decor.  The wreath I made to match the table centerpieces.  Those beautiful magnolia leaves I got online and they look and feel almost like real leaves.  And the price!! I almost wish I needed more.  I never know how my floral efforts will turn out, but I’m totally satisfied with this project.

 

Table 1

The only thing I purchased for this was the flowers and the napkins.  The rest I had already to pull from.

Table 2

 

Table 3

I purchased this handcrafted doughbowl locally.  I fell in love with it immediately and didn’t even realize it wasn’t “straight” until I got it home.  But even then, I realized it didn’t matter, because the tilted angle of it is one of the reasons that I love it so much!  It is just beautiful!  I have enjoyed having it on my table so much.  Chris picked the cotton from a field for me when we were in LA at the Frogmore Plantation.  Those pictures have yet to make it to the blog.

 

All the Tables

Southern Style Bunco: What to eat!

Southern girls know about Southern food!  You automatically think fried chicken.  Sad to say, but I do not fry.  Yeah, makes my husband want to cry.  But it is what it is.  So the next thing I thought of was Chicken and Dumplings.  So that’s what we had.  I learned how to use the rolling pin you see laying down in that photo to roll out the dumplings.  The key is to make them where they won’t fall apart.  See, this is why.  I only knew how to make fat dumplings, because that’s what I grew up eating.  Chris however, wouldn’t eat those, so for all these years I haven’t made dumplings.  So now I can make dumplings Chris will eat.

Southern Style Bunco Menu

Chicken and Dumplings

Deviled Eggs

Lima Beans

Green Beans

Oven Roasted Carrots

Fried Corn

Veggie Plate/Dill Dip

Biscuits

Honey/Butter/Homemade Red Plum Jelly

Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding

Southern Sweet Tea & Lemonade

This menu got raves, especially the green beans!!  There were none left and people wanted more.   Many came back for seconds and everyone ate dessert which is almost unheard of.  No one went home hungry!!  Scroll down for menu links/recipes/notes.

All the crockery, dishes, crates, silver, etc. I already had.  All that came from parents and grandparents.

 

Menu Recipes/Links/Notes

Click on the Links for Recipes

Southern Style Chicken and Dumplings

This is the recipe I used to make my dumplings and what she calls slurry.  I used chicken breasts and chicken broth when making the stock.  But you have to be careful with the broth.  It can easily get too salty.  I also added more butter.  I cooked my dumplings a day ahead so the stock would thicken.

Southern Deviled Eggs

The deviled eggs went over very well, too.  My tray only holds 10 and I heard moans of “I wanted another egg” ….  And like every good Southern hostess should, I had more in the frig and I made sure I kept a couple hid back because those are my husband’s favorite.

Lima Beans

Bacon Green Beans

I don’t eat green beans, so this I strictly followed the recipe.  Everyone LOVED them!!  My husband was so disappointed there was none left for him.  The reason I chose this recipe is because it uses canned green beans.  That’s the only kind my husband will eat. Oh, since I don’t fry, I did do the bacon in the microwave and just added the drippings to the pan.

Oven Roasted Carrots

These oven roasted carrots I’ve been eating a lot, because they have very few calories.  I buy the small carrots and throw them in a gallon bag.  (I didn’t Tues night, but normally I also peel sweet potatoes and chunk them up and throw them in the bag, too.)  Then I start dumping in spices.  Well, not dumping, but sprinkling.  I grow rosemary and spicy oregano on my deck so I start with chopping those and putting them in the bag.  Then I add Italian seasoning, salt, cayenne, whatever you want really.  Then I add a tablespoon or two of olive oil … depending on how much you have in the bag.  Spread this out onto a greased cookie sheet and bake in the oven on 375 until the veggies are soft.  Mine always seem to look burned on the bottom, but they aren’t.  I think it’s because of the olive oil, but I’m not sure.

Skillet Fried Corn

This was also very good and easy to make if you use the bag of frozen whole kernel corn instead of fresh.

Veggie Plate/Dill Dip

Cucumbers, yellow and red bell peppers, broccoli, carrots & dill dip in half a yellow bell pepper shell.  This wasn’t really a big hit except for the sliced cucumbers.  The dip I bought at Walmart.

Biscuits

I tried 3 different recipes to make homemade biscuits because I wanted to learn how to make biscuits like my mamaw.  The ones I made turned out ok, but not light and fluffy.  So after the third batch, I finally gave up and used Grands Southern Style frozen biscuits.  They were a whole lot easier, a lot less mess, tasted wonderful and I never felt cheated out of eating homemade biscuits.  So I’m totally satisfied with those “homebaked” Southern Style biscuits. 🙂

Honey/Butter/Homemade Red Plum Jelly

I wouldn’t suggest making jelly just for an event.  I already had the Red Plum Jelly made and in these small jars.  Perfect for what I needed.  At the time I was making it, I was going to give it as teacher gifts.  But here was the problem with that … if you do make homemade jelly, follow the directions exactly.  You have to have exactly the right amount of sugar to juice/liquid ratio or your jelly will turn out thin or with too much sugar and be too thick.  That’s what happened to mine.  Mine turned out thin.  It did gel, but not as thick as my husband liked (and he was the one I made the jelly for) and it had extra liquid that you needed to pour off before using.  Not really a big deal, but not something I wanted to give as a gift.  But the Bunco ladies loved the Red Plum Jelly and that little jar was empty at the end of the night.   Someone even mentioned it brought back memories of their grandmother.  I loved that, since I have some wonderful memories of my own grandmother and Chris’, too.

Magnolia Bakery’s Banana Pudding

I’ve made this banana pudding before.  It is so good … light and creamy.  This time however, because I was determined to use this cute new bowl I bought, there was more pudding than bowl.  So we had extra pudding on the side for those who wanted it.  And I’m not sure why the bananas started to turn.  They were very fresh and I’d just made the pudding earlier and kept it in the frig.

Southern Sweet Tea & Lemonade

You may or may not know about Southern Sweet Tea.  I don’t know how long it’s been around, but we’ve only been aware of it for a couple of years.  It’s tea bags made by Lipton and perfect for us.  The tea is naturally sweet and now that we’ve acquired a taste for it, we no longer use sugar.   Even my 11 year old granddaughter drinks it that way now.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our Southern Style Bunco night as much as we did.  I don’t think I’ve hosted another Bunco that’s gone over any better than this one.  The most stressful parts were getting the crates set up (last minute idea I came up with) and trying to get those light and fluffy biscuits.  Take my advice on the biscuits, if you don’t already know how to bake them and you’re not against eating processed foods, just go with the frozen Grands Southern Style Biscuits.  It’s a whole lot simplier! 😉

So now it’s on to next year’s idea.  Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of years, too. 😀

See y’all next year!

 

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