Our ActiFry Holiday Party

Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide – Day 8

Have you seen the ActiFry multicooker before? We were introduced to this PTPA winner a few months back and have been simply amazed at all the entrees, appetizers and desserts you can create with little or no effort. This amazing appliance is launching this week at Costco, so to celebrate we hosted an ActiFry Holiday Party at our house this past weekend to show friends, family, and neighbors what all you can cook in it.

In the past few weeks that we’ve been busy planning, hosting, and recovering from our ActiFry Holiday Party, we have been more and more impressed with the ActiFry every day. When people see the ActiFry box the first time, everyone thinks the same thing: French fries. And, yes, the French fries and JoJo potatoes you can make in the ActiFry are simply delicious – the perfect amount of crispness, fluffiness, and just a tiny amount of oil – but that’s nowhere near the end of what you can make.

While we, too, originally fell for the ActiFry just for the fact that it could take our homemade French fries and make them mouth-wateringly good and good for you, we continually are finding that the ActiFry can improve upon other recipes that we have loved for years, too. From Asian inspired broccoli beef to hot wings to perfectly done veggies, every single recipe we have tried has become a new family favorite. One look through the included ActiFry cookbook and I guarantee you that your mouth will be watering; they really do have everything from comfort food to gourmet entrees and even dessert.

It actually took a long time to decide on the final menu for the party because everything looked so good and we wanted to try it all, but we finally made our choice of 7 recipes and gathered all the ingredients so we could try them out with our party guests. By the time guests started arriving, we had most of the dishes for the night prepped, had roasted the pumpkin seeds and had the French fries cooking so we could start snacking right away. And, as guests arrived at the party they were immediately hungry after smelling all the great smells coming from the kitchen. The first response was always the same: what is that that smells so delicious? The answer: everything!

Since we wanted everyone to help cook in the ActiFry over the evening, we had recipes set out at each station and bowls full of the ingredients to make them all. Our first recipe was an appetizer to start things off, the Sweet and Saucy Meatballs. http://tfalactifry.com/recipes/view/sweet-and-saucy-meatballs-2 We improvised a little with the recipe by adding different fruit juices and varying the amount of pineapple and peppers in our three batches we made, but each finished dish was gone in minutes after coming out of the cooker and everyone was raving about how delicious they were.

The next recipe we started was the Tuscan White Bean with Sausage, which was one of the more gourmet recipes we tried out. With ingredients such as escarole, which is something I had never heard about before the party, I was a bit worried that it was going to be a little fancy for our cooking party, but my worries were unfounded. We made two batches of this recipe because everyone loved it so much, and many guests said it was their favorite recipe for the night.

Next we did an all-vegetarian recipe, the Rainbow Vegetable Medley, and even though it was competing with French fries, meatballs, and sausage and beans, everyone was still raving about the medley. I especially liked the lemon juice in the recipe as it added a light and healthy flavor to the veggies and made them amazingly flavorful. I expect that this will be one of our regular week night dinner recipes as it was so great and so easy to make as well.

Even though we probably had enough food at this point, I really wanted to try out the “fried” chicken wings in the ActiFry, so I had the guys make up the Asian Style Chicken Wings for all of us. The recipe really couldn’t be easier – you just put them in the ActiFry for 20 minutes and then add sauce and cook for 2 minutes. While it’s simple {and ambiguous, since you could pretty much add any sauce you would like}, it really was the rave food of the party. I can’t even tell you how many of the guys came up and said they had never had better wings before, and this is from a group who knows their wings. I would call that a ringing endorsement

The last dinner recipe we tried was the Green Beans with Almonds and Parsley, which was one of my very favorite dishes. The green beans were just perfect in their doneness and their flavor was simply amazing. As with the vegetable medley, the recipe also called for lemon and zest, and it really added that extra kick to the dish, as was the addition of the almonds. This is the perfect side dish for the upcoming holidays and I plan on making this recipe for a few gatherings.

Yes, at this point we had plenty of food and really could have stopped cooking, but that would have left our party without dessert, and we can’t have that, right? And, this dessert was simply amazing, we really wouldn’t have wanted to miss it. If you like apple pie or apple crisp, you will adore the Chef Ming Tsai’s 5 Spice Crumble.

While it is nearly impossible to describe just what this machine can do using only text and pictures, once you see it in action you will be simply amazed. I know our friends were once they saw all that we were cooking for our party. Even though we had been using the ActiFry for a few weeks before the party, even we were impressed after we tried all the amazing recipes. In fact, we loved using it so much that we have made a spot for the ActiFry on the counter so we can use it for quick week night dinners and desserts, which is a very big thing for us!

Price: $250 ARV. Find out more about the ActiFry, its many features and recipes, and where to buy at tfalactifry.com.

Want to win an awesome ActiFry for yourself? Of course you do!

To enter, simply visit the ActiFry recipe site and comment on this post telling me what you would make in yours if you win!

And, as always, there are extra entries available! {Please leave a separate comment for each completed}

2 Extra Entries – Like ActiFry's Facebook page and comment with what you would make in the ActiFry if you win and @ tag PTPA and Rave & Review

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1 Extra Entry {daily} – Twitter. Simply tweet the following after following us all:

Make healthy "fried" foods easily with the super cool @ActiFry #giveaway from @RaveAndReview & @PTPA! http://tinyurl.com/7xqb8a2 ARV $250!

3 Extra Entries – Blogger Bonus. Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post and leave an address where I can find your writeup

1 Extra Entry – Comment love. Enter any of my other Giveaways and/or comment on any non-giveaway post!

For more entries, please visit my PTPA ActiFry Party blog post for more ways to enter to win this awesome prize!

On December 6th at 11:59pm PST a winner will be drawn, announced here and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway open to US and Canadian Addresses.

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who entered and congrats to: Teressa Bignell, you are the lucky winner!

A big thank you to ActiFry for providing the information and giveaway for one lucky winner. All opinions are 100% ours and no monetary compensation was received in exchange for this Rave Review.