Hey everyone, I need some ideas here. We're having two couples from Jeff's work over for dinner on Saturday and I need menu advice. I'm thinking (very tentatively) about Parmesan chicken with homemade spaghetti sauce, lasagna/manicotti with bread sticks, or ribs (Carol, I'm thinking of using your recipe, but you may have to talk me through it!). Other thoughts?
I need side dish help. I've got nothin' there.
For dessert maybe apple dumplings or chocolate sheet cake.
What say you my culinary friends? Should I throw in a relish tray or Pioneer Woman's Holiday Bacon Appetizers (have you tried these yet? Yum!)? How much is too much?
Oh - drink ideas (other than the leftover Mountain Dew from the dumplings)?
Thanks!
6 comments:
Hey Mar!
If you're doing an italian theme, my favorite salad is fresh italian seasoned mozarella(sp?) with cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. Seth and I just cut them all into little cubes and chop the basil into strips and then serve it like a salad, but you can also do big tomatoes and big mozarellas.... some people use basalmic, but i'm not a fan so i just use fat free italian dressing or nothing...if the moz. is seasoned it's pretty tasty as is!
Also, a lot of my friends have tried the dumplings and they all say it's the most fantastic thing ever, so i think those would be a big hit!
Loves, good luck and i expect followup with pictures :)
Sounds like a fun time!! Isn't having friends over so fun? The ribs are always a hit (call me with any questions). The good thing about the ribs . . . you make them Thursday morning so the work is done come Saturday! We just served them to friends, and they said, I quote, "These ribs have changed our lives forever." So, I don't think you'd go wrong there. A great side dish with the ribs is Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoes. They cook on the stovetop so you don't need the already rib-consumed oven. A fresh green toss salad goes great with this meal as well. A good dessert with this meal is just a simple bowl of chocolate ice cream. It's a nice cold treat after a hot meal, and the ribs have taken over the oven all day, so who can bake anything else??
I love your chicken parmesan idea. That'd be great with breadsticks and a green salad as well.
An appetizer is always great so people have something to "hang out around" as the others arrive. Chips and salsa, relish tray, fresh fruit with dip. Anything you can dip is good!
Some of our favorite drinks:
lemonade with frozen raspberries and sliced lemon quarters thrown in along with some crushed ice. Very refreshing! Or homemade lime rickies with welch's grape soda and plenty of sliced lime wedges.
p.s. the mashed potatoes can be made a little ahead of time and thrown in with the ribs that last 10-20 min. or so . . . that way you don't have to be making the potatoes as guests arrive and can be focused on other things . . . .
My first recommendation is to order in Ruth's Chris... but since that probably isn't an option in southeast idaho... i think the prepare ahead of time ribs would be easy. carol has so many smashingly great ideas for hosting. are ribs messy though? i'd say go with a salad or light appetizer. lemonade with frozen raspberries sounds fun.
obviously i have no new ideas of my own but i can back-up other people's ideas!! :) good luck!
Thanks for the help gals!!! Excellent ideas. I'll let you know how it goes.
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