Easter will be here soon! Do you have family or friends coming in this week? My family will start arriving Friday evening so I have planned a simple supper Friday and a Crab Boil for Saturday.
There is just nothing more easy or fun than a crab boil for a crowd! You will find 'cook once - eat twice' menus with the London Broil on Sunday followed by the Black and Blue Salad later in the week.
I have found that if the meals using the leftovers are quite different, everyone is happy and won't be saying "Oh no, not leftovers again!" I have added Spring touches throughout the week just to get us in the mood for the Easter holidays.
The Saturday night Crab Boil menu has a couple of variations from the normal 'boil' just to keep it interesting! If the weather is nice, we will spread newspapers on the picnic table and eat outside (How's that for a fun evening?).
For starters, I will serve the casual At the Cheese Ball 'Party in a Bag': cheese balls, summer sausage, pear & veggie tray, salsa, garlic mustard, crackers, and nuts.
I will also be serving white wine and beer along with an assortment of soft drinks.
You will find that I use several cooking methods, mix and match, to get dinner on the table quickly! (The ingredients in parenthesis show some of my quick-prep steps.
) You can always substitute your favorite made-from-scratch recipes when you have more time.
I hope you have a great week! Sunday: London Broil (save some beef for Wednesday) Corn, Tomato, and Blue Cheese Salad (canned corn, crumbled blue cheese; save some blue cheese for Wednesday) Baked Potatoes (microwaved and baked to finish) Single Layer Chocolate Cake (boxed cake mix) Monday Grilled Shrimp with Greek Veggie Salsa (cleaned and deveined shrimp, canned tomatoes and ripe olives) New Potatoes Corn on the Cob Ice Cream with Apple Crunch Topper (purchased ice cream) Tuesday: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (cooked chicken if available, bottled BBQ sauce) Buns and Condiments (purchased buns, jarred condiments) Potato Wedges Cole Slaw (bagged slaw mix, jarred slaw dressing) Fruit Pizza Cookies (purchased sugar cookie dough) Wednesday: Black and Blue Salad (beef and blue cheese left from Sunday; bagged salad greens) Rolls (purchased rolls) Strawberries with Sour Cream and Brown Sugar Dippers Thursday: Lemony Pork Chops Angel Hair Pasta (boxed pasta) Fresh Broccoli Spears Rice Krispy Treats (rice cereal, mini-marshmallows, chocolate morsels) Friday (Good Friday): Quick Minestrone Soup (vegetarian; dried tortellini, canned tomatoes, mixed veggies, and white beans) Waldorf Salad Crusty Bread (purchased bread) Cherry Cobbler (puff pastry, canned cherry pie filling) Saturday: Crab Boil for a Crowd Potato Salad (canned potatoes) Spring Vegetable Salad (cherry tomatoes, bottled vinaigrette) Individual Corn Puddings (canned corn) Angel Food Torte (purchased angel food cake, instant pudding mix) I sincerely hope you have fun with your meal planning and preparation, Elizabeth Randall and Family