Rhode Island Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Cooking for a Crowd - Cooking Club Tuesday!!
It's back - the cooking club, that is!
And just in time for the holidays, this week's theme is "Food for a Crowd."
So what do you make when you're having people over? How do you handle prepping the food ahead of time so you can actually enjoy your time at a holiday gathering/party yourself??? (recipes and tips/tricks appreciated!)
Wife, mom, attorney, blogger, runner - trying to learn to love all the good things in life!!
"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon." - Alex & Ani bracelet
My blog: Dodging Acorns
"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon." - Alex & Ani bracelet
My blog: Dodging Acorns
Re: Cooking for a Crowd - Cooking Club Tuesday!!
"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon." - Alex & Ani bracelet
My blog: Dodging Acorns
ok, as for methods/tips, I've learned to make as many things ahead of time as you can. And use crockpots/etc. for warming things for sure. Here's a sample of what we did for my son's bday party to keep it simple - there was no cooking or preparing whatsoever once people arrived!!!
Party pizza, calzones, cheese & crackers. Easy, prepared and/or bought ahead done.
5 layer dip - scallions sliced ahead of time, assembled in 3 minutes flat.
BBQ meatballs - frozen meatballs, in crockpot w/ bbq sauce and grape jelly. Plug in that morning, done in plenty of time and in their own dish, no stove/oven needed.
Pulled pork - I actually made the pork overnight. I knew I'd be up late so I started it at like midnight, done by the time I was up at 8am. I just shredded it, added sauce, turned it off for a bit then put it back on low to warm up about an hour before the party.
then the sides were done - I bought cole slaw, served pickles, etc. So easy and simple.
As for timing - plan out your dishes based on what you need to use to make them. You can't have 5 things in the oven at once, and there are only so many burners on the stove. If anything can be made ahead and just reheated, go for it. And take easy ways out when you can. I've done jarred gravy for thanskgiving b/c I just don't make gravy well and don't want to stress over it that day, etc. assemble your lasagna ahead of time, then it just needs to bake. Pick apps that are a mix of hot and cold so that you can prep ahead the cold stuff, etc.
"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon." - Alex & Ani bracelet
My blog: Dodging Acorns
Thanks!
I actually saw that there was a small crock pot on sale at Target I am going to pick up. I have a larger one, but I think the small one is good for stuff like hot dips, and making smaller apps. And I thought it might be good to do the gravy in on thanksgiving. I also got this three tier rack for a wedding gift. (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/three-tiered-oven-rack/) I haven't used it yet, but I can imagine it would be helpful at time like this. I was also thinking of making a list of cooking times for each item- my issue I have sometimes is that I put everything in the oven and some things need different temps or cooking times and one item always ends up like mush. When we get a house (hopefully soon!) I really want to replace the current oven with one of those double ovens.
This is my first "Thanksgiving". I'm technically not hosting, my mom is, but I offered to do all the sides and a dessert. So if anyone wants to suggest their favorites, please do! We aren't really the heavy sides like the sweet potatoe casserole type people or things like that. My mom recently lost 90 lbs so she is pretty health consicous and I have been trying to eat "cleaner" lately so that means making a lot of things from scratch.
I've sought out recipes to be able to cook two (or more) things at the same temp! Sometimes, it means I switch gears in my menu... But more often, I compare it to my intended recipe, so I can adjust for the differences in cooking time at the different temp, and not have to wait for one thing to finish before starting another.
At 350?, I made Ina Garten's Oven Roasted Chicken Breast (cook for 45-60 min) and also Tyler Florence's Oven Roasted Corn on the Cob (cook for 35 minutes in the husk!, which by the way, this is by far the easiest recipe and preparation for corn ever, and it is soooooo good!)
Prep as much as you can in advance. Cutting vegetables can be done days before. Salads can be made, in most cases, but don't dress until you're ready to serve.
Make extra of your protein to incorporate into meals later in the week. When I make the chicken I mentioned above, I always make at least 4 breasts, even though my family will only eat 2 in one sitting. The extras get deboned and chopped or sliced to be used in any number of recipes. Likewise, I always make 2 pork loins at the same time (we'll typically finish a small one in a meal, then use the second one in fried rice later in the week).
For summer gatherings, and things like coleslaw, that taste better after having marinated in the dressing for a while, try putting them in gallon sized ziplock bags. They'll take up less room in the fridge, and can easily be shook or flipped to redistribute the dressing. I made something like 10 pounds of coleslaw for a picnic we had in my neighborhood, and just kept refilling the serving dishes with another bag!
Let your appliances help you! If you have a food processor with a slicing or shredding attachment, use that instead of chopping by hand to make quick work of prepping vegetables.
Par-boil (or partially cook) potatoes, then let cool to room temp, and refrigerate. Then, all you need to do is pop them in the oven to finish cooking the rest of the way.
My mom makes Spinach Balls. They're a make-ahead and freeze appetizer. Anything that you can get out of the way ahead of time is going to be a great help when planning out your meal.
As for timing when to put things in the oven, when to take them out... When I'm cooking for a crowd, I end up making a list of all the cooking times, and temps, and check it often throughout my cooking. Then I see what else is cooked at that temp (or can be!). I work backwards from when I want to have everything ready, and figure out when everything has to be started. I write down everything I need to do by the hour ... 8am -- preheat oven to 350... 8:30am -- put turkey in the oven... 10am -- baste the turkey... 10:30am -- put root vegetables in... 11:30am -- start the steamer... etc. Then I set a timer to go off at each appointed time. When people are sitting down to eat, that's when the dessert would go in the oven (if we were doing a pie or something, but typically I have that done ahead of time, and don't bother making that day-of an event).