My adult DS was coming for dinner last night and I like to make him something he wouldn’t typically cook for himself. I opted for meatloaf—did all the mixing earlier in day and put it in the oven an hour or so before serving. I added rice and Caprese salad, but Mac and cheese would be good too. |
+1 If high quality food is the goal, that’s what restaurants are for. Friend nights are about the company, so PP’s pulled pork is a great summer idea. |
+1!! |
The other posters sound a lot more fun! |
Oh man I love Indian food but I have never learned to cook it myself and probably shouldn’t experiment on company. Great idea though. |
My favorite meal I received after having a baby was:
Homemade chicken salad Leafy lettuce already washed and nice tomatoes Loaf of bakery bread sliced Fruit salad Bundt cake I would have all that on hand if anyone gets hungry. |
In this heat, I’d make tagine and tabbouleh:
Cook diced potatoes. Add jar of marinated artichoke, jar of sliced roasted peppers, can of diced tomatoes, can of chickpeas, can of green beans, whole black olives. Chill. Make tabbouleh with bulgur, parsley, mint, fresh tomatoes, and air fry crumbled tofu to mix in. Chill. |
OP here and thanks for this! I am more of your philosophy, particularly since more than 50 percent of the people will be elementary school aged or younger. I actually really like to cook a nice meal but making something reasonably kid friendly (guests have a very picky child) and that won’t tie me to the kitchen can be a bit of a challenge. |
That is a perfect baby meal. Mentally tucking this away for the next time I prep one. |
My husband loves meatloaf and I haven’t made it in ages. Thanks for the reminder. Caprese salad is another nice one that can be prepared a bit before, I wonder if I can add that in… |
The two aren't mutually exclusive. You can have both good company and good food.
That sounds like an opportunity to help the host(ess). I'd help a friend provide both good company and good food, if the alternative is pizza delivery/take-out pizza. If you want pizza, at least meet at the restaurant where the pizza comes out fresh and you don't need to do dishes. |
This was an extremely important detail OP. |
NP. It depends. Are they overnight house guests staying for a few days, or friends coming over for one meal? If the former, “family food” is fine. If the latter, something nicer would be appropriate, but that doesn’t exclude food that can be made ahead, like Ina’s entire cookbook on this subject. |
Yes, you are right, I should have said that explicitly. But while I always make sure there are kid friendly sides but I like the meal to be something that adults actually like. So there will be fruit and Mac n cheese but I don’t feel the need for the main dish to be a “kid food”. But I do like to be available as much as possible to help out with the kids and if my friend needs to follow her toddler around some I want to be able to hand her a glass of wine and go with her, not stand over the stove the whole time. |
Order pizza. Seriously I would not expect a nice meal where the host is busy following parents to hand them wine while they follow toddlers. |