Dinner Ideas for 8

[Anonymous]

I would love some suggestions for a casual dinner to make this week. We have lots of family coming in from out of town for my daughter's birthday and will have eight people here for dinner on Thursday night. I will be home all day on Thursday and will have lots of hands to help with my daughter. I would still prefer something mostly hands off but it is summer and I am not too keen on a heavy roast. I am leaning towards a roast chicken and grilled veggies, but that seems so blah. Also, I live in a condo and can't really grill (I just have my grill pan). Any creative ideas? Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

For easy entertaining I swear by dinner done or let's dish. Fast and premade so you can spend time together and not in the kitchen all day. I known people Will judge on my lack of home cooking. But im sure my guests prefer something actually edible which might not happen if left to my own devices.

[Anonymous]

Few ideas:
- beef tenderloin and roasted vegetables,
- roast chicken with potatoes and a nice salad.
- lasagna or a nice pasta with bolagnese sauce and a salad, garlic toast.
- Chicken fajitas on the grill pan, peppers and get some quesidillas and all the trimmings.

[Anonymous]

Taco night -- brown up a batch of taco meat and put out the fixings so everyone can build their own

Quiches -- so easy to make -- get a couple of frozen pie shells -- crack 4 or 5 eggs per shell, mix with a little milk, dry mustard, and whatever spices you like. Choose some kind of meat sausage, ham, bacon, whatever (cook bacon or sausage first) -- spread it on bottom of pie shell, cover with a handful of chopped broccoli florets, sprinkle in a handful of shredded cheese any kind. Pour egg mixture over the top and cook in a hot oven until egg mixture is firm and beginning to turn brown. You can get them ready to cook and then just throw them in about a half hour before dinner time.

Serve either with a side of salad and cut fruit.

[Anonymous]

I like the quiche suggestion (though I'd look up some specific recipes as you do need to have a certain egg-dairy ratio for it to set properly). You can make several different varieties, it's easy to do vegetarian friendly ones, and you could easily make them ahead and serve them cold (well, room temp) which would be great on a hot day. Plus people always seem impressed by quiche, even though they're really easy-especially with frozen crusts.

[Anonymous]

How bout some kind of theme:

French - Coq au Vin or Beef Bourgonione
German - Schnitzel and spatzle or kartaflesalat
Spanish - Paellla
Moroccan - Tagine

[Anonymous]

When I make quiche, I use the refrigerated Pillsbury pre made crusts instead of frozen crusts and they turn out great. You could also do chili, guacamole & chips, salad.