Need ideas for inexpensive food for 25 people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pasta (ziti or lasagna)

mac n cheese

salads (green, caesar)

garlic bread

sundae bar

Classics from the Trailer Trash Cookbook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta (ziti or lasagna)

mac n cheese

salads (green, caesar)

garlic bread

sundae bar

Awful, fattening, no nutrient menu. Please don't listen, OP. Nothing is cheaper than green lentils. Cook some perhaps with a chunk of prosciutto and add chopped carrots and leeks and lemon-olive oil for a flavorful cold bean dish. Another easy salad involves cherry tomatoes with capers, yellow raisins, and cauliflower dressed in light oil. Think about doing a spicy chicken curry with rice or cook inexpensive fish filets in coconut milk and red peppers. Risotto prepared with stock, onion, and a heap of parmesan and butter is rich but not expensive. Perhaps add a handful of shrimp for flavor. Another standby of mine is spiced chickpeas garnished with cilantro. Finger food can be as simple as a cube of good cheese paired with a date on a toothpick or apples dabbed with goat cheese nestled in a single endive leaf. For dessert you can stew pears or oranges in wine and anise but that is more wintery. I have had success serving chocolate mousse or lemon mousse for dessert garnished simply with cream and raspberries. Or rich homemade brownies with a scoop of ice cream drizzled with raspberry coulis. Caramelized nuts and ginger cookies round out the dessert buffet.

I am the poster you responded to. She asked for inexpensive. That's it. pasta and salad are easy and cheap. No sure why you think green salad has no nutrients. For the record, I don't eat meat so anything with prosciutto or bacon (nor do a lot of people i know) Goat cheese for 25? at $20/pound? Risotto with pamesan and butter is healthy and nutritous? chocolate mousse? Rich homemade brownies? if you want to throw stones, you might want to throw the right ones.

9:35 here. But, your menu doesn't work. You focus on two pastas. There are very few instances where two pastas would be okay, and a menu this small certainly doesn't allow for it. Also, there is nothing for those who are gluten free (or just limiting carbs). As we learned on the asparagus thread, salad does not suffice as the sole vegetable, you need a hot vegetable option of some type. Also a sundae bar for 25 is difficult to manage without a staff.

One pasta can be served.
Sorry but i missed the asparagus thread so i had no idea about the hot veggie rule.
staff for a sundae bar? I have had 9 year olds manage that without staff. Your side of town must be different.

That's right. There are a lot of rules. Shape up. How dare you offer only two pastas! That is why we need "Goat Cheese and Endive Lady" to write a book for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta (ziti or lasagna)

mac n cheese

salads (green, caesar)

garlic bread

sundae bar

Classics from the Trailer Trash Cookbook.

Awful, fattening, no nutrient menu. Please don't listen, OP. Nothing is cheaper than green lentils. Cook some perhaps with a chunk of prosciutto and add chopped carrots and leeks and lemon-olive oil for a flavorful cold bean dish. Another easy salad involves cherry tomatoes with capers, yellow raisins, and cauliflower dressed in light oil. Think about doing a spicy chicken curry with rice or cook inexpensive fish filets in coconut milk and red peppers. Risotto prepared with stock, onion, and a heap of parmesan and butter is rich but not expensive. Perhaps add a handful of shrimp for flavor. Another standby of mine is spiced chickpeas garnished with cilantro. Finger food can be as simple as a cube of good cheese paired with a date on a toothpick or apples dabbed with goat cheese nestled in a single endive leaf. For dessert you can stew pears or oranges in wine and anise but that is more wintery. I have had success serving chocolate mousse or lemon mousse for dessert garnished simply with cream and raspberries. Or rich homemade brownies with a scoop of ice cream drizzled with raspberry coulis. Caramelized nuts and ginger cookies round out the dessert buffet.

Classics from the Pretentious and Inedible Meals Cookbook.

[Anonymous]

This will help:

http://www.theonion.com/video/celebrity-chef-ted-allen-cooks-his-favorite-preten,26571/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta (ziti or lasagna)

mac n cheese

salads (green, caesar)

garlic bread

sundae bar

Classics from the Trailer Trash Cookbook.

Awful, fattening, no nutrient menu. Please don't listen, OP. Nothing is cheaper than green lentils. Cook some perhaps with a chunk of prosciutto and add chopped carrots and leeks and lemon-olive oil for a flavorful cold bean dish. Another easy salad involves cherry tomatoes with capers, yellow raisins, and cauliflower dressed in light oil. Think about doing a spicy chicken curry with rice or cook inexpensive fish filets in coconut milk and red peppers. Risotto prepared with stock, onion, and a heap of parmesan and butter is rich but not expensive. Perhaps add a handful of shrimp for flavor. Another standby of mine is spiced chickpeas garnished with cilantro. Finger food can be as simple as a cube of good cheese paired with a date on a toothpick or apples dabbed with goat cheese nestled in a single endive leaf. For dessert you can stew pears or oranges in wine and anise but that is more wintery. I have had success serving chocolate mousse or lemon mousse for dessert garnished simply with cream and raspberries. Or rich homemade brownies with a scoop of ice cream drizzled with raspberry coulis. Caramelized nuts and ginger cookies round out the dessert buffet.

Classics from the Pretentious and Inedible Meals Cookbook.

Haha, I'm not even that poster you have bolded, but certainly baked Ziti and mac and cheese for guests screams white trash.

[Anonymous]

I had a very busy week and brought stouffers mac and cheese to a pot luck with many very gourmet choices. What was the first thing empty?? My big party size container of mac and cheese.

[Anonymous]

Miss Goat Cheese Endive here. I have accepted that there are many solutions, and supported two earlier in the thread. Delicious lasagna, like good chili, is heaven. Unfortunately, it requires time and know-how. I have had many dreadful exemplars and think some other things are indeed easier to cook.

Yes, I think it's easy to cook cheap fish or chicken in coconut milk and add peppers and spices. For chocolate mousse you melt chocolate, separate eggs, beat the whites, stir the yolks with the chocolate and sugar, whip some cream and fold the combos together. Easier than making a cake IMHO.

I am actually a Southern girl born and raised and, if I wanted to keep the ingredient list down, would serve fried chicken, black-eyed peas, carrot salad, and potato salad and fresh rolls or biscuits and for dessert pecan pie and ice cream with homeade caramel sauce and fresh watermelon. I don't cook for many Americans which is why I tend to serve more international food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Miss Goat Cheese Endive here. I have accepted that there are many solutions, and supported two earlier in the thread. Delicious lasagna, like good chili, is heaven. Unfortunately, it requires time and know-how. I have had many dreadful exemplars and think some other things are indeed easier to cook.

Yes, I think it's easy to cook cheap fish or chicken in coconut milk and add peppers and spices. For chocolate mousse you melt chocolate, separate eggs, beat the whites, stir the yolks with the chocolate and sugar, whip some cream and fold the combos together. Easier than making a cake IMHO.

I am actually a Southern girl born and raised and, if I wanted to keep the ingredient list down, would serve fried chicken, black-eyed peas, carrot salad, and potato salad and fresh rolls or biscuits and for dessert pecan pie and ice cream with homeade caramel sauce and fresh watermelon. I don't cook for many Americans which is why I tend to serve more international food.

Please, please, stop. You get more pretentious with each post. And don't refer to yourself as a girl, ever, unless of course you are 17.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Miss Goat Cheese Endive here. I have accepted that there are many solutions, and supported two earlier in the thread. Delicious lasagna, like good chili, is heaven. Unfortunately, it requires time and know-how. I have had many dreadful exemplars and think some other things are indeed easier to cook.

Yes, I think it's easy to cook cheap fish or chicken in coconut milk and add peppers and spices. For chocolate mousse you melt chocolate, separate eggs, beat the whites, stir the yolks with the chocolate and sugar, whip some cream and fold the combos together. Easier than making a cake IMHO.

I am actually a Southern girl born and raised and, if I wanted to keep the ingredient list down, would serve fried chicken, black-eyed peas, carrot salad, and potato salad and fresh rolls or biscuits and for dessert pecan pie and ice cream with homeade caramel sauce and fresh watermelon. I don't cook for many Americans which is why I tend to serve more international food.

The OP asked for food that can be made the day ahead. Do you really want to serve fish in coconut milk that was cooked the day ahead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta (ziti or lasagna)

mac n cheese

salads (green, caesar)

garlic bread

sundae bar

Classics from the Trailer Trash Cookbook.

Awful, fattening, no nutrient menu. Please don't listen, OP. Nothing is cheaper than green lentils. Cook some perhaps with a chunk of prosciutto and add chopped carrots and leeks and lemon-olive oil for a flavorful cold bean dish. Another easy salad involves cherry tomatoes with capers, yellow raisins, and cauliflower dressed in light oil. Think about doing a spicy chicken curry with rice or cook inexpensive fish filets in coconut milk and red peppers. Risotto prepared with stock, onion, and a heap of parmesan and butter is rich but not expensive. Perhaps add a handful of shrimp for flavor. Another standby of mine is spiced chickpeas garnished with cilantro. Finger food can be as simple as a cube of good cheese paired with a date on a toothpick or apples dabbed with goat cheese nestled in a single endive leaf. For dessert you can stew pears or oranges in wine and anise but that is more wintery. I have had success serving chocolate mousse or lemon mousse for dessert garnished simply with cream and raspberries. Or rich homemade brownies with a scoop of ice cream drizzled with raspberry coulis. Caramelized nuts and ginger cookies round out the dessert buffet.

Classics from the Pretentious and Inedible Meals Cookbook.

Haha, I'm not even that poster you have bolded, but certainly baked Ziti and mac and cheese for guests screams white trash.

We had several copies of that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Miss Goat Cheese Endive here. I have accepted that there are many solutions, and supported two earlier in the thread. Delicious lasagna, like good chili, is heaven. Unfortunately, it requires time and know-how. I have had many dreadful exemplars and think some other things are indeed easier to cook.

Yes, I think it's easy to cook cheap fish or chicken in coconut milk and add peppers and spices. For chocolate mousse you melt chocolate, separate eggs, beat the whites, stir the yolks with the chocolate and sugar, whip some cream and fold the combos together. Easier than making a cake IMHO.

I am actually a Southern girl born and raised and, if I wanted to keep the ingredient list down, would serve fried chicken, black-eyed peas, carrot salad, and potato salad and fresh rolls or biscuits and for dessert pecan pie and ice cream with homeade caramel sauce and fresh watermelon. I don't cook for many Americans which is why I tend to serve more international food.

I would think foreigners would be more interested in authentic American southern cuisine cooked by a native than the chickpeas and mousse. When I lived abroad, I always appreciated home cooking by a local.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Miss Goat Cheese Endive here. I have accepted that there are many solutions, and supported two earlier in the thread. Delicious lasagna, like good chili, is heaven. Unfortunately, it requires time and know-how. I have had many dreadful exemplars and think some other things are indeed easier to cook.

Yes, I think it's easy to cook cheap fish or chicken in coconut milk and add peppers and spices. For chocolate mousse you melt chocolate, separate eggs, beat the whites, stir the yolks with the chocolate and sugar, whip some cream and fold the combos together. Easier than making a cake IMHO.

I am actually a Southern girl born and raised and, if I wanted to keep the ingredient list down, would serve fried chicken, black-eyed peas, carrot salad, and potato salad and fresh rolls or biscuits and for dessert pecan pie and ice cream with homeade caramel sauce and fresh watermelon. I don't cook for many Americans which is why I tend to serve more international food.

OMG, you mean you are not just one of DCUM's snarky parody posters? You're serious?

[Anonymous]

In a crowd of 25 people, I would assume that about 5 would like, actually LIKE lentils, another 5 -10 will pick at them to be polite, and the rest will avoid them like the plague and stop at Taco Bell on the way home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Miss Goat Cheese Endive here. I have accepted that there are many solutions, and supported two earlier in the thread. Delicious lasagna, like good chili, is heaven. Unfortunately, it requires time and know-how. I have had many dreadful exemplars and think some other things are indeed easier to cook.

Yes, I think it's easy to cook cheap fish or chicken in coconut milk and add peppers and spices. For chocolate mousse you melt chocolate, separate eggs, beat the whites, stir the yolks with the chocolate and sugar, whip some cream and fold the combos together. Easier than making a cake IMHO.

I am actually a Southern girl born and raised and, if I wanted to keep the ingredient list down, would serve fried chicken, black-eyed peas, carrot salad, and potato salad and fresh rolls or biscuits and for dessert pecan pie and ice cream with homeade caramel sauce and fresh watermelon. I don't cook for many Americans which is why I tend to serve more international food.

Where did I read the words "Awful, fattening food with no nutritional value"?

[Anonymous]

I'll call myself whatever I please -- that's what the end of slavery meant for us. I've got the message that I serve expensive but inedible and unappealing food and will take that into consideration when planning future menus for guests.

DCUM Gals, Thank you for opening my eyes to the painful truth.