Saturday, July 26, 2008

What's your favorite meal for company?

What is your favorite meal to fix when you are having company over?
For me, it depends on what day it is. If it's a Sunday, then it's usually a roast chicken or pot roast. If it's a weeknight, it might be steaks on the grill. I'd like to hear what others fix for company though, so let me hear your favorites.



*NOTE* Back from Summer camp and taking a bit of a weekend break from posting recipes. I'll be back to posting new ones on Monday though!

13 comments:

Sharon said...

I love to cook my special Lasagna Bolognesa. It takes several hours, but it is the best lasagna I've ever eaten! I got the recipe from a friend who grew up in Costa Rica and she had to translate it into English for me. It took us a while because her English wasn't that good at the time. :) The recipe is located on my sidebar.

Susan said...

Our favorite meal for guests is Parmesan Chicken (baked chicken with a parmesan/bread crumb coating). It's actually our favorite meal, period! ;) In the winter, I love to make a hearty soup in the crockpot, like a bean soup, and have fresh bread with it.

Rest! Looking forward to more recipes.

Lisa Cobler said...

Mine is Garlic Chedder Chicken. It's the best chicken recipe I have ever had. You can find it here if you are interested.
http://lifewithlisaann.blogspot.com/search/label/Recipe%20Monday

Jessica said...

You know, it's hard to decide. So much depends on what season it is and what type of company I'm having...family with lots of kids, young couples with babies, older couples, teens...etc.

But, I guess my tried and true favourite is yankee pot roast. So easy because it's all in one oven roaster and the gravy is deeeee-licious! I like to add homemade brown bread which is made with oatmeal and molasses...no one has ever said no!

This is a great topic and I'm really looking forward to others' ideas.

Leah said...

Boy, there are alot! If it's after Sunday morning service, it's usually something in the crockpot like italian roast beef sandwiches with serveral different salads and of course dessert. However, we are know for our tri-tip roast on the grill, complete with roasted red potatoes, green beans, sourdough bread, salad and usually a bread pudding and triffle for dessert. Recently we had some friends over on Sunday evening and we had meatball subs, a veggie tray and homemade poundcake for dessert. It was simple and delicious. You know I could go on and on and on .............LOL

Anonymous said...

Baked steak or fried chicken. Or spaghetti.
Welcome back. I look forward to hearing all about camp and seeing more recipes.

Sarah Joy said...

Sunday: My mother-in-law's Pork Chop Special. Served with seasoned rice and a vegetable. It's very basic browned pork chops, with cream of mushroom soup and cream of chicken in a crock pot.

Other days, I make spaghetti, or tacos, or something grilled.

Michelle said...

It depends on the time of year. Yesterday we had my grandmother over for dinner and grilled marinated pork chops and green beans. And I made a pot of basmati rice.

If it's summer, we grill, otherwise we'll use the oven.

Starr said...

Now come on! You ladies can't tease me like that. Would you mind sharing your recipes for those favorite dishes? Feel free to either post them in the comment section here - or send them to my email: labc@iserv.net
THANKS ladies! You all are the best!
I work tomorrow all day, but hope to be back posting again later this week.

Althea said...

OH Starr, I miss setting the table with you! Here in Brazil, when I light a candle, they think I´m calling down spirits. LOLOL I have to be careful. We shut all the windows and light our candles. haha! Love ya!

Sarah Joy said...

Giggling here. Ok here's a better recipe for Pork Chop Special:

A bunch of pork chops
two or three tbs of cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste
Can of cream of mushroom soup
Can of cream of chicken soup

Instructions:

Heat oil in pan, and brown pork chops. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put them in the crock pot. Pour the soups into the frying pan you are using and stir in all the yummy brown meat juices into the soup. Pour that into the crock pot. Cook on high for 4-6 hours. (I've also cooked this in the oven.) It's very easy, very tasty, very fattening, so I don't do it often.

My spaghetti is basic, I think, but it always gets rave reviews. I hate sweet spaghetti sauce.

1 onion
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, (I'm a garlic fiend-you might want to cut it down to one clove.)
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 diced green bell pepper (Less if the flavor is too strong for you.)
1 lb ground beef
1 lb pork sausage or Italian sausage.
1 tsp salt or more to taste.
1/2 tsp oregano or Italian spices
1 12 oz can of tomato paste
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
two or three cups of chicken or beef broth.*

Instructions:
(Brown meat in a skillet, drain off most of the juice. (Leave a little-it's tasty!) Add the vegetables. Add 1/2 tsp. salt now, then cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are done. Add the spices and stir. Put in the tomato paste and stir, mixing throughly. Add the diced tomatoes. I do not drain them. Then I usually have to pour it into a kettle type of pan because I don't want overflow. Add as much broth as makes it look a little bit too soupy. (Just a little!)Salt to taste Cover and let that simmer for at least 30 minutes, or longer, for the flavors to blend. I take this time and get the pasta water on, the vegetable going, the salad stuff out, and the bread buttered and in the roaster. Take off the lid so it can boil down and get thicker. This takes about 15 minutes, I think. Unless I'm really hungry, then we have a little bit soupy spaghetti!


*Note on the broth. You can make REALLY flavorful stock/broth by putting the bones of a chicken or two in the crock pot, fill with water, and leaving it on low for two days. It comes in handy in all kinds of cooking. If I don't have that, I use bullion, which is fine.

Leah said...

Althea cracks me up!!!!

Starr said...

Sarah - both your recipes sound delicious. THANKS for sharing them with me!