Hosting a Couples Get Together

Any chance you can make it into a pot luck, with you providing drinks and the main dish and everyone bringing a side or dessert?

We have large gatherings quite often and my absolute favorite dish to make for a large crowd is sausage sandwiches. It is inexpensive and you can prepare it early in the day and let it cook all day. I get a medium heat sausage the kind that comes in say 2 foot long links(not too hot or too mild) par boil it for about 10 minutes, cut it up into sandwich size pieces, throw it in a large pot on the stove, cover the sausage pieces with a couple cans of diced tomatoes, large pieces of onion, and large pieces of green pepper. Let that all cook down all day and voila! Grab some buns and pair it with a large mixed greens salad (the kind that you buy already prepared like at Sam's Club) In situations like this I will make ahead of time crescent dogs for the kids and put out a bowl of baby carrots. EASY is the key.

I would suggest you buy 1 or 2 large pork loins, and make some sort of glaze maybe apricot and then slow roast them all day, then when its time to eat slice them and serve on a platter, also swt potatoe salad, and a mixed green salad w/ cranberries and gorganzola cheese, red onions and pecans w/ a rasp vinn dressing and roll / butter. Just put it all out on your table or buffet w/ maybe some hot cider and you have an awesome fall dinner party meal!!

Whenever we have a bigger get together we usually have a combination of the following: meatballs, ham, rigatonni, salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, deviled eggs, rolls, fruit salad, cheesy potatoes....Don't know if this helps!

Here are some easy recipes that make a lot:
Crock Pot Mac'n Cheese

I lb Macaroni, half cooked
I lb. Velveeta cheese (cubed)
1 stick butter
8 oz. extra sharp cheese – grated (Cracker Barrel extra sharp - White)
1 quart milk
Salt & Pepper to taste

Put above ingredients into crock-pot on HIGH for 3 to 5 hours.

MOZZARELLA DIP

16 oz grated mozzarella cheese
1 pt Hellmann's mayo
1tbsp seasoned salt
8 oz sour cream
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp celery salt
2 tbsp diced onion
2 tbsp parsley

Best when chilled overnight, serve with crackers (I normally use the variety pack of toasteds)

1 bag of frozen meatballs (cocktail size - I think there's like 90 meatballs in a bag)
1 bottle of barbecue sauce (any kind is good, I use the Jack Daniels or Masterpiece)
1/2 tsp worchesire sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 1/2 Tbs brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 pound jar of grape jelly

Mix all the ingredients together in a crockpot until hot and then add the meatballs.

Good luck!

My family has found that a buffet works well. We often serve items such as pasta (penne, rigatoni or stuffed shells have worked best for us), sweet and sour meatballs, ham, roasted potatoes, glazed baby carrots. You could do a theme like 3 or four different kinds of pasta and 2 or 3 different kinds of sauces. Though we haven't done it yet we've talked about having a sandwich and salad party with fresh cooked ham, turkey and roast beef as well as a variety of breads and toppings plus garden salad with a topping bar. We usually have chicken nuggets, yogurts, fruit, cheese and crackers for the kids. Have fun!

We love to make hot roast beef sandwiches. Just get it sliced at the deli and put it in the crock pot with some gravy. MAc and cheese, mashed potatoes, potato salad or tossed salad are good sides to have. Don't forget the provolone and hoseradish for the sandwiches!
Oh you could do sloppy joe sandwiches too!
Have fun!
D.

Hello ~ I like to make lasagna! It's quick, easy and can make a lot of it. Throw in some bread & salad.

Lasagna is always a good choice. It is easy to make - you can prepare everything ahead of time and then just cook it right before you need. Another good choice is a crock-pot dish. I had a bunch of people over for dinner a few months ago and I made lamb in the crock pot - it came out great and I wasn't running around crazy trying to prepare things while everyone was there. For the kids - you can always do something kid friendly like pizza or chicken nuggets.

Have fun!

my idea what we have done in the past is move the table out of the way and set all of the food on it like a buffet and then everyone grabs a place on the floor cause then you can play with the children etc and you dont have to worry about getting your furniture a mess .....Another idea would be to have your children help is make a couple of different pizzas they can put their favorite toppings on for a childrens pizza get some garlic bread and salad and you can even make a dessert pizza

I would do either a turkey, ham, or beef sliced in a french onion soup (the can) simmered for a long time along with a salad or potatoes of some kind. All of these things are easy and can be doubled, tripled, whatever without a lot of fuss. good luck.

Taco bar/ fiesta kinda theme......

Or setting up any sort of a buffet is good.
Ham is easy so is a spagehetti theme.

Hope this helps somewhat

With a buffet-style meal you could do a number of things. Just make a bunch of your favorites, stuff you know people like. Or you could do a theme, such as all mexican/italian/etc. dishes. Also, keep in mind all of the children and make stuff even the picky one would eat! Have fun with it and good luck.

when i have a big get together i usually do a ham or turkey dinner kids sit at table and adults sit where ever they are comfortable. and ladies do the dishes or if its for a foot ball game i do a few dips and chili. hope this helps