My sister Janet is engaged to be married the end of this August. My
sister and I decided to throw an engagement party at her house in two
weeks. I will cover the cost of most of the food, as my engagement gift
to my sister and her fiance, Rob.
So, I guess its time to start planning the menu and logistics. I made
invitations on my Mac and mailed them out two weeks ago. So far, it
looks like we'll have a gathering of about twenty people at Jan and
Rob's house on May 7th for this party.
The party will be a lunch buffet affair and there will be chairs and
those folding TV tables available for people. My sister's going to make
southwest corn soup that was a hit at her last party. She's also going
to make baked ziti. My parents will bring a cold cuts tray and homemade
pasta salad. I am still uncertain about what I will make. I definitely
want to have a few low-carb items for the diabetics in the family.
My kitchen is very small and my sister said she will be unable to do any
party preparations the day before the party due to work constraints, so
we need to keep things simple. I have scheduled May 6th (Friday) off
from work, so I will have some extra prep time at my place. I also want
to spend more time enjoying the company of our guests, not in the
kitchen. We will have plenty of hot plates and crock pots, which I will
borrow from work.
I figured that I would serve the following dishes:
The health salad from the 2nd Ave. Deli's cookbook. Its delicious.
A friend of mine makes delicious meatballs, so I have recruited him to
make about four pounds worth.
There's a chick wings store near my parents' house that sells awesome
garlic chicken wings, so I figured I would order a bucket of them for
the party. I make great chicken wings, but these are better and the
convenience can't be beat.
We will have a green salad, and cheese and vegetable plates. I already
bought a selection of cheeses from Murray's cheese shop recently. We'll
also have a platter with tortilla chips with salsa and dip.
None of us are big dessert people, but my folks insist on bringing an
engagement cake, whatever that is. One of my aunts is going to make
low-carb cheese cakes. Her cheese cakes are pretty tasty.
My parents, who have this illusion that they are in charge of planning
this party are discouraging anyone from bringing children to the party.
My sister and I, who are really responsible for this party are
encouraging people to bring their kids. So I figured I will probably buy
a pack or two of hot dogs for the kids. The kids in our family eat like
birds, so they'll be fine with hot dogs and chips.
The menu seems a bit bare. Does anyone have any suggestions for any
dishes that are easy to prepare that I could serve? We'll have the usual
kitchen stuff such as an oven (electric), range, several crock pots, and
a microwave oven, although easy preparation is important. I am tossing
around the idea of making stuffed mushrooms, but its a lot of work and I
am not sure how many people will like mushrooms.
We will serve bloody mary drinks, beer and soft drinks. My folks dropped
off a few bottles of soda at my sister's house and paper goods last
night.