Recipes for large quantity for family reunion

[cat lover]

We are in the process of planning a very large family reunion for June. We are quesstamating about 150 people or so. Mostly we are telling everybody bring your own food and drinks. But I thought it would be nice maybe as the "host" to have some things everybody could share in. Drinks would probably be a good thing and maybe desserts, but I'm open for any recipes for large groups! Any body have any?

[crowemommy]

Hi cat lover,

Where are you getting together? Somewhere with a kitchen or a park?

We have good friends that host family get togethers several times a year for the worship team at our church. There are usually 50 - 60 people (they are the only ones in the worship team that have a house large enough to accomodate everyones families!).

What they do is have everyone bring a main dish to feed their family and a side dish or dessert. They provide the appetizers & drinks. Usually have hot & cold appetizers (like fruit & cheese, chips & salsa, pita wedges & humus, mini quiches {from costco}, etc). Nothing too heavy, because there's still the main dishes to get too and there is always plenty of food for everyone!

Good luck planning your get together!

Lisa

[cat lover]

Originally posted by crowemommy
Hi cat lover,

Where are you getting together? Somewhere with a kitchen or a park?


Lisa

We are having it at our place, we have 30 acres with about 4 acres of open area split up, a campsite with cabin and another primative campsite. So we have firepits, grills, outhouse, outdoor shower house and really everything anybody will need including electric hookups. So it will be open for the family from friday through sunday, they can stay in tents or bring their RV's.

Several family members will be traveling in from other states all over so it would be hard for them to bring things for a large group. We are thinking on everybody bringing their own meals, but I thought it would be nice to have something "extra" for everybody. Just for that large of quantity though I'm a little lost!

[cat lover]

Well since I'm not really having much luck with large quanitity recipes how about recipes I could double or triple for things that don't need to be refrigerated? I mean things with no mayonnaise in them and such. I've got a great coleslaw recipe that uses vinegar and oil so that will be okay and am making german potato salad; then again no mayonnaise.

I'll also need cookie, cupcake and cake recipes. I just don;t want to make the same old pot luck items so am looking for really different items. Help!

[Linda Lou]

I don't want to sound picky, but don't want you to become ill. Any food that is at room temperature for two hours or more needs to be thrown out. That includes the time you are handling the food in any manner, it is accumulative time.
So, be sure to keep any cold foods on ice and hot foods hot or you will be at a risk for food poisoning.
The rule is to keep foods either colder than 40 degrees or hotter than 140 degrees. Those are the real danger zones.
Bacteria in the foods will double every 20 minutes. So, imagine starting out with a dish of jelly beans, every 20 minutes the amount of jelly beans doubles. Within two hours, you can have millions, depending upon how many you started out with.

I am trained in food safety and answer food preservation/food safety questions with my local county extension office.
Here is the link to the food safety site:
http://www.foodsafety.wsu.edu/keep_f...mperatures.asp

Also, here is a site with recipes for 100 guests or more.
http://www.angelfire.com/bc/incredib...exhundred.html

[Amanda]

This does not answer your questions specifically, but there's some really great ideas here for reunions
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/famil...reunions.shtml

[jls]

Hi, here are a couple of sites that will give you all kinds of recipe's and ideas for feeding and preparing food safely for a large amounts of people. Hope this help solve you problem.

http://www.angelfire.com/bc/incredible/indexpicnic.html



http://www.50plusfriends.com/cookbook/:)

[jls]

Here is another one with some great tips go down and click on tips for serving 100:



http://members.tripod.com/~lotsofinfo/index.html

[uismother]

One year I bought a bunch of ice cream cups in various flavors. These were the old fashioned kind that had the paper lid and came with a little flat wooden spoon. It was delicious and also the nostalgia factor was fun. Good luck and have a great time. Noelle

[blondie29697]

Cheese Balls
2 lbs. jimmy dean sausage
1 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
4 cups cheddar cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Preheat oven to 375. Mix all ingredients. Form into 1 inch balls. Bake 15 min. on ungreased cookie sheet until golden brown. Makes about 6 dozen. For variation: Cut recipe in half and mix with 1-lb regular sausage and 1-lb hot sausage.
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feeding a crowd .sausage balls
3 cups of cheese,
1 pound of sausage and
3 cups of Bisquick. When you start mixing and kneading the dough....you don't think you have the rigth measurements but just keep on mixing. It usually makes about 2 cookie sheets full. We make these all the time for holidays. They are great served with any kind of tangy sauce (like bbq).
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Our Best Sausage Cheese Balls
2 Pounds Jimmy Dean Regular Sausage 1 1/2 Cups all purpose baking biscuit mix 16 Oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese -- shredded 1/2 Cup finely chopped onion 1/2 Cup finely chopped celery 1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Form into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Sausage-cheese balls can be frozen uncooked. Thaw and cook according to directions.
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Meridian Beef and Noodle Casserole
140 pounds ground beef
20 pounds egg noodles
1 qt green peppers, dried
1 qt onion flakes, dehydrated
1/2 c garlic, ground
1 qt celery, dried
1 c chili powder
6 10 oz. cans tomato sauce
30 lbs. lite Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Brown and drain ground beef. Cook noodles; drain water. To the ground beef, add the green peppers, onions, garlic, celery, chili powder and tomato sauce. Mix well. Add cooked noodles to the seasoned beef mixture. Mix well. Place mixture in 13 12x20x2 steam table pans. Top with mozzarella cheese. Serve with a 16-ounce scoop. Yield: 750 servings.
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Southern Meat Balls & Noodles For Fifty
Mix
7 lbs hamburger
7 eggs, slightly beaten
1½ cups bread crumbs
2 T. salt
1 t pepper
3/4 c cooking fat or drippings
4 c chopped onion
3 c chopped celery
Form into 100 balls. Brown balls on all sides in 3/4 c cooking fat or drippings. Add 4 c chopped onion and 3 cups chopped celery and cook until light brown.
Stir in:
5 qts cooked tomatoes
1 c. sugar
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T salt
½ t pepper
1 t Louisiana hot sauce
Cover. simmer for 30 min.
4 lbs noodles,cooked
1 c butter
2 cu sifted flour
Cook 4 lbs noodles according to directions on package. Cream together 1 c butter with 2 c sifted flour and stir, into meat ball mixture. Cook until thickened. Serve meat ball mixture over noodles. Serves 50.
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Chicken noodle casserole Makes 20 servings
3 (14.5-oz cans cream of chicken soup
3 (14.5-oz) cans cheddar cheese soup
4 csour cream
2 c enriched milk (with vitamin D added), or chicken broth
3 T. Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons lemon pepper
6 c cooked, shredded chicken breast
6 c cooked chopped broccoli
3 (12-oz.) pkgs egg noodles, cooked, drained
12 oz. shredded sharp cheddar or other cheese
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large roasting pan, about 15X12X3" . Cover the casserole with aluminum foil; seal edges tightly around the pan. Bake 90 min. or until heated through. Per serving: 631 cal (45 % from fat), 32 gr total fat (16 gr sat), 157 mg chol, 51 grams carbo, 36 grams pro 1,208 mg sod, 3 gr dietary fiber.

Some of my favourite "easy meals" for a large group are:
Build-it-Yourself Soft Shell Tacos: make up a huge pot of taco beef, lay out tortillas and bowls of shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, green onions, sour cream, salsa, grated cheese, guacamole, etc. I might also have a bowl of sauteed mushrooms and red peppers. You could make a big batch of Spanish Rice (rice w/ taco seasoning, salsa and cheese, basically) on the side.
Huge pot of soup or chili and hot rolls w/ butter.
Build-it-Yourself Pizzas: set out mini piza shells or pita rounds along with big bowls of pizza sauce, cheese and all the toppings, and let people build their own pizzas. Have a big salad or veggies and dip on the side.
Dessert can be as simple as setting out a couple of buckets of ice cream and a few different toppings, and letting people build their own sundaes. Or, easier yet, ask another one or two people to bring a dessert
Beyond that, there's always potluck.