eeezy, peeezy, lemon squeeezy

One of the things that makes me often consider turning to a catering service, or even bringing trays in from the grocery store deli, is the just the volume of food to be prepared when my goal is to create a memorable, comfortable gathering for 20-30 people. The best example of this comes with the main course we’ve served at the First Communion celebrations. But this recipe, clipped from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch food section last year, comes through. It is easy to do the day before and tastes as good out of the fridge as it does right off the grill.

My daughter just stacked some meat on her plate with veggies and dip. Capt. Kindergarten, of course, ate only dollar rolls and peanuts that day. (Although I do recall some cake on his shirt!) And the guest of honor was spotted with no fewer than five sandwiches. All three kids love buffets because they are given independence for the day.

Hubby and my brother manned the fire. Dad has a slicer he lugged from Chicago (Thanks, Dad!) which made that process quicker and more even than what I served last year, which I sliced by hand. I think we did about nine tenderloins in all. There was only about one-and-a-half left at the end of the day, because I encouraged my house guests to just open the fridge for leftovers when they were hungry later that night. By the meat over time on sale. Defrost on Friday and put in the marinade Friday night or Saturday early. We let them soak between 10 and 12 hours. Grill, slice and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. Making this recipe ahead is great for any hot summer celebration. And the cook can sit down and eat with the guests. And isn't that what we're hoping for when we make the invitations? Enjoy!

Marinated Pork Tenderloin Dollar Sandwiches
1 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 tablespoons honey
2 (1-1½ pound) pork tenderloins
dollar rolls sliced for sandwiches

For Sauce, combine:
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Place pork in a large, self-sealing plastic bag or in a sealable container. Combine olive oil, soy sauce, garlic powder and honey. Pour over pork. Make sure it is coated completely. Let marinate at least 2 hours in the refrigerator, better if overnight.
Combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, mustard and Worcestershire sauce until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Over a medium fire, grill whole tenderloins about 5 minutes per side until all sides are seared and browned. Remove from grill and slice in one-inch medallions. Grill medallions five minutes on each face. Check for doneness. When completely cooked remove from heat and let stand about 5 minutes. Spread sauce on the inside faces of a dollar roll; place a pork medallion inside each roll and serve.

spring connections

Sift through all the cookbooks and magazines in the world and you’re sure to find some great stuff, but nothing that rivals what you find when you’re invited for some time with friends and family. Bunco and scrapbooking are great places for this. (Mommy, why do they call it cropping? I dunno. They just do.) Ask any of the husbands and they’ll tell you it’s the eating and chatting, not the cropping. Once home we hear our husbands ask: “How much did you get done?” They know it’s only like, a page, which is why they ask with those sly grins. Then my husband usually asks something such as, “What did she make?”

I think it embarrasses him the way I’m always asking: “Can I have that recipe?” He can’t take me anywhere. Even in New Orleans I spoke with a chef at Pat O’Brien’s .. “Well, I’m from St. Louis … I won’t sell any secrets. Can I pleeeeeeeze have that recipe?” Nope, didn't get that one. I love it, though, when people ask me that question, and there’s only one recipe I won’t ever share with anyone because it is too easy to be true. So imagine how I felt when Hubby’s aunt left with a recipe I served Sunday folded in her purse. I’ve gotten tons of good ones from her, so I was happy to copy one in return.

“You need to stop telling people how easy your recipes are,” she said as we discussed the Asian Salad and the Teriyaki Dip. They allowed me to put a spin on my meal that set it apart from last year's similar celebration. I suppose this aunt doesn’t want me giving up my “trade secrets,” but I meet so many people who are afraid of cooking I like to help them see how simple it can be.

For instance, the Asian Salad. Saturday afternoon I measured the stuff I wanted to stay crunchy and put it all in one plastic container. Then I made the dressing and put it in the fridge. Sunday my brother put some muscle into re-mixing the dressing and I tossed the crunchies with the coleslaw mix.

For the potato salad and pasta salad I called in the troops. Both moms are happy to help with these big gatherings and I’ve learned that I’m better off if I take them up on the offers. (One more thing to thank them for this Sunday!) Hubby’s mom brought her American Potato salad for which there is a recipe, but I must put in some study. After all these years, she goes by sight and smell, no measuring involved.

Likewise my mom has perfected the pasta salad, one of her best known recipes. My brother confessed he can never get his to taste like hers. So I filled him in on what I’ve learned by asking her to make it for me and then watching her work (something I’m going to do with that potato salad this summer). First, let the pasta dry well after it drains. This allows it to soak up more dressing. Second, make it one day ahead, using a full 8-ounce bottle of dressing and being sure to add the marinade from the artichokes. Finally, when you’re adding the cheese to serve it, add another full 8-ounce bottle of dressing. Yum.

Another aunt and I sat down together to eat. I was catching her up on the kids and she was giving me the info on the upcoming college graduation when she speared a pasta shell and said, “I just love this. I don’t usually get to eat it, but I just love it.” Then she thanked me for leaving the ingredient to which she’s allergic off in a separate bowl. “Actually,” I confessed, “My mom remembered that this year.”

Later I saw them share a hug before my husband’s aunt had to leave. You know, almost 20 years ago we started out with wedding invitation lists … his family … my family … our friends. Now, several celebrations later, we have one guest list of family and friends. These people who would be strangers if it weren’t for a milestone event and the sharing of a meal.

Yes, we are all connected. May the graduations and other spring celebrations you share this weekend give you the pleasure and treasure I’m still savoring from last weekend.

Mom’s Pasta Salad
8 oz. shell pasta, cooked, drained, dry
5 oz. sliced pepperoni cut in quarters
1 6-oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts, quartered (be sure to save the marinade!)
6 to 8 green onions, sliced thin
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1 4-oz. can sliced black olives, drained
2 8-oz bottles Wishbone Zesty Italian salad dressing
4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Combine ingredients EXCEPT for cheese in a large bowl, being sure to add marinade from artichokes with one 8-oz. bottle Italian dressing. Refrigerate overnight. Before serving, add shredded cheese and another 8-oz. bottle dressing.

Asian Salad
2 packages plain Ramen noodles, crushed (discard seasoning packet)
4 oz. sliced almonds
1½ jars (2.38-oz. size) sesame seeds
½ cup sunflower seeds
1 package coleslaw mix
8 sliced green onions
For dressing:
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. Accent
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
6 Tbsps. sugar
6 Tbsps. seasoned rice vinegar

Combine salad ingredients EXCEPT for noodles in a large bowl. Combine dressing. Toss salad, dressing and noodles together right before serving.

some weekend recipes

My parents got into town Friday in the late afternoon, so I knew I’d need dinner for at least seven. But I wanted something my brother and his wife would be comfortable just grabbing when they got into town about 9 p.m. (Most of us don’t enjoy eating on the road that much anymore. And my brother is more of a drive-straight-through kind of guy rather than the stop-and-stretch-every-few-hours sort.) The rain was stopping, but it was warm outside so I wanted to keep the meal cool, as well as have the oven free for the make-ahead breakfasts I had planned. That’s why I turned to trusty old stand-bys which I’ve written about before. Then I turned my focus to having breakfasts ready.

Breakfasts are hard because I don’t like making a huge mess in my kitchen early in the morning. I am not a morning person, so I won’t jump in the car and go for bagels or donuts or anything of that sort, either. I move very slowly and, as far as I’m concerned, dragging out the toaster is enough work before 9 a.m. … which is one of several reasons Hubby’s in charge of making coffee. :) So I’m always looking for more satisfying breakfasts that can be created ahead of time and just sliced, opened or reheated in the morning. The guys were going golfing Saturday and, of course, we had to leave for church rather early Sunday … after all, that was the reason for this gathering. So I turned to an old reliable source of easy recipes, Kraft Food and Family magazine. The link is in the sidebar. I save all my copies of this magazine for just such occasions … easy … affordable … yummy!

The crustless quiche was baked, cooled, sliced and refrigerated. A few seconds in the microwave seemed to do the trick Sunday morning, along with a slice of the banana cake I baked Friday night. As for the cups, I made the stuffing and shaped it into cups Friday night. Covering the muffin pans with foil and refrigerating them until needed. Saturday morning I pulled them from the fridge, topped them with the eggs, cheese and bacon and baked them. Quite yummy. Mr. 8 helped with the parfaits Friday, but all we used from this recipe was the peaches, which we put on the bottom, then some Nature Valley Granola, then some Yoplait vanilla yogurt. Cottage cheese is just not on my program … for breakfast anyway.

So when I went to bed Friday night breakfasts were ready for the entire weekend (leftovers were sought out Monday before everybody drove home) and the meat for Sunday’s festivities was defrosting. Planning and working ahead got me some time with Mr. 8 as well as some quiet morning time on a busy weekend. Dad’s always up early, so some coffee and a parfait with him and my brother before they hit the links was a nice way to start Saturday. Shoving six adults through the shower takes time and so having the food ready on Sunday morning allowed us to eat in shifts while others readied for church, so nobody ate alone … this is important to me.

When you have a house full of guests sometimes one-on-one moments are hard to find. But with the food ready and an openness that allows folks to grab a plate and re-heat a casserole or reach in the fridge to butter their banana bread you can share a little meal and a few minutes one-on-one at the table. Let me know if you try these … or if you find something else interesting tucked away on the Food and Family site.

Banana Breakfast Cake from Bundt Classics
1¾ cups sugar
2/3 cup butter, softened
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
2½ tsps. Baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
1 cup shopped pecans

Heat oven to 325. Grease and flour a 10 to 12-cup Bundt Pan. In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar, butter, bananas, eggs and vanilla until very light and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients, mix well. Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 70-80 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan; cool completely on rack.

Kraft Food and Family (Spring 2007)

Kraft Food and Family (Spring 2005)

get 'er done ... part 1 of a plan

Celebrating holidays and milestone events often involves hosting overnight guests as well as those who live nearby and join you on the big day. This is always true with my family as we have at least one state line between everyone … Illinois to Missouri, Missouri to Oklahoma and then our West Coastie, who makes the big flight every holiday season. So when planning Mr. 8’s First Communion party I also had to account for dinner Friday night and breakfasts Saturday and Sunday. (Lunch takes care of itself and we go out for dinner the night before the big celebration.)

So I start at the beginning and work my way through. Planning is huge in these things because, especially with breakfast, I like people to feel they can come and go from the kitchen finding what looks good and stopping for the paper when it’s available. There are not too many morning people in my bloodline … I (and a few of the others!) need some space before 9 a.m. J

So the planning kicked in. Lists, lists, lists! I had a list of guests … a list of menus … a list of tasks … a list of groceries … all stapled together and continually removed from and replaced in the books with my recipes in them. If any of it moved it all moved. If any of it became separated from the rest the weekend would begin to crumble in my hands!

When I have these big gatherings I try to shop over time, otherwise I do a ton of grocery shopping on Thursday or Friday, host a weekend event, and go back to the store Monday for food to eat the rest of the week. So I start accumulating things as they go on sale. Dry ingredients get tucked away. Nothing’s going to happen to them in the few weeks before the big day. Meat is placed in the freezer where, if I didn’t need it in a few weeks, it could stay for up to six months. That leaves only the perishables for last minute shopping, so I had a lot of veggies, fruit and dairy products in my cart.

Shopping done, on Friday I made dinner in the afternoon and got started on all of my breakfast items so they would be ready for Saturday and Sunday morning. Here are the menus … recipes to follow later this week.

Friday dinner: Southwestern Bundles, Fiesta Salsa Dip

Saturday breakfast: Stuffin’ Egg Muffins, Breakfast Parfaits

Saturday lunch and dinner … We were cooking all day, so lunch wasn’t much of an issue. Dinner was a treat at Trailhead Brewing Co.

Sunday breakfast: Crustless Quiche and Banana Breakfast Cake

Sunday PaRtY! Tastefully Simple Chicken Tariyaki dip; Veggies and dip; Marinated Pork Tenderloin Dollar Sandwiches; Pasta Salad; Asian Salad; Potato Salad; cake and treats from the French Gourmet Bakery; chocolate petit-fours. I forgot to put out the fresh fruit, and nobody seemed to care.

Monday … leftovers!

aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

It was an amazing weekend filled with all the sounds of family ... doors opening ... luggage rolling ... laughter ... dishes clanking ... paper tearing ... laughter ...

Late nights, early mornings, lingering goodbyes. Now the very loud silence of an empty house. The dog hasn't moved since Capt. Kindergarten hit the bus. I'm just puttering, picking up, putting up, cleaning up. Post-party recovery.

So of course I'll be getting back to better posting. Watch for lots of recipes and how we made it all ahead of time. Everything was delicious, and shared around several tables, including breakfast this morning before school/work/drives home. And yes, I saved my mom some cake for breakfast. :) You should have seen the looks on the kids' faces as she gleefully sunk the fork through for the first bite. A happy day to you!