Tuesday Things.
1. This cute cookie tray is called “go to Target when you need a last minute treat to take to a party and plate their cookies.” Done.
2. Speaking of, yesterday we saw pumpkins in the Target dollar spot. Like what?!
3. Please give me all your tips on make-ahead/easy meals and how to feed large families on vacation! I have a phone note on it and may do a post about it too. Ours is coming up and now we have lots of kids who eat, but we don’t want to be cooking everyday. But the group is too big to go out. You know?
4. What we lose when we find parenthood. This is so good!
5. TV things!! I finished The Bear last night. I did watch The Idol final episode even though the ending… what? What a mess. I’m rewatching The Summer I Turned Pretty for the 56th time.
6. Um hello, I need to stay in the Barbie Malibu dream house!
7. We have clear bird feeders suctioned to our windows (the kids LOVE them) and lately there have been squirrels in them all day long. It’s crazy how we can get right up next to them by the window. I swear they put themselves in a food coma because they often just lay down and can’t move after eating.
8. Why we stress eat! So interesting.
26 Comments on “Tuesday Things.”
If you vacation rental has a crock pot, I would suggest pork carnitas. Put it in the crock pot for the day to do its thing. Shred for tacos. You must have your pickled red onions!
Hi, Jessica! I feel like an old friend after following your blog since your days as a trainer/fitness instructor, way before those cute kiddos were born! You have done amazing—congratulations to you and Mr. How Sweet! (I always thought that was so cute)
Anyway, we have a few go tos for a crowd that are easy. First, baked chicken with rice and broccoli. Not really a recipe, but put however many chicken thighs you want in a baking dish, season and cover with Swiss cheese. Pour a can of cream of chicken soup over the whole thing (thin with ½ can of water first), and sprinkle stovetop on it. Bake at 350 for 60-90 min depending on how much you have. I love making extra sauce so there is enough to spoon over the rice. Soooo good!
I hope you will keep up your blog! My fave is A Week in the Life ♥️
Would love a post about easy/make ahead meals!
I am pretty sure that there is not much I can share with you that you don’t already do :)
For large groups, I always go with a “create your own…..” situation. With taco beef and marinated grilled chicken, lots of toppings, taco shells, tortilla wrappers and a good mixed salad, people can create a number of things and no dietary worries. A baked potato bar is my other favorite: toppings , steamed broccoli, salad, chili….
I try to make enough to have left-overs as they make an easy lunch!
Where is this tray from?!?
It literally says she got it at Target.
Cookies are from Target, doesn’t mean the actual tray is.
Do a sandwich bar! We do this on every vacation and it’s so easy and no cooking! We set out two or three types of bread and lunch meat, condiments, toppings, etc and everyone can customize their own sandwich. Serve with chips and/or veggies with dip and everyone has an easy dinner and no need to turn on the oven. I think your hot dog bar would also be a great option! Hope this helps :)
I second the sandwich bar idea! Or, make a few batches of Alexandra’s Kitchen’s foccacia bread (baked in a 9×13 inch pan). Cut the whole thing in half and you can make several large sandwiches at a time (caprese, italian, turkey or chicken pesto, veggie, tuna or chicken salad). The freezer is your friend too – freeze loaf cakes or muffins and breakfast sandwiches (my favorite involve buying mini croissants from costco or the grocery store, half and stuff with egg and cheese and/or breakfast meat – they heat up perfectly in a 400 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes). Lastly, if you happen to be staying near a whole foods – take advantage of their catering options for easy appetizers or snacks. The food is very well priced for the quantity and quality – I love their smoked fish and cheese platters. You could also find a good local catering option!
We just got back from a vacation with extended family and our group was also too large to eat out. I made a few kid friendly things beforehand, froze, and brought with us in a cooler, since we were driving.
– baked ziti (one with sausage, one with veggies). Defrosted some and baked from frozen. Served with raw veggies & ranch to dip.
– bbq pulled chicken (chicken breasts + bbq sauce in the crockpot on low for 4 hours, then shred). When we got there, I defrosted overnight, warmed in the oven, and served with buns, coleslaw, baked beans.
– zucchini bread – I made a couple loaves, froze, and defrosted to put out with breakfast.
Two thoughts on vacation cooking. First, if you’re with multiple family units, assign each family a lead night to cook. That way you aren’t doing it every night, even if *somebody* is cooking every night. Second, cocktail party dinner. Get a ton of frozen apps, veg and dip, cheese/charcuterie, fruit and dip, hummus and pita, etc. Plus a batch of your rose aperol spritzes for the grown-ups and “apple-rol” spritzes (apple juice + seltzer) for the kiddos and you’ve got yourself an easy evening.
When we did family vacations years ago 1 person was responsible for lunch and dinner for everyone each day. You got to enjoy all the other days without worrying about meals and food. Breakfast was set out every morning–fruit, col cereal, muffins, juice.
We have had up to 40 people together for long weekends. Adult couples or individuals pick one meal to prepare and clean up after, and then they don’t have to worry about the rest of the meals. If longer than a weekend, each couple could take two meals. We include breakfast, but you could make life easier by just having cereal, fruit and mufffins etc. available.
Hope this helps.
Going on vacation soon, and though I’m not feeding a large group, I like to keep it simple so I can just be on vacation. And we have to cook as there aren’t many options where we go. My meal plan looks like this:
Sunday: Tamales and quesadillas (store bought tamales-I like Trader Joe’s)
Monday: pesto pasta (I make the pesto ahead of time and bring it)
Tuesday: hot dogs and potato salad (I can make the potato salad ahead)
Wednesday: Pizza (pre-bought already formed crusts and I bring pizza sauce from the freezer at home)
Thursday: hamburgers
Friday: TBD
I make ahead Deb Perlman’s beach salad to eat for lunch for myself and do simple lunch for the kids. I’ll get the kids sugar cereal for the week so their breakfast is easy and done. I’ll also bring already made zucchini bread for snacks, etc.
Hope this helps!
If you have a local bird shop, you can buy bird seeds laced with chili powder that keeps the squirrels out but does not bother the birds. We have a lovely bird shop where the woman who runs it shares all her knowledge and cool products with us. Highly recommend!
In addition to the previous suggestions, a shrimp boil w potatoes, sausage and corn is a great easy meal for a crowd. Burgers and hot dogs on the grill always a crowd pleaser and a good way to get the men to help 😜
Squirrel are too funny when they gorge on seeds. If they’re cleaning out the seeds too quickly put hot pepper flakes or powder in with the seeds. It won’t bother the birds but the squirrels will nope out.
Love the ideas in the comments for vacation meals! We do a LOT of crockpot meals. So easy, and you don’t have to bother with the oven. Our go-to meals are… baked potato bars (you can make the baked potatoes in the crockpot, too!) and taco bowls. Are you driving? Last time I made a huge batched of pulled pork, froze it, and then re-heated when we were ready.
Final tip… Mel of Mel’s Kitchen Cafe wrote an amazing post about cooking for a summer camp. https://www.melskitchencafe.com/how-to-plan-food-for-girls-camp/ Though it’s for a lot more people, there were tons of great ideas! Best of luck, and keep us posted! :)
I always take breakfast shift with a large crowd and make a breakfast casserole with shredded potatoes instead of bread and I make ALL the pieces ahead of time. I like to use the frozen hashbrown potatoes as the ice pack in my cooler and adding some doughnuts and fruit makes it enjoyable for the early risers that are up before the casserole. The casserole also reheats well, so sometimes I will double up and tomorrow’s breakfast is even easier.
Otherwise, I rely on old school recipes. I find that they are easier to scale up, use less ingredients, and are more universally enjoyed.
Crock pot: Italian beef or drip beef, carnitas, taco meat, tortilla soup. Buy all the fixings to make food bars (bonus, the fixings for three of these overlap!). Purchase all side salads at a good gourmet store. Make ahead some meat sauce and freeze for a pasta night. Stock up on good condiments and bread to jazz up sandwiches for lunches. Muffins, hash brown casserole, sausage and egg casserole, and things like this–i.e., stuff that can be thrown together the night before for breakfast–pair with fruit. Buy a bunch of french bread and pizza toppings for a french bread pizza dinner (or lunch)–english muffins also work great for this for lunch.
Re: the big group meals. Every other year, we go on a big beach trip with 10 adults and 12 kids ranging in ages from 5-15. We have a few theme nights with
associated themed meals (Hawaiian night, 80’s night, Mexican night) which makes it easy to divide and conquer when there’s a plan. On other nights, we have 2 couples/families take over the dinner for that night. Our favorite but most important “rule” – whoever cooks the meal does NOT clean up afterward – everyone else chips in while we send the chefs outside to chill on the deck with a fancy drink. We usually do pizza on the first night because everyone is too ravenous and excited to plan or cook. Even grocery-store frozen pizzas will do in this scenario.
For breakfasts, we are big fans of the overnight sausage/egg/cheese casserole and usually do 2 pans of that plus cinnamon rolls & fruit. Whoever is up first will sometimes do the bacon/egg combo, or we’ve done breakfast sliders that feed a crowd. Kids sometimes do their own thing with cereal, frozen waffles, etc. At lunchtime, sometimes we’ll grill burgers or hot dogs, or a few of us will run up to the house and make a cooler-full of sandwiches and bring them back down to the pool or beach. Luckily our group loves planning, so we start an excel spreadsheet months in advance to lay out the theme nights, rough dinner plan, grocery lists, etc. It’s down to a science at this point which makes life so much easier and less stressful when we all have a plan.
I don’t really do make ahead meals, but we do sandwiches during the day for everyone and then for dinner there is taco/fajita bar night, grilled sausages night, hamburger night, and keep the sides simple – salads, tater tots, rice and veg, or make a simple pasta like broccolini with garlic in olive oil. And there is also pizza take out night on the last night.
Chickpea alternative- made this week- smash most chickpeas, add a pre cut from the market mirepoix mix, little mayo, little mustard, chopped up four or five dill pickle spears and pour in a little juice from the jar. Freaking amazing!
We have a big group of 18 people on vacation. If we are staying at the house for meals, each family (there are 5) get a night to plan and cook that meal. that way only you’re only responsible for 1 meal. Any other meals we would order in or venture out (make resos if you are a big group like us!). For lunches/bfast keep it simple! eggs/salads/sandwiches, etc.
When I have a large group with kids I love to have a choose your own sandwich bar. Lot’s of different cold cuts and cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mayo and different mustards. Serve with bread or rolls or wraps.
Also I like to make up big trays of raw veggies with dip and hummus and tzatziki. And keep lots of fresh fruit on hand.
Spaghetti sauce in the freezer or Chili. Keep things easy.
Mel has you covered when it comes to feeding a large crowd.
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/how-and-what-to-feed-a-crowd/