Husband Having Friends over and I Need Your Help Please.

Thanks to allrecipes.com, I use this baked ziti recipe whenever we have a large crowd. There is NEVER any left over. It makes quite a bit (I'd say more than the 8 servings it claims to be) and it's relatively cheap. I usually put it together the night before and heat it right before hand. It makes things easier the day of our dinner. This recipe also freezes rather well, so when I make it just for the family I split it into 2 pans and freeze one for later. Goes great with bread and salad!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Ziti-III/Detail.aspx

This is an easy, cheap recipe and it has always been well received by my guests. I have taken it to families when there has been a death, potlucks, etc. You are able to double or triple depending upon the size of your group too.

Wild Rice Casserole
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 packet of Lipton's Beef Onion Soup Mix
1- 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 box of Uncle Ben's Wild Rice (original or mushroom flavor)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Cook the box of wild rice per the recipe and set aside while you prepare the beef.

Brown the beef, drain and mix in the beef onion soup mix with about a 1/4 C of water.

In either a 9 x 17 casserole dish or a round casserole bowl, mix the beef, rice, and mushroom soup all together. Put into the oven to heat together for about 30 minutes.

Serve with shredded cheddar cheese so each person can garnish with their desired amount of cheese. This is a hearty and filling meal.

Side Salad idea
Mixed greens or Romaine Lettuce (about 4 -5 cups)
1 15 oz. can of mandarin oranges drained
1/2 C crumbled blue cheese/ or 3/4 C shredded jack cheese
1/2 C of slivered almonds or sunflower seeds with no shells
Raspberry walnut vinagarette (Newman's Own is really good but Ken's also has a good one)
Mix altogether and it has a nice flavor with the tang of the dressing and the fruit

Good luck,
J.

I make my own pizza's. Try the Jiffy pizza mix on the spaghetti aisle in Walmart. 2 boxes makes a cookie sheet length pizza and they are only like 44 cents a box.. You need 1 bag of mozzarella for each pizza and 1 jar should make two pizzas unless you like a lot of sauce.. You can do pepporoni, sausage, cut up your own veggies or whatever they like. My family loves our homemade pizza. Or do a box of velveeta, 2 cans of rotel and some hamburger meat. This makes great nachos. Target has some cute little -football trays in the dollar section as well you can use for chips.. I also like to get a 16 oz tub of sour cream and buy the powdered ranch in the package and make ranch dip. Put out chips and raw veggies..

Here is a great casserole you could serve with salad.

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/mini-cannellon...

I like the baked ziti idea.... that, salad and brownies ought to do it.

If he really wants pizza, there's always bake at home from Costco which is good and cheap. Or CiCi's but you have to pick it up.

Spaghetti, lasagna, tacos, fajitas. All of those are good throw together meals for kids. Plus I'm sure the other parents will be fine with any of those as well. Personally, my fave is lasagna. You can spruce it up with a nice salad, garlic bread, and a bottle of wine for the adults. And the kids will always eat Italian.