<p>I need simple recipe inspiration for a church supper in my home. After a busy week, I'd like something I might be able to prepare ahead for a group of adults. I am a cook with no confidence but trying to learn to entertain with less anxiety than my mother always evidenced. Any surefire hits you all enjoy cooking that could be done by a kitchen klutz? thanks!</p>
<p>The old Silver Palate Chicken Marbella recipe is my standby for big dinners prepared ahead of time. It has a fairly long list of ingredients but is really easy to make and all you'll have to do last minute is pop it in the oven.</p>
<p>You can google the recipe and find it at Simply Recipes. And you can use any chicken pieces you want, with or without bones.
<a href="http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_marbella/%5B/url%5D">http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_marbella/</a></p>
<p>Lasagna. You can prepare it the day before (in fact it's better if it sits in the fridge overnight) and bake it the next day. Then all you do is make a salad and have some good bread, garlic or otherwise, and you're all set.</p>
<p>Chicken Enchiladas, made a day ahead. Serve with rice (20 minutes or so).
Lasagna is always good, too. </p>
<p>If you want something more casual, do BBQ Beef sandwiches (put a beef roast in the crockpot with BBQ sauce a day ahead. Cook 8 hours or so, shred meat. Refrig overnight, just heat and serve the next day. Baked beans/corn on the cob/grilled vegtables for side dishes.</p>
<p>An easy summertime meal that anyone can make:</p>
<p>Crockpot Pulled Pork
Buy a pork shoulder, trim fat, put in crockpot, pour one can/bottle root beer over top. Cook 8-10 hours on low. Drain liquid, shred with 2 folks, add your favorite bbque sauce and cook for 1 hour more in crockpot. You can make and warm ahead - BEST PULLED PORK EVER!</p>
<p>Crockpot Veggies
In crockpot place: fresh corn on the cob cut into small pieces (like 3 per cob), small red potatoes, fresh green beans cleaned, 1 onion sliced and 1 stick of butter dotted on top of vegetables. Cook in crockpot on high for 3-4 hours, add fresh herbs the last hour if you wish.</p>
<p>Fruit and or easy dessert.</p>
<p>I also use Chicken Marbella as my 'go to' prep ahead meal. Simple and good.</p>
<p>Drain liquid, shred with 2 folks</p>
<p>If I shred with 2 folks, there won't be any left for the guests to eat. ;)</p>
<p>When I have to have a group over for dinner and am feeling pressured, I tend to do something on the grill. That way, I prepare the food but H has to cook it! I have a london broil marinade and a teriyaki chicken marinade, depending on my mood. With the chicken, I prepare an Asian salad and rice. With the london broil, I do potatoes in foil and some sort of tossed salad.</p>
<p>My favorite dessert is usually strawberry shortcake or strawberries on angel food.</p>
<p>folks = forks. Oops. (!!!!)</p>
<p>Grilling intimidates me and we don't have a barbeque so I'll have to wait on that until I get beyond the elementary cooking level. I am waiting to hear back from some guests to determine if I need to avoid meat to a certain degree...but meanwhile these are some inspiring suggestions. I definitely can do angel food cake and I do have a crock pot and I am going to look up some of the suggested recipes for more details. </p>
<p>As to shredding with folks (see below), I will wait until the party day to decide whether to use family folk or church folk...Maybe add some folk dance. As someone who is an expert typo producer this one made me smile as I actually did go past in once thinking why would it take two people to shred??...and then the light dawned. That pulled pork does sound great; ;I want some right now.</p>
<p>Glad I could provide a laugh. :)</p>
<p>I'm serious, whenever I make that pulled pork it is GONE. I made a giant sized crockpot of it a few weeks ago for the funeral home (they had a special room for the family to take a break, eat) when my father in law died - we knew whenever the guys had disappeared that they were up eating a pulled pork sandwich!!!! I never even got any. </p>
<p>We like Sweet Baby Ray's bbque sauce.</p>
<p>That is a great testimonial right there! Hopefully I am going to learn I have a table of non-vegetarians because this sound simple and tasty for sure. Any recommendations on kinds of bun/bread? I do love crockpots...!</p>
<p>We usually use buns. For guests, I would buy the nice onion buns or even some hard-crusted or wheat buns from a bakery/deli. For the plain FOLK at home, I just use the cheapies. For me, it's bun over bread.</p>
<p>I was also going to suggest the pulled pork in the crock pot. An even simpler thing is to simply put a bunch of chicken breasts in the crock pot and then dump in a bottle of barbeque sauce. Cook on low setting all day.The meat will also fall apart and can be shredded with forks (or folks- your choice).</p>
<p>For buns, we like the Martin's potato bread hamburger buns.</p>
<p>The make ahead items will make you less crazy. </p>
<p>A great summertime side dish, is 24 hour salad. It's a layered salad, and all you do is assemble it the night before and then mix together right before it's needed. </p>
<p>I also do pulled pork in the crockpot...different recipe. I get a boneless (but cheap) pork roast...plop it in the pot...cover with one bottle of barbecue sauce and two tablespoons of vinegar...cook all day...pull apart about 1 hour before serving and then put the lid on and continue to cook it until serving time.</p>
<p>Just serve with coleslaw, and chips. Couldn't be easier. We get small kaiser rolls.</p>
<p>I make a similar barbeque, but I use beef instead of pork - I just like beef better. For buns, we like to use the rolls that Sams sells - they are smaller than regular buns, so the meat goes further and you have less waste (by people making a whole sandwich but only eating half.)</p>
<p>And re: grilling. Yes, grilling intimidates me, too. That's why I make my H do it.</p>
<p>For any little "samwiches" I like to use the big bag of soft rolls from Costco. They have a flour-y outside and are sturdy but soft. People can serve themselves one or two or three - less waste than serving them on huge rolls.</p>
<p>Oops, binx already mentioned the advantage of smaller rolls.</p>
<p>Wanted to check in, report success, and send gratitude. I did the pulled chicken in crock pot, a spinach strawberry salad with poppy seed dressing, and a simple potato salad with brownies for dessert and everyone seemed happy and content. One small step forward in my late-life maturation as a cook/hostess Thanks for your guidance and humor!</p>