Need Help Finding Ideas for Menus for Large Group

Taste of Home used to have a section in their magazine that covered food for a crowd. It was my go to place when I was Activities Director at my Church. If you go to your local Library they may have copies in their Periodicals section and look up the older issues. They have everything from charts of how much meat for different styles of meals to how to lay it out on the tables for attractiveness. It is the most awesome feature the magazine ever had.

You can also Google food for a crowd or food for 50, 100, etc...and many online sites have various ides and recipes.

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Chicken Divan & Easy French Onion Mushroom Rice and rolls....I've made this for about the same number of people you are serving and it went over really well...easy too!

This makes one 9x13 pan with 8 good-sized servings so you would need to make 8 pans unless you have commercial size baking pans...
Chicken Divan
INGREDIENTS:
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen broccoli florets
2 cooked boneless chicken breast halves, chopped
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 TBSP mild curry powder
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 box/bag cheddar cheese or garlic croutons
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place broccoli in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with the chicken.
3. In a small bowl, blend the cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, mayonnaise, curry powder and lemon juice. Pour the mixture over the chicken.
4. Bake 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly browned. Top with Croutons, then Cheddar cheese & bake for 10 more minutes.

French Onion Mushroom Rice
4 cup(s) instant brown rice
2 (10 1/2 oz) Campbell's French Onion Soup
2 (10 1/2) oz fat-free chicken broth
1/3 cup(s) margarine or butter
2 cans sliced mushrooms, drained
Microwave all ingredients in 2 quart casserole for 18 minutes. Makes 12 servings. When I've made this for a very large crowd, I make it multiple times in microwave and as each batch is finished I dump it into a commercial size metal pan & keep it covered in the oven on 200 til ready to serve. It's so easy to make & so good, you won't mind having to make it 6 times :)

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I belong to a group of ladies that meet several times a year-they are if all show 20. However the menus are really such that they could be expanded to larger groups. Starting backwards with desserts-usually cakes that can be cooked in those large cookie sheets with the side are what most of us have done-the icing changes or fresh fruits in season and a dopple of whipped cream always looks great/ tastes great and is generally easy. Now for main dishes-a lot of different salad typews are used-like a chicken salad sometimes with nuts or cranberries etc. and the sides are fancy breads that go with or we have done soups in the fall with cornbreads and croisants-looks good and tastes good and again they are easy and expand to however many we plan to serve. We begin with a cider or something and sometimes some fancy crackers/dip-this also looks very special yet is easy. I hope you have help for these folks? 65 is a lot for any one person to do and 5 luncheons-get some helpers if you don't have any yet! Have fun and buy fancy plates like the clear plastic that you can throw ot when finished-makes life a whole lots easier! Have fun...

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Luncheons should be a light meal , I have done soup and salad with a nice crusty bread, mini cakes with tea and coffee. Either a minestrone or Tomato basil is real nice. A hearty salad or a Chicken or Shrimp Caesar goes over real well.

Another good one is tuna Salad on a nice bed of crisp lettuce, sliced tomatoes and pickles. A crusty bread with a grape nut custard. All this can be made in big baking pans. I would buy the best white tuna.

Calzones are another hit with big crowds. They can be easily made and stuffed. I make mine with eggplant parm, meatballs with provolone , Italian lunch meat. I serve this with a hearty salad. Sorbet for a desert with coffee and tea.

A nice pasta salad with sliced grilled chicken, fruit cut, mini cakes for desert with tea and coffee.

I wish you luck and hope I helped you a bit!

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I coordinated menus, food purchase, cooking, and clean up for large groups when my church participated in the 12 week "Alpha Dinner" program. My pastor provided me with a cookbook that was specific to the program and had recipes that could be broken down to feed 50, 75, or 100 people, depending how many you were expecting on any given night. It was nice to not have to multiply a basic recipe x 1000 to get it to feed as many as I needed to. I ran a google search and couldnt' find any of the actual recipes on line, but here is a link to the book. I remember the meatloaf recipe was FABULOUS. Perhaps you could find some lighter ideas for use for lunch: http://www.alpharesources.org/stores/1/Alpha_Cookbook_P52...

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Try going to:

www.homemadegourmet.com/juliewilliamson

Search under recipes and once you find a recipe you like, click on it and it will bring up the recipe. You can then change the serving sizes to fit your needs and it will tell you exactly what you need for that meal. Then you can shop on the website and purchase the mixes needed for each recipe! I PROMISE you people will RAVE over what you have fixed and will think you slaved over this meal when actually it didn't take you long at all! You will be amazed!

I'd be happy to share my favorites with you to help you plan those meals!!

Good luck!!

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I have more recipes I would be happy to share, just let em know..

Vegetarian Lasagna with salad, bread and gelato for dessert

Make your own tacos with a salad, sherbet for dessert

Chicken Fajitas with salad and Tres Leches cake for dessert

Wild Rice Casserole with salad and Cookies for dessert

Sorry hit send before I attached some of the recipes.
Apple Kuchin
½ cup butter or margarine
1 pkg yellow cake mix
½ cup flaked coconut
4 granny smith apples peeled and sliced
¼ cup brown sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg

Preheat oven 350
Mix butter (or margarine) into cake mix, add in coconut. Press into ungreased
9 x 13 baking pan. Build up sides. Bake for 10 minutes.

Arrange apple slices on top of cake.

Mix sugar, cinnamon. Sprinkle over apples.

Blend sour cream and egg yolk. Drizzle over apples. Bake 25 minutes until edges are brown.

Wild Rice Casserole Preheat oven to 350
1 box Uncle Bens wild rice, Cook as box instructs
1 lb, Velveta type cheese cut into small cubes (American works just as well)
1 lb breakfast sausage crumbled cooked and drained ( I purchase Jimmy Dean light)
1 small onion chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
1/2 small bell pepper chopped (optional) Pimento (drained may be substituted)
1 can Cream of Celery soup condensed (low fat works)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup condensed (low fat works)

In a large skillet add (cooked and drained) sausage, onion, celery and peppers, sauté with 1 TBL butter.
Add cans of soup and heat until warm.

In 2 quart casserole
Place a third of the sausage, soup mixture in bottom of casserole.
Next layer ½ of wild rice
3rd layer sprinkle 1/3 cheese cubes

Sausage layer
Rest of rice
1/3 cheese.
Top with rest of sausage layer and sprinkle with cheese.

Place in preheated 350 oven bake till bubbly.

I usually place foil underneath in case it bubbles over.
Our family sometimes likes this a little spicy, so you can use spicy breakfast sausage if you like. My Aunt likes the spicy Velveta cheese for this recipe
This recipe doubles great and makes a ton. It freezes perfectly and many people like it even better the second day.

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Well you could soup and bread bowels. You could have a few different kinds of soup or maybe some chili. Or a taco buffet.

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Hi Mama-
Some ideas from my magic box (I love that) are
1. Lasagna- make a number of pans, veggie and meat, serve with rosemary garlic sourdough bread and ceasar salad.
2. Some kind of chicken salad- caesar, oriental, or otherwise. Serve with a yummy strawberry iced tea, and a side like fruit or bread.
3. Pasta dishes- you can make large pots of pasta and then 2 or 3 different sauces. Do a 3 cheese ziti with tomato sauce and bake, do a spaghetti bake (layer cooked spaghetti noodles, sauce, cheese, and you can add meat if you want), chicken and pasta with cream sauce or alfredo sauce- feel free to add spinach to this. serve with sourdough garlic bread.
4. chicken parmesian. It's real basic, real easy, and you can do trays of it in the oven. Serve with salad or mashed potatoes. Easy Chick parm: chicken breast, dipped in egg, then dipped in italian contadina crumbs (add parmesian if you want), then place on greased pan. Cook for 25 minutes at 350. flip, cover with chunky tomato sauce and cook for 10 more minutes. Add a slice of mozzarella and continue baking until cheese is completely melted.
5. Stew.
6. Zucchini soup. THis is one of my favs.
Cook zucchini's in pan with a small bit of olive oil. Add garlic and onion. When all items are cooked, toss in blender with chicken, veggie, or beef stock. Blend until smoothe. Soup should be kind of thick. Pour into pot or tourine, add black pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parmesian and crumbled bacon ( i use turkey). It's really good. If you want the details, I can search out the recipe.
5. Cream cheese mashers. Boil potatoes, then drain and mash. Add herbs and spices (rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper), splash of milk, and a pkg of cream cheese. Mix well. Bake in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Serve with your choice of meat and salad.
6. Taco bar!
7. Taco salad bar!
8. Sweet potato fries, salad, chicken.
For fries, chop up a yam or sweet potato (one is orange, one is white). In a large zip lock baggie, add olive oil, pepper, garlic salt, onions and shake until all are covered. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Flip, bake for 20-30 more or until done. Test with a fork.
These are some of my favs.
Good luck!
-E. M

I recommend going to www.allrecipes.com. You can type in easy casseroles, or anything else for that matter, and there are a bunch of chicken casseroles, mexican casseroles, etc. You can then tell it how many people you are serving and it gives you the amount of ingredients to make enough for 65 people. The Beef Stew IV is great. A bit of prep but well worth it. I would pick a different casserole or lasagna type dish and pair it with different salads and bread/rolls. Good luck, I hope you have someone helping you prepare everything. =)

you are a brave woman!, wish I could help more, but all I could come up with is of course, macaroni salad, potato salad, green salad...jello parfait. Ckicken wings go over well, how about spaghetti?

Updated

nix my last answer! LOL!!! I think 2-3 different types of soups, served with crispy french bread would be nice, such as gazpacho, clam chowder, minestrone etc... also green salad...