Need Dinner Recipe for 12! Having Girls Dinner at My House! HELP!

HI J.,
I also jsut made the chicken spaghetti recipe. But I make it lower fat by using the reduced fat Velveeta andthe whole wheat spaghetti. I also add a couple of cloves of garlic whenyou are suating the onions and bellpepper, and I also add a can of original rotel. It makes it just a little spicy perfact taste. I also use chicken tenders, cutup and sautd with the peppers and onion and garlic. Since not everyone likes black olives i sprinkel them on top.
I usually buy the big foil lasange pan to bake it in.
You can even do it the day before put in the frig and just heat up the day of the party.
Serve with a big Italian salad with balsamic vinegeratte, some nice crustt frend bread or whole grain specailty breads.
For dessert I served, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries all mixed together over a berry sorbet. You could also serve with angel food cake and cool whip. Either is yummy !
Good luck,
If you want the exact chicken spaghetii recipe just let me know. And I can eamil it to you.
K.

Chicken spaghetti is always good and feeds a crowd! You can serve it with bread and a big yummy salad.

-Shredded or chopped ccoked chicken
-big thing of velveeta cheese, shredded
-can of cream of chicken soup
-can of cream of mushroom soup
-sliced black olives
-bell pepper, chopped
-1 small onion, chopped
-celery, chopped
-salt and pepper
-spaghetti

-Ok, so I cook and shred the chicken, and cut all the veggies before hand (like that morning and put it into frig). This makes putting the casserole together much easier.

-cook the spaghetti following the package directions
-sautee 1 onion, 1 bellpepper, and several stalks of chopped celery
-shred velveeta and put a little aside to sprinkle the casserole 5 minutes before taking out of oven (tip: put the velveeta in freezer for a about 10 minutes to make shredding easier)
-combine shredded velveeta, sauteed veggies, shredded chicken soups and olives. Stir in cooked spaghetti. Salt and pepper to taste
-pour into 9x13 baking dish
(will be a tight fit, but should fit) you can also split it into 2 smaller dishes.
-cook at 350 for approx. 30 minutes, or until done.

This is my grandmother's recipe and it is sooo good!! Actually a very easy dish to make, I make it often. Makes great leftovers. Have fun!! hmmm, makes me want to make it tomorrow. :D

For an Italian theme...I make a Pepperoni/Chicken Pasta that everyone LOVES!!! Here's the recipe:
2-3 Chicken Breasts
1 large pkg Pepperoni
1 pkg Rotini or Penne Pasta
1 can Dices Tomatoes
1 jar Organic Spaghetti or Marinera Sauce
Garlic or Garlic Salt
Italian Seasoning
Pepper

Boil the Chicken Breast til done, then dice up or shred.
Blend the Diced Tomatoes in blender (or leave if like chunks)
Put the Pepperoni and Sauce/Tomatoes in LARGE skillet and begin heating.
Add Chicken to sauce after diced up.
Add Garlic and seasonings to taste.
Once I have the Sauce mix heating, I start a large pot of water boiling. After boiling, add pasta to water and cook til done.
Drain pasta and add to sauce mixture and stir.

This recipe feeds a lot of people. It should be enough for 12 ladies. I also recommend making your favorite green salad and bake some French Bread to go with it.

Good luck!

Hi J.- Know that you already had you event but consider us for your next girls weekened- Host assistants at your service- so you can hang with the girls while we handle the rest!

D.
www.partyangelsus.com

What about a grilled chicken salad? You can get super yummy precooked grilled chicken breasts at Sam's in the freezer section. You could prep everything ahead of time and it would be super simple and everyone could fix their own or you could have them premade.

You could also do Spaghetti and use ground turkey for the meat balls to make it healthier.

Twelve is a big enough number to make a snazzy dinner a challenge. Are you trying to do this seated? Or do the girls like to participate? How important is a clean kitchen to you? Do you do bigger meals like this at the holidays and know how well your kitchen works for this kind of thing?

The trick is to make sure that you have at least MOST of the stuff able to be done WAY in advance -- preferably no later than the day before. For ladies the salad can be a star, regardless of whether it's a main course or only a component. I always wash and chop my lettuce the day before, then wrap in paper towels and put in a zipper bag with the air squished out. Honestly, I've held lettuce like this for days at a time...it loses nutrition, but stays crunchy and perfect. I bag all the other salad components separately in baggies so that everything can be thrown away and the kitchen stays clean. I also do corn (too often) for a crowd, because you can hold it for about forever in the oven. I add butter and julienned red and green pepper strips for color because corn on its own doesn't make a pretty plate unless you're serving ham or grilled beef IMO. I have a killer recipe for corn chowder that I always make ahead and reheat in the crockpot. TOTAL ladies luncheon-type fare with a salad and fabulous bread. Oh - and you can do compound butters for the bread ahead of time that they'll just love!

I guess my feeling is that ultimately we get together for the company, and not the food, and so the little surprises and details can be just as impressive as the "perfect" dinner. It's someone saying, "Oh my God, J., what is in this butter stuff!" And at the end of the day, you could serve the most boring main course, and if you bring out a dutch apple pie they'll swoon.

I have an awesome Cream of Mushroom soup recipe. It is always a hit with family and friends.
This amount serves about 4 so you can just triple it. I routinely make double batches. Just use a bigger pot of corse.

1 lb.. Mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp lemon juice
1 small onion, sliced or chopped small
1/3 cup flour
3 1/2 cup water
3 chicken bouillon cubes (can use veggie cubes instead for a vegetarian dish)
1/4 tsp pepper
salt to taste, (not too much because bouillon cubes have salt too)
1 cup heavy cream (or half and half for lighter soup but may need to up the flour a bit to keep it thick)

Heat water in microwave till slightly hot and add bouillon cubes. Stir to dissolve cubes and set aside.
In 4 qt sauce pan,on medium-high heat, sauté mushrooms and onions in butter. Add lemon juice. Cook till tender. With slotted spoon remove half mushrooms/onions to a bowl and set aside.
Reduce heat to medium-low, add flour to pan, stirring till blended. Cook a few minuets, stirring constantly.
Gradually stir in water and bouillon, stir constantly to ensure no lumps and untill mixture is thickened.
Into blender, ladle half of mixture, cover and blend till smooth. Repeat with other half. Note: If you have an emersion blender (also called blender stick or blender wand) just blend in the pot. I love mine and recommend anyone who uses their blender a lot to buy one.
When all is blended, return to heat. Stir in salt, pepper, cream, and reserved mushroom slices. Heat just till soup is boiling.

You could serve with a salad and french bread. This is very easy to make and could even be made the day prior and reheated. Soup is always better the next day.

Another suggestion, if you like to grill, would be kabobs. You can make them up the day before. Make shrimp, chicken, or beef or all of them. Marinate them all the same or with different sauces. You can cook all ingredients separately (all the shrimp on one stick, the veggies on their own stick, etc.). Then remove the sticks, arrange everything on a large serving platter, and let everyone take what they want.

Just a few ideas. Whatever you do make for dinner, just remember the chocolate dessert! That many women together, you better have chocolate! Ha-Ha. Good luck with the party.

I just did a Keno party for 12 ladies and I did build your own taco salad. I did both grilled chicken & taco meat and everything you can imagine to let them have fun choosing what they want. The ladies loved it and I even got a few emails directly after the party thanking me and that the food was top notch. Serve with queso and corn chips to. I also did a quick easy appetizer with a block of cream cheese and poured a mango/peach salsa over it and served with triscuits. The ladies liked it to.

I would just make up a couple of quiches (2 should easily serve 12, but you might want 3 just in case and it's great leftover for breakfast). You can "cheat" by buying the premade crusts. This can also be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated until it's ready to go into the oven. Here's a good basic recipe:
http://find.myrecipes.com/food/recipefinder.dyn?action=di...

I used to make it with tuna, but salmon is healthier - canned works well - 1 cup as the recipe suggests if you want to add meat and any veggies as well. And you can replace the gruyere with parmesean or mozarella. And you can replace the half and half with milk.
You can serve that with a nice mixed salad and some chilled white wine (or iced tea).

If you're on a GF or CF diet, you can do the substitutes and this will work out okay.

I did a party last night and did lettuce wraps. They were a HUGE hit! You can serve it buffet or family style. We did the chicken in the stir fry sauce in one bowl (garnished with green onion, peanuts and cilantro) and then in another large dish the veggies (bean spouts, matchstick carrots, chopped celery, and diced cucumber) and of course another big dish for the cleaned lettuce leaves. I served jasmine rice on the side and then dessert. Here is the recipe I used for the sauce on the chicken:

1/4 water
1/4 soy sauce
2 tsp corn starch
1/4 sugar
1 TBSP oil
1 tsp chili oil
1 TBSP sesame seeds
(wisk all together and bring to a boil before adding cooked, sliced chicken pieces)

Sauces for dipping can be made, but mine came from Cheesecake Factory and they are SO good and pretty inexpensive.

I decorated the table by covering it with white butcher paper and then putting some homemade chinese lanterns (found the pattern online - took about 1 minute to make) with candles inside and traced pictures of dragons on the corners of the table with a black sharpie.

Another idea would be a baked potato bar - bake some nice big potatoes and then serve with cheese, sour cream, chili, green onions, steamed broccoli or whatever floats your boat!

Have fun and remember to do something that you won't wear yourself out on so you can enjoy the party!

I often do girls nights for either my sales force or for my teen daughters , and we do mexican stack! Baked Tortilla chips, flour tortillas, 2-3 lb ground chuck made up into taco meat with seasoning or chipotle sesaoning, salsa, grated cheese, hot sauce or pico de gallo, and I like to drain several cans of ranch style beans and put them in the blender for the best bean dip ever! We serve brownies with this and always a huge hit! Even did it for 18 foreign exhange students last year too in conjunction with facials!
Have fun!