Just so you know I am speaking from experience....go buy some of those slider buns you will be using. Then go buy half a pound of BBQ pork or beef or something that is sort of like what you will be making. Then see how many of those little sandwiches you can get out of half a pound of the stuff. I am figuring my recommendations on 5 little sandwiches to the half a pound of BBQ pork. If you get less, then you will need more meat. If you buy 20 pounds of pork loin, it will cook out to about 17 to 18 pounds of boneless lean meat. Then you will add about 2 quarts of BBQ sauce ( and I also add some chicken broth too...a quart...so it stays saucy).. That's giving you 22 pounds of BBQ meat.....about 44 cups. You will have more than enough. And remember, this isn't a group who are coming for a meal, but who are doing the "graduation party marathon" and easily half will just eat a little to be polite. However you will have some good friends who will do as boys do and hang around, stuffing their faces the whole time. If you do decide to go with the butt roast you will need about 24 to 25 pounds to allow for the grease that cooks out. If you get a bone in butt you will need closer to 30 pounds to allow for the bone and the fat. Remember, you have not invited these people to come for dinner. Some will make it dinner, but most either have a sandwich and call it good, or if they have eaten a lot previously, they will eat some fruit and a cupcake. Is it only Iowa that does the graduation party marathon?? When my grand daughter graduated 2 years ago, she had a brunch party and she left at 1:00...because she had 14 other parties to go to that day!

I think Shepherds Pie is a great choice! A bit of a change up from the chicken and pasta dishes and perfect for Fall. Here is my recipe Shepherds Pie 4 tbsp vegetable oil 1 1/2 pounds ground beef 3/4 cup diced onion, about 1/2 medium 1 cup diced celery 2 cups diced carrot, about 2 medium 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 heaping tbsp tomato paste 2 tbsp flour 1 cup red wine (can omit)_ 2 1/2 cups beef stock ( I use 1/2 stock one half my brown sauce) 1 sprig rosemary 1 sprig thyme Salt and pepper to taste 4 medium cooking potatoes, peeled and quartered 2 cloves garlic, smashed butter 1/4 milk 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese salt and pepper to taste 1. Add 2 tbsp vegetable oil to large pan over medium high heat. Add ground beef. 2. Cook until excess liquid is gone and meat is starting to brown. If required drain of any fat. 3. Remove meat from pan and deglaze with red wine or beef broth, let reduce slightly. 4. In another large pot, add remaining vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add onions, carrots and celery; cook until soft but not browned, about 5-7 minutes. 5. Add garlic and add tomato paste. Brown paste slightly then sprinkle in flour. Cook out for a minute or two 6. Add in red wine, scraping up brown bits from bottom of pan. 7. Add beef stock, rosemary, thyme. Return browned meat to pot. Simmer, covered for 20-25 minutes. 8. Remove lid and continue cooking for another 10 minutes; liquid will reduce and thicken. Remove rosemary, thyme . Season well with salt and pepper. Potatoes 1. Add quartered potatoes and smashed garlic to medium pot. 2. Boil until potatoes are tender but not overdone, about 15-20 minutes. 3. Strain potatoes; let dry out slightly in colander before returning to pot. Add milk, butter, pepper, Parmesan cheese and more salt if necessary. 4. Mash using a potato masher. Preheat oven to 400. Spoon filling into the bottom of a 10-inch round casserole dish. Top with potatoes. Grate parmesan cheese on top and dot surface evenly with butter. Season with salt and pepper. Bake on middle rack until top is golden and filling is warmed through, about 20-25 minutes. Let stand for a few minutes before serving. For a crowd I make the meat mixture a day or two ahead and refrigerate. I also make the potatoes a day ahead. On the day of, I bring the meat to a low simmer, just barely heated through, then top with the potatoes and throw in the oven a half hour or so before serving.

After seeing this thread the other day, I decided to give Ree's macaroni salad a try. DH won't eat a macaroni/pasta salad that isn't mayonnaise based, so I'm a bit limited there. I made several substitutions and additions, because I didn't want to go shopping and used what I had in the pantry. And DH insisted on having peas and boiled eggs in it. Those are his "musts" for macaroni salad. We both loved the result. Obviously, I didn't have that specific pickle; instead, I used sweet pickle relish and some juice from escabeche I canned last summer. How's that for spicy? DH was also concerned that it didn't have mustard in it. He kept trying to get me to put ingredients in it that I used in my regular go to salad. I wanted different. The dressing Ree made accomplished that. He did suggest that I make it again and add shrimp to it. Sounds good to me. I rarely miss a Pioneer Woman episode, but must have missed that one. Thanks for guiding me to it.

That is a beautiful pasta sleevendog. I don't tend to use the longer pastas available around here because it's mostly smoother flat or round stuff. Or long round spirals and large chunky stuff. I have to admit I use cheaper pasta.. but it having a texture, tooth, or groves that are easy to get into is important. And messing around with flavors too. We tend to rotate more than you do than do a bunch of different ones at once.. it's just the two of us now so I have to remember to make less.. like we just finished up a 2-4 day run of eating out a batch of chicken bacon ranch pasta salad that overlapped the tail end of some horseradish brussels sprouts slaw.. tonight I'm cooking off little red taters while the kitchen is hot anyway to chill off to make another round of cold salad. I should do a bean salad soon. Something I've noticed about how I make batches of these kinds of salads is that the quantities of stuff kind of remains the same. Like a box/half/1/3 package depending on what kind it is is the "standard" amount of pasta I use depending on how many cans/meats/veggies. And to the thread in general.. does other cold pasta use count as salad? Or other cold service? Sometimes I make cold stuff with big pasta too. Like big tube pastas or shells, leftover lasagna noodles to stuff or roll up with tuna salad, chicken salad, veggie salads of minced tomato, cukes, onion, olives, ect.. and drizzle with the sauce of choice to keep the pasta moist till service. Having your salad in the pasta instead of having your pasta in the salad. I've done this sort of thing for larger party service on occasion. Or when I end up with tail end packages of big pasta for whatever reason and got a few to pack off with the random can of tuna or whatever for a couple lunches.