Instead of lasagne, you could make Baked Ziti.
Chicken Cacciatore would hold up well. I like to make it with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. They have great flavor, are easy to portion and eat without dealing with bones and skin, and you could keep it on a hot plate without it drying out. You could serve it over baked polenta.

And of course any stew-type recipes would work...

How about White Chili with ground turkey? Shephard's pie?

Is this along the lines of what you're thinking?

By the way, welcome to the forum!
Ann

I understand that all things must be prepared in a commercial kitchen. What about rotisserie chickens - like from Costco? There are so many things you could prepare with them: Chicken Tetrazinni, Green Chili Enchiladas or Enchilada casserole. Find out if you are able to bring in some rotisserie chickens from a commercial source to work with. If so, I could certainly post some easy recipes for you. I would estimate they would take 30 minutes prep and 45-60 minutes to bake.

Welcome to the forum!
Teresa

Can you perhaps start something and then finish the next day? thinking instead of rotissery chicken, put a few chickens in the ovens, cook and refrigerate....next day make your meal. Things like prebrowned hamburger in ther efrigerator would allow goulash or baked ziti or enchiladas or chili.
Hot dogs, baked beans and potato salad and raw veggies would be easy... or BBQ hamburgers....I make burger patties, brown in a fry pan and sauce with a mix of catsup, some chopped onion, brown sugar and tomato sauce.....simmer the burgers in that for about 30 minutes....and serve on a bun....also keeps hot well for late comers.
I make a simple round steak stew...
Big frypan, some bacon in the bottom, recipe calles for layering the whole bottom but that's too fatty for me, then skinny slices of round steak on top, sliced onion on top of that carrot buttone and sliced potatoes.
Add about 1/4 inch water to the bottom of the pan, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes until the potatoes are done and the meat tender.....also reheats well.
Good for you for making things easier for those for whom it's not easy at all.
Linda C

I too was thinkng the make-ahead dishes could be made and stored at RMH.

I agree with your thinking re making the meal homey as possible and I encourage you to avoid dishes resembling fast food for this purpose. I'm sure the families will have many opportunities for fast food during their stay.

Jim

the first thing that comes to mind for me is spaghetti with meat sauce, a salad and garlic bread.

Depending on the amount of time you have to prepare the meal, other possibilities are baking a ham, put some baked potatoes in the oven while the ham is baking, boil/steam/roast some veggies. Or, if you think you have time, run some potatoes through the food processor to thinly slice and make scalloped or au gratin potatoes. Meatloaf can be baked in muffin cups much more quickly than a loaf can be and people can have individual meat "muffins". Arroz con pollo or that ever present chicken casserole with rice and broccoli could go together relatively quickly and I know Grandma never made stuffed pork chops, she made the stuffing, spread it in a pan, topped it with pork chops and baked it for an hour or so. The same thing would work with chicken pieces or turkey cutlets.

Macaroni and cheese is a good possibility, as is that enchilada casserole where you just layer the tortillas, meat, cheese, and bake it, then serve it in squares.

I'd probably try to keep vegetables as simple as possible, like glazed carrots or green beans with a handful of almonds, and salad is always good. Depending on where you are and what the weather is, a cold main dish salad with some chicken or roast beef would be good, or on the other end of the spectrum, soup and muffins.

This is a very kind thing you are doing, and I wish you the best of luck.

Annie

That's a great idea Teresa. A 3-lbs rotisserie chicken at Costco costs only $4.99. Using that as one of the ingridents for a fancier recipes saves a lot of time and work. I can see that as a good posiblity for a special nothing-can-go-wrong meal.

I would be very hesitant to serve hamburgers to a McDonald organization. Could be a good idea. I don't know.

dcarch

A few years back we did minestrone soup (meat free) for our Community Church supper. We just started making it in the morning and by 4 p.m. it was perfect. Maybe something like that would work for you.

Hope this helps.

Kate

A roasted chicken dinner could work. I've been using AnnT's high heat method for a few years now and it only takes about 50 minutes or so to roast a chicken. Add some mashed potatoes, veggie, and some rolls and a simple dessert like brownies. I would think three good sized chickens would feed the crowd. For sure if there are kids in the group.

I'm guessing they would have an outdoor grill there too. Dogs and brats, with potatoe salad and some corn on the cob...I was thinking burgers too but not sure as it a RMH. LOL. Pork loin on the grill or roasted in the oven might be another option too. I can post Sharon's recipe for herb crusted rack of pork(I've used just a loin) if your interested. It is wonderful and easy and doesn't take that long to cook. Turkey breast would be another option as well with different sides. Tacos or burritos with various toppings, rice, refried beans, and chips and salsa?

I'm thinking most anything could be reheated in the micro for those that get there later.

Just adding a few more ideas here. Too cool that you are doing this on for the house!

David

No one has mentioned stir-fry type dishes, and aside from a bit of chopping they come together very quickly.

I simply use an assortment of chopped veggies, some cubed raw chicke or shrimp, about a half bottle of oyster sauce, stir fry until all is tender and serve over steamed rice which is cooking while I am stir frying. Super simple, healthy and delicious.

Here is another idea. Got this recipe during the "Michigan Run" gathering a couple of years ago. I can get this on the table from start to finish in about 30 minutes. Serve with some buttered noodles or rice pilaf and a veggie and it's dinner.

Obviously you'd have to quadruple or (whatever x 5 is....) these recipes but they would still be doable in a commercial kitchen.

Creamy Tarragon Chicken
From Fresh Market-Grand Rapids, MI

4 boneless, chicken breast halves
Salt & pepper to taste
3T all purpose flour
2T olive oil
1T onion, finely chopped
1/4 c white Bordeaux wine (you could use any white wine)
1T fresh tarragon, chopped
1/4 c chicken broth
3T butter
1/4 c heavy cream

Season the chicken breasts with salt & pepper, dredge in flour. Set aside chicken and remaining flour.

In large saut� pan, heat olive oil over mediumh igh heat. Brown the chicken 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown. Set aside and keep warm.

Add onion to pan and cook 1 minute. Pour wine into pan and increase heat to high. Deglaze pan by cooking until almost all the liquid has evaporated, stirring to loosen browned bits on bottom of pan. Reduce heat to medium low and add reserved flour, stirring to form a thick roux. Stir in tarragon and broth. Return chicken to pan and cook until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear, about 10 minutes.

Remove chicken to plates, add butter and cram to pan and heat through. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.

Do you have the option of using crockpots? If so Ginger's Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches go a long way. One recipe feeds my girl's trip of 8 women. I'd be happy to post the recipe if you'd like.

How about meatball subs? Use frozen meatballs, jarred pasta sauce, simmer the meatballs in the sauce, top a french roll with a couple of meatballs, spoon extra sauce over, top with slices of Mozz or provolone and pop under the broiler for a minute. Serve with a nice green salad.

Build your own tacos would be good, too. Cook the meat, prep the veggies, toast some corn tortillas and also serve some flour tortillas....good to go.

Depending on your budget and time constraints you could also do Cindy's Louisiana BBQ Shrimp, or Sherried Mushroom Pork Chops, or Steamed Tilapia, or Ann's Chicken Souvlaki.

Linda

LOL, dcarch, I'd be serving them my grassfed beef, just so they knew what a burger was SUPPOSED to taste like!!!

Annie

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! I think I probably could pre-prep some stuff the night before and just store it in the fridges at the house (the volunteer coordinator only said the meal must be prepapred start to finish at the house... she didn't say it had to be done all in one day). So I'm going to email her and ask about that. Will also look into the possibility of bringing in rotisserie chickens.

spacific, the baked ziti idea sounds good - Do you (or anyone else) have a favorite recipe for it?

Annie - individual meatloafs sound kind of neat. Do you find that you have to reduce the baking time by a huge margin when making them that way?

My husband is encouraging me not to go too ambitious or too gourmet for my first time out (hopefully I'll do okay at it and enjoy it enough to make this an ongoing volunteer project). Probably a good idea. So if I can pre-prep in their kitchen, that opens up a lot of possibilities. Otherwise I'll likely stick with something pretty simple to start.

If they won't let you chop some vegetables and bring in I don't see how store-bought cooked chickens would be allowed but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Not sure how much time you have for slow cooking things. There's a lot of things that don't require a lot of prep but just take time to slow cook if that's an option.

The key here is that it has to be available for an hour. Garlic bread doesn't last an hour so if you do something like that, I'd use dinner rolls or crusty bread. I'd go with a baked pasta or a stovetop combination, like a baked ziti or the macaroni hotdish type thing. That keeps warm a long time, is easy to prepare and doesn't take long to cook.

How about potroast? Sloppy Joes? Pulled pork and/or beef? Or something like a sausage jambalaya or a dirty rice? Meatloaf is a popular comfort dish but I might go with a potato salad (warm or cold) or baked or roasted potatoes instead of mashed since it'll last longer, and better. I'm not sure I'd mess with the mini meatloaves, instead I think I'd opt for meatballs. A turkey or ham or both to cover 20 people could be well-received. Country style ribs slow baked would be fairly easy and are delicious. Soup, stew or chili might be popular depending on the weather. Even a pan of sausage & potatoes or sausage and rice is easy and good eating. Would also be easier for a first time outing.

I'd also think about some pan bars/cookies for a comforting dessert. Brownies, chocolate chip bars, lemon bars, etc are pretty easy and real popular.

I'd probably look more toward salad or slaw for vegetable since few vegetables hold up for an hour or more.

Congrats to you for volunteering and caring.

Tara, it's great that you're doing this. We have this very simple dish that is so easy and fast to put together and is enjoyed by most. It has onions in it, but since they're layered and sliced they're easy for kids[or others] to pick out. You start with a layer of sliced onions in 9x13 baking pans. Then a layer of pork chops or pieces of chicken. Then 3 cups of rice over all. Pour on 3 cans of low sodium fat free chicken or beef broth. Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for an hour. The rice absorbs all the great flavors and the meat comes out tender. Sometimes we put mushrooms on the onion layer. Some nice green veggie on the side or a salad would work great. Simple desserts have been mentioned already. For 20 I'd make 3 pans the first time then see how much is left over. It does make great leftovers for them to nuke for lunch the next day. Easy on the stomach too.

Tara, you didn't say what part of the counrty you are in, but here in Chicago at the RMH there is a time limit. If I recall correctly, you cannot get into the kitchen before 2 pm for the dinner crew as they also serve a breakfast and a light lunch.

Also check if others will be there to help or share duties. Again, here there were about 5 of us, some doing the sides, some on dessert duty, etc. You may want to check so you don't run into a conflict over appliances, such as the oven. If you can get names and email/phone numbers a short meeting may be a good idea.

And most of all, bless you for this.

Tara, I find that the mini meatloaves take about 45 minutes to bake, my loaf pan full of meatloaf mixture takes about an hour and a half. Meatballs are good too, but they take me a long time to roll and either fry or bake, which is why I wondered about your time frame when the kitchen would be available to you, or how much time you can expend there (i.e. do you have an afternoon free, or do you work until 4 pm, etc.)

Also, if you are doing this for more than one day, can you make something one day and freeze it for next week?

Mashed potatoes hold well in a crockpot, several here have done that for holiday dinners, so if you're holding a meal for an hour, that might be an option. Vegetables can be "held" in a crockpot or roaster too, somehow I'm thinking that the place is far more likely to have the ever-present crockpot than it is a roaster.

Cynic, why doesn't garlic bread last for an hour? I make garlic breadsticks regularly and rewarm them the next day, and I made garlic bread for Ashley's wedding with bruschetta for topping and it was fine two days later, rewarmed in the oven. I just sliced loaves of french bread, drizzled with garlic and olive oil and baked it on sheet pans until it was toasted but not hard.

Annie

If you leave food in the fridge overnight, be sure to package and label it so no one will think it is leftovers and help themselves to it. Label it with an unambiguous message such as YOU TOUCH, YOU DIE!!!!

Jim

There's no time limit as to how long I can be in the kitchen - they only serve dinner - no breakfast or lunch, so I shouldn't need to worry about running into anyone else or there being competition for appliances, etc.

Also, no one will be there to help share duties, although the staff can put away the leftovers if the meal preparer needs to leave before the meal is over. Whoever provides the meal is responsible for bringing all the ingredients, cooking, and cleaning up after themselves. For my day, it will probably just be me. If I keep it a relatively simple meal and get there in plenty of time, I don't see why I'd have to have more help. My husband may come too, though, if we can get his Mom to keep our infant son. My DH makes a great sous chef!

Did you have the chance to ask them about bringing in the already cooked rotiserie chickens? I wouldn't think that would be a problem if they were prepared in a commercial kitchen - say as in Costco. I hope you can bring them in. The sky is the limit with what you could do with the chicken.

Fortunately there were no restrictions on the food I prepared for tornado clean up last weekend.

When is your assigned date for the meal?

Teresa

King Ranch Chicken might be a good choice.

I thought the same thing sonnergrandmom. A wonderful forum member from Texas sent me a wonderful regional cookbook. It contained a number of recipes that would turn a rotisserie chicken into a fabulous meal.

Oh, and I just thought of another, Ann T's salisbury steak, that holds well and would go together easily enough to serve 20, even little kids would eat it I think.

All by yourself? Now that IS going to take some organization but I know you can do it.

Annie

Annie1992, breadsticks would be great. I was thinking the more conventional garlic bread, French bread open face broiled or baked, hot and crusty. For me, it doesn't hold long so dig in and eat. By the end of a meal, I toss it (same with leftover toast from breakfast) and if someone's late, it's not very good although you could put it on the plate and pile the pasta on it. I don't find toasted bread reheats well. Breadsticks, dinner rolls and the like of course are different.

Baked spaghetti is easy to make for a crowd, and easy to either reheat or keep warm. Add a refreshing tossed salad and buns or garlic bread and you have a balanced meal. There are lots of recipes on the internet.

I did mean to post a link to my favourite baked spaghetti recipe.

Here is a link that might be useful: thats my home

(1) Home-made mac & cheese with roast chicken (2d dish) & maybe a salad (and a succotash could be nice).

(2) Chili? Popular -- can be done with beef, chicken or ground turkey, fresh corn bread on the side is quick and easy to do in volume. Corn on the cob -- halved maybe. A salad -- nothing time sensitive if you're concerned about cooking for a crowd and not accustomed to it.

(3) Pasta -- easy to do batches on the pasta itself and a nice basic fresh sauce is easy -- saute chopped/minced carrots, celery, onion and a sweet red pepper in olive oil, for a few minutes, then add chopped garlic for a minute, then the tomatoes (good canned tomatoes are way better than bad fresh ones, although if you have good fresh ones at volume that's terrific -- 3/4 in the food processor and 1/4 chopped or cubed). Kosher salt, a little pepper. Some white wine a couple of minutes before the end. It's easy to augment this with meatballs or pan cooked sausages for people who want meat (chicken -- any meat that seems right). Good bread, a nice salad, maybe some oven-roasted asparagus . . . easy meal for 10 or 20 or 30.

How about Ginger's Crockpot French Dip sandwiches with coleslaw? Get the French Dip going in the morning, make the coleslaw and chill in refrig. during the day.

It's been a long time since I volunteered at the RMH-the rules were very different. There might be some helpful meal ideas on this website from our local RMH.

Kudos on your thoughtfulness; you are a winner in my book whatever you make!

Here is a link that might be useful: RMH