Your link in the other thread took a long time to load but it came through fine. I'm reposting it here for convenience. Stuffed chicken breasts..

This seems like an excellent choice for a ladies' lunch. Soup and side pasta sounds hearty, but difficult to serve elegantly. I have some Tom&Jerry dishes for soup and sandwich, and it's still a bother. Either you're facing the middle with the soup on one side and the side (pasta or sandwich) on the other, or you're facing the soup and the side is really to your side. Someone should make half circle soup dishes. :) Given that, just for ease of eating and conversation, I'd choose the chicken, but I also think I'd rather eat it regardless of logistics. I also like the idea in the picture of serving it with green and wax beans (but I just love string beans anyway). If you want to get silly fancy, you could lay the beans in stripes. :)

Your orzo dish and asparagus should go well with the chicken. I wouldn't call crepes "light" though, unless you're comparing to fudge brownies with whipped cream. :) I think "fruit in a crepe" (which seems to have the emphasis on the fruit, where traditionally, the fruit would be garnish) would go nicely after the chicken/orzo/asparagus lunch. I could make lots of suggestions, but I think you've already outlined a very nice lunch.

A nice fruit medley with seasonal fruits: pears, apples, melon, grapes ... even pineapple, banana or frozen strawberries

add jello, cottage cheese or 'fluff' at your ... discretion ... (ah, how life was simple when we were but picky rug rats ...)

That sounds lovely! I think the fruit with a crepe also would be lovely.

The only thing that I would suggest is some kind of a mouth cleansing or refreshing drink as creamy soup and chicken can be heavy on the palate. While asparagus is lovely it is usually done in butter so again you might need a palate cleanser or refresher of some kind.

Maybe peach mojitos without any alcohol would work. There's mint and lime juice in peach mojitas and they're very refreshing.

I have done more "ladies' luncheons" that I care to think of. I belong to a bridge club and have for easily 50 years, who has lunch in each other's homes every month. That amounts to once a year for 50 years...? you figure it out!
And then there are the luncheons for a birthday or just because.
BUT....my constant concern is what can I make that is not chicken!?
Likely that is not a problem with your group because you don't meet monthly....but consider it.
For that reason my choice would be the zuppa Toscano...And a nice Italian salad as a side....maybe mixed greens with a balsamic dressing and perhaps artichoke hearts... crusty baguette...or perhaps a foccacia....and maybe tiramisu for dessert....t.he soup is light adn the salad isn't heavy so go all out on the dessert.

I, too, have hosted more ladies luncheons than I care to count. I agree with Linda -- the soup, an Italian salad (you can do a copycat Olive Garden one if you want -- WM sells the dressing), good crusty bread and plenty of butter. Tiramisu is a great (and easy make ahead) dessert but if you live somewhere like I do, you own't be able to find the lady fingers so . . . I would do either a croustade (a pie not in a pie pan) or a crumble/crisp and a really good vanilla ice cream. It will be in September so apple would be my dessert fruit of choice.

Thinking of Italian, this nigella white tiramisu is to die for. Even people who are not rum fans gobble it up.

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/members/saschas-white-tiramisu

Shows you how different tastes are. Chicken of any kind is hardly ever served at lunches and luncheons in my community, and I'm not speaking of the Jewish pescatarian part. I think the fancy, stuffed chicken would be a nice change of pace. And, of course, we like our vegetables here. :)

Crepes sounds like way too much work. Maybe peaches with raspberry sauce and a dab of ReddiWhip and some store bought biscotti or ginger snaps (I have no shame!) I also might go with a lighter soup, maybe carrot or squash bisque. Both easy and delicious.

I make dead easy squash soup that is creamy in texture and yet light on the dairy. Just buy some store bought squash soup and mix it with some cooked red lentils (have to get the red kind, not the brown ones) and season to taste. Can add a dollop of lite sour cream with some store bought pesto (or make fresh from your garden if you have any herbs this time of year).

My choice would be the chicken breasts with roasted asparagus and salad. An apple crostata/galette would be nice for dessert and fitting for September. Easy to make and always well received.

Nothing like a ladies luncheon ... Used to ask my grandad what was in roman meal bread that he/we found so appealing ...

'ground up Romans'

Is there a particular copycat recipe for zuppa toscana that's better than others?

I think both luncheon ideas sound good.

I'd make your stuffed chicken breasts with a side orzo salad and roasted asparagus or a late summer vegetable like zucchini or squash. Save the zuppa toscana for a winter luncheon.

For dessert, I'd make the crepes ahead of time (of course), and then skip the stuffing step. Just fold each in half, and then half again (so it makes a triangle). Top with a simple peach sauce and a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Maybe a light dusting of nutmeg and powdered sugar over the top.

I don’t know that there’s a better one, they’re all similar. It seems the main difference in them is the type of green used.. kale, spinach or other. I also like to add a touch of sherry to mine.

Sherry sounds good!

I usually add sherry to all my cream soups

If voting is still open, I'd choose the chicken. It sounds interesting / different, and soup is better to have when the weather turns bad. :) I also think an apple dessert of any kind would be great!

Actually, an orzo salad was on my mind too. I’ve never made one so I don’t have a T&T recipe. DH says he doesn’t like orzo hence, I’ve never made it. I Also doubt he’s never had it along with the other thing he says he doesn’t like. Like guinoa , couscous and the like. But as he won’t be here......

Haha - if your hubby ever ate Rice-a-Roni, he's eaten orzo, I think...

Louise, I could see Ina Garten's Orzo With Roasted Vegetables with the chicken. I often add asparagus when I make it, too.

LOL, my DH refers to quinoa and couscous as "filler." He will eat orzo since he knows it's pasta. Go figure.

Couscous is pasta too! Whereas quinoa is a seed which is difficult to cook properly if you don't have the right instructions.

Louise, you can make an orzo salad like any other pasta salad, just cut the vegetables smaller. It's really good with a light Italian style herb vinaigrette. EVOO is too heavy a flavor for it, IMHO, Cook the pasta on the al dente side, dress it warm, and let the salad sit a good while so the flavors will blend and soak in.

To go with the chicken, I'd go for a milder salad, so fresh (perhaps blanched or lightly steamed if you don't want crunchy) pimentos or red bell peppers, or pickled, rather than roasted. Olive bits, but not strong ones. Artichoke bottoms. Zucchini. Pine nuts. Chopped. Fresh thyme, maybe.

spinach, ricotta chicken breasts.

Sounds delicious ... but maybe a little heavy for lunch, especially with a side dish, salad and desert. Perhaps you could "downsize it" by using chicken tenderloins ... and serve it as a small-bites-entree with a big plate of salad?

Asparagu, maybe roasted.

Be still my heart! I wish I lived in your neighborhood.

For dessert, I ant something light. Maybe fruit in a crepe?

Light seems right, but my mind goes straight to cheesecake. Personally, I'd "downsize" the entree and splurge with cheesecake.

Crepes sounds like way too much work.

I can't say crepes and I are good friends, but a crepe restaurant just opened in our area ... serving both sweet and savory crepes, and I think you COULD opt for a chicken-ricotta-spinach crepe as the main dish. It'd be different.

An apple crostata/galette would be nice for dessert and fitting for September. Easy to make and always well received.

Yes! Apple salads are perfect for fall. Not that we've quite reached fall just yet.

and soup is better to have when the weather turns bad.

Yes, I agree. Soup is so good in the winter.

"Couscous is pasta too!"

Right but for some reason I always think of it as a grain. I'll eat it but could easily do without it. Probably more so with quinoa.

I didn't know couscous was pasta! That's my least favourite of them all, it's so tasteless. I do have some in the freezer so I'll make a point of eating it more often. I do like quinoa.

Jasdip, couscous just wheat flour that has been kneaded and rubbed (water added). The amount of flavor depends on what you put with it, same as any other pasta. Try a tagine. You don't need a tagine pot, just a covered casserole or dutch oven. LOTS of flavor. Herbs and spices. Just plain couscous can be nice in a little broth, or good and hot with salted butter, but that's a kind of comfort food, same as if it were noodles, not a proper dish. You can also use it like rice to catch a sauce, but that's more like if you're out of rice rather than it being first choice.

Quinoa is nutrious while couscous isn't even if the texture is similar.

Couscous isn't any less nutritious than other wheat pastas, like orzo. The quinoa seeds probably have more trace vitamins and minerals, though I don't know how much is lost when it's cooked.

Quinoa (uncooked) has about 64% carbohydrate, 14% protein and 6% fat.

Couscous (dry) has about 77% carbohydrate, 13% protein and 0 fat.

Couscous is much softer than Quinoa, partially because it soaks up so much water. The hydration difference makes the cooked numbers much more dissimilar by weight.

There's more variation in the grains used in orzo, so you can only tell by the package listing what the nutrition breakdown is. I wouldn't worry about it. It's pasta. It's a nice vehicle for salad. Starches aren't un-nutritious unless you're that boy in England who ate not a thing but white starches.

A cup of cooked quinoa contains 8 grams of complete protein and no gluten and 5 grams of fiber...
A cup of couscous, cooked contains 6 grams of an incomplete protein and 2/2 grams of fiber.
nutritionally quinoa is head and shoulders above couscous.....and certainly not hard to cook.

What about whole wheat couscous?

Carol, traditional couscous is never whole wheat, so the name of ww is "whole wheat couscous". It would have more fiber and less protein, I'd guess.

Linda, agreed about the incomplete protein. It's WHEAT. And of course it has gluten, which is is the protein, and that's not a bad thing unless you have Celiac disease. Wheat isn't good for people sensitive to FODMAPs either, but that doesn't make it evil. The wheat we eat is a complex hybrid grain. Quinoa are seeds.

Comparing cooked is a moving target because there's so much more water in cooked couscous. If you're comparing cooked, you'd have to compare actual portion sizes--what people typically eat--rather than volume. You can make any argument you want with numbers by changing the measurements. It doesn't address the point. That's why I went for percentages of dry. It's far more accurate than gram for gram with different hydration levels bulking up the volume.

Quinoa isn't hard to cook if you know how. What I said was "quinoa is a seed which is difficult to cook properly if you don't have the right instructions." A lot of people just dump it in a pot of water, as if it were grain, and don't open it up. That's not a pleasant thing to eat, and I don't even know if it opens up in the digestion if it isn't prepared correctly or just passes through.

I'm glad to have a productive discussion with you, and when you know better I'm happy to admit that I'm wrong, but you needn't keep trolling me and trying to make up arguments where none exist. It's not fun. But maybe I shouldn't say because you probably haven't read what I actually said here either.

Bumblebeez, I'm not arguing that, really. Just pointing out that pasta isn't that bad. Quinoa has the trace nutrients that make whole foods nutritious, and, as Linda said, it has a complete set of amino acids, a complete protein, which means that if quinoa is your diet staple, if you're a vegan, or a peasant where it's grown, it's an excellent plant nutrient. If it's not the dominant component of your diet, it's not such a big deal.

The difference is when you are making a side dish for chicken or a meaty soup, as we've been discussing. The protein is already covered. Louise was planning an orzo salad, which is pasta. Orzo is made from a variety of wheats, some with more or less protein, and more or less fiber, but it's purpose in the salad is as a textural element that ties together the salad and provides a needed starch element to the meal (less so for the bean soup). Carbs are needed for nutritional balance, but other than fiber (which is important), they're all used in the body as glucose, and can come in any form.

There are plenty enough carbs in quinoa to fill that purpose, so it was a fine suggestion. My point was that couscous isn't un-nutritious just because it's made of white flour, and neither is any other pasta, when you're eating a wide variety of foods including meats and colorful vegetables, and have all categories covered.

Apologies, Louise, I didn't mean to hijack your thread. Have you decided what you're serving? Is there anything else we can do to help you?

I don't think that anyone on this forum needs to worry about being undernourished. .......

Wheat is a "seed" as well as quinoa.....and rice. and whole wheat cous cous contains more fiber and more protein than cous cous made from white flour. And of course you can have "regular" couscous or Israli couscous....and unless you make it by hand from something different they are made of semolina flour. And while there are many many different varieties of quinoa, I can only regularly fond 3 in my grocery store. The red seems to hold up better in salads, and I think ti has less of a green flavor....grassy perhaps.

No worries about the route this thread has taken, I find it informative. That said, my concern for a once a month meal is more for the overall enjoyment of the meal and not the nutritional value. We can all spend the other 30 days of the month to concern ourselves with that. I will defiantly be going with the chicken, some kind of orzo and a salad. ‍♀️. Oh, and defiantly wine!

defiantly? that's my girl ...

Sounds like a great menu. Delicious, balanced, elegant without being fussy, unstressful to prepare and serve, and wine for lunch!

Have you decided for sure on the dessert? Still thinking fruit crepes?

Thanks pillog! As far as dessert, in keeping with my usual method of being indecisive, I think I may do these. I have the cones and have been waiting to try them for a while

https://www.cbc.ca/life/greatcanadianbakingshow/brandy-snaps-gcbs-1.5051630

I would fill them with flavoured whipped cream. They are very light, well not calorie wise, but as I said, it’s a special occasion.

That looks fantastic! I've never seen anything quite like it. I mean, the concept, yeah, is similar to cannoli, but imagining the flavor and texture of the recipe (as written) is quite different. Have you made them before? The description makes me think a test run might be good. I've saved the recipe to maybe try one day I'm feeling adventurous. I wonder if it would work with honey instead of the corn syrup? I have too much honey and not the golden corn syrup, though I think I have the demerara sugar.

This sounds like it would go very well with your menu. Also, I'm guessing you could make the shells the evening before, which could help with your preparation timing. I find that making a meal for three is just as much of a deal as for ten, so I like to prep ahead whatever I can.

Re "calorie wise", it is an occasion, as you said, but also, I'd much rather have one really fantastic bite to lower the caloric intake than face something meh in a much larger portion. Hopefully your guests will feel the same if they have any qualms at all, and enjoy the heck out of it!

I make a similar Brandy snap at Christmas and they're beloved by my people although they do have Brandy in them. They're not that hard to make but there's a technique in rolling and doing it fast and cooking them just to the right place

Bumblebees, could you please share your version? I was just planning on adding a bit of brandy to the snap and the cream.

Hi Louise, I'm having to use my phone microphone so I have to read out the ingredients and I apologize it's not in recipe format. So here it is

one stick butter no substitutions, three tablespoons molasses, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup sugar, two tablespoons of Brandy, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. in a saucepan heat the butter and molasses over medium-low heat until butter melts stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat.

Stir in flour sugar Brandy ginger salt until well blended and smooth. Set saucepan in skillet of hot water to keep batter warm. Drop batter by measuring teaspoon on prepared cookie sheet -spread batter in circular motion to make a 4in round. Bake cookies 5 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet until just the edges are set about 2 minutes. Working as quickly as possible roll each cookie into the shape you want