When I have a gang of people staying over at camp and we are going out and about all day we usually have a variety of pastries for breakfast. It is easy clean up so we can get out the door and there is no cooking involved. Usually someone grabs any leftover for a evening snack.

Sunday there is going to be 12 of us for dinner at my house after the pumpkin patch. The meal needs to be easy since I don't get home until Friday night. Last week I made the chicken soup broth and froze it and the homemade noodles are in the fridge. All I have to do is put the defrosted broth and noodles in the crock pot in the morning and pick up hoggies at the store.

Keep it simple so you can enjoy your guests instead of spending your time in the kitchen. I agree that most people don't eat 3 big meals a day.

Jinx, please don't...that last pasta spinach dish looks delish!

I'm listening and absorbing and trying on all your suggestions in my mind. I really appreciate them all.

Thank you and I'll keep mulling, with your help!!

I edited to add it to my last post. :)

I can’t wait to try it! I’ve loved every dish I’ve ever gotten off Deb’s site.

I would plan breakfast on the second day around your sightseeing plans/lunch reservations. I'd think a selection of nice breads/croissants and fruit would be enough breakfast but if you are eating later in the afternoon, maybe an egg/veggie scramble or fritatta. I don't think an egg dish is especially heavy unless you load it up with cheese or pair it with potatoes, meat etc. In fact, I find it less filling than oatmeal, cereal etc.

I'd also have some snacks to take with in case you do get held up on lunch-- apples, small bags of nuts, kind bars, etc.

For a light dinner, my first thought was french onion soup-- it's a little special but pretty light. Also light and yummy, a tomato veggie bisque. I like mine with onion and zucchini.

For their arrival meal-- I would make Ina Garten's baked shrimp scampi. It can be prepared ahead and just be ready to put in the oven. It's a quick cook and so delicious. It doesn't take much fuss and mine always comes out looking like this which I think is a great presentation for a casual elegant meal over conversation. It is great with a salad and bread.. or you can add linguine.. or rice to make it more substantial.

Oh, that looks good, Funky! Saving it.

Jinx, I have been making it for many years-- it's always a crowd pleaser. There are a few others here who make it also.. iirc maybe Localeater?

I cut back on the butter.. but otherwise follow the recipe (rare for me LOL). What I love is that it can be the center of a light meal or a more substantial meal depending on your needs. It is especially good with asparagus :)

ETA link: Baked Shrimp Scampi Recipe | Ina Garten | Food Network

I wonder how picky they are? ie: My SIL only drinks 2% milk, she puts 2/3 milk with 1/3 coffee at breakfast. The coffee beans have to be freshly ground just before immersion in hot water. Then dry toast, no white flour. They arrive, borrow my car and go grocery shopping.

I'd ask if they have preferences or special diet needs.

Nicole, I did ask and only arugula was a no no. Otherwise they're good to go.

That shrimp scampi looks like a keeper for sure!

Prep time: 30 min .. can be done well in advance

Cook time: 13 minutes!

I know it looks like I am campaigning for it-- not! I think you have many great options. But it really is a great dish to prepare ahead and throw in the oven after you visit for a bit. It is ready to serve in less than 15 min! I used to make this for Christmas eve for just that reason. Also, i think the baked shrimp scampi tastes and presents better than traditional :)

Funky and Annie, I’m going to try it with my fav plant based butter. I’ll report back when I do. :)

I serve and cook with this often and no one can tell the difference. I love this stuff.

Yes @Funkyart I am a devotee to Ina’s Baked Scampi. It’s so easy to prep ahead. We like it with angel hair and a ton of veggies

@Jinx, I don't remember if i ever made it back when I used vegan butter (I used earth balance).. but I do know others have shifted the fat to use more olive oil. Really, the wine, shallots, garlic and lemon zest provide most of the flavor so I am sure it will be fine (but i do love butter!)

For overnight guests, I usually do sort of a breakfast bar. Some berries, bananas, homemade granola, yogurt, cottage cheese, maybe bagels and cream cheese or muffins and honey butter. It always goes over well and everyone can eat as much or as little as they want. I cannot face bacon/sausages/eggs in the morning. My DH and I eat only a late breakfast and then dinner with maybe fruit and cheees or some nuts mid afternoon so when we visit people who have prepared 3 square meals, it is sometimes a chore to get through all that food!

When we have guests at our cabin we usually have a continental type breakfast with granola and one other type of cereal, yogurt, fruit, bagels or toast, milk, juice, coffee. Once in a while we make blueberry buttermilk pancakes. We aren't heavy breakfast eaters and we just serve the kind of things we would normally have. We obviously aren't bothered by carbs.

Nekotish, we are the same! I just now had oatmeal and tea. I most likely will not eat again until dinner. Perhaps some grapes this afternoon. I love breakfast food, but not first thing. We occasionally have breakfast for dinner.

I have found that to post in Home Decorating Conversations, I have to click on the forum, then post my question. The other two, Kitchen Table and Cooking show up in the choices, but HDC does not unless I am already in it.

{See my nacho post.}

ETA: I love doughnuts or cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

I'd probably do eggs and bacon and also have some breads available, but it gives people a non-carb option. For the light dinner. I'd have some kind of soup ready with muffins and rolls that sort of thing.

Fruit available at all meals.

You know your guests best, but IME, guests always appreciate thoughtful quality, home cooked meals. They will like whatever you do.

But the things they most like when I entertain are:

1. Control over exactly what and how much they eat ... this is why I am a big fan of "bars" of all sorts. People love making up a plate exactly as they want it. They love variety, being able to take just a taste, and making it "just so." In that vein, I'd offer a variety of breads and yogurt and fruit for breakfast. If that feels more like buying than cooking, it doesn't have to be. You can make a fruit compote or fruit salad, and maybe mini muffins, both sweet and savory .Next time I stay over, I'd love your DH's homemade graham crackers w sliced banana and almond butter for breakfast.

2. Something delicious that is also light and healthy. Sure, everyone enjoys something ooey gooey with cheese. But if you can make something they truly enjoy that doesn't feel heavy, most everyone appreciates that. We had dinner over a friend's house and they made a wonderful meal, but it was so rich I felt sick after (and I had small portions)

There are exceptions to this (but you know your audience). I assume you aren't feeding teens, for example. And, pardon if this is sexist, but there is a subset of the male population that is very meat forward, let's say. TBH I tend to cook with my women guests in mind and hope the men have been trained!

PS If your friends avoid carbs, you'd want to know that for all of the menus, not just breakfast.

Oh, and a more specific suggestion for soup --- very easy and something most people enjoy; Stracciatella. Giada has a good recipe. I'm making it Friday for guests along with a panini bar.

Annie, we love Ina’s Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast, if that’s the one you were referring to. Also, her Baked Shrimp Scampi Funkyart mentioned is very good, along with her Linguine with Scampi (dinner for us tonight).

Mtn has brought Wilma back :)

Hmm, thats odd! I didnt do that

it looks like you used two different user IDs.. one is Mtnredux and the other is Mtnredux_gw.

No they certainly aren't teens...he was a groomsman in our wedding and she was there too.

Given what most of you are suggesting, I'm now thinking big dinner, light breakfast, eat out for big lunch, light dinner, big breakfast so we alternate the big meals with lighter ones. Also I do tend to eat healthier, cook low salt, watch the fat and make a lot of the carbs optional. I too have been so uncomfortable after a meal that was too rich...it can really aggravate my ulcer.

Re the turkey breast, I cook it a la Ina Garten, but I use the flavorings from Pierre Franey https://www.pierrefraney.com/recipes/poultry_and_game/roast_breast_of_turkey_with_apple-sausage_stuffing.html I find I like it better doing it slow and low as she does vs. hot and fast as he does.

I also do all sorts of bars and sometimes it feels like I'm cheating or lazy, but instead of making some beautiful composed salad, I put all the ingredients in little bowls and let people make their own.

Bumble, exactly. My bars are more work because I offer so many choices and need to prep each one. But they are less stressful.

Annie, I think your plan makes sense. You send them off that last day with something almost brunch like that way...

Funky - that's odd, apparently I do. Wilma was at the office today. So odd.

PS I was just looking for a baked apple recipe for our guests this Friday and this looks good: https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/fall-air-baked-apples/15523/ .I like that I can offer yogurt or ice cream with it. I can pretty much guess who will choose which, LOL.

“Re the turkey breast, I cook it a la Ina Garten, but I use the flavorings from Pierre Franey.”

That sounds really yummy. Pierre’s a ggod source! When I make Ina’s, I rub the herb paste on several hours before cooking the breast.

We stayed at a B&B in Kauai several years ago and our favorite breakfast was baked oatmeal. We'd never had it before, and I've been making it ever since. It has an egg and walnuts for protein. It takes just minutes to get it into the oven.

Baked Oatmeal

1 1/4 c. milk
1 egg
1 tbsp. oil
1/4 c. brown sugar or other sweetener (honey, maple syrup), to taste
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 c. rolled oats
1/4 c. raisins or dried cranberries
1 very ripe banana, mashed, or 1 small apple, chopped
1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Butter individual custard cups or baking dishes. Whisk together milk, egg, and oil. Stir in remaining ingredients. Divide among baking dishes. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees, until center is cooked through and edges are lightly browned.

To serve, top with a pat of butter and milk.

I divide the mixture among individual baking dishes or 10 oz. Pyrex custard cups. It can also be baked in a small baking dish. Recipe can be doubled and leftovers refrigerated and reheated. It makes about 4 servings.

It's kind of like a flourless banana bread, but since it isn't a baked cake, measurements don't have to be exact. I don't know why there's baking powder in it but it does seem to make it dome a little more than the one time I left it out.

Eileen, that’s making my mouth water! Mmm.

I just came across another oatmeal recipe, but yours sounds better. I like that yours can be served in separate baking dishes.

https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-slow-cooker-creamy-pumpkin-spice-oatmeal-250979

Eileen, that baked oatmeal sounds good. Do you mean the single recipe is for 4? Or the doubled?

I’m a huge fan of baked oatmeal and often make this recipe for my family. I use frozen mixed fruit.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/baked-oatmeal/

Annie, I have five relatives ranging in age from 70 to 81 coming to visit on the 24th of this month. My husband will be out of town the entire time, and the day before they arrive I am hosting three couples from our neighborhood in our street’s annual Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? party. I’ve decided to do two big lasagnas, one for neighbors’ dinner and one for relatives on the second night. My mother is feeding them dinner on the 24th.

Day 2: I’ll have English muffins, crockpot oatmeal, and yoghurt for breakfast, and will take them and my mother to the golf club for lunch. Dinner: the lasagna.

Day three I will make a frittata for breakfast, then lunch will be a homemade creamy white bean soup with italian sausage and kale. There is no cream in the soup; the texture is made by pureeing the beans and stock, then adding the kale and sausage. The soup will be accompanied by grilled pimento cheese sandwiches and fruit salad. That night we will go to the neighboring town where DD and SIL live and meet them for dinner so relatives can enjoy Andrew (my mother’s idea. DD is skeptical that A will make a good impression on anybody after a long day at daycare but is going along with it because my mother really wants these people to admire her only great grandchild. Most of them have GGC’s already.)

Day 4 they leave so I will have an elaborate brunch with my baked apple french toast, bacon, freshly squeezed OJ and either grits or potatoes O’Brien and send them on their way.

So altogether not too bad— I will be making one big dinner, a big lunch and a big brunch for 7 people, plus minor breakfasts 2 days. The soup recipe is from Entertaining with Beth’s website. Have not chosen a dessert yet but hoping to talk the pastry chef at the club i to making me something. Otherwise I will probably do a blueberry, lemon and cardamom pie in a pecan crust. Its unusual and everybody likes it, plus all the usual seasonal desserts they’ll be having in a month for Thanksgiving.

The single recipe would serve four but they wouldn't be generous servings. A serving of oatmeal is 1/2 cup uncooked and this recipe has one cup of oats. I find it very filling though, but we usually eat it for brunch after already having had an early breakfast. The single recipe should be enough for breakfast if you served toast or fruit with it.

I should add that DH likes cinnamon so I increased it from the original recipe. You might want to try it with less the first time you make it.

@Jilly i love the potatoes o’brien. I use them i hashbrown casserole. Where do you find the plant butter? I’d like to try it.

Tina, most of my local grocery stores carry it. I discovered it after my GERD and LPR diagnosis last year. DH loves real butter, but this has become his favorite now! :)

ETA: I should say — I have not tried it in a baked recipe, such as cake. I’ve heard it’s fine, but I don’t know. I think I’ll get some sticks of it and experiment. But I’ve used it for sautéing and such, works great.

You can always make a strata the night before ... i use hash browns, a box of stuffing, some eggs [12], your favorite meat and plenty of cheese. Pop it in the oven for about an hour in the a.m.

kswl, sounds great and you have it well in hand!

I can't tell you all how much your contributions here have meant to me. I'm enjoying trying on many different scenarios and how they might work. Being fall, I'm now mulling a baked ham...local store has black forest ham which is delish. That too can do double duty for sandwiches for the light supper, and somehow says fall to me with acorn squash for dinner, butternut squash soup for the light supper. The baked oatmeal sounds delish, and having lots of fruit around will work well for multiple uses.

Thank you all so much and keep 'em coming!

🧑‍🍳

The baked oatmeal sounds great. I am a strange breakfast eater, as I wake up super early and have no appetite for several hours. Even then I tend to eat very light (like a yogurt) or maybe some oatmeal on a hungry day). I am a very unenthusiastic breakfast maker.

I'm good wtih later on brunch or so, but this baked oatmeal seems like it would be so nice to have prepared and add to as people wish.

Saved it.Thank you

I think I've decided on the Sally's baked oatmeal for one breakfast....with dried cranberries, apples and walnuts. It sounds so good with the maple syrup in it. Yum. I have lots of homemade muffins I can toast if they want one on the side...corn, apple cinnamon, blueberry walnut, lemon poppy seed...

I would increase the milk to 2 cups in Sally's recipe, Annie. It looks dry to me. Like I said, the measurements don't need to be exact for baked oatmeal. We have to pour quite a bit of milk on it when it's served, and my recipe is wetter than hers. My recipe looks more custardy but the mashed banana contributes to that too.

In this recipe she uses the same amount of milk with 2 cups of oats that Sally uses with 3 cups.

https://cookieandkate.com/baked-oatmeal-recipe/

I’ve made Sally’s recipe multiple times and it isn’t too dry. I do, however, always use applesauce instead of banana, and watch carefully so it doesn’t overcook. I’ve made it with chopped apples and also with frozen mixed berries, and my family likes the berries best.

I can't get the whole recipe to show. If there's berries underneath, that would explain why it isn't dry.

This is the baked oatmeal recipe I use. It can be made ahead and frozen.

You all really go out of your way. I would ask what they prefer. Personally a slice of toast with peanut butter would do me. LOL

But, I would probably just do bacon and eggs with toast.

At this point I'm thinking of heading to the creamery for their cinnamon ice cream and serving it over stewed apples for dessert...

😂😂😂