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FUN/DIY/ Holidays/Parties/ How-Tos/ RECIPES

How To Feed A Large Crowd Without Cooking Or Baking

Need to feed a large crowd of people but don’t want to turn on the oven?
Want to have a party without showing up exhausted from cooking? 
Do you want to know how to create a lite and healthy, well-rounded meal without spending much time in the kitchen?

Well, this post will tell you how. Actually, it will tell you how my sisters and I did it. A week ago today, we threw my youngest sister a baby shower.  We had about 20 people coming, and we wanted to have a beautiful array of food, but did not want to spend much time making it all.  My youngest sister was only in town for a few days, so we didn’t want anything to keep us from spending as much time with her as we could, and we were not interested in hanging out in a hot kitchen for that spent time!
Our solution was to make our own Hearty, Healthy & Delicious 
SALAD BAR!

We wanted it to be hearty enough to pass for dinner, so we made sure we included toppings that were filling and hearty– protein and carbs along with typical vegetable toppings and fruit.  Some of our protein toppings included shredded chicken, bacon, cheese and nuts. (could also use hard boiled eggs and beans.)  For carbs, we included whole-wheat mini bow-tie pasta noodles, and served bread along with the salad.

{that is my sisters hand, don’t you like her funky green nail polish?
I’m so bummed I didn’t get good pics.  My camera quit on me right at the beginning of the shower}

So how to do this without slaving over a stove/oven? 

Here is what you do:

~Make a grocery list of salad toppings (the ones we used are listed below)

~Go to Wal-mart, buy ingredients for toppings.

~Stop by Sam’s Club (which is usually right next door to Wal-mart) and pick up a few Rotisserie Chickens and their Spring Salad Mix.

~Swing by Panera Bread (or any bread store/bakery), and pick up a few loaves of Asiago Cheese Bread.

~Hit your local dollar store for paper products.
*I went to the dollar tree and found clear, hard plastic bowls that were the perfect size for our toppings.  I knew all the colors of the vegetables and toppings we used would make art on the buffet bar if we used clear bowls.  They also had large, clear hard plastic bowls, so I bought 3.  One for punch, one for the spring salad mix, and one to hold sliced bread.
I was delighted that they had small, clear serving tongs, 4/$1.00!  They also had a punch ladle and small, clear punch cups.  I found little coffee stirrer type straws, they were blue and white (matched our shower colors) and were the perfect size for the punch cups.  

Once you have all your supplies, it is just a matter of chopping and putting the toppings into Ziplocs until ready to use. We kept chopping to a minimum by buying veggies that were conveniently packaged, for example-shredded carrots, grape tomatoes, shredded cheese, heat and serve bacon.  Convenience was the way to go to keep it simple enough to get it all done and enjoy my sister!

Our Menu:
Hearty, Healthy & Delicious Salad Bar With A Trio Of Salad Dressings
Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Cute Cupcake Toppers
Lemon Refresher Punch-I may be posting about this, gotta find out if it is a “secret” family recipe or not:)

That’s it!  Simple, Simple, Simple.

The Lemon Refresher and Cupcakes can both be made the night before, which again, helps with simplifying.  We were going to make homemade dressings, but then decided to buy it instead. We stood in front of the dressing aisle, a bit stunned by all the different types of salad dressings.  We choose Briannas Fine Salad Dressings, mostly because the bottles were pretty:) but also because they had 3 different types that we thought would suit most tastes.  We got Poppy Seed (my favorite and the most popular of the evening), Blush Wine Vinaigrette, and Caesar.

This Salad Bar idea would be great for groups large or small, and even though we went a bit crazy with the number of toppings, you really could minimize that, too. The feedback we got from those attending the shower was all positive.  We even had a number of children there, and they loved it too!  Yes, there were lots of vegetables, but there was also a lot of fruit, shredded chicken, pasta noodles and cheesy bread, which kept the kids happy and satisfied.  

I will be doing this often, whether it is for a ladies luncheon, a bridal or baby shower, or just having another couple over-it would work well in many situations.  I do love to cook and bake, but sometimes it is just nice to just have a break and keep the oven off!

Our Salad Bar:
Spring Mix Salad
3 Dressings
Shredded Rotisserie Chicken
Chopped Bacon 
Whole-Wheat Bow-Tie Pasta
Sliced Strawberries
Blueberries
Grapes
Pineapple
Mandarin Oranges
Dried Cranberries
Avocado
Green Peppers
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Carrots
Peas
Radishes
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Feta Cheese
Croutons
Sunflower Seeds
Sliced Almonds
Asiago Cheese Bread

*** I Am Pleased To Be Linking Up To These Wonderful Blog Parties. *** 

This post is linked to:

Friday Favorites @ Simply Sweet Home
Saturday Is Crafty Day @ Along For The Ride
Weekend Wrapup Party @ Tatertots & Jellow
Saturday Night Special @ Funky Junk
Tasty Tuesdays @ Beauty & Bedlam
FUN/DIY/ Holidays/Parties

Making Tissue Pom-Poms

Thursday we threw a baby shower for my little sister.  We had lots of fun planning it, it was just so great to see family and to watch my little sis get showered with love and gifts.

{shower decorations ready to be placed}

We kept the decor simple.  Blue, white and brown were the colors.  We (my sisters, mom & I) handmade all the decorations, and were pleased with the final result and the final cost of it all!

{lrg poms hanging, med poms on table, small flower poms in the can}

The main decor were tissue pom-poms.  We made large ones to hang from the ceiling, medium ones to sit around in various places, and small ones with a wire stem that were stuck in cans as tissue pom flowers.

{inspirational pic, source unknown}

I’ve seem this tissue pom idea all over the web, made popular again by the great Martha Stewart.  She sells kits to make them at Michael’s Craft Stores.  You still have to do the work of separating the tissue when you buy her kits, so she is charging a bundle to do the easiest part for you.  Thankfully she is gracious enough to put a “how-to” on her website, which is where I went for directions.  Destri @ The Mother Huddle also featured a great tutorial on her site.

{inspirational pic, source-Martha Stewart}
  Wal-mart had the blue and brown colored tissue that I needed, it was 97 cents per package.  The large poms were under a dollar to make, & I could make at least 10-12 smaller poms for a dollar.  Can’t beat that price!

{inspirational pic, source unknown}

These poms are ideal for all types of situations.  I have a friend whose sister is using them as decoration for her wedding.  I have a sister-in-law who hung them in her daughters room & they are just darling!  They are perfect for baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties and tea parties.  They are so inexpensive and easy to make! As you can tell, I am a big fan of the tissue pom.

*I have more baby shower related posts to come!  One on the yummy Lemon Refresher recipe we served, and another on “how to feed 20 people a well rounded meal without using your stove or oven!” (and no, it was not catered)  Stay tuned!:)

The Girl Creative

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