Ward Christmas Party

[MorningStar]

Now that our activities committee has been disbanded, I have been asked to be in charge of the food for our ward Christmas party.

Last year we didn't have a buffet table, which was wonderful. Food was served for us on individual plates and it seemed rather time consuming. I was thinking that I would like to serve the dishes on the table family style. This would avoid a lot of extra work and lining up at the table with small children.

My biggest dilemma:

The main dish. People are tired of ham and the roasts last year were hit or miss. Some of them were too dry. I was thinking about doing some kind of roast with potatoes, but then that will be more people to ask to cook and more hot dishes to deal with, meat to slice, etc.

Would it cause mayhem if I were to make delicious lasagna? You can make it using Costco ravioli. Layer of ravioli, sauce cheese, ravioli, sauce, cheese, then a little more sauce. We wouldn't have to cut it up - just serve the casserole dishes on the table and let one person per table be in charge of serving the families. I would make an Olive Garden style salad and put those on the tables too with a choice of dressing.

Does the food have to be traditional? It just seems like the traditional food never turns out that great at these things and my recipe is hard to mess up and will stay warm for a decent period of time. Personally, I would rather have a non-traditional meal that tastes great than a traditonal one that doesn't.

What are some foods you have had at Christmas parties that people loved? My friend suggested turkey, but I think people are all turkeyed out so close to Thanksgiving. I'm planning on 300 people.

One thing I'm really excited about: Being in charge of making sure the butter is soft enough to spread. There will be no roll stabbing during this party, but actual spreading of butter. I might even make some herbed butter.

[zippy_do46]

How about a Chicken or Beef Pot Pie?

[MorningStar]

My sister and I talked about that, but we were concerned there would be burnt crust.

[zippy_do46]

Are you fixing the food MorningStar or just planning how and what?

[MorningStar]

I have to plan it for 300 people and drop off the ingredients to those willing to cook. We aren't allowed to cook in the kitchen at church, but we can use it to keep things warm. Considering how the crockpot roasts turned out last year (some were good, some were not good), I'm trying to think of something easy and delicious. I will probably be able to cook two things in my oven to contribute. I'll have to ask about 15 other people to help cook the main dish. I will assemble the salads myself, possibly with borrowed bowls at the church. I don't know if we have enough bowls for each table. Thanks for your input!

[zippy_do46]

Can you freeze your lasagna? Maybe you can get a group of people together and put the pans of lasagna together and then just pass out the pans for people to cook. This way the food will all be the same.

Sometimes when you have 15 cooks cooking you will have it turn out diffrent everytime. Sometimes good :) and sometimes bad .

Edited November 26, 2010 by zippy_do46

[MorningStar]

I'm not sure how that would change the cooking time, but I could assemble them and ask people to pop them in their ovens. It can stay in the fridge for a while before being cooked. Maybe we could make a party out of it. Thanks for the idea. I could make a giant thing of meat sauce that way, cook the meat ahead of time.

[pam]

I'm not sure how that would change the cooking time, but I could assemble them and ask people to pop them in their ovens. It can stay in the fridge for a while before being cooked. Maybe we could make a party out of it. Thanks for the idea. I could make a giant thing of meat sauce that way, cook the meat ahead of time.

Doesn't change the cooking time, but does change the prep time for those with limited amounts of time but would like to help in some way.

[Iggy]

For our branch's RS Birthday dinner, we have ONE receipt that gets made - NO alterations or substitutions. IF someone doesn't have all the ingredients she is to tell the RS Sec, and she will get the ingredients to you.

A sister is selected to bring plates, flatware, tablecloth, centerpiece for a table. Hence for 10 tables, that would be 10 different sisters, bringing service for 6 plus the decorations.

We did Lasagna one year- followed the receipt - boy was it good. The foil pans were given to each sister, that way they could be tossed and not washed.

The salad was made by receipt too- then the garlic bread bought at one store.

We have a small branch- so it worked out that each sister made or brought or decorated just one item.

One year we did Chili, then another pot roast. With the roast- the RS bought the roasts and gave them to the sister who was going to cook it. Actually we did Chuck Roast, put in a casserole dish, take one envelope mix of onion soup mix and one envelope of water, mix, then pour over the chuck roast.The roasts were approximately 2 lbs each. Cook at 300 degrees for 2 hours. The RS also bought the potatoes, mini carrots, celery and doled out to sisters to roast in a pan with 1 envelope mix + water and cook covered.

Then they all were to make gravy from the drippings.

I have done the table one time, roast another, dessert yet another time.

When you do the sign up sheet, indicate how many tables need decorating/service, how many salads (receipt provided), main dishes (receipt & ingredients provided), desserts (receipt provided. The RS should then provide the dinner rolls, butter or indicate the brand & from what store.

You could do Stouffer's family size Chicken Enchilada's or Lasagna. Or make your own receipt for Lasagna- just write it down and make sure the sisters know to NOT alter it, or substitute, or deviate from the receipt. I prefer to not pre cook the noodles, to use cottage cheese not ricotta (WAY cheaper) and to use jar spaghetti sauce with extra ground meat added and 1/2 cup water added to the empty jar(I use two jars, so that is just 1/4 cup water for both), shake and add to the sauce.

As for who(m) should serve at each table - tape a star on the back of just one chair, whomever sits in that chair (with the exception of any child 13 and under) is the server.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Iggy

[MorningStar]

Doesn't change the cooking time, but does change the prep time for those with limited amounts of time but would like to help in some way.

You don't have to cook longer if it's frozen? That's handy.

[pam]

You don't have to cook longer if it's frozen? That's handy.

Sorry, if frozen it would...I was thinking about the prep time added into it.

[pam]

Personally, I still like the ham dinners. :) You start getting into other types of foods and there might be some with food allergies.. At least you know what's in ham.

[MorningStar]

Thanks for the ideas, Iggy. I'm going to use my recipe with the Costco ravioli. You just do a layer of ravioli, sauce, cheese, ravioli, sauce, cheese, little more sauce, parmesan on top, cook about 45 minutes and then 5 minutes or so uncovered. My sauce is a large can of crushed tomatoes, can of tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce mix, a little bit of garlic powder and a pound of ground beef. I can cook up a bunch and give all of the ingredients to the women or assemble them myself. Wish I had a huge freezer. I thought the no bake noodles were great, but when someone told me about making lasagna with ravioli, I was thrilled. You can skip the step of spreading ricotta cheese.

I'm going to go to Costco today and see how many lasagnas I can make with their raviolis. I'm pretty sure I can make 2 with some left over. Bonus: I haven't planned anything for dinner yet. Killing two bird with one stone.

[MorningStar]

Sorry, if frozen it would...I was thinking about the prep time added into it.

Yeah, I'm not sure how much time we would have to add. I would rather keep it unfrozen so I can give exact directions.

[MorningStar]

Personally, I still like the ham dinners. :) You start getting into other types of foods and there might be some with food allergies.. At least you know what's in ham.

I've heard so many people say how they're sick of ham, otherwise I would. We're going to have a separate dish for those who are allergic to wheat. We have about 5 people who can't have it and I'm going to ask one of them to make something they like that's gluten free. My sister-in-law says she's allergic to sugar and can't have any cured meat. What a pain!

[pam]

But then you have those that are lactose intolerant with the cheese, among other things. I've been a ward activities chairman and had to do the Christmas dinners; you sometimes have to think of 300 people instead of the few that say they are sick of ham. Just my opinion.

And people have to be reminded this is a free dinner to them in most cases.

Edited November 27, 2010 by pam

[MorningStar]

That's the hard part. No matter what you make, someone isn't going to be happy. If we were doing a potluck, there would be something for everyone, but the ward council decided we are going to provide the whole meal and the dessert will be potluck. I think most people will be able to eat the salad, at least. I loved the times we did potluck food. Such a fun array of appetizers and stuff. Great time to exchange recipes.

If I had my way, I would make two kinds of pork roasts - citrus mustard and the rosemary garlic, then some mashed potatoes on the side and a yummy salad. They're oven roasts though and I'm afraid people would bring them tasting like a shoe.

[pam]

That's very true. I just know that if we had lasagna..either I wouldn't be able to eat so I could stay and enjoy the rest of the evening..or eat and have to head straight home. So either way made it kind of miserable.

Plus you want to make it as easy on yourself as possible. Luckily we always ordered our hams done and ready. We just had to pick them up. Thanks to our Bishop who had connections.

Salads and desserts were potluck. People signed up to bake potatoes. I just had to purchase them and get them to those that signed up or have people come pick them up from me.

We had water and the CountryTime lemonade that you can pick up from Costco. So people had a choice.

[MorningStar]

Cool. Where did you pick up your ham from? We have a honey baked ham place here. Don't know how much that costs, but I think they're spiral cut.

[pam]

He was the head pharmacist at the pharmacy within a grocery store here. Harmons. He arranged it through them. It wasn't a spiral cut. It was the large loaf kind. They cooked it, sliced it and he picked it up.

[zippy_do46]

That is a good idea (Ham, bake potatoes) This could cross alot of lines of problems. Salads and desserts pot luck would leave a opening for those who can not eat certain foods.

Also the "little ones" come closer to eating ham then lasagna.

I like pot luck dinners also. I think the biggest problem is the lines. Having place sittings and drinks at the tables already can cut down on some of the problems. Having the dessert at another serving station would also help. The salads the same way. This way those that can only eat those things could go there. The potatoes could be sit up at another with all the trimmings.

One year our activities chairman put the serving tables in the center of the room. She divided the serving line in two. Right in the middle was fresh fruit on a tear arrangement. the lines ended there and the people left the tables there. She had lines on both sidesof the tables. That ment she had 4-lines going down the tables. She had the table set with drinks and place settings.

Also you can talk to the young women and young men leaders. They could put a bug in these young peoples ears about helping out with serving the young ones. Nothing like multi hands for such a task. :)

[HEthePrimate]

My ward is not having a full dinner this year. But we will be having dessert pies. It's a pot-luck affair, and I'm still trying to decide what type of pie to contribute.

I hope you're not doing all the cooking yourself, MorningStar!

[mnn727]

Peope are sick of ham for a once a year event for a free meal?

Come on -- too bad!

I predict you'll have more complaints about Costco Ravoli.

[MorningStar]

It will be an interesting experiment for sure! I've run the idea by quite a few people in the ward now and they're excited for something different, plus one of our sisters is going to make a special meal for those with allergy/dietary issues so they have something too. When I mentioned serving it family style to a friend, she said, "That is the best idea I've ever heard!"

It's cool how everything is falling into place. Other people taking part have all had similar ideas, like putting butcher paper on the tables for kids to color. That's something Italian restaurants around here do and it's great for keeping them occupied. I started reading about how Italians celebrate Christmas. One thing they do on Christmas Eve is have the kids write letters about how they plan to behave during the upcoming year. I think I will adopt that tradition.

This is fun. No, I am not doing all the cooking. I will be doing a lot of delegating and assembling the salad. I love to make salad. Can't wait to produce almost an exact replica of Olive Garden salad.

I will let you know about the list of complaints I get.

[mnn727]

As far as buffet lines go, instead of having 1 long table with everything on it, have 3 or 4 tables.

1 for anything to do with starters: soups, salads, rolls, etc

1 for main dishes/meats

1 for desserts

and don't have them all in 1 spot.

Edited November 29, 2010 by mnn727