Waffle Bar

David and I are always looking for good meals to make when hosting a large amount of people. Something easy, delicious, relatively inexpensive, and nice. When we were planning to host a large gathering of family of friends to celebrate the birth and the Baby Blessing (similar to a Christening, find more about our faith at www.lds.org) of our third child, we decided to have a brunch before church. After all was said and done we concluded that it had been a huge success and that we should blog the details so that we could remember what we bought and that it was a great idea. So this post is a little different, in that it's not really a recipe for a meal (I mean, we just used pancake mix for the waffles) but rather - it's the details for a waffle bar / family gathering. 

Waffle Bar
Serving about 30-40 people.

Food Supplies:
1/2 bag Pancake Mix (abt 5 lbs) - $6/bag
2- 50 ct bags Banquet Brown-N-Serve Sausages - $5.50/bag
Maple Syrup and Raspberry Syrup (purchased at Maceys) - $6
2 gal Chocolate Milk
24 eggs - $5

Asked people to bring:
Raspberries (topping)
Strawberries (diced, topping)
Strawberries (quartered)
Grapes
Mini Chocolate Chips
Whipped Cream
Orange Juice

Other Supplies:
3 waffle irons
2 electric skillets
Paper cups, plates
Plastic Silverware


Setup/Notes:
We found that 3 waffle irons was the perfect number. We started making waffles about 20 minutes before people started arriving and that was enough to give us a good stack so that waffles were still warm but we didn't have people waiting around for a waffle. We had eggs cooking in one electric skillet and the sausages cooking in another. There were plenty of toppings, with the fruit and the chocolate chips. I am glad that I grabbed the raspberry syrup, because although it was a last minute addition I think it made the whole thing feel nicer. (But I am glad that I didn't get a whole lineup of specialty syrups.)

We thought that this went really well and we'd definitely do it again.

Bacon Chicken

I really couldn't figure out what to call this. It's made in a skillet/on the stovetop so maybe "skillet chicken" (because most chicken I make is baked). It's seasoned with ranch dressing mix, so "ranch chicken"? It's got bacon and cheese. It's also got bacon and cheese, so maybe add to my numerous "chicken bacon ranch" list of recipes? I don't know. I gave up and just called it Bacon Chicken. Because it's got bacon and it's delicious. The end. 

As I said before- I usually bake my chicken and when I bake it, I like reallllly bake it. Basically bake it to death, until it's so dry that it's obviously done, no question about it. Pink chicken scares me a bit. I was throwing this together one night and realized that I didn't actually have time to bake it, so I just stuck it in a skillet on the stove and it was the juciest most delicious chicken I think that I've ever made myself. (I'm not really joking about baking my chicken until it's completely dry.)

Bacon Chicken

Source: The Peaden Kitchen

Ingredients:

8 chicken tenders (or 4 chicken breasts)
4 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces

1 tbsp dry Ranch Dressing Mix
1/2-3/4 cup cheese, shredded

salt and pepper, to taste

Optional additions:

1 tomato, diced
2 green onions, sliced
salt and pepper, optional

Directions:
Fry bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Remove bacon pieces from skillet with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper-towel lined plate. Place chicken in pan, season with salt, pepper and half of ranch seasoning, when first side is browned, flip over to second side. Season with more salt, pepper, and ranch seasoning. Top with cheese and bacon. After chicken has been cooked 2-4 minutes on each side, turn heat to low and let cook until chicken is done and cheese is melted.

(I've been told that this would be delicious topped with tomato and green onions. So next time I'm going to try that, too.) 

Serve immediately.

Mexican Haystacks

I looove this dish. It's got all the flavors that we love, but it's freshened up in a different application. Plus, the addition of the mango on top of the taco meat and rice is so refreshing (don't skip this ingredient - the mango really makes it!) This isn't the prettiest picture because we'd basically eaten all of the food before I remembered that I needed to take a picture so I just added the few remaining things that I had - but we've made this at least 4-5 times and never gotten a picture - so I knew I just needed to take a picture to get it on the blog, because this recipe is a keeper for sure! (We've also made this when guests were over and it was a huge hit.)  

Mexican Haystacks

Source: Adapted from Whole and Free and The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:

3 cups uncooked rice

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 lb ground beef
2 TBS taco seasoning (chili powder, onion salt, garlic powder, cumin)

1 onion, chopped
¾ cup water
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

salt & pepper to taste
2 cups salsa

Toppings: diced mango, diced avocado, black beans, corn, shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro, salsa

Directions:
Start rice in a rice cooker. In a large skillet, brown ground beef and chopped onion. Add taco seasoning, salt, and pepper. When browned, add salsa and cream cheese. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer until cream cheese is melted. Add a tablespoon of water at a time until desired consistency is reached.  In the meantime, chop the cilantro, avocado, and mango and prepare remaining toppings. When the rice is done, stir in almost all of the fresh cilantro, leaving just enough to garnish each dish. 

Plate with rice on bottom, then meat mixture, then any of the desired toppings.