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.

Overnight Sandwiches

A friend posted these sandwiches on her facebook wall as a recommendation for a meal when feeding a large group of people (i.e. baptism, blessing, etc..) They were originally called Funeral Sandwiches, but I felt that was a bit morbid and because I've never had them at a funeral, I changed them to Overnight Sandwiches - because I love that you can prepare them ahead of time and just have them ready to cook. I made a few other modifications because we didn't love the soggy bread - but we loved the sauce-soaked bread when it was crispy.

Overnight Sandwiches
Source: Clever House Wife

Ingredients:
1 package (12 ct) of King's Hawaiian Rolls

12 slices ham deli meat
Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
½ cup butter, melted
3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs mustard
2 Tbs brown sugar
dash of onion powder

Instructions
Cut each roll in half and place bottom halves on the bottom of a baking pan. Layer with ham slices and cheese and place the top half back on.
Mix together the butter, Worcestershire, mustard, brown sugar and onion powder. Pour sauce over sandwiches, making sure to coat each top. It's okay if you drip over the edges - but don't pour so much that the bottoms become super-soggy. Cover tightly and marinate anywhere from 4-24 hours. Overnight works best!

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake for 15 minutes uncovered, or until cheese is melted and bun tops are a bit golden and crispy.