Yesterday we have our last all-church breakfast before going to our fall schedule. We had perhaps 60-70 people, and it went very well. I used a recipe from my cookbook, “Simplified Southwestern Casserole.” I added some fresh chopped poblano peppers and some frozen corn kernels. It was a huge hit! The cheese and veggies can be prepped ahead of time and spread out in the pans, thus leaving only the mixing of the cornmeal mixture for the last minute. You can see in the picture that I used the disposable half-size pans to bake the casseroles. Each one of them holds 1 1/2 times the recipe, so I made six times the recipe for four panfuls. We have one pan left over, but that missing section represents the depredations we made this morning for our own breakfast. I will probably freeze the rest in individual serving-size baggies.
As we head into the fall and (we all fervently hope) a somewhat-normal season, you might be well advised to keep this casserole in mind, as well as all the other recipes and ideas I have for feeding large groups.
Note: My cookbook is also available on Amazon.
There’s been a friendly rivalry of sorts going on at our church between another woman and myself over who gets to do what food events. Neither one of us is actually running a business per se, but we both enjoy(?) putting on big meals. I had done our church Christmas party dinner (60-75 people) for about three years, then I said it was just too much. So my friendly rival (henceforth designated FR) took it over and did a spectacular job. I stayed out of the fray except for making desserts and my famous pink eggnog for several years, but then I sort of missed it. Last year I asked the woman in charge if I could do it. “Oh, I’m so sorry, but FR already asked if she could do it again this year, and I said yes.” So I stuck with my usual role. FR had also done the food for our annual women’s retreat for a couple of years, with the 2018 one being especially good. She made her grandmother’s green chile (chili? I can never remember when to use which spelling), and it was awesome. Plus she made this cold strawberry soup for dessert. Man! Plus, she made some little chocolate tarts that were . . . vegan. And in spite of that drawback they were honestly one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth. So rich!
The first of what I hope will be a weekly series of posts on my excursions into feeding people, usually at our home but sometimes somewhere else. (I’ll hope to develop my abilities as a photographer along the way.)