Sheva Brachos for 50 - HELP

amother

Sapphire

Wed, Feb 01 2017, 8:35 pm

We are hosting sheva brachos for 45-50 on a weeknight - HELP! We won't have much of a kitchen to heat things up and since it is a weeknight, almost everything needs to be made in advance (and frozen??). Oh . . . and we don't want to spend a fortune either Wink

Any and all suggestions on how to make this nice and yet remain calm would be wonderful. Full menus/recipes appreciated.

TIA

Blessing1

Wed, Feb 01 2017, 10:07 pm

Entree: Mini rolls & a nice salad in an edible bowl.
Any kind of soup
Main: chicken cutlets with roasted veggies with either, mashed potatoes, cabbage n noodles knishes with mushroom sauce, pastrami orzo, vegetable orzo, rice...
Hot n cold dessert.
You can even do any type of fish as a main.

lifesagift

Wed, Feb 01 2017, 10:11 pm

A soft meatloaf on puréed vegetables smothered in sauce
Inexpensive freezes well easy to serve
If u do make a salad ull need a super easy recipe where things just get thrown together...
Edible bowls is fancy but how easy to setup in freezer?

lifesagift

Wed, Feb 01 2017, 10:14 pm

Blessing1 wrote:

cabbage n noodles knishes with mushroom sauce, pastrami orzo, vegetable orzo,

These r great ideas n freeze very well

flowerpower

Wed, Feb 01 2017, 10:17 pm

Make a big soup and freeze
Turnovers with a sauce makes a good entree. Turnovers and sauce both freeze well

eschaya

Wed, Feb 01 2017, 10:22 pm

Chinese dishes (ie lo mein, stir fry) are very cost effective ways of serving meat/chicken, and it can be fun to do it as a theme (that way it won't look like you're being cheap). It's pretty easy too.

challahchallah

Thu, Feb 02 2017, 2:50 am

Do you want a meat or dairy meal?

amother

Sapphire

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 12:47 pm

challahchallah wrote:

Do you want a meat or dairy meal?

Either dairy/parve or meat - more important that it be food we can make in advance and serve mostly at room temperature.

Thank you (and thanks to everyone who has answered)

ra_mom

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 1:13 pm

amother wrote:

Any and all suggestions on how to make this nice and yet remain calm would be wonderful. Full menus/recipes appreciated.

TIA

If you need to make it simple, maybe go with something like.

Caesar salad appetizer
Hearty soup
Breaded tilapia, orzo, green beans
Ice cream with chocolate drizzle and hazelnut crunch

The salad dressing can be made a few days, or up to a week, in advance, and refrigerated in a sealed container. Grape tomatoes can be washed and dried the day before and kept in the refrigerator.
You can assemble the plated salad appetizer as you set the table. Layer on each plate with ready bagged lettuce from the store, the washed grape tomatoes, onion garlic croutons, and a little cup of dressing on the side.
Make the soup in advance and freeze. Defrost fully before reheating. (Leave yourself a nice amount of time to warm the soup, as big pots of soup take a while and putting it on a high flame to go quicker will burn the soup).
For the main dish, make the orzo in advance and freeze. Defrost fully and just place in a sealed baking pan within the oven to heat through.
Use frozen breaded tilapia fillets from Dagim and bake fresh. They're not very expensive and all you need to do is dust them with garlic powder and salt. They're delicous and taste like they've been freshly fried. It takes about 18 minutes to bake them at 425 degrees. (Arrange them in one even layer on cookie sheets and bake two pans at a time, then start with the next batch.)
Use frozen green beans, toss with olive oil, garlic and salt, then bake the same way as the fish, on cookie sheets. Garnish with sliced almonds if desired.
Serve scoops of bought (or homemade if you'd like to cut down on costs) drizzled with chocolate syrup, and chopped nuts if desired.