The play group is something that we really look forward to every week. After batting the idea around to have a standing weekly play date with the new friends I had made through our activities at the library we started our "little" group in late January with 6-7 mommas and their babies. Since then we have doubled in size! The play group is at the top of our list of priorities each week--I don't schedule anything that may conflict with it and it's often the highlight of the week for us. We each take a turn hosting the group in our home or off site and the host provides lunch. The "babies" range from 11 months-just turned two. When we started none of the original babies were even walking and now all but the youngest two are! Baby/toddler development really is an amazing thing!
The last time we hosted the group was in March and our numbers and the babies' appetites have all grown by leaps and bounds since then. When I was planning out our lunch it looked like we were going to have a relatively small group, but by the time Wednesday came almost everyone in the group was able to come plus a couple extra people and we had a total of 12 parents and 12 kids under two come over! It was wild, chaotic, but also a lot of fun and a great way to "break in" the new house. We waited a long time to buy a house and I've imagined having a space big enough to fill with friends and family and we finally have it and watching the littles run laps around the kitchen and living room filled me with joy.
Well, like I said the numbers for our get-together ballooned after I went to the store so I did a little creative reworking of the menu and I stretched it out just enough. After the dust settled there was a slice of sandwich, one deviled egg and about half a cup of salad left!
The original menu was:
Deviled Eggs - recipe below
Roasted Vegetable and Goat Cheese Sandwich
Sunflower Butter and Banana Sandwiches (Usually Vivie's favorite, but she didn't touch hers)
Whole Wheat Crackers and Hummus
Strawberries and (store bought) Shortbread Cookies with Nutella
Ginger-Peach Soda
After the additional responses I decided to make the veggie sandwich open-faced and added:
Roasted Red Pepper Quinoa Salad - recipe below
Roasted Deli-Sliced Chicken and Ham with Sharp Cheddar Cheese and Mashed Avocado
I also put out some cheesy crackers, granola bars and fruit strips (similar to fruit roll ups) for the kids.
A note about hosting with sandwiches:
I love sandwiches and when I'm hosting I try to make things that I really like so they are often on the menu for casual get-togethers.This may sound a little simple and boring to serve to a group, but when you make a few changes to the norm people are surprisingly impressed.
Goat cheese, roasted vegetables*, avocado and mustard that's not neon yellow are a few of the ways I like to make a company-worthy sandwich. I always get a loaf of bread like ciabatta or french bread and make one large sandwich then slice it before the guests arrive. It's much easier to prepare and store ahead of time, and it also looks fancy.
*I roast the vegetables the night before while I'm making dinner or while we're eating dinner. 425°
for 20-30 minutes usually does the trick for tomatoes and sliced veggies. Cherry tomatoes, zucchini and red onion tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper are my favorites for sandwiches right now.I hope you'll try serving a company-worthy sandwich or one of the recipes below at your next summer gathering. The salad and deviled eggs would also be great to share at a pot luck.
What's your favorite dish to serve to a crowd?
Recipes:
Roasted Red Pepper Quinoa Salad
~2 C Cooked Quinoa
1/2 Cucumber Diced
3 Roasted Red Peppers, Chopped (reserve juice)
1/4 C Feta
1/4 C Chopped, Pitted Kalamata Olives
Dressing:
3 T Reserved Red Pepper Juice
3 T Red Wine Vinegar
6 T Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Toss salad ingredients. Add the dressing ingredients to the jar the roasted red peppers were in, toss and serve (I discarded about half of the red pepper juice before making the dressing).
If preparing the night before toss half the dressing in with the salad, add the remaining dressing, to taste before serving.
Deviled Eggs
9 Hard Boiled Eggs*
1/3 C Light Mayonaisse
1 1/2 T Mustard (spicy brown or dijon)
Pinch of Salt
Ground Pepper
2 T Dill Pickle Diced (or dill pickle relish)
Paprika
I realize nine is an odd number when serving eggs, but I have a dish that serves 18 deviled eggs (thank you Shion!), so nine eggs it was (which ended up being perfect for our group).
Shell and cut eggs in half separate yolk from white. Mash yokes and add other ingredients except paprika. Spoon yolk mixture into center of whites or place yolk in a plastic baggie and cut off a corner to pipe in (if preparing ahead of time store yolk mixture in baggie until a few hours before serving, then pipe in). Sprinkle with paprika and serve.
*There are many theories on how to make a perfect hard boiled egg. My way is not perfect, it's just the way I do it. Sometime they come out great, sometime they are difficult to peel, but this is how I do it... place eggs in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let sit 10 minutes. Remove from water and place in colander, cover in crushed ice (or place colander inside a large bowl of ice water). Allow to cool, peel or place in fridge until ready to use (I give hard boiled eggs a shelf life of 5-6 days.)
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