My Go To Menu

In my last post, Hospitality - Are you Gonna Live It,  I referred to my "go to menu".  Let me explain, a go to menu is something you feel comfortable preparing.  This should be something that doesn't take all day to prepare, when you have guests over you don't want to spend the whole day in the kitchen, especially if you are not accustomed to having friends in your home.  The go to menu needs to be cost effective to prepare and I think something your family enjoys, if your family likes it there is a good chance that others will also.  When you invite others over, that is the best time to inquire about food allergies or preferences.  I don't usually  serve anything very spicy including Tex-mex, Italian or chili unless we have already had that conversation in advance.

I am going to share my go to menu with you today. At this point a warning is required, think Paula Deen.  It is southern goodness, and as much as my family might like this to make a bi-weekly occurrence on our regular family menu, it is reserved for guests or special days due to it's fat content.

I almost always serve grilled chicken breasts to first time guests.   Most people like chicken, I use the frozen breasts, you can often catch it on sale and it can be used in many different ways.  For this particular menu I marinaded the chicken before Mr. Wonderful grilled it for us.   This week I used marinade from The Right Recipe.  It was delicious and I will be using it again.  In a pinch a bottle of Italian dressing will work as a marinade.

My recipe for Hashbrown Casserole was given to me by Bonnie Cummins, she was a member of the first church we served, it has been around for years and there are different variations, but this is the one my family prefers.  Although I have tried to cut out condensed soups in most all of my cooking, this recipe will stay.

Hashbrown Casserole

1 bag of frozen hashbrowns, thawed

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted

1 16 oz sour cream

2 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese 

1 can cream of celery soup

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Mix last 6 ingredients together, then add hashbrowns. Put in sprayed baking dish.  (I use a 12x12).   Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

The Marinated Green Beans recipe came from Tammi Ogletree.  My son took this recipe to college with him and they are known as Jacob's Green Beans, he actually has moms of friends call him for the recipe.  

Marinated Green Beans

4 cans whole green beans

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 tsp garlic finely chopped

1 tsp soy sauce

1 c loosely packed brown sugar

Drain green beans and place in 9x13 inch baking dish.  Melt butter and mix with remaining ingredients to make a marinade.  Pour marinade over green beans, cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  Bake at 350 degrees covered for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

See why we don't have this often, but oh it is yummy.  I will spare you the brownie recipe I served, so as not to overload you on sugar and butter in one post.  I recommend you keep most of the nonperishable  ingredients for your go to menu on hand so you don't have to purchase everything at one time, stocking up on sale items as they are offered.

I didn't have anything when I issued the invitation, so I had to buy most everything.  That said I happened to have some good coupons and the final cost was under $25, not bad for 5 people and leftovers for lunch the next day.  Price included chicken breasts, hash browns, green beans, sour cream, soup,cheese, butter, rolls, evaporated milk (for dessert), lemons and lemonade for drinks and fresh flowers.

Now if I were a good blogger I would have a great pic of the finished meal, but I do not! 

 I hope you will be encouraged to come up with your own go to menu!  It doesn't have to be fancy, or even perfect to enjoy good fellowship!  Benefits of developing a  go to menu include  taking advantage of sales,  reducing  the stress of what will I serve, you already know!  Also if you choose things that are easy to prepare  you can enjoy being with your guests and not fussing with a complicated menu!  By putting all of your recipes in one spot there is no looking for what cookbook,  Pinterest board, or if you are like me, drawer where that recipe might be.  This makes things so much easier, you already have your menu, recipes assembled, non perishables bought, just a quick run to the store to pick up perishables and you are good to go.

I challenge you to come up with your own go to menu and cook it for your family, see what they think.     Maybe you already have a go to menu, I would love to share your recipes.

Linked with Serenity Now; Livingwell Spending Less; Be Different Act Normal

Hospitality, Are You Gonna Live It

Even as I heard the words coming out of my mouth my mind was screaming, STOP.  I had more reasons not to, than to do it, yet I just couldn't stop myself.  You remember the cartoon with the devil on one should and the angel on the other, but is wasn't a devil, it was that inner voice saying, "Are you going to follow what you teach?"


I hear myself saying why don't you guys come over tomorrow night about six,  we would love to have you.  Now it wasn't that I didn't want to have them, but my mind was definitely screaming excuses as to why this wasn't a good idea.  You see we had just finished a mini remodel of a bathroom.  Now I don't know about you, but when we are working on a project the rest of the house looks like a tornado just blew through.

Papers on counter, dishes in sink, you get the picture, I will spare you the rest of the house!

My son came in for the weekend.  Always a blessing, but a little messy in the wake.

Yeah, enough said!

And now on the the big one, we are having our roof replaced.  The workers were scheduled to arrive at 7:00 the morning they were coming for dinner.  This is a major blessing, the insurance is paying because of some wind damage we received a few months ago, but a huge mess in spite of the blessing.

 Front of house!

Back of house!

Not exactly company ready!

When I teach on hospitality I always point out that it is not about your house, how well it is decorated, how current it is, or about the nice things you have, (or if you are having your roof replaced).  It is about enjoying fellowship with believers, encouraging those who are having a difficult time, or sharing with unbelievers.  I truly believe this is so much better in your home than it is at a restaurant.  So borrowing from Experiencing God, I had a crisis of belief,  do I believe what I teach.   With the invitation issued and accepted it was time to jump into action. I pulled out and dusted off my "go to menu"  (I will have more to say about this in another post).  Tidied up and cleaned what I had time to, shopped for the food, cooked the meal and set the table with a little help from my family.

Ready for guests.

We had a great time of fellowship with friends from out of state that were only in town for a few days.  It was sweet to catch up and spend a few hours with them and that couldn't have happened in a restaurant.    But just so you know we had to talk a little louder over dinner because the roofers decided to work late, true story.



Linking with friends at Time Warp Wife; Hope in Every Season; Serving Joyfully; Serenity Now

Happy Mother's Day

My kids minus one this Mother's Day!

My Mom and me about 40 years ago!

Linked with Modest Mom