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Dinner Party on a Budget

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  • ixia
    ixia Posts: 1,338 Forumite
    I would do tomato and basil bruschetta and then follow with lasagne garlic bread and salad can all be prepared in advance and easy to serve so you can spend time with your guests and shouldn't be too expensive.

    enjoy.
  • kochi1
    kochi1 Posts: 268 Forumite
    edited 19 November 2010 at 11:31PM
    How about -
    Bresola, rocket, parmesan starter (packet of bresola, packet of rocket, shavings of parmesan, drizzle of olive oil - done in 5 min)
    Chicken with potatoes & lemon - marinade chicken thighs in 100ml of white wine, 1 red onion sliced, 1/2 lemon juice + chop us lemon and add to dish, squueze of tomatoe puree, rub all together and leave for as long as you can. Par boil some pototoes. When ready (15 min after guests arrive) bung all in one dish and pop in the oven until chicken is cooked, guessing about 45 min. Serve with veg of your choice.
    Pudding - ready made merrange nests with cream and fresh fruit on top. Or cheese if you prefer with some port.

    Good luck and have a great evening!
    At least the fish fingers are still frozen, that's what I keep telling myself (Truly Madly Deeply)


  • hanb
    hanb Posts: 464 Forumite
    I went for the lasagne in the end and my guests brought pudding. It all went down well and i was so glad i made the lasagne the night before!

    Thanks for all your ideas, i have loads for next time now too :D
  • my parents always do home made salsa and hummas with tesco value nacho chips and crudites for a starter (there are seasonal veg which still works well raw to dip in things - cauliflower works really well :) ).

    The tesco value chips are about 20p for a big bag (and really yummy!), salsa is easy and cheap (tin of toms, an onion, a pepper, a chilli or two depending on how brave you are, bung it all in a pan and leave it to cook for a bit). And you can find hummas recipes all over the place. I always do hummas from dried chickpeas rather than tinned and do a bit batch. It freezes fine, so you could do it the weekend before, which would make life nice and easy too. ;)
    :heart:Isabella Molly born 14th January 2009:heart:
    New challenge for 2011 - saving up vouchers to pay for Chistmas!
    Amazon £48.61 Luncheon Vouchers £24
  • sandy2_2
    sandy2_2 Posts: 1,931 Forumite
    I have a lovely meal I made for my husbands birthday, it was 20 minutes to prep and cook and it was lovely.I paid £7.25 for the ingredients I needed and it was enough to make 4 meals for 4 people!!

    It's called Spanish Rice with Prawns (it also has onions, peppers and Chritzo in it)It was lovely, and we are having friends over this weekend... and I am making this for her :D

    If you want the recipe PM me.... or ask and I'll dig it out!

    Please can you pm me or post recipe please.
    Thanks
    Sandy
  • cjj_2
    cjj_2 Posts: 6,588 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Cashback Cashier
    Hi
    We were recently invited to a friends house where we were served a lovely homemade curry, previous to that we went to another friends who made us a nice chicken/mushroom/potatoe meal.
    Anyway I know feel it is my turn to have them over and in the past I have always done buffet style. However I feel as I have loads of chicken and mince in at the mo due to supermarket offers it would work out less expensive to prepare a meal.
    My skills in the kitchen are not up to much though so nothing too hard. I have a good supply of tinned tomatoes although my oh & ds 2 arnt over keen on a strong tomatoe flavour. x
    Any ideas anyone. Have you an easy recipe you could share with me.
    Thanks in advance
    Cherish those you have in your life because you never know when they won't be there anymore.

    No matter how you feel, get up, dress up & never give up.
  • Oh there are loads of things you can do with chicken or mince

    Chilli and Rice
    Lasagne
    Chicken and veg lasagne
    Cottage Pie

    If you want something abit more 'special' how about chicken fillets stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon, served with baby roast potatoes, carrots and green beans. Serve with pepper sauce

    The chicken is just a chick breast sliced down the middle to flatten it and add some cheese (mozerella is good) rolled up and wrap a slice of bacon around breast. I then wrap tightly in cling film to make a neat shape and steam for 30mins. finish off by frying for 5mins in a hot pan to give it some colour. It is easy and can be prep'd before hand - just keep the cling filmed rolled breat in the fridge until ready to use.
  • curlytop12
    curlytop12 Posts: 1,229 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    hi,
    i'd go with chilli and rice,make it day before if you can,its even better.

    mince
    tinned tomatoes
    kidney or mixes beans
    onion
    chilli flakes
    garlic
    maybe some herbs if you like
    people reckon a couple cubes of dark choc improve and richen it but i never tried!
    plain boiled rice
    ?plate of bread to mop up.
    G
  • Tonight, for 8 of us, we're having HM salami and olives and HM sourdough bread; rib of beef with roast HG potatoes, parsnips and carrots, braised red cabbage and Yorkies; HM tiramisu, HM apple crumble and cheeseboard :) It may not be the cheapest, but it's much cheaper than going out :money:

    As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the existing thread to give you more ideas ;)
    :rudolf: Sheep, pigs, hens and bees on our Teesdale smallholding :rudolf:
  • Apologies if this should be merged with another thread - I did search under the rather generic 'dessert recipe' but couldn't find anything, feel free to move if necessary!

    My brother and his girlfriend are coming for dinner on Sunday. I had already bought a chicken when hubby and I decided to invite them - the original plan was roast on Sunday, enchiladas on Monday and lasagne on Tuesday to use all the leftovers up. If we need to drop one of our 'leftover' dinners in the week to accommodate our guests then so be it, but I'd like to try and eke out the chicken as far as poss.

    Now obviously I am going to need to make the chicken stretch that bit further as the Sunday meal needs to feed twice as many people.

    I was thinking that I'll bulk the dinner out by doing more veg variety than usual, perhaps two types of potato instead of one, stuffing, yorkshire puds, maybe even a pig in blanket or two?

    Then do a nice homemade dessert so everybody gets a two course dinner even if they don't get much chicken on their plate.

    Here's where I get a bit stuck... I don't even know where to start! Crumbles are off the menu as hubby is a fusspot and won't eat stewed fruit (and I must confess it's not really my favourite either!).

    Anybody have any inexpensive ideas for tortes/cheesecakes/cakes/puddings that can be made in advance on Saturday?
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