menu ideas for visiting friends

[beattie819]

I have friends visiting for a week, and would like to have a plan of eating each day. I dont want to be cooking all day, and am trying to think of a couple of impressive, but fairly simple to cook dishes.I have some ideas, but would welcome your thoughts please.The wife is easy going, but the husband reckons he is a foodie, although I know different! He is def a show off!.....all mouth and trousers as they say.!
Many thanks in advance.

[wiggal]

One of my faves - Chutney chicken!

2 pots of cream, 1 jar Mango chutney, chicken breasts and thighs and drumsticks!

Stick it all in a casserole dish, cook until chicken is done and serve with rice and green beans!

One of the tastiest and different meals I have ever had, and soooo easy!

[zzxxee]

get a slow cooker and do a really tasty stew like beef pepare veg and meat add stock everything else will take care of itself if you want to push the boat out add a nice few chunks of venison and add sweet potatoe and celariac

[Sachs]

A large lasagne!!! Make the day before! xxx

[ethandron]

we had relatives over from chicago last summer - a 1 year old, his parents and grandma - for a week, and i did just what you're doing. we sat down and worked out a complete menu, breakfast, lunch and tea, for each day for the whole week, and it worked a treat. saved all the hard work and i knew exactly what to shop for and when to buy it. we just went through what we have normally and tweaked it around to make it a bit more special and also easier. we also had a chinese take away one evening, which was great for me as i still felt i was chained to the cooker in spite of all the preparation!
give 'all mouth and trousers' a couple of large glasses of wine or a few beers each evening before the meal and he won't care what he's eating.

[knappswood]

Orange & Lime Ice Cream
1 eating orange + 2 limes. Zest of orange and 1 lime. Juice of all 3. Add to 175grams of icing sugar and mix. Add 500ml double cream and whip until thick and peaky. Put into a shallow tub and freeze for 3-5 hours. Take it out of freezer half an hour before serving with shortbread.This is one of Nigella's recipes, is absolutely scrumptious and takes no time to make!

[dove]

chilli con carne,shepherds pie mmmmmmmmmm

[dove]

spag bol, just thought you wanted quick but nice x

[beattie819]

awwww Thanks all for your lovely replies. The chicken dish sounds scrummy,so I will do that.Slow cooker is a favourite of mine , so that will be in use.Lasagne, spag bol or chilli are already on the menu.I have never made ice cream, and the orange and lime sounds delicious. Thanks all SO much. By the way, I did a day trip to France, and stocked up with wine beers and brandy to keep" mouth and trousers" in his place! :)

[ethandron]

one of the meals that went down really well was a sort of salmon en croute (bought in from costco although i'm sure you could get similar from supermarkets) with carrot batons, broc and new potatoes, and a jug of hollondais sauce (from a packet). a good potato dish to have with something (maybe gammon and pineapple cooked in the oven) is dauphenois potatoes, dead easy, just gets shoved in the oven and forgotten about and always goes down well. serve with peas.
we're off to france shortly ourselves for an extended stay and are looking forward to re-stocking our wine rack on the way home, you're lucky you can do a day trip. don't forget to have copious amounts of wine yourself, always makes bores seem more tolerable!! good luck.

[crisgal]

here's an excellent cheat's sauce for salmon:
gently heat a jar of prawn sauce (like you'd use for a prawn cocktail)
add same of double cream
a squeeze of lemon juice and a handful of thawed brawns. Spoon over cooked salmon (or any fish)
delish!!
People always ask me how I've made it but I never tell!