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in-laws coming to dinner!!
my inlaws are coming to dinner for the first time on Wednesday night (we just moved into our house about 4 weeks ago) and are finally pretty settled.
Soo what do I make? i consider myself a decent cook but my MIL blows me out of the water. She told me not to make a fuss and that we coudl do take out. I of course want to cook.
I need something to cook that I could prepare the day before and just pop in the oven as they're coming over right after we get off work.
help!! i need to cook to impress 
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Posted 10/8/12 9:27 PM  |
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Long Island Weddings
Long Island's Largest Bridal Resource |
wanttobeamom
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 2448 total posts
Name:
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Re: in-laws coming to dinner!!
Posted by WannaBMom2013
my inlaws are coming to dinner for the first time on Wednesday night (we just moved into our house about 4 weeks ago) and are finally pretty settled.
Soo what do I make? i consider myself a decent cook but my MIL blows me out of the water. She told me not to make a fuss and that we coudl do take out. I of course want to cook.
I need something to cook that I could prepare the day before and just pop in the oven as they're coming over right after we get off work.
help!! i need to cook to impress
We just had a dinner to cook for company and made the stuffed chicken from Skinnytaste. We assembled it the night before and stuck it in the oven the next day.
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| Posted 10/9/12 8:34 AM |
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Re: in-laws coming to dinner!!
What do your in-laws like to eat? I think that would factor in.
If they are a meet and potatoes type, you can always roast a whole beef tenderloin in the oven and serve it with twice-baked potatoes. The meat takes almost no prep - just salt, pepper, and olive oil rubbed on top before cooking. To make it more impressive, you can serve with a sauce (horseradish, bearnaise) or herbed butter/blue cheese butter on top. I often serve twice-baked potatoes for parties (I have a good recipe, if you are interested) -- you can assemble them a day in advance and then just bake for like 25-30 mins when you are ready to serve. Everyone loves them, and you can make them look "fancy" by piping the potato mixture into the shells instead of just scooping them (although that looks fine, too), and garnish with a sprinkle of paprika. Serve it with a green salad and you are done!
You can do the same type of meal with pork tenderloin, which cooks quickly in the oven. Just marinate it the night before, and roast it before dinner. If you want, you could just do baked sweet potatoes with that instead of the twice baked, and roasted fall veggies (just toss veggies in olive oil and seasoning and roast at 400 to 425 for 20-30 minutes). That's delicious and seasonal!
If they are big pasta eaters, you can do lasagna with salad and bread. I have some "special" lasagna recipes -- seafood lasagna, butternut squash lasagna (Giada's recipe is good, and that's a nice fall dish).
If they like seafood, there are some make ahead dishes like baked shrimp scampi or seafood pot pie. Or you can just do something easy, like roast salmon fillets and make a dill sauce ahead of time, or roast them with honey mustard.
If they are big chicken eaters and like traditional dishes, I just made a recipe for Chicken Parmesan Casserole that I found on Pinterest. It has all of the flavors of chicken parm but you don't need to bread and fry/bake individual cutlets. It took my like 10 minutes to prep and then needed about 45 mins in the oven. But it was easy and good.
Hope this gets your thoughts flowing. Can you tell I love to plan menus for dinners and parties? 
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| Posted 10/9/12 9:30 AM |
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SusiBee
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Member since 3/09 8268 total posts
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in-laws coming to dinner!!
please post the recipe for chicken parm casserole !
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| Posted 10/9/12 11:46 AM |
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in-laws coming to dinner!!
I make a version of Chicken cordon blue:
Thin chicken cutlets
slice of swiss
slice of ham
Fold 1/3 over, brush with honey mustard, fold all the way over and coat the whole thing with honey mustard. Bread and bake.
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| Posted 10/9/12 1:14 PM |
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Re: in-laws coming to dinner!!
Posted by SusiBee
please post the recipe for chicken parm casserole !
Chicken Parmesan Casserole
2 TB olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic
Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
4 oz grated/shredded parmesan cheese
5 oz package of garlic croutons
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a baking pan/casserole dish [I used a 9 by 13 that I lightly sprayed with cooking spray first], pour in 2 TB olive oil to coat bottom of pan, and add 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed [I used 3] and the red pepper flakes to taste.
3. Place the chicken breasts in the pan on top of the oil [I used 5 large ones].
4. Pour the marinara sauce on top of the chicken, making sure the entire layer of chicken is covered, and sprinkle the basil on top of the sauce.
5. Add a layer of 4 oz of mozzarella and 2 oz parmesan (half the cheese).
6. Spread the garlic croutons on top of the cheese [I used garlic and butter flavor].
7. Top croutons with the remaining 4 oz mozzarella and 2 oz parmesan.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 mins to 1 hour, depending on the thickiness of the chicken. (Use a meat thermometer to test.) Let rest for about 10 mins, and then cut into serving pieces.
This was good - not exactly the same as chicken parm, but all of the flavors are there. I was skeptical about the croutons, but they soaked up the sauce and flavors on the bottom and were crispy (and cheesy) on top.
My chicken took about 45 minutes to cook and the chicken in the middle probably could have used a little more time. Next time, I may cut the chicken breasts in chunks. It's a little more prep work, but I think the chicken would cook faster and more evenly.
Enjoy!
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| Posted 10/9/12 2:13 PM |
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Re: in-laws coming to dinner!!
Chicken parm casserole sounds yum!
I think I decide on eggplant parm with spaghetti (home mad sauce), salad and garlic bread that way I can make everything tonight
My time is limited I get home from work at 515 and they'll be over at 530. DH wants his dad to look at our lawn as FIl owns a nursery and landscape design company and I redoing All our landscaping (yah!! Best house warming gift ever!!!)
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| Posted 10/9/12 3:02 PM |
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SusiBee
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Member since 3/09 8268 total posts
Name:
S
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Re: in-laws coming to dinner!!
Thank you Christine. That sounds delish and best of all easy.
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| Posted 10/9/12 3:44 PM |
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