In-Laws Visiting

My in-laws will be in town for the next two weeks. Any ideas what to make for dinner? I'm sure we'll be ordering out a lot, but that can get old and expensive after awhile.
Looking for quick and easy recipes. TIA!

In-Laws Visiting

You can do a lot of grilling outside. Burgers, chicken, steak, skewers. Make cold salads, corn on the cob.

Re: In-Laws Visiting

What do your in-laws like? Are they foodies? Picky? Anything they can't or won't eat?

Pulled Pork in crockpot

You can also do a whole chicken in the crockpot (and it's similar to a rotisserie chicken). But you don't need your oven in this heat! Or maybe just buy rotisserie chicken if you don't want to make the chicken and serve it with a homemade pasta salad or potato salad that you can make in advance.

You can marinate a london broil or pork tenderloin and do it on grill or in oven. Make baked potatoes and a tossed green salad. Very hands off cooking, and a traditional meal for basic meat and potato type eaters.

Do you guys eat shellfish? Something really quick to do is mussels - You can do any kind of herbs/spices/liquid you want... I like sauteed garlic in olive oil, add white wine and/or broth, a little butter, lots of chopped parsley in a stock pot. Add mussels and put the lid on. They should steam open in just a few minutes. A salad, a nice loaf of bread, and a bottle of wine = a great quick meal.

Tacos/taco bar?

Homemade pizza? Or flatbreads -- lately I have been buying a flatbread crust at stop and shop (called brooklyn something). I brush it with olive oil and top it with things like prosciutto, mozzerella, tomatoes. Bake it at 425 for a few minutes and it's crispy and perfect. It's another thing that is quick and can be customized to taste.. you can get different sauces and toppings and let people decide what they want on it.

It's not really cooking but you can always get cold cuts and people can make sandwiches. Make a few easy salads (tomato and mozzerella, for example). Sometimes with cold cuts I like to make quiches -- can add whatever fillings you want and they are ok at room temp (and can be made in advance).

What about pasta? Maybe make a marinara sauce or vodka sauce or whatever they like ahead of time. Then you just have to cook the pasta when you are ready to eat and reheat the sauce.

In-Laws Visiting

Thanks all. All good ideas. They aren't picky, which is a good thing.

In-Laws Visiting

If do lots of grilling to minimize cleanup. Burgers, dishes chicken, steaks, fish. I put a few recipe links in the recent bbq thread.
Pulled pork, baked ziti, and tacos are always favorites for a crowd around here. How about a lobster bale one night? Some grocery stores will even steam and split them for you do all you have to do is heat them up. Add corn, baked potatoes, garlic bread, etc.