Luncheon Ideas!!!

Every now and then a small group of friends change our morning coffee location and instead put on lunch for the others. We tend to make a bit of an effort and I am desperate for some ideas LOL.

We've only had two so far but they were:

Caramelized onion and cottage cheese pie with rocket and home made bread rolls with chocolate pudding and ice cream for dessert. There was also apple cidar in wine glasses :lol:

Toasted baguette with home made rissoles and salad. Drumstick for dessert lol

I don't want to spend all morning cooking or anything. But I would like to prepare something a little out of the ordinary and seeing as I normally skip lunch or have a sandwich I don't have many ideas!! So any that could be thrown my way would be much appreciated!!

TIA!

What sort of eaters are the other women like? Maybe you could put on an assortment of warm finger food? (mini quiches, home made sausage rolls etc) That way most of it can be prepared the day before, leaving you plenty of time on the day to socialise LOL. or if it is colder and they like a meal, maybe a soup entree with crusty parmesan toast fingers and then maybe a pasta dish? or just a main and then a dessert?

Lea,

When my Mummies group did lunch for months and months on end (when our babies were all on 2 sleeps..........) we did a variety of things: the top faves were:

Vegetable Lasagne
Homemade Soup and crusty bread
Posh Toasties: turkish bread with things like chicken and avocado
Fish Pie
Chicken Nachos..........(this was one of mine & it went down a treat: I bought a Old El Paso kit and a BBQ chook and voila!)
Crispy Potato skins filled with cripy bacon and cheese
Oriental Fried Noodle Salad (this was mine too........from the back of the Changs noodle packet, LOL!)
Chilli Con Carne and garlic bread

I have recipes for all the above, so let me know if you want any of them?

Fetta filled roast capsicum
chargrilled veggie salad
pasta shells filled with fetta and pasta sauce
quiche
soup and crusty bread
ceaser salad and crusty bread

i'll come back with more later - MIL on phone :rolleyes:

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ceaser salad and crusty bread

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Ooooooooooh, good idea! Jamie Oliver did a divine one the other day.......

You could do chicken wingettes and drummetes (hot or cold)

rice paper rolls


california/sushi rolls

a variety of salads and crusty bread

home made pizza (can make as extravagant or as basic as you like. I make mine on Mountain Bread/Tortillia for a smaller size)

Chicken Satay skewers and a bed of rice

fondue for dessert

fruit kebabs for dessert

caramalised pineapple and ice crea for dessert

You can get seasoned chicken pieces at Safeway/Woolies which you could chuck in the oven and then serve with rolls and salad or throw in some veggies with it

chicken bites in cheese and bacon or pruschetta (simply chicken fillet cubed and each cube wrapped in cheese and bacon or you can place a small piece of fetta between the chicken and bacon then bake)

Mocktails for drinks

you could do a pasta and basic sauce. you can buy some good stuff in the fridge section. or just throw some garlic, onion, tomato into a fry pan and heat/cook to desired consistency then toss through pasta. Of course you can add more things to it. I sometimes add bacon and mushrooms

stuffed mushrooms

HTH. If I think of more when my brain is a little less sludgy I'll come back....

Lucy... Could I please have your oriental crispy noodle recipe.... Sounds yummy...

Mitch, it came fromt eh back of a Changs noodle packet originally, and I have fiddled about with it a bit:

Crunchy Fried Noodle and BBQ Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

½ -1 Chinese Cabbage, or ¼ Savoy cabbage (shredded finely) or a pre-cut packet of dry coleslaw from the supermarket
6 spring onions (sliced)
100g chopped peanuts
1 packet Chang’s Fried Noodles
Shredded BBQ chicken

Dressing:

¼ cup White Vinegar
½ cup Castor Sugar
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
½ cup Olive Oil

Method:

~ Mix all the ingredients of the dressing in a bowl. Stir well until sugar is dissolved.
~ In another bowl, combine the cabbage, spring onions and nuts
~ Add the chicken and the dressing and mix well.
~ Just before serving add the noodles and toss thoroughly.
~ Serve in bowls

Thanks Lucy... I think we only have the Highmark fried noodles over here... I guess they would work just the same...

Gonna try this out this weekend... thanks :)

How about a yummy risotto with fresh parmesan?

I had a baguette a few months ago that had roasted vegies in it.
It had roast

pumpkin
sweet potato
red onion
capsicum
carrot

all were thinly sliced and drizzled in olive oil with some seasoning, fresh garlic and parmasin cheese it was superb.

I second the home made pizza idea especially in this weather that would be sooo yummo

but soup and crusty bread is always a hit, and some finger foods would go beautifully.

Thanks for the suggestions girls there are some great ones there! It probably won't be for a few weeks yet but there are only 4 of us which makes it easier!

But considering the bad weather soup and fresh home made bread sounds pretty darn good!

Hi Lucy
Could you tell me how you did the crispy potato skins?
Ta

I can.........

~Bake some large potatoes in a hot oven for around 2 hours.....the skins should be really crispy
~Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the hot potato so you are left with a potato skin shell left with around 1/2cm potato inside
~Brush the shells all over with melted butter and return to a hot oven for 10 mins to brown the skins and crisp the insides
~Fill with grated cheese and crispy bacon bits and return to oven again to melt it all
~Serve with a pot of sour cream to dip and chopped spring onion to garnish.......

I love potato skins!!! We used to mix the left over potato with the cheese & the bacon bits as the filler.... now I guess I'd make it into baby food ;)

OK... Lucy... that crispy noodle salad was divine mmmmm... My friend & I ate the whole lot on our own LOL... no leftovers whatsoever hehehe....

Thank you thank you thank you Lucy

I love potato and these skins sound oh so yummo.

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We used to mix the left over potato with the cheese & the bacon bits as the filler.... now I guess I'd make it into baby food

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PMSL..........me too...........or leek and potato soup........

Okay we've had a change of pace LOL.

One of the girls attending is leaving to holiday in England for 10 weeks :( So I have decided to make it special for her.

I am thinking of doing a roast quail? I've never had it before but it looks pretty fancy LOL? What does everyone think? Should I do roast vegies with it or something else perhaps?

I am thinking a baked cheesecake for dessert as that is her favourite but I'm not sure which type yet...

I'm also thinking stuffed mushrooms for appetisers... or something along those lines?

And yes these girls are big eaters BTW lol!

We're having it Tuesday week so I'm getting excited! Hopefully I can pull it off!

I think it all sounds lovely Lea! You're so lovely to make it special for your friend. Stuffed mushrooms are always nice and will go nicely with the planned main. You will do a wonderful job!