Question for light lunch menu?!
Question for light lunch menu?
I'm hosting a home interior party on Saturday and I am going to be serving a light lunch. I thought the ordinary sandwich,chips,pretzels and fruit salad would be fine but I think it will be too plain.What could I make so none of the ladies will feel weighed down and is tasty?
Answers:
I love tea sandwiches! My fave is cream cheese, tomato, cucumber and sprouts on wheat, cut into quarters diagonally. here are some others to try:
Lose the chips and pretzels. Celery with cream cheese and peanut butter. Crackers with a variety of toppers or spreads. If you can cook, a cold rice and vegetable salad can be very tasty.
Chicken Wraps work pretty well.
Start by baking some breaded chicken strips (similar to chicken nuggets). Slice them in half lengthwise.
Place these on a tortilla (about 3 halves per wrap), along with Ranch dressing, diced tomotoes, and lettuce.
Roll up and serve.
choosing a theme like chinese or mexican would be good . chinese you could serve eggrolls and a simple egg drop soup. For mexican do chicken and cheese quesidillas and chips and salsa filling put not too heavy. Soup and sandwiches is always good too.
Here's a simple but interesting marinated salad:
In a bowl, plop:
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cans quartered artichoke hearts (in water)
1 package button mushrooms, washed & halved
1 shallot, sliced thin
About 1/2 bunch parsley, chopped or snipped
1/2 cup kalmata (greek) olives
A handful of chopped fresh basil or dash dried basil
1 package feta cheese, crumbled (optional)
Dress with salt, pepper, and about 1/2 cup basalmic vinegar. Serve chilled.
also you could jazz up your sandwiches with some roasted red peppers and leaves of fresh basil, depending on what kind they are.
Quiche is always great for a light lunch! You can even buy the pre-prepared ones in the frozen foods section of your supermarket. Serve it with a salad on the side and the ladies will be full, but not loaded. I would serve fresh berries (also now availible at your grocery store) in martini glasses with a dollop of whipped cream on top for a refreshing dessert. Good luck with the party! :-)
Here are some ideas.
1. Hmmmm... what about something like a grilled chicken caesar salad, a chef salad, or something like that? That way you have something of substance (the meat) paired with something pretty light (the greens/veggies). Maybe you could go for a soup as well--it's winter, so maybe something like Butternut Squash soup? I usually choose a clear (rather than a creamy) soup.
2. Sandwiches are pretty plain... but what about making them a little different? Maybe something like turkey breast and cranberry relish (and mayo on the side) on a multigrain bread. That sounds pretty good to me (but then, I'm really hungry right now, hehe). There are lots of sandwich spread recipes online. Just remember that everybody does have different tastebuds (and some people don't eat meat), so you might want to go for more than one kind. Turkey is a sort of plain meat.
3. You could always go for a "just appetizers"/hors de'ouvers (I know I spelled that wrong)/tapas sort of thing. You could have a fruit and cheese tray, as well as a veggie tray. It depends how fancy you are making this, but maybe you could have a shrimp wheel or something. I am a big fan of quesadillas, and they are quite simple to make. In fact, you could even maybe serve your sandwiches this way--perhaps ham and american cheese, turkey and swiss, roast beef and provolone? Maybe you could whip up some sort of mayo with basil or other herbs in it to serve along side of it, as well as some relish, chutney, or salsa of some sorts.
Dessert... hmmm... I like the fruit salad idea. Maybe you could put something exotic and interesting in it (kiwi, starfruit, mango). I had to take a dessert along to a Christmas party a few months ago, and I don't really bake, so I got a frozen pound cake, sliced it in half, sprinkled it with some Triple Sec I had laying around (but you don't need to do this), and filled it with mandarin oranges and vanilla pudding. I covered the whole thing with Cool Whip and threw some more oranges on the top, and people really liked that. You could probably do that with berries as well. It's always nice to have something chocolatey for those chocolate nuts.
Just remember to take it easy on the garlic and onions... and no matter what, have some mints available.
Have a veggie tray and fresh fruit tray.What about some
pizza rolls and nachos and cheese dip.?
Here is a menu that I have used several times for bridal showers:
1. Grilled chicken tenders (marinate chicken strips overnight in Italian Dressing, grill on barbecue or in oven until cooked thru)
2. Spinach salad: baby spinach tossed with crumbled bacon, mandarin oranges, feta cheese, and cashews. Use french dressing or Catalina
3. Pasta Salad: cook rotelle or rotini pasta until al dente. Add feta cheese, chopped green onion, chopped red bell pepper, sliced olives, and chunked dry salami. Toss with one bottle of really good Italian dressing (I like Berensteins Cheese Fantastico) and let sit overnight to absorb flavors. The end result is not oily but full flavored.
4. Fruit platter with sour cream dressing: Fresh pineapple, seedless grapes, sliced melon, bananas soaked in pineapple juice, strawberries are all good choices. Take 1 container of sour cream and add 1 tsp vanilla, 3 T powdered sugar or brown sugar and blend. Add more vanilla or sugar to taste.
5. Artisan breads and rolls: slice up a baguette, get a loaf of rosemary potato bread, asiago cheese bread, and have real butter.
6. White chocolate raspberry cheesecake bites or strawberries dipped in chocolate.
Have fun!
chicken salad fruit salad muffins
Try a Waldorf salad. It's basically cold cooked chicken, apples, celery, grapes and mayo. You can present it on a bed of lettuce or make small sandwiches of it with rolls as the bread. A fruit salad is a good idea, but change the chips. Try some raw vegetables instead.
Have some angel food cake, maybe with strawberries for a dessert. Or just give in and have brownies!
Have the sandwiches and fruit salad as planned, but make a vegetable salad, or infact, go to subway since they have good subs that are healthier than what you described and serve tea.
Chicken Caesar Salad, Fruit Salad served on Spinach leaves (a combo fruit and spinach salad). With them you could serve fancy whole grain crackers. Fruit, if you decide to do the Caesar, Pita chips and cheese cubes if you do the fruit/spinach salad. You could serve a scoop of sherbet for dessert. If you want to get extra fancy with that, serve the scoop in a small waffle bowl or chocolate shell bowl.
Spinach Artichoke dip with Tortilla Chips!!!! Yummy!!!
And for a dessert you could have berries and ice cream or whipped cream!