Sunday Hospitality Menus

Sunday afternoons are an ideal time to have people over, right? We've already blocked the day off for church and rest, and, coincidentally, so have many of our friends and family. But, being a day of rest and all, and since we're gone all morning and into the early afternoon, preparing food has it's challenges. Also, we have a potluck lunch at our church every Sunday, so usually nobody needs a huge dinner in the evening. I decided recently that I needed to write down a list of sample menus for Sunday hospitality so that I didn't have to start from square one every time. And, since I just recently started this blog, and it's on my mind, I figured I might as well post the list, and maybe update it as I go along. So here are some of my ideas:


Menus for Sunday Entertaining

For a late afternoon repast, when you have some time to prepare:

• Pre-marinated Chicken on kebabs with whatever grillable vegetables you like
• Bread, home made or artisan, served with jam or maybe a balsamic dip
• Chips
• Green salad
• Grilled peaches

When you basically need something to pull out and present:

• Bread with dip or spreads
• Wheat crackers with cream cheese and Costco's Habanero Cheery sauce
• A cheese platter.
• Fruit in a bowl, or a relish tray, or both. 

I served the above menu, with the addition of carmelized bacon made the day before. The bacon was a real hit and there was not a crumb left over. However, it was a TON of work, so it's one of those things to do for fun, when you like a mess, and have a lot of extra time the Saturday before. 

Another low-prep option, which works well in the fall when apples and fresh tomatoes are abundant:

• Cheese platter
• Crackers to go with the cheese
• Bread and a balsamic vinaiger/olive oil dip
• Sliced apples with caramel dip
• Insalata Caprese salad (you know, fresh tomatoes,mozzarella, basil, with dressing)

Not as low prep:

• Bratwurst with buns, hot dogs for kids, sauerkraut, mustard.
• Bread with balsamic vinegar/olive oil dip
• Green salad (romaine with bleu cheese, hazelnuts, dried cranberries and a balsamic vinaigrette, for instance)
• Frozen blueberries, thawed.
• Dessert (brownies, cookies, what-have-you - I like to ask my guests to bring dessert, as it's not one of my favorite things to make.)

(Thanks Joanna, for the photo op! The above was Elena's baptism party last fall)

For an impromptu gathering (i.e. you didn't decide to invite somebody over until after church) you have to think about what you have. Good luck. :-)

• Starch (crackers, bread, popcorn, noodles, rice, buns)
• Protein (frozen meatballs, sandwich meat, cheese, individually frozen chicken pieces, bratwurst or other sausages, meat bites of whatever you have thawed in the refrigerator)
• Fruits or Vegetables (seasonal whole fruit, frozen berries, carrots, celery, peppers, lettuce, seasonal vegetables)
• Dessert? We don't keep much dessert on hand, so if it's very impromptu, we pretty much go without. Ice cream is a nice option, if you happen to have it, and a box of brownies whips up pretty quick. :-) I've experimented with making cookie dough and freezing it, then pulling it out and making a batch of cookies quickly. That worked pretty nicely, though the cookies were flatter than pre-frozen dough made them. You can buy something like that at Costco, too, though I've never tried it myself. I've had those cookies before though, and they were warm and delicious. 

Most of the above options are pretty summer-oriented because that's where we are right now. Maybe I'll add more wintery options later!