Raising Olives is hosting a carnival as part of the 4 Moms, 35 Kids series.  This week?  Cooking for a crowd.

~Big pots for a big crowd~

I have several recipes on the sidebar, but today I thought I’d give you a peek into how to plan enough food for a crowd, and how to fix it if you’ve underestimated.

I’m assuming most mothers of many have figured these things out, but maybe you’re having family come for the summer and you’re not used to cooking for a dozen hungry mouths, or you’ve invited another family to dinner, or you are suddenly in charge of making food for the entire scout troop and their mothers.  This post is for you!

It really helps if you know your times tables.  This way, if you know a serving size of meat is 4 ounces, and you are cooking for 10 people, you’ll need 40 oz. (2 1/2 pounds) of meat for a main dish.

Look on the side of the box or bag, if you use them.  It will tell you how  big a serving size is, and how many servings are in the box.

For example, a box of whole wheat pasta claims to be 7 serving sizes (and, indeed, one box makes a perfect lunch for the kids, 7 of whom eat it while the baby looks on.)  Now, sometimes serving sizes are odd (1 Oreo?  Really?) or perhaps you are making a main dish out of a side dish ingredient (my family will eat a whole bag, 1#, of beans at a meal if we are having burritos or taco salad, even though technically that’s 14 servings.)  Use common sense.

But what if you’re cooking for a crowd and you mess up?  What if you didn’t buy enough meat or main dish protein or you find bugs in the noodles but people will be at your house in half an hour?  What if your budget is really tight this week, but your family wants meat every night or they don’t consider it dinner?  Maybe you are on food stamps, and it’s the end of the month.

Here’s your handy guide to stretch the food you do have.

~  Make meat an ingredient, not the main star. Make tacos instead of hamburger, stir fry instead of individual chicken breasts, stir fry instead of pork chops, swiss steak instead of chicken fried steak.  If the meat is mixed in with a bunch of other food, the portions won’t look meager on the plate.  A pound of chicken breasts will make four Chicken Cordon Bleus, but will feed many, many more if served as stir fry or white chili.

~  Use fillers. Lentils and bulgur will stretch ground beef.  Beans are a natural stretcher (use red beans for beef, white beans for chicken.) Oatmeal, breadcrumbs, and rice are great fillers, too.  I always use oatmeal in my meatloaf!  Potato tacos (cook up some diced potatoes or hashbrown style spuds with the meat) are tasty.

~  Serve it over a starch. Swiss steak over rice, stroganoff over noodles, or even meat and gravy over bread is much more filling.

~  Add veggies. A bag of frozen veggies added to the pasta for the last minutes of boiling, extra onions and mushrooms in the gravy, or a can of diced tomatoes will make the portions stretch that much further.

~  Supplement with other sides.  Make two or three vegetable side dishes.  Choose the bread course carefully to complement the main dish (i.e., serve cornbread with chili, not croissants!)  Make an easy dessert so no one walks away from the table hungry.

~  If you are not sure there will be enough to go around, or you know your kids are overly generous in their serving sizes,  make the plates in the kitchen, restaurant style,instead of serving everything on the table, family style.  This way you can know that there is something on every plate, and, if you’re short, you can give 8 people a 3 oz. serving instead of 6 people a 4 oz. serving with nothing left for the other two!

And now, a recipe.

~Onions make bland fillers tasty~

Easy Swiss Steak

Serves 12 adults and kids.

2 lbs. london broil, flank steak, or round steak.  The tougher, cheaper cuts work well.
1 onion, sliced

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 28 oz. can petite diced tomatoes (or, 4# fresh tomatoeschopped, diced, and squished)

garlic, salt, and pepper

1. Get a largish pot or dutch oven.  Add a little oil and sear the outside of the meat.  Add the sliced onions and garlic if you are using fresh, and cook for a couple of minutes until the onions are fragrant.
2. Dump in the can of diced tomatoes and crushed tomatoes, stir things around, add salt and pepper, and any other spices you want.  We like McCormick’s Montreal Seasoning and tarragon.  Or add some tabasco for a spicy kick.
3. Cover and let simmer on low for about an hour.  (Do not boil or you’ll get shoe leather instead of tender steak).  Add a little water if things start looking thick.  You want a nice beefy tomato sauce to pour over the meat and rice.
4. While that’s cooking, make some rice.  For 12 people, use 3 cups rice and 6 cups water.  Brown rice takes about 45 minutes, white rice about 20.  Plan accordingly.
5. When the meat is done, fish it out of the sauce and slice it thinly, across the grain.
6. To serve, put a spoonful of rice on a plate, add a little tomato sauce on top, then arrange a few slices of meat on top.  Use a slotted spoon and get some of the diced tomatoes out of the pot of sauce, and top the meat with chunks of tomato.

This dish is pretty forgiving, so it can cook longer than two hours (turn the heat down.)  It will also go in the crock, though cooking it in the same pot the meat in which you browned the meat gives it great flavor; often crock pot meals have a “stewed” flavor.

You can stretch things further by adding a Mexican twist, with a can of corn and adding cumin and chile powder with the spices.  Or add basil, oregano, and chopped olives to the sauce for a Mediterranean style dish.  Add more onions and chopped bell peppers if you want.  It’s a very versatile dish!

More Cooking for a Crowd recipes – casseroles are your friend!

Lentil Enchiladas

Scalloped Potatoes

Turkey Pot Pie

This post was added to Beauty and Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday!