How about baked chicken dijon? It's coated with panko ( crispy breadcrumbs) and parmesan cheese. You take boneless skinless chicken breasts (BSCB) and dip them into a mixture of melted butter to which you add minced garlic (or garlic powder), dijon mustard and a few splashes of worchestershire sauce. Dip first into the liquid mixture until coated, then into a pan of finely grated parmesan cheese/ dried parsely/breadcrumbs. Place them on a lined baking sheet pan and you can either refrigerate or pop into a 400 oven for 25-30 minutes. If you do refrigerate them in advance, remember to take them out at least 30 before baking. Easy peasy!! I'll look up the exact recipe if you would like it. My kids and most adults really like this dish!

Feeding a crowd at the beach = Low Country Boil. Easy, fun and good.

Potatoes, sausage, chicken thighs, corn and shrimp all in one pot.

ML

Yes to the Low Country Boil! All you have to do is wash the potatoes and shuck the corn. You don't peel the shrimp for this dinner, just have plenty of Old Bay seasoning. And to "set" the table, you layer on sheets of newspaper so all the bones and shells can be rolled up and tossed. Have plenty of beer, iced tea, and lemonade to drink. Build a fire on the beach or in a fire pit and fix S'mores or banana boats for dessert.

Teresa

Chicken? In a Lowcountry boil? Never heard of that.

Legomom, do you have any idea what others might be fixing for their nights? Will there be grills available? What coast will you be visiting? Will there be lots of kids in the gathering?

Shish ka bobs on the grill with pita bread. Tabouli and tsatskiki as side salads, or some other kinds of salad you like such as ratatouille, kale, coleslaw, orzo, three bean or whatever. Hummus, olive tapenade or eggplant dip as appetizers if needed, along with a crudite plate or some grapes and cheeses. All appetizers optional, mix and match to serve your taste and ambition. Dessert is half a cantaloupe filled with frozen yogurt or just frozen yogurt or a watermelon. Iced tea with cardamom. All can be made ahead except for the scooping the yogurt into the cantaloupe halves. Sangria or spiked lemonade, (or not spiked) would go good with this, with a sprig or two of mint. You can also pick up a lot of this stuff at a deli if there is one nearby.

What kind of kitchen and appliances at the beach?

dcarch

Thanks for the great start to the ideas!
16 includes the teens. There are several younger picky eaters who we work around. We will rent a house usually with a pretty good kitchen but maybe not everything you would have at home. There are grills and several men who love to grill and are happy to help with that actual part.
We will be in South Carolina.
Last year I remember having steaks, fish tacos, shrimp, blue cheese stuffed burgers. I didn't take a night last year:) I just did extra duty for sides, apps and grocery shopping! The year before I did a sausage pasta.

What about a pasta with shrimp, fresh tomatoes and basil? Top with parm and pass some garlic bread.

Go easy: Make lasagnas in foil catering pans at home and just heat them up there! With a big salad full of lots of interesting things. After all that time in the sun and water, warming comfort food can be really welcome.

Or take one of the last nights and do a taco bar. Make some fresh meat/fish/chicken/tofu and a bunch of toppings, and put out all the leftovers from other nights as well. Why not a shrimp and grits taco? (Okay, probably better folded like a burrito so nothing falls out...) Grill the tortillas if it's fair out, or give them a quick toast with a drop of oil in a frying pan if it's raining, and then just let everyone make their own. It's a lot of fun and you get the kudos.

Or a meatball bar with different kinds of meats in balls (again, easy to make at home and reheat, but also easy to make there), then a bunch of different sauces, rustic bread, and veggie toppings.

You can do something a la minute and impressive, but why work that hard while you're on vacation?

I like the taco bar idea a lot. It is festive and low-work, basically a buffet. I think buffet type meals will be lower stress/work than meals that you have to portion and plate and seat. Often beach houses don't have enough serving platters and serving utensils for a sit-down dinner. Have plenty of guacamole and pico de gallo, both are very easy to make.

The grilled shish ka bobs would be a good partner to the taco bar, especially if you can line up a reliable grill (wo)man who won't overcook them. (S)he can grill the tortillas too. Play this right and you can foist most of the hot work on this sucker err helper.

A couple other ideas, see if any strike your fancy:

Paella (the dish), which can be made on the grill. You just buy and bring a big paella (the pan) which are not expensive at all. A crowd pleaser and not something most people have very often. Need the big paella to feed that many. Or bring a smaller paella and make this one of a few dishes. I find that paella and barbeque ribs is a popular summertime pairing chez moi.

Seasoned and spatchcocked chickens, grilled then cut up and loaded into "buckets" along with mashed potatoes, gravy (which can be pre-made, frozen, and re-heated on site), roasted corn on the cob, a couple of salads. You can have everything else done before you head outside to grill the birds. Probably need four (?) chickens to accommodate 16 appetites.

A pasta bar, borrowing from plllog's taco bar idea. Make three sauces - maybe a bolognaise, and an Alfredo or a clam-based white sauce, and a pesto. Bring a food processor from home to make the pesto easy. A big pot of pasta, or maybe offer two types of pasta since the house may not have a big enough pot so you might have to make two batches of pasta anyway. Plenty of grated cheese. A couple of hearty salads as an alternative for the dieters.

Oh, hey, this would be fun. Make five or six different meat pies and a couple of different dessert pies and have a pie buffet. The meat pies could be par baked at home, frozen, and re-baked at the beach to reduce the workload on the day. I'm not sure about the dessert pies, I suspect those would be better made on site. Bring a food processor, make the pie dough in a few batches, bring a rolling pin too. You'll have to bring pie tins or get them there, the beach house won't have then.

Having someone willing to tend the grill is half the battle.
A couple sides that can be prepped ahead easily, night before or morning of.

We usually do all the cooking when either of our families get together and i go overboard.
But i do have many things that are do-ahead.

In July, when fresh produce is abundant, my easy meal is...

Bruschetta appetizer/orderve
Cedar-planked Salmon
Eastern Shore Succotash
Roasted New Potatoes

Not much easier than salmon on a plank. Just salt/pepper, topped with fresh dill, then slices of lemon. Lots of ideas with a google search. Some like a bit of brown sugar.
Need a grill with a lid to avoid flair-ups but can be done just to the side of the heat/coals. Hard to overcook as the plank is soaked in water or wine, give lots of flavor and acts as a buffer from the heat.

Baby new potatoes i par-boil till barely soft, drain and cool to touch, cut in half and into a big zip-lock with a mild olive oil, splash of vinegar, and slices of lemon. refrigerate.
While potatoes are cooling, i coarse chop all the veggies for the succotash...beans, peas, zucchini, cut corn off the cob, sliced red onion, coarse chopped tomato, etc
(i like lima beans and have used frozen)
That all goes in another zip-lock and tossed with a light marinade.
For bruschetta i just like fresh chopped tomato, lots of basil, good olive oil, white balsamic. Slices of good bread toasted on the grill just one side, grill side up and scrubbed with a fresh clove of garlic.

Maybe too much chopping but all can be done ahead and the chopping is chunk/coarse. No need for cuisinart or fine dicing. An hour before, the potatoes go in the oven on a sheet pan in a single layer, top third rack...1/2 hour later, the succotash goes on a sheet pan just below to roast. (about 350). After the hour is up, switch the sheets and turn off the oven. They can rest a while in the oven if not ready for them yet.

I like to toss the succotash with pats of butter and fresh basil to the table. The potatoes, maybe some fresh dill garnish but good and lemony as they are.

The easy part is very forgiving side dishes that are good just warm and no perfect timing is needed. No sauteing.
No multi ingredients needed for traditional potato salads. Rentals often have crappy pans anyway. No sheet pans? A roll of wide heavy duty foil, doubled, lined with a piece of parchment will make a good roasting pan. Just fold up the sides high and slightly over.

-I don't have an oven at the farm, so I just go straight to parchment lined foil in packets, prepped ahead, that go right on the grill sides, off direct heat.

peaches, plums, bananas, cut in half, skin side down, drizzled with brown sugar, honey or white balsamic, lemon thyme, topped with ice cream is an easy dessert.

Yes, if you don't want to call it shish ka bab, then call it grilled fajitas! We do that with chicken, onions and green peppers all the time, with salsa and sour cream, avocado and lettuce to top. Something that goes well with that is soutwestern bean salad which is easy peasy make ahead. Brownie sundaes are always easy too. I make Opkikid's crock pot shredded beef as a filling for soft tortillas, it is out of this world and cooks itself.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos
Posted by Opkikid 2/10

Serve this delicious taco meat with soft tortillas or hard taco shells and pass all the fixings.

1 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
3/4 cup bottled chunky medium-hot salsa
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 tablespoon (packed) dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (optional)

Combine the salsa, brown sugar and soy sauce and pour over the meat in the slow cooker insert. Cover and cook for 8 hours on LOW or 5 to 6 hours on HIGH, or until the meat is fork-tender. I usually pour off some of the liquid. Shred the meat with two forks and stir in cilantro and lime juice if using.

At a family gathering in Vermont this past New Years, a brother-in-law and I were assigned one dinner, and went with a build your own tacos theme. Although he bought some flat tostadas in three different flavors (I think from Trader Joe's) to fancy it up over just plain tacos shells.

We had three different meat toppings to choose from:
1) Shredded Chicken breast in a Tomatillo Salsa sauce,
2) Ground beef, chopped onions and Chorizo
3) Shrimp in garlic/cilantro/lime sauce

The first two could easily be made ahead and be reheated.

We also made black beans, sauted onions and peppers, and had several other toppings to choose from: lettuce, black olives, jalapeno slices, shredded cheese, sour cream, and a couple of salsas.

We also had a big pot of "mexican rice" although I don't remember what it involved, and someone contributed a salad.

Really simple is BBQ ribs, cheater baked beans and cole slaw, dinner rolls or biscuits are a great addition.

I do this often at the cottage and it is always a very big hit .

For the ribs.....promise these are to die for......

Remove the silver skin, salt and pepper both sides..add some BBQ seasoning if you wish....wrap in foil and cook for 2 hours at 300. I've done them this far as early as two days before.

Unwrap, place ribs on a hot grill and baste with sauce on both sides....5 minutes or so on each side is plenty. ...I make my own but a good store bought works really well.

For the slaw buy the ready made packaged slaw and a really good store bought dressing. . This year I found a brand in Publix that was to die for...Marie something or other.......everyone raved...why kill yourself.

My cheater baked beans are always a huge hit...again why kill yourself ...you're on vacation too!! These can be prepared at home...ie everything mixed together..... taken in a tupperware container and then baked the day you are on duty.

For sure both an adult and teen pleaser

I don't have the recipe written down but basically

A large can of browned beans like Bush beans, preferably the molasses/ pork kind , a can of kidney beans and a can of lima beans...or use the three bean medley mix, or add in garbanzos, or chickpeas ...matters not . Whatever combo of canned beans that floats your boat.

A jar of chile sauce . I use my homemade but the jarred stuff works well.Just be sure to use a chunky quality brand...not the Heinz bottled stuff.

Good dose of Dijon mustard, really good dose of Lea and Perrin or Piccapeppa Sauce (thank you Nancy) . Some brown sugar, a glob of molasses... I think that's about it

Mix it all up and bake until bubbly.....

Soooo good!

Crock pot chili, salad and corn bread...