The Chicken and Stuffing casserole is a favorite, love it! You could use the chicken meat from Sam's roasted chickens to make it easy on you and add a vegetable, salad, rolls, and easy dessert, bars/cookies or cobbler. Wrapping a hot casserole in foil and then in towels or newspaper will help keep it hot. If you have some styrofoam around the house, you could put some on the bottom of the casserole and some on the top after the foil wrapping. One of the caterers here in town uses "hot boxes" with styrofoam lined cardboard boxes to hold foil casseroles for an hour after they are packed. A styrofoam cooler would probably work well too. Here is another family favorite casserole: Hamburger Cheese Noodle Bake Serves/Makes: 8 Ingredients: 1 1/2 pound ground beef 1 can (10 ounce size) tomatoes 1 can (8 ounce size) tomato sauce 3 ounces cream cheese 1 cup sour cream 1 cup grated sharp cheese 8 ounces flat egg noodles 6 green onions salt and pepper garlic Directions: Brown meat and drain. Add salt, pepper and garlic to taste. Add tomato sauce and tomatoes, and simmer 20 minutes. Boil noodles, then drain. Mix cream cheese, sour cream and onions together with the cooked noodles. Mix well. Layer the meat mixture, noodles and grated cheddar cheese in a baking dish, ending with cheese. Bake 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees F. Teresa

Poppers Recipe - originally posted by trudymom This is a delicious appetizer. It can be made ahead of time. I have prepared & baked, cooled & frozen in ziplocks & reheated in low oven to serve. They make a nice presentation, stacked on a round platter. Posted by trudymom (My Page) onSun, Dec 2, 07 Crescent Jalapeno Poppers Recipe #227403 : 40 min : 25 min prep : Recipe Zaar By: Lainey6605 May 10, 2007 These are tasty little appetizers. Serve them with sour cream or guacamole, if desired. SERVES 16 (change servings and units) * 4 jalapeno chiles (about 3 inches long) * 1/3 cup boursin spreadable cheese with garlic and herbs (from 5.2 ounce container) * 8 slices packaged pre-cooked shortcut bacon (from 2.2 ounce package, halved) * 1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner roll * 1/2 cup pineapple salsa (optional) or fruit salsa (optional) Directions Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Carefully remove stems from chiles; cut each in half lengthwise and again horizontally to make 4 pieces. Remove and discard seeds. Spoon about 1 teaspoon cheese into each chile quarter. Wrap half slice of bacon around each. On cutting board, unroll dough; separate dough into 8 triangles. From center of longest side to opposite point, cut each triangle in half, making 16 triangles. Place chile, cheese side down, on dough triangle. Fold 1 point of triangle over filling; fold 2 remaining points over first point. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve with salsa, if desired.

I'd spring for a cheap toaster oven. The one I have will hold a pie plate or a 8x8 baking dish. Plus, you can bake cookies....six at a time! LOL! I did that more than once after my old stove died for the most part. Don't forget about breakfast for dinner. We loved it when we were kids and I still do it for myself now. My DGM always froze here apple pies uncooked, I do the same and they turn out fine. I'm not sure it would work with a crisp as I've never tried it before. This is a great main dish recipe and the first time I've not cooked steak on the grill. Might be a nice dinner for you and DH if the kids are spending the night at a friends house. Add a salad, starch, some good wine and well....you know.. : ) David STEAK DIANE FOR TWO (Mique) Mark Bittman, New York Times 2 6-ounce beef fillets, cut from the tenderloin (filet mignon), preferably not too lean Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon minced shallot or onion 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, or to taste (I added 1/2 t. extra because dh likes it) 1/2 cup heavy cream or half-and-half Lemon juice to taste, optional Chopped fresh chives or parsley leaves for garnish. 1. Flatten fillets a bit with the palm of your hand, the back of a skillet or a small mallet; they should be about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle with salt and a lot of pepper. In small skillet, preferably one just large enough to hold fillets, combine oil and tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat. When butter foam melts, sear steaks on both sides, just until browned, no more than 2 minutes a side. Remove to platter. 2. Wipe pan clean with towel; add remaining butter over medium heat, with shallot or onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in mustard, Worcestershire and cream. Add some salt and a fair amount of pepper. Stir once or twice, then taste and adjust seasoning. 3. Keeping mixture at a steady simmer, return meat and accumulated juices to pan. Cook, turning two or three times, until meat is done to your liking, just 1 or 2 minutes a side for medium-rare. Remove to a plate, and add lemon juice, if using, salt and pepper to the sauce as needed. Spoon sauce over meat, garnish with chives or parsley, and serve. Closely related to steak au poivre, and best made with truffles (isn't everything?), it is about as straightforward, simple and impressive a high-class dish as you can make. If you and your date are meat eaters, you cannot go wrong with this. The process is easy, nearly foolproof, and gives you a few options. Though you can follow this procedure with almost any tender cut of beef (and with chicken breasts, if that direction appeals to you), it's a perfect treatment for tenderloin medallions (filet mignon) for two reasons. Tenderloin doesn't have much flavor of its own, so there's nothing to overwhelm with this rich, flavorful sauce. And it is supertender, which makes it a nice cut for a juicy, saucy dish in which you're going to use a knife. A couple of options: You can cook some mushrooms preferably wild, but shiitakes will do nicely along with the shallots, and add a touch of garlic as well, if you like. And you can add a tablespoon or two of Cognac to the cream sauce and ignite it for a bit of a show. But I doubt you'll taste much difference or note a change of behavior; for that, you're better off drinking it.

I agree with Deanna on the menu. I would use a mixture of the bowls you have rather than styrofoam. If you want to have something sweet sitting out, try the Peppermint Bark Popcorn (link below). This is similar to most Taco Soup recipes: Santa Fe Soup 2 lbs ground beef or turkey 1 onion, chopped 2 small pkgs. Ranch style dressing mix 2 small pkgs. taco seasoning mix 1 16 oz. can black beans, undrained 1 16 oz. can kidney beans, undrained 1 16 oz. can pinto beans, undrained 1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes w/chiles, undrained 1 16 oz. can tomato wedges, undrained 2 16 oz. cans white corn, undrained 2 cups water (or less if you want it thicker) Garnishes: Sour cream shredded cheddar cheese sliced green onions Cook meat and onion together until meat is browned. Stir ranch dressing mix and taco seasoning mix into meat. Add all beans, tomatoes, and corn with juices from all. Add water. Simmer for 2 hours. If mixture is too thick, add water. Garnish with sour cream, cheese, and onions, if desired. Good with tortilla chips. Notes: 1. I use 1 lb of ground turkey and 1 lb of ground beef. 2. I only use 2 cans of beans - any 2 of the 3 listed is fine, but I usually use red beans and black beans. Also I prefer small red beans instead of kidney beans. 3. If you like spicier dishes, use Rotel. I prefer Mexican stewed tomatoes. 4. I can no longer find canned tomato wedges. Canned diced tomatoes seem to work just fine. 5. Freezes well. Here is a link that might be useful: Peppermint Bark Popcorn