How about peaches or apricots?

For starter - peach, mozzarella and parma ham salad (slices of ripe peaches, bits of mozzarella and strips of parma ham with salad leaves in a balsamic and olive oil dressing).

Peach sorbet or ice.

Main - pork stuffed with a peach/apricot stuffing

Dessert - roasted peaches with amaretto biscuits, served with creme fraiche

Cheese course - include a bit of white stilton or wensleydale with apricots (can't remember which it is you can get)

Or perhaps an obvious one, lemon:

Starter - griddled asparagus drizzled with balsamic, olive oil and lemon juice

Lemon sorbet

Main - lemon chicken - I've seen a mediterranean style recipe where chicken is baked with lemon halves and olives

Dessert - lemon cheese cake, Sussex pond pudding or a lemon creme brulee

5th course - make petit fours using lemon

Are you looking for 'plated' food or finger buffet type things? Does it have to be hot or can it be cold?

There was a thread on here recently about food for a 50th birthday and there were lots of ideas on there for a hot plated buffet.

Helen

There's also nowhere in the instructions on when you put the green finger chillis or whether they should be chopped, seeds kept or not or whether they should be whole.

Can you let us know? or have I completely missed it?!

Helen

We had a party for my mum's 50th birthday last July and knew there would be a lot of meat lovers so did a barbecue. Because we had a gas barbecue we could keep it going most of the afternoon and evening. As well as the hot stuff (usual burgers, sausages, meat and veg kebabs, chicken etc) we also did some cold sliced meats, various salads, cheese and biscuits, and cheated with some bought desserts! (although did have a homemade pavlova, which always gets eaten!).

We have also catered for other parties in winter time where we did big bowls of various hot things such as mild and hot chilli, curry, fajitas with all the bits (sour cream, guacamole and salsa), casserole (for the people who don't like 'different' stuff!) - all served with other bits such as french bread, rice, jacket potatoes and salads, with a cheese board to follow. It always seems to go down well because people have what they like or a little bit of everything. However, given that it should be fairly warm when you have your party these types of food may not be favourable at 4pm in the afternoon.

If you don't want to do the catering yourself, perhaps you could do a hog roast? I am sure this would be appreciated by the meat eaters.

Helen

Forgot to say that you can use Campbell's condensed soups for bases for sauces and dishes. They even have recipes on the back fo the tins.

Helen

When I was a student a few years back we had access to fridge and freezer, although they weren't really big enough to hold 10 people's stuff! so we had to shop regularly for fresh stuff.

However, we did use fresh veg and I found it was meat that was expensive.

Some easy and quick meals used pasta. Also, although not terribly cheap I bought Tesco pesto because you only needed a bit at a time so it lasted ages - add this to pesto and you have a quick, easy and filling meal.

Another thing I used to do was add one or two of those small individual portions of Borsin (the ones you get in cheese pick and mix section of supermarkets) to a tins of tomatoes to make a quick creamy garlic and herb tomato sauce for pasta or whatever.

You could make a corned beef hash with tinned corned beef, baked beans and instant mash - not that I actually like any of these!

I must say that I find it hard to come up with things just from tinned and dried ingredients.

Helen

We do one that is quite wicked and certainly not for the dieter!

Put broken up double choc muffin (not too small bits though). Drain tin/jar of cherries reserving the juice/syrup and put the cherries in with the muffin. Add some liquer (whatever you prefer, rum, brandy, kirsch, etc) to the cherry juice and then spoon over the muffin so that it soaks in. Make some chocolate custard (we found making it is better than using the bought variety as the latter doesn't really set enough) and put this on top of the muffins and cherries - allow to set. Lightly whip some cream and mix in some mascarpone - put on top of custard when it is set. To finish grate some dark chocolate on top (or use chocolate curls).

Helen

Do you have a microwave? If you do you can par boil or 'steam' veg using that.

You could do what we called scalloped potatoes (not sure if this is the proper term or not) - simply layers of thinly sliced potatoes cooked in milk and/or cream with seasoning, cover with foil for most of cooking then take of foil towards the end to crisp up the top. Boulangiere (sp?) potatoes are similar but I think uses stock instead of milk?

'Fish cooked in a bag' (or chicken) - get some foil and sit a piece of fish on it and place some flavourings with it, e.g. slices of lemon, lime, fresh herbs, etc then close up the foil to make a parcel around the fish. Depending on size of fish you shouldn't need to cook it for any longer than 15-20 mins. Someone else has mentioned on another post (different thread re chilli) about Jamie Oliver's chicken in a bag and I think this had potatoes and veg in too so it's a meal in a bag all cooked in the oven.

Good luck.

Helen

I'm looking for some good soup recipes and wondered if anyone had any that they know work well? I love soup but tinned or even the so called 'fresh' soups in the supermarkets aren't the same or as good as homemade. However, I only have a reportoire of 2 and would like to try some others. Pretty much any veg, except peas, and meat are OK but no fish though!

Thanks

Helen

You could have go for foods all from one country, such as do an Italian meal, Mexican, Indian, Asian, French, anywhere really.

Italian - you could have antipasti (Italian meats, breads, olives, artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, etc - a lot of these can be bought pre prepared and just put together in bowls and plates) followed by a risotto or pasta course, then the meat course (perhaps saltimbocca but using thin turkey or pork steaks instead of veal) with salad and selection of veg served separately in big bowls and finish with a dessert (could be something simple such as ice cream, which you could do yourself in advance, or tiramisu, which I've made the day before and has been fine).

Mexican, Indian and Asian - for these you can do lots of different dishes for people to tuck into as they like so keeps everyone happy!

Mexican you could have quasadillas, nachos, enchiladas, chilli, etc followed by some exotic fresh fruits cut up and served on a platter.

Indian - lots of different dishes you could do for this.

Asian - go fo things from different countries, such as Malaysia, Japan, China, Thailand so that people get different flavours.

Hope you have a great birthday!

Helen

There is a recipe for sticky chocolate pudding by Nigella Lawson in the chocolate supplement with the current Sainsbury's magazine - perhaps this is the one you want? It says it has a sauce at the bottom when cooked.

Helen

Here are some more ideas:

Meat: cornish pasty pie, chicken and leek pie, chicken baked with lemon and olives, chicken in white wine sauce, pasta bake/gratin, meatballs, chicken fricasee

Veggie: asparagus and cheese tart/quiche, stuffed baked potates (stuffed with anything, such as leeks and cheese), pasta bake/gratin, spinach and ricotta slices, ratatouille

Puds: poached plums or rhubarb, key lime pie, lemon meringue pie, Eton mess, trifle, one crust fruit pie, gooseberry (or other fruit) fool, bread and butter pudding, apple raisin and cinnamon strudel

Helen

I am guessing you need things that are easy to do in large quantities and can be kept warm for a certain length of time?

How about stew and dumplings (or cobbler) or casseroles? These can be made meat (sausages, beef, chicken, pork, etc) or vegetarian (root veg, mediterranean veg, etc). I would suggest savoury rice (a bit like risotto but using long grain rice and tin tomatoes) but perhaps this wouldn't be best for keeping purposes?

Meat: large pizzas that can be cut up into slices and served with salad, enchiladas, cottage/shepherds pie italian style, pork chops in cider, paprika chicken, toad in the hole, moussaka

Veggies: pizza (as above just different toppings), red onion and cheese tart, savoury crumble, glamorgan sausages, stuffed bell pepper, aubergines, tomatoes or courgette, nut roast, spinach and ricotta lasagne - I think quite a lot of meat dishes can be made vegetarian just by using different veg instead of meat (eg, cottage pie, enchiladas, as above)

Puds: cheesecake (various flavours), rice pudding, apple pie and custard, jam roly poly, different steamed/sponge puds, crumbles, baked apples, egg custards, chocolate mousse, profiteroles

I will have a think of some more but I am sure that will keep you going for a bit!

Helen

Does anyone have or now where I can find a 'proper', i.e. American like, brownie recipe?

I have tried a few in the past and they don't turn out like the ones I've had in the States with the nice crispy top and gooey middle - they all end up to 'solid' and normal cake like.

Other recipes that I've looked at but not tried have shown pictures of brownies that in my opinion aren't gooey enough, including the James Martin one I saw recently on UK Food.

Can anyone help?

Although not oily, tuna is good with lime, coriander and chilli. It's a very meaty fish, a bit like pork, rather than 'fishy'. Can grill it or cook it in foil.

Salmon is nice cooked in foil/paper with lemon slices - you can put anything you like within the 'bag' to flavour the fish. Or you can bake/roast whole trout (get fishmonger to gut it and take off the head if you prefer) stuffed with fresh thyme and lemon slices.

The most important thing to remember is not to overcook fish.

Helen

I would have to agree with Elizabeth, I don't think there is anything worse than ordering a pie and getting heated up filling with a dry pastry top stuck on. Is there anyway that you can make the pies but just cook them to order? I can understand not always easy in that kind of environment but nothing beats freshly cooked food!

Some ideas for you, if I may....

Homemade soups such as pae and ham, roast pumpkin, lentil and pancetta, roast tomato and oregano, potato bacon and leek, chunky minestrone, french onion

Bubble and squeak with the added twist of chorizo instead of bacon and leeks, searched with grilled/roasted tomotoes or poached egg.

Stew and dumplings - stew made with lamb in a Morrocan style or rabbit stew with thyme, or use a cobbler topping instead

A vegetable crumble using roasted veg and tomatoes and cheese in the crumble mix.

Roast spatchcocked chicken (or chicken breasts) with lemon, garlic and olives.

Yorkshire pudding with different sausages or add mustard, herbs or onion to the batter

Shepherd's or cottage pie - add flavourings to the mash or make with italian style meat sauce

Pork chops with an apple and sage topping.

Roast vegetable frittata.

Fillet steaks with soft polenta and blue cheese

Lemon and parsley fried fish fillet

Pork fillet with apples and cider, sauce or pork chops braised with apple, leeks and bacon.

Homemade ice creams - summer berries, pear and cinnamon, banana and honey with nuts,

Chocolate fondant puddings with mascarpone or a good ice cream.

Chocolate brownie with coffee ice cream or sauce.

Strudels, tarts, rise puddings - all can have different additions and flavourings - can also do savoury strudels and tarts with onion, spinach and feta, cheeses, potato/rosemary/goat's cheese

Toffee apple pudding, sticky maple pudding with dates and nuts, bread and butter pudding with apricots and brandy or using croissants or brioche instead of bread.

Looks like I've been thiking too much!! Sorry for the long list. Helen

Another Christmas related message!!

Neither me nor my sister like Christmas pudding, mince pies or fruit cake so we are looking for some alternatives. Any suggestions?

Thanks. Helen

We always go to mum's for Christmas dinner and each year we have starter, traditional turkey, etc. We try and have different starters so that we don't have the same things all the time and my and my husband have now taken on the job of doing them to give mum a bit of a break on Christmas Day!

Anyway, I am trying to find a cheese souffle recipe for either one big souffle or individual ones for 5 people but I'm having trouble as it can't have blue cheese in. I thought this would be quite light for people to have and we have the luxury of a range cooker with 2 compartments so don't have to worry about cooking it with everything else.

I would also be interested to hear other suggestions for a nice starter that we could try.

Thanks. Helen