Twenty Menus for All Occassions

Dinner With James
Southern Dreamin'
British Fancy
West Is Best
Italy by Night
Medieval Love
Eastern Delight
French Fantasy
Picnic On The Grass
Elionne's Delight
Vegetarian Special
Vegetarian Greek Divinity
From The Heartland
English Beat
By The Seaside
My Birthday
John's Dinner Party
Dinner with Rustle
Dinner Avec Roberte
Sunday Breakfast


The webmaster, who has become a vegetarian since composing these menus, strongly encourages you to buy only humanely-raised meats from Applegate Farms, Neiman Ranch, or your local organic farm.


Dinner With James

Stuffed mushrooms
Caesar salad
Grilled steaks with pan-sauteed mushrooms
Asparagus
Mashed potatoes
Hollandaise, Bearnaise, A1 Steak Sauce, or beef gravy

Apple pie

Knorr's packaged sauces are an excellent time-saver for this meal.

Southern Dreamin'

Green salad
Baking powder biscuits
Grilled pork chops
Jefferson's macaroni pie (macaroni-and-cheese)
Deep-fried okra

Pecan pie

Use a brown-paper bag to shake the sliced okra and flour or cornmeal together for even coating. The recipe on the back of the Bisquick box makes excellent biscuits.

British Fancy

Oysters wrapped in bacon
Green salad
Roasted chicken with pan gravy; dressing optional
Carrots, leeks, and potatoes roasted in pan with chicken
Baking powder biscuits

Chocolate bread pudding

The pan-roasted potatoes should be turned every fifteen minutes for the traditional "oven-browned" style.

West Is Best

Pan-fried steak with onions and mushrooms
Home fries with green peppers and corn
Steamed fresh green beans
Spoon bread
Beef gravy, A1 sauce, or Heinz ketchup

Apple pie

Use MacIntosh apples and you won't need sugar in the apple pie. For added sweetness, add some applesauce to the apple mixture.

Italy By Night

Bruschetti
Green salad with romaine lettuce, croutons, and Parmesan cheese
Chicken Marsala
Linguine

Tira Mi Su

There is no shortcut for Tira Mi Su, except to serve cannoli or other store-bought Italian pastries instead!

Medieval Love

Peas porridge (Split Pea soup)
Leeks sauteed with walnuts
Beef 'olives'; use egg glaze and food coloring for authentic touch
Chicken pasties; these are small dinner pies

Apple pie

Beef 'olives', like four-and-twenty-blackbird pie, are meant to fool the diner into thinking that olives are being served. Pork 'apples' were another popular medieval banquet food.

Eastern Delight

Satey (Beef on skewers with peanut sauce)
Coconut rice
Pea Chop (African chicken and peanut stew)
Poori bread

Rasmali (Indian dessert)

These dishes are not easy to prepare. For the coconut rice, use a can of cream of coconut instead of water when preparing the rice. Stir frequently for maximum fluffiness.

French Fantasy

Viccysoise
Crepes stuffed with zucchini and chicken, smoked mozzarella optional
French bread
Rice pilaf
Cheese Souffle

Chocolate whipped cream parfaits

Potato-leek soup may be served hot, rather than cold. The parfaits are simply dark chocolate pudding and fresh whipped cream, layered in parfait glasses. Be sure to use a metal bowl and place the bowl and the beaters in the freezer for at least an hour before whipping the cream. A drop of vanilla and a teaspoon of sugar may be added to the whipped cream.

Picnic On The Grass

Apples and mild, semi-soft cheese
Champagne
Caesar Salad Rolls; use tortillas
Chicken Fingers with Bleu Cheese dressing
Herbed Potato Salad

Petit Fours

Crisp Golden Delicious or tart Granny Smiths make excellent accompaniments to cheeses such as Muenster. Grilled chicken may be added to the Caesar salad rolls and substituted for the Chicken Fingers. Petit fours can be purchased at most bakeries.

Elionne's Delight

Shrimp cocktail with horseradish cocktail sauce
Eggplant Parmesan
Linguine
French bread

Tira Mi Su

Only Elionne can make these dishes. Horseradish cocktail sauce can be purchased in jars, but should be used at once as it does not keep.

Vegetarian Special
Breaded, fried eggplant fingers with tomato sauce
Moosewood's vegetable stew over rice
Baking powder biscuits

Banana or chocolate bread pudding

This is a delicious meal with very little protein. Add a tofu appetizer, or vegetarian Chix Patties, for a healthier meal.

Vegetarian Greek Divinity

Stuffed grape leaves
Grilled Pitas stuffed with Greek salad, feta cheese, and falafel balls
Tahini

Baklava

Pine nuts, or pinolas, are a pleasant addition to the stuffed grape leaves. The grape leaves themselves are not easy to obtain, so you might want to consider purchasing this appetizer from a Greek restaurant.

From The Heartland

Hush puppies with corn niblets
Catfish fried in cornmeal, or blackened
Collard greens

Chocolate cake

For authenic smoky taste, sautee the collards in bacon grease for a good long time.

English Beat

Cheese and crackers
Sheperd's pie
Winter Squash
Steamed green beans

Rice pudding with almond slivers

A true sheperd's pie is made with sliced roast beef as the bottom layer of the pie, and mashed potatoes as the top. Other vegetables may be added, and the meal can easily be made for vegetarians by substituting Green Giant or Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles or other textured vegetable protein.

By The Seaside

Clams Casino or Baked Clams
Shrimp cocktail with horseradish cocktail sauce
Caeser salad
Baking powder biscuits
Scallops braised with brandy or cognac, or with Newburg sauce
White rice
Baked potatoes

Baked Alaska

Scallops cook very quickly if you use a wok. Add the brandy during the last minute or two, or else use Newburgh sauce.

My Birthday

Stuffed mushrooms
Crackers and cheeses
Miso soup
Spinach Salad
Roasted Turkey with pan gravy
Mashed potatoes
Asparagus with butter
Baking powder biscuits

Cake, wine, and coffee

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the tops of the mushrooms during the last few minutes of baking.

John's Dinner Party

Mozarella with Sun-dried tomatoes and red and yellow peppers
Smoked salmon on pumpernickel with lemon and/or cream cheese
Chicken Marinara with angel hair pasta
Grilled Portabello mushrooms

Granny Smiths, Raspberry Sorbet
Strawberry Daquiris

Only John can cook this meal, but I would suggest flaky smoked sockeye salmon as opposed to the more stringy lox variety.

Dinner With Rustle

Brie or Stilton and crackers
Bubble and Squeak with Wow-Wow sauce
Chocolate bread pudding with hard brandy sauce

Sherry, port, or Frangelico

The bread pudding and hard sauce should be prepared the day before to allow the sauce to harden on the steamed pudding. Bubble and Squeak is simply carrots, potatoes, and cabbage mashed together and fried into patties. Wow-Wow sauce is a British treasure!

Dinner Avec Roberte

Beer
Spinach salad rolls
Deviled eggs
Cheese with apples
Cashew shortbread

Brandy Alexander, or brandy over ice

Grilled steak or chicken and hard-boiled eggs may be added to the spinach salad rolls for additional protein. Add chopped cashews to your favorite shortbread recipe and coat cookies with confectioner's sugar while they are still warm.

Sunday Breakfast

Buckwheat Waffles
Maple Syrup with walnuts and chopped dates
Grilled Country Ham or vegetarian sausage links or patties
Peaches with vanilla yoghurt

Mimosa

Use Aunt Jemima's Whole Wheat Pancake mix in your waffle iron. The chopped dates should be allowed to soften in warm maple syrup for fifteen minutes before the maple syrup is re-heated and served. Gimme Lean, Morningstar, and Nature's Sausage are excellent vegetarian substitutes for country ham.


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