Cooking for a Family Reunion With a Small Kitchen
Cooking for a Family Reunion can be a challenge,
with the nonstop activity that revolves around play, eat, pray, eat, play, eat, etc.
Then factor in a small 1950s era kitchen,
and you have a recipe that could cause the best of chefs to go on strike.
If you’ve read any of our posts the past few days you know our family is sharing quality time
at our second son’s small farm on the river.
Thirteen in all, parents, children, grandchildren.
The river is a meandering, shallow waterway, with many sandbars.
Along its banks grows green grass, scrubby trees, and wildlife. Fawns, raccoons, beaver, and a hyper half-grown pet puppy-dog named Frieda. Frieda Jane Myers when she’s “naughty.”
Total aside: It is so cute when a 3 year old girl shakes her finger and lisps, “Frieda, no! Sit!” and the dog that’s as tall as the girl obediently sits. For 2 seconds. But long enough for the girl to run to safety (and save her ice cream bar from a dog’s lolling tongue.)
But this post is about
cooking for a Family Reunion
when all you have is a tiny 1950s era kitchen.
Ok, there is a double sink with running water, a portable dishwasher, a side-by-side fridge with icemaker, and a gas stove. And they all work fine. And a chest freezer and fridge in the basement for overflow.
The total counterspace is one corner measuring 5 feet out to either side, and another short section of 3 feet.
But
what we have
and that makes it all so special
is a front porch for breakfast and lunch
and a grassy river bank for the supper fire.
Some of our menus:
Breakfast:
- Caramel Sticky Buns made with Grands biscuits, scrambled brown eggs gathered the day before from the chicken nests. Grapes and sliced apples.
- Breakfast burritos and cinnamon rolls (baked ahead and warmed in the oven.)
- Sour cream pancakes with Dutch Honey and oven baked bacon strips. My son put the raw bacon on parchment paper on cookie sheets, and baked 2 pans at a time. Nice and crispy, and pans that didn’t take a day to scrub clean.
Lunch:
- Rice bowls made with leftover grilled steak. Garden lettuce, home canned salsa and pinto beans, chunked avocado, shredded cheese.
- Make your own sandwiches with cold cuts of meat, sliced cheese, garden lettuce. Watermelon and grapes.
- Leftovers to finally empty the fridges.
Dinner:
- Grilled hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon and grapes.
- Grilled steak salted overnight, then sprinkled with lemon juice for several hours. Potatoes brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, wrapped in foil and baked. Garden salad.
- Pulled pork sandwiches from meat done ahead, pasta salad, melon, chips, veggie platter with ranch dip.
How to plan ahead:
We weren’t a huge number of people, but the planning steps are much the same for any size group. (With a bigger group, you have more potential for help. Like assigning certain meals to certain people so not everyone is involved in the cooking all the time.)
Create a master menu covering the meals for the days involved.
Choose meals with simple steps that anyone can help with. The 9 year old shredded cheese whenever we needed it!
Purchase easy desserts like ice cream sandwiches or fudgsicles. Have ingredients on hand for homemade ice cream, which will be one of the fond memories of family reunions. If you have ice cream, you have dessert for any meal. This ice cream freezer doesn’t need crushed ice, and is great for smaller batches.
Mix cookie dough, and bake cinnamon rolls and breads ahead of time and freeze. Fresh baked cookies and milk for snacks will also be a lasting memory. My DIL made yogurt and granola ahead of time, also.
Buy a variety of disposable table service to cut down on dishwashing. Stock up on ice, juice and Gatorade bottles and other easy to serve beverages. If you take your meal on the road, or eat down by the river like we did, fill an empty laundry soap container that has a spigot with soapy water to wash hands and wipe tables.
