Trying My Hand at Catering

For years and years I have cooked dinner every Wednesday night for church. I've also been in charge of Vacation Bible School dinners (we do real meals for our VBS because the kids come from homes where they're not always fed) for ages and I've also headed up cooking for different mission teams that have come to our church. Needless to say, I feel VERY comfortable in the kitchen and I can cook dinner for 100 people without batting an eyelash. After all this time it has just become second nature.

Anyways, John's great aunt and uncle are having their 50Th anniversary and when their son was deciding what they should do to celebrate the occasion, it was mentioned that I know how to do the whole cooking thing. Long story short, the party is on Saturday and John's mom and I are doing ALL the work of cooking for about 60 people. Normally I would be fine with this and it wouldn't even cause me any stress, but here's the problem... They want this to be fancy. When you cook for church you have big metal pans where people are served buffet style, plastic silverware and paper plates are used, and the tables don't have to be decorated. For this, we're ordering special linens, china, silverware and glasses. We're also decorating the tables with votive candles and fresh flowers. I am very good at the food end of this... But I am NOT good at making things look pretty!

Here's the menu-

Appetizers
*Bruschetta
*Stuffed Mushrooms (which I hate to make but they're so good!)
*A tray with assorted cheeses, crackers, and pepperoni
*Skewers with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinegar

Salad
*Antipasti salad with assorted meats, cheeses, olives, veggies and croutons. I wanted to make a really nice homemade vinaigrette to toss this in but everyone likes a different dressing. No fun!

Main Course
*Chicken Parmesan
*Pasta
*Garlic bread OR bread and butter (I haven't fully decided what we'll end up with)

The cake is being taken care of, thank heavens, and for drinks we're keeping it simple with pitchers of lemon water on the tables and then offering iced tea, punch, and coffee.

Luckily we found some teenagers in our church that have agreed to come on Saturday and help us serve the tables and then there are two ladies have offered to come and oversee things in the kitchen while Patty and I are mingling with the family. I know I have to be social and all, but I would MUCH rather stay in the kitchen to keep a close eye on things during the meal. I know that we have capable hands working in the background to help us out but I'm somewhat of a control freak!

Tomorrow I'm doing ALL the shopping (I know, it's horrible that I haven't even started). Then, tomorrow night some ladies from my church are helping Patty and me decorate the church and set up the tables. Hooray! Friday is going to be insane because I have my glucose testing/ 28-week doctor visit that morning (which will take a while) and Patty has to work until 5:30. To add to my busy schedule, my aunt from California will be here so we have a family dinner Friday night. Saturday morning we're going to have to meet very early to get things going because lunch is at 2. AHHH!!!! Crazy, crazy, crazy. Let's just say that I'll sleep well on Saturday night!

WISH ME LUCK. Heaven knows I'll need it:-)