My kids know that Fridays are designated as “Friday Fun Night”. They are always welcome to invite their friends over for dinner, games and a movie. I love the noisy chatter and laughter ringing through my home, the bonding of friendships and the happy memories being made.
We usually end up with a variety of ages of guests coming from our own neighborhood as well as from other towns – young adults, teens, tweens, and adult friends. I love cooking for guests and planning out beautiful and tasty meals to eat together. But with the age range on Friday nights and a variety of different tastes and dietary needs, it can be difficult to feed everyone. I’ve come up with some easy ways to serve all the guests, while they also enjoy the comforts of home cooking.
I’ve usually got the food hot and ready when everyone arrives and it’s set up in the kitchen, buffet style. These are some of our favorite Friday night group dinners, where all the ingredients are set out and guests ‘build’ their own dish according to their preferences. Be sure to have plenty of napkins ready!
Tacos – Soft and Hard Shells
This is our number one favorite! I put out flour tortillas as well as hard shells so our guests can choose one or both and fill them up with the following:
- Seasoned Ground Beef (see my recipe here)
- Shredded Cheddar cheese
- Shredded Romaine lettuce
- Sliced olives
- Chopped Tomatoes
- Chopped Cilantro (fresh from the garden is best)
- Caramelized onions & garlic
- Salsa
- Sour Cream
- Avocado slices
- Fresh-cut lime
- Guacamole
- Hot sauce
Sometimes I’ll deep fry small corn tortillas to make my own homemade taco shells, but it’s a really big hit when I deep fry large flour tortillas to make GIANT taco shells!
Hawaiian Hay Stacks
These Hawaiian Hay Stacks are layered – first is hot rice, second is chow-mein noodles, third is chicken, then garnish with the other toppings. Teens and older will appreciate this dish.
Begin with:
- Hot cooked rice
- Crispy chow-mein noodles
- Cooked shredded chicken mixed with chicken gravy or condensed cream of chicken soup
Top with:
- Chopped tomatoes
- Chopped celery
- Chopped green onions
- Fresh pineapple chunks
- Shredded Cheddar cheese
- Slivered almonds
- Shredded coconut
You’ll want to go back for seconds!
Loaded Nachos
I instruct guests to put a layer of tortilla chips on their plate, cover the chips with their chosen toppings, then pop it into the microwave to melt all the cheese. The toppings for the nachos are:
- Seasoned Ground Beef (see my recipe here)
- Black beans
- Refried pinto beans
- Shredded Cheddar cheese
- Sliced olives
- Chopped tomatoes
- Caramelized onions
- Chopped jalapeno peppers
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
- Salsa (we like to have a variety such as corn salsa, mango salsa, black bean salsa, tomatillo salsa, etc)
- Hot sauce
Build Your Own Pizza
This is a lot of fun, especially for those who don’t get many opportunities to cook in the kitchen. Make the pizza dough (I always double the recipe) and divide it into small balls. Sprinkle flour onto your clean countertop and rolling pin, then invite each guest to roll out their own personal pizza.
When they are done rolling, have them place the flattened dough onto the pizza pan, then let them load it up with their favorite toppings. Since my oven will only bake a few personal pizzas at a time, this is a great option for when guests will be arriving at different times.
- Pizza sauce (we like the jarred Classico Traditional pizza sauce best)
- Shredded Mozzarella cheese (shred extra cheese for those who prefer cheese pizza)
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
- Pepperoni
- Sausage
- Canadian bacon
- Salami
- Crispy bacon
- Sliced olives
- Chopped pineapple
- Caramelized onion
- Caramelized garlic
- Mushrooms
- Bell peppers
- Chopped tomatoes
- Anything else you’d like to add!
Above all, enjoy this time, savor the good food and enjoy these beautiful moments together with family and friends!