Help me plan.......

How about Fruit Kabobs? You can have them fresh and cold, or grilled. Grilled fruit is really good, putting fruit like pinapple on the grill really brings out the flavors. Start with a variety of colorful fruit. Use fruit that's fresh but firm, never over-ripe. Try fresh or canned Pineapple chunks, large seedless grapes, strawberries, melon chunks and cherries. Mango and Papaya are also good. Wash, peel, and cut the fruit into similar size chunks and drizzle with lemon juice or Pineapple Juice to prevent browning. Thread fruit onto bamboo skewers. If you will be grilling your kabobs, soak the skewers in water for 30 minutes or more to prevent them from burning. Place 6-7 pieces on each skewer. Use smaller fruit like grapes or cherries on the ends of the kabobs and leave space at each end of the skewer for easy handling. If you grill them just "wilt" the fruit slightly. Try to get some grill lines if you can. I think those are fun. Good luck!

Here is my absolute favorite side dish for summer, I always get at least 3 or 4 people asking for the recipe. It is a super easy fruit salad: Grapes, both red and green if you can get them Bananas, sliced fresh strawberries, sliced couple cans of peach pie filling mix it all together, you can play with how much you want in terms of grapes, bananas, etc. I tend to put in a lot of strawberries and grapes and less in the bananas. But it is delicious and people are always surprised to hear it is peach pie filling!

Stuff you can throw in the grill...chicken (wings & legs),hamburgers, hotdogs and steaks. You also can add vegtables, corn on the cob and potatoes. You can have potatoe, macaroni, and seafood salads. Coleslaw. Pies and different kinds of chips. A big cake or choose cup cakes for less mess. Green bean cassarole, deviled eggs, stuffing, stuffed shells, ...oh you options are endless. What kind of recipes are you looking for? I have alot I can share with you.

I see you already have some fruit ideas but I'll give you mine anyway. All you need is some cans of fruit cocktail and some cool whip. Mix them together and top it with some marachino cheeries to make it look pretty. Its easy and its good. You can also use fresh fruit if you want instead of the fruit cocktail. I also have two easy desserts that I got from other mylotters. One is easy fudge, all you need is a can of vanilla frosting and a jar of peanut butter. Mix them together on the stove but don't let it get too hot. Put in a pan and chill for a few hours. Its very sweet but oh so good. I used chocolate frosting but the chocolate doesn't stand out as strong as the peanut butter. There is also an easy recipe for peanut butter cookies. All you need is one cup of peanut butter, one egg and one cup of sugar. Mix together and bake at 350 for about 6-8 minutes. It really does work without the flour. I didn't believe it until I tried it. Good luck and have fun.

So far everyone's ideas sound great, and now I'm hungry again (why's this place always makin' me hungry? lol) Anyway, I'd say you'd probably want to go for something that's easy to prepare, since you have a good amount of people coming who'll probably want more than one serving (especially the men), and maybe something the kids will appreciate on the side. Unfortunately, I can't think of an other ideas for the meals, but dessert (mmm)... - Red, White and Blue Shortcake - If you can get decent fruit where you live, you could try doing a strawberry (red), cool whip or similar product (white), and blueberry shortcake (blue) dish--though you may need to make several trays for the number of people you have. Generally, I've seen it served in a 9x13 pan and you simply (okay, maybe not so simply) make a cute flag out of the red, white and blue items. You could also purchase clear, plastic, single-serving dishes or goblets and layer it like one might do with a single-serving of tiramisu or the like (ex: one layer of shortcake (may need to break it into pieces) on the bottom, sweetened blueberries, more shortcake, sweetened strawberries, and then whipped cream/coolwhip on the top...maybe even with a strawberry, blueberry and mint leaf on the top for garnish. Clear, plastic cups would even do, come to think of it. Some people use blueberry and strawberry pie filling, but I personally prefer the old-fashioned way a little water and a lotta of sugar (or just sugar). Sounds like fun. Good luck :)

I love entertaining, especially planning the menu. For a barbecue, I would have lots of side dishes like fruit salsa with cinnamon chips, pork and beans or a variation of them, deviled eggs (there a million varieties aside form the normal pnes), some type of potato or macaroni salad, and a dip with fresh vegetables. For the entree, I would keep it simple with hot dogs and hamburgers, with a bunch of toppings. In addition to the normal ketchup mustard, etc, I would include avocado slices, crumbled blue cheese, and flavored mayonaisses. For dessert: homemade ice cream is always nice, but depending on how many people you expect, it may be too much to do. A fruit trifle is always good (fruit, angel food or poundcake, a cream mixture, all topped with whipped cream). Trifles are very versatile and there are tons to choose from. I hope you are able to glean some ideas from here.

Hey DCP, I wish I could give you something good but admitedly I'm no chef the most creative dessert I've ever made was pudding cups w/ flaming marshmallows on top LOL A BBQ ain't complete w/o ribs just remember to boil them first-the first time I made ribs on the grill I didn't know you were supposed to boil them & I bombed out that meal |;) Have fun +'s 2 U :D

lasagna, carbonara, chocolate souffle...yum!

One thing I do is to fix baked beans in my crockpot. It is so easy and doesn't take much work at all. Plus it can set all day on warm and left like that. I'd go for easy things that can be fixed the day before, so you have time to enjoy your family and not spend all your time cooking and being a hostess. Have fun!

when i have to plan, i go here: bestsimplerecipes.com you will have to register i believe, but they have FANTASTIC ideas! i have had a subscription to the magazine for YEARS now!! it's from taste of home. anyway, i LOVE the recipes in the magazine, and knew there had to be a website, so i looked that up about a year ago, and there are soooo many simple and quick recipes.

We love to grill outside! My husband loves to do a beef brisket. You cook it without foil for a couple of hours (watch out for flare-ups), making sure you flip it so both sides singe a little. Then wrap it in foil and let it cook for hours. We also like grilled stuffed anaheim peppers. They look like long pale-green jalapenos, but they don't bite near as bad. You slice on one side and clean out the seeds. Then stuff them with your favorite shredded cheese (we use colby jack). Put them on the top rack of the grill (sliced side up) and let them cook a while. When they start to singe and the cheese is melted, they are done. For dessert...take mini sponge or angel food cake loaves and slice them in half. Line the bottom of a large glass pan with them. 'Ice' the cakes with Cool Whip. Then take sliced fruits (if you are going for a 4th of July look use strawberries and blueberries and make it look like a flag). Layer the slices on the cakes. If your pan is deep enough, do it again. Chill until ready to serve.

whenever my friends and i did a barbecue, we found it was easier to do chicken and ribs than burgers and hotdogs. it sounds more expensive, and can be unless you look for sales. but then with burgers and hotdogs you have to remember buns, condiments and all the trimmings for burgers. with chicken we would boil it for 20 minutes before putting it on the grill, and add sauce a few minutes before it came off. same with ribs, actually. there's the ever classic chips and dip. veggie trays. and the standard assortment of salads. corn on the cob. i love serving tomato and avocado salad at my barbecues... take 3 c. (uncooked measurement) of rotini pasta, cooked drained and rinsed in cold water then add: 6 diced roma tomatoes, 3 diced avocados, 6 - 8 slices of crisp bacon (crumbled), 1 chopped cucumber and 1/2 c. of crumbled feta cheese. a dash of salt and pepper as well. it needs no dressing, the juice from teh tomatoes does that just fine. i mix everything but the avocado ahead of time and add that right before i serve it.

one of the favorites at our family get togethers is called chocolate pudding desert. my moms recipe. i'll give you the recipe if you'd like. Its easy.

i don't know if you would like it but here it goes anyway. its a very easy recipe. marinade pork with garlic and salt just long enough for it to seep in then grill, after that chop pork to about 1-2 inch pieces then wash with vinegar then mix both vinegar and pork with fresh chopped tomatoes and onions.;-)

Well, BBQing is always a good thing. So, maybe you should try that and maybe bake some cool cake. I would recommend carrot cake because it is my favorite.

I just had a cookout at my house this weekend! I am still reeling from all the excitement and work! Anyway. The most popular item at my cookout was the crockpot full of 'lil smokies that was set on low and had barbeque sauce and grape jelly added! I was also surprised that the most popular desert (even more popular the deserts that were fancy and 'different' ) was chunks of ice-cold watermelon! I had cut it into about 1-inch squares and had it in a big plastic bowl that was sitting on ice. Funny how you can work and work to have things that are unusual and folks love the 'ole standbys!

have you tried coffee gelatines? just mix unflavored gelatines with coffee with the taste you want then boil it with the gelatines. and put some cream on top springkled with springkles on top. leche flan is also cool: Caramel: 1 cup sugar 3/4 cup water Custard: 12 egg yolks 2 cans (13 oz.) evaporated and condensed sweetened milk 1 tbsp. vanilla In a large bowl, combine all custard ingredients. Stir lightly when mixing to prevent bubbles or foam from forming. Strain slowly while pouring caramel lined flan mold. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover mold with tin foil. Put molds into a bigger tray filled with water. Bake in oven for one hour or until mixture is firm. cool before unmolding on a platter. **One of the ingredients of our famous Halo-Halo dessert Put sugar and water in a saucepan. Caramelize in medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour into flan molds or custard cups, tilting the mold to make sure the whole surface (about less than 1 cm) is covered. The more caramel you pour into the molds the sweeter the leche flan. Put molds in a bigger tray/ baking pan filled with water. Bake in oven for one hour or until mixture is firm. Cool before unmolding on a platter. goodluck enjoy.