Dinner Guest Menu Dilemma

Ok everyone, here’s my dilemma:

My Mother has made friends with a couple that are closer to her age.  They still drive and take her along with them when they take trips either to different locales or to family functions.  My husband and I have never met them. 

I called my Mom this afternoon and asked her to come to our house for dinner on Thursday. 

She called me this evening and asked me if it would be ok if she invited her friends too. 

I was going to make what we like to eat, Surf and Turf, along with some other goodies. 

Her friends are VERY picky and non-adventurous as she puts it.  No chicken, no seafood, nothing creamy, no Italian (WHAT??), low fat, low salt; basically they are heart attack survivors.

I planned on starting with an antipasto of olives, roasted peppers, marinated mushrooms, assorted cheeses and cured meats. 

Next, grilled flank steak served with baked potatoes, grilled veggies and a salad on the side. 

For dessert, my husband suggested Rainbow Sherbet (they don’t really eat desserts my Mom said).

I have searched the “Net” for some sort of menu suggestions and really couldn’t find a lot.

I was hoping you all could help me out.

That is quite true Chefbuba, too much salt. 

And chefedb, I went to the market today and the oranges here look dreadful.  So instead, I opted for really cute sundae glasses that were on sale at the home store.

KYHeirloomer, you’re right, Mom said they don’t like olives, so I have cheese and crackers.  As for them “thinking” Italian means spaghetti and meatballs in a red sauce, you are on point!

And ChrisBelgium, you’re funny!! 

I appreciate all of your input, and I would love to get more feedback from others as well.  I have one more day!

LOL!!  You guys are hysterical!!

Panini, you are on it.  I usually pre-slice my flank steaks (which I do make for our house alot) and then arrange nicely on a warm platter along with the grilled veggies. 

I will still set the table with steak knifes for those (like my Mom) who like really small bites,my Husband likes BIG bites.  

And you guys are probably right about the smaller portions.  I know my Mother doesn't eat nearly as much as we do. 

Then again, nothing will go to waste.  Leftovers are always welcome in our home!!

OOOOH, chefedb, doesn't that sound yummy!!

I don't know why I never thought of that one.  In fact I do have some steak leftover right now in the freezer. 

We have been so busy that we didn't get to it and I didn't want it to go to waste. I really don't like throwing out food. 

[Case in point: our wedding reception was a buffet dinner and we had tons of food leftover.  I had made arrangements with the caterers that anything leftover would go to the homeless shelter.It's a tax deduction too!!]

My Husband says that I freeze everything.  I say that I am very frugal. 

Thank you Kitchenshrink, I think that will be the next menu should feel that they would want to come to our home again.

But...

They just went home a little while ago and I am so tired! I didn't get a chance to take a picture this time of what I made:

Starting out with a small antipasto platter of olives, mushrooms, 3 different cheeses, sopparsata and cappcolla and crackers

(Mom's friends had never had the meats before and really liked them,there was nothing left of the platter)

I opted for a 2 lb. grilled flank steak (almost all is gone) that I sliced uber thin

grilled zuccini, peppers, and green onions

baked potatoes with all the fixin' on the side

and a nice big bowl of salad

the finish was de-caf coffee and Rainbow sherbet, big hit!

ChefBuba, you were right, I was glad that I offered different things and just set everything out family style and let everyone serve themselves.  Somethings they ate, somethings they didn't. 

But I think that everyone enjoyed the evening.

Mahalo Kitchenshrink.

You know, I don’t feel that it was necessarily the wrong way, I just offered them options, and you are right about the red meat to a heart patient.  My Mom told me this morning that they HARDLY EVER have red meat and that they really enjoyed it.  With flank having less fat than some other cuts I felt that was the medium path.  Plus I had sliced it so thin that you think that you are eating a bunch, but you’re not.

I have to tell you that I cheated on this dinner party.  Last night’s antipasto was from a cocktail party that we hosted for 8 last week.  My Mother’s friends had never tried most of the tidbits before, and when she had told me that they didn’t care for anything Italian….  I thought that was kind of cool that they were willing to give it a whirl.

This experience is a new to us, life in Hawaii was WAY different.