It's Graduation Party Season! What's on the Menu?

If you haven't already, you'll soon see driveways and roads lined with cars, balloons and signs on mailboxes, and smoke rising up from the grills of neighbors' homes, celebrating the graduation of a family member. 

If your family is like mine, food is a central part of the celebration.  We've become fairly adept at feeding a crowd easily and without blowing the budget.  I've given you just a FEW recipes below, and some tips on throwing a great party with minimal hassle.  Visit my blog, acookingbaker.blogspot.com, for more tips on feeding a crowd, and many more recipes. Head over to Pinterest.com for a plethora of ideas for entertaining, too - there are great ideas for table settings, buffets, recipes, decorations, and more.

Decide on a theme for your menu.
Come up with a theme for the food - it helps focus the menu.  For example:  Mexican Fiesta!  (The party theme doesn't have to be the same, but look -you jsut decided on a taco bar, build-your-own-nachos, and some margaritas and Mexican sodas!)

Savory Pork Carnitas
1 3-4 lb. Boston butt pork roast (or pork shoulder, loin roast) trimmed of fat
1 pkg. (1.25 oz.) taco seasoning (easy to make your own, too)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, diced
1 can (4 oz.) whole green chiles, drained (adjust heat by using mild or hot, adding a diced jalapeno or two, etc.)
1 cup water

Combine all ingredients in your slow cooker (brown the roast beforehand to add some flavor).  Cover and cook until tender (6 hours on high, 10 hours on low). Remove from the slow cooker and shred meat with a fork.  Serve on tortillas with your favorite garnishes, such as: shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sliced avocado, sour cream, lime wedges, chopped green or white onions, queso fresco, fresh cilantro.

Make it easy for the guest to serve themselves.
Do the majority of the cooking and prep well in advance.  Rent or borrow or buy some foil pans and stands you can keep warm over some sterno burners, or plug in a few slow cookers, and keep meat and hot sides warm, and available for guests to serve themselves.  Put buns or bread in baskets, and sides on platters (put things that need to be cold over ice - you can get crushed ice to make it easy) so people can build their own sandwiches.  Try these on small slider-size rolls with provolve cheese, served with cold veggies and dip, fruits, and salads.

Italian Beef
1 12 oz. jar sliced pepperoncini peppers
3-4 pounds boneless beef chuck roast
1/4 c. water
1 3/4 tsp. dried basil
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

 Place all ingredients in your slow cooker, and cover and cook on low until beef is tender, about 6-8 hours. Shred beef. Serve with hard rolls or on crackers with shredded cheese, sour cream, onions, etc.  You could try little Hawaiian bread rolls, too.

Serve finger foods and things that are easy to eat.
Don't get too fancy!  Unless you're having a sit-down dinner, make it simple - foods you can eat with a fork or fingers.  Serve this BBQ Pork on small buns with cups of veggie dip and veggie sticks, potato salad, and slices of watermelon.   

BBQ Shredded Pork
1 boneless pork loin roast
1/2 c. cider vinegar
1 tbsp. garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (divided)

Throw all of the above (just 1/2 of the BBQ sauce to start) in your crockpot, and cook for 8-10 hours, until tender enough to shred with a fork.  Shred meat, and add in the rest of your BBQ sauce until it's as saucy as you like.  Serve on rolls with your favorite condiments - we like freezer pickles (see recipe here), extra BBQ sauce, and some cole slaw.