Cooking Block

Little Dude's birthday is on Monday and I've invited a few people over to celebrate. Normally I love cooking and entertaining, but for some reason I can't come up with any good ideas for food. I thought about doing a barbecue, but our grill is charcoal and I just don't feel like messing around with that. It will only be somewhere between 5 and 7 people, so it's not like I need a lot of food either. I also considered doing Hawaiian food, kind of like the traditional first birthday luau, but that didn't sound appealing. This morning I was looking at my box of whole wheat couscous and there's a yummy sounding salad recipe on it, so I was thinking maybe that with some kind of grilled meat or something. I have no idea. I did find a yummy cupcake recipe, so we'll have cupcakes with "Happy Birthday" written on them (I like cupcakes for parties, they're just easier and cute). Now I just need some dinner to go with dessert. Any ideas?

Comments

Vanessa Swenson said…
Hmmm. Artichoke dip is really good. I know that it's an appetizer, but it's a good one.
Or you could go for Mexican: chips and salsa, guacamole, tacos, beans, rice, tortillas. ¿Maybe a piñata?
5/24/2007 12:43 PM
Frozen Okie said…
If you want to do BBQ but don't want to stand over a charcoal grill you should do a brisket in the oven. Beef brisket can be pretty inexpensive, and if you do it right can be quite good and give that BBQ type of vibe to dinner.
5/24/2007 12:47 PM
Desmama said…
Shish kebabs, perhaps? Just chopped meat and pineapple and peppers and grill it all up and it wouldn't take long . . .
5/24/2007 12:56 PM
B.G. Christensen said…
The trick is to just keep cooking through the block. Just cook and cook even though you don't know what to cook, even if all you're cooking is rubbish that you know you'll end up throwing away. Eventually you'll find your muse and get past cooker's block.
5/24/2007 2:52 PM
FoxyJ said…
I'm beginning to think that shish kebabs would be good. I could easily grill them in the oven if I chicken out and don't want to get the grill going (or if it doesn't work). That would taste good with the couscous salad too. Maybe I'll get some hummus and pita chips, since I'm on that kick lately. Mmm...
5/24/2007 3:59 PM
Jenny said…
I think the kebabs is a good idea. I've broiled them and they've always turned out good. My kids also like fruit pieces on toothpicks like mini kebabs only it get dangerous sometimes. I hope you have a fun party and the weather is nice.
5/24/2007 5:10 PM
Kengo Biddles said…
Crock pots are always good ...
5/24/2007 5:30 PM
Celia Marie (W.) B. said…
If you do shish kabobs, I suggest you do some all meat and some all veggie. THat way you can cook everything according to their needs without overcooking somethings. A good marinade for chicken is as follows:

1 cup sprite
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup soy sauce (or teriyaki or yoshida's sauce)
a dash or two of garlic and onion powders

Let it sit over night (or a couple hours if possible). Yum.
5/24/2007 6:08 PM
Celia Marie (W.) B. said…
ps, thank you so much for the rice and bean recipe you posted awhile back. it's SUPER!
5/24/2007 6:09 PM
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