Crinella Family Cookbook
Our Grandparents' Favorites
Anti Pasti
Soups
Salads
Pasta
Vegetables
Fish
Poultry
Meat
Wild Game
Sweets
Brunch or Luncheon Dishes
Odds & Ends
Sour Dough
Other Breads ETC
Entertaining Ideas
Table of Contents
People
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Entertaining Ideas
Food and Drink
At the beginning of the fall, winter, spring and summer seasons, try to think of the things for which you will need special recipes for the next three months such as appetizers, dinners, bar-b-ques, picnics, lunches, Fourth of July and so forth. Consider what foods will be in season. Get the recipes together, then, it will save you a lot of time later on when you are under the gun. You can go through the
Crinella family cookbook, for example, and download different recipes you want to try for the season. I keep a three ring binder in which I put the possible recipes I am thinking about using, also entertaining ideas, and a big calendar. Leafing through the recipes from time to time really keeps them in my mind and this seems to work a lot better than just bookmarking them on my computer.
If I were really more organized I would list the colors, numbers and kinds of linens and dishes I have and put that in the binder, also. I might even have pictures of them. I have trouble remembering what I have tucked in the cupboards and closets of Santa Rosa. In fact I think I will go ahead and do this. If I knew by looking at my binder that I had 8 gray linen napkins instead on the 10 napkins I will need for a certain lunch, it would save me the trouble of having to go into the dining room and count them. My binder would probably also tell me where the gray linen napkins actually are stored, instead of me having to look in five different places to find them. In the binder, I also put pictures of flower arrangements I want to try for flowers I know will be blooming in my garden that season. I make notes about people I would like to see, menus I would like to use. When I select the seasons recipes my own choices are based on ease of preparation (no 45 ingredient dishes for me, ) everything must be fresh, and also somewhat low in calories. In the summer we grill a lot. In the winter I use the slow cooker.
For appetizers, I try to find things that people will actually
eat.............this leaves out things with anchovies, pate's, squid, and rattlesnake meat. I also don't want to be fussing with something
at the last minute either. I like to be sitting and having a glass of wine with everybody. If you are just having friends over for a quick drink, you only have to do something that will tide them over until dinner, in which case a nice cheese, some bread and good olives will do.
The main courses are also something I plan out at the beginning of each season, that is, I will assemble about twenty or so recipes that I think guests
might like. (When my family comes for dinner, it is an entirely different matter, there are 86 food items I am not allowed to serve, so I stick
to the basics.) At Squaw Valley, I have no oven and only 2 electric burners so cooking is a real challenge. I have adapted a lot of great recipes to the slow
cooker which I put on early in the day and serve about 10 or 11 hours later. Nothing could be easier and I am a guest at my own party. I like to serve a selection of roasted vegetables made in the toaster oven.
I collect recipes for desserts but more and more I serve fruit, often poached in white wine, with cookies. It is easy to do and not so filling after
a big dinner.
Once I know who is coming to dinner, I plan the menu as soon as possible. Next, I make the grocery list and decide on wines. I go through my cupboards and check or list every item I will need. I make another list of all the things I will need to do. Usually I shop the day before. I do all the things I can do the day before, such as clean vegetables, poach pears, check linens and so on. On the day of the event, I set the table, and do the cooking whenever it needs to be done which is almost always well before the guests arrive, except if we are grilling. I write a timetable as to when I am supposed to do things such as put the rolls in the oven, or roast vegetables. I got into this habit because at Squaw if I forget to do something, there is a big hole in the menu and it is irretrievable.
Of course, I keep a supply of good wine on hand as well as other beers and liquors. I always read how it is a good idea to keep a shelf with a lot of
goodies in it for unexpected guests and so forth. The only problem is that I am the sort of person that will eat right through the goodie shelf in
about three hours so that does not work for me. I have to buy everything as needed.
In this page, I will be posting recipes for you to try from our collection, that are simple, easy to do and are well liked by our friends and family.
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Don't miss our new Zucchini Recipe Collection.
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