I need your opinion....

Mama

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
I have agreed to make the food for my daughters wedding in June. There will be about 200 people. I just bought a 25.5 cu. Ft. upright freezer. It’s going to be buffet style. So far, they have requested:

Lasagna
Spinach Lasagna
Roast Pork Loin
Chicken
A mashed potato martini bar
Green beans
Salad
Some sort of bread

Whatever I can freeze ahead I will. I am going to start making some samples now that I will freeze and then use at Easter (about 2 months) to make sure that everything freezes according to plan.

Here are my questions (for now…I’ll have more later :wink:):

For the lasagna. I will be using my Lasagna recipe

Should I:
1) Precook the noodles or use them raw?
2) Cook it then freeze, thaw and reheat or freeze it uncooked, thaw and then cook?

3) I am in search of a REALLY good chicken recipe that will use boneless, skinless chicken breast that I can make in advance and will freeze well. I’m thinking something with a sauce to keep the chicken moist when it is thawed and reheated. Anyone?

For the bread, I’m considering an assortment. One of which is the Outback Steakhouse brown bread recipe from this forum. JoeV, if you have any ideas on some bread recipes that would freeze well, I’m all ears!

My question:

4) Freeze the raw dough or freeze the already baked bread?


Thanks in advance!
 
joec

joec

New member
Gold Site Supporter
Shouldn't be a problem with freezing cooked pasta within a reasonable amount of time but I would not make it more than a day or two in advance persoanlly.
As for a tomato sauce I make it once every two weeks and keep in the fridge. I can be frozen fine for about 3 months in most cases and works just fine.

Now as for bread I can't handle any bread that has been frozen but that might just be me. As for dough to make bread I can't answer since I don't bake at all.
 
BamsBBQ

BamsBBQ

Ni pedo
Site Supporter
Mama said:
I have agreed to make the food for my daughters wedding in June. There will be about 200 people. I just bought a 25.5 cu. Ft. upright freezer. It’s going to be buffet style. So far, they have requested:

Lasagna
Spinach Lasagna
Roast Pork Loin
Chicken
A mashed potato martini bar
Green beans
Salad
Some sort of bread

Whatever I can freeze ahead I will. I am going to start making some samples now that I will freeze and then use at Easter (about 2 months) to make sure that everything freezes according to plan.

Here are my questions (for now…I’ll have more later :wink:):

For the lasagna. I will be using my Lasagna recipe

Should I:
1) Precook the noodles or use them raw?
2) Cook it then freeze, thaw and reheat or freeze it uncooked, thaw and then cook?

3) I am in search of a REALLY good chicken recipe that will use boneless, skinless chicken breast that I can make in advance and will freeze well. I’m thinking something with a sauce to keep the chicken moist when it is thawed and reheated. Anyone?

For the bread, I’m considering an assortment. One of which is the Outback Steakhouse brown bread recipe from this forum. JoeV, if you have any ideas on some bread recipes that would freeze well, I’m all ears!

My question:

4) Freeze the raw dough or freeze the already baked bread?


Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

wow my response the first time didnt come up right at all..lol

we make our lasagna in advanced. i just skip the final baking part of it. lasagna freezes well

i have never had any luck with frozen dough..never quite turns out the same way it does when it is fresh
 
Mama

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
BamsBBQ said:
we make our lasagna in advanced. i just skip the final baking part of it. lasagna freezes well
Click to expand...

That's what I've been leaning towards. I've never frozen it. I've always made it fresh.

BamsBBQ said:
i have never had any luck with frozen dough..never quite turns out the same way it does when it is fresh
Click to expand...

Man...I wish JoeV lived near by. :unsure:
 
BamsBBQ

BamsBBQ

Ni pedo
Site Supporter
Mama said:
That's what I've been leaning towards. I've never frozen it. I've always made it fresh.
Click to expand...

when we make lasagna we always make an extra pan just for freezing and honestly i dont see a difference, just add a little more sauce to it and dont add on the final layer of cheese IMHO
 
PieSusan

PieSusan

Tortes Are Us
Super Site Supporter
Absolutely, comgrats mama of the bride. Woo hoo!

I agree frozen bread is no good.
 
JoeV

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Mama, Mama, Mama...It's the ultimate compliment for your daughter to ask you to do the food for her wedding, but it doesn't sound like to will really be able to enjoy all the festivities of that magical day and the days leading up to it. That is, unless you have a trusted staff to insure the food is prepared and served as you would do it on show day. My heart goes out to you. Our eldest daughter is getting married in July, and I will be making the table favors for 150 guests; my Oatmeal, Raisin, Walnut Cake Cookies...two 4" diameter cookies in a clear plastic bag and tied with a ribbon matching the bridesmaid dresses.

As far as breads that freeze well, the Basic White Bread recipe is the only one that I have frozen on a regular basis. I freeze it in loaf form, sandwich rolls and different shaped dinner rolls...all with the same recipe. None have been in the freezer longer than 2 weeks, and they have all been great when defrosted and warmed.

Tonight I'm making 4 loaves of my Italian bread (special request of DW) specifically for the freezer. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Oh, I have never frozen my bread dough, so I don't know how long it will keep.

Joe
 
Mama

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
Actually Joe, my daughter is a high school softball coach and her fiance is a high school football coach. They have arranged for some of the moms to take care of setting up the buffet, heating the food, replenishing the buffet and serving anything that needs to be served. She assured me I would only need to deliver the food. Everything else will be taken care of. I'm sure they'll do a good job...after all, they do want their kids to play, don't they....:lol:

So, on the basic white bread, you froze the already baked loaves?
 
JoeV

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Mama said:
Actually Joe, my daughter is a high school softball coach and her fiance is a high school football coach. They have arranged for some of the moms to take care of setting up the buffet, heating the food, replenishing the buffet and serving anything that needs to be served. She assured me I would only need to deliver the food. Everything else will be taken care of. I'm sure they'll do a good job...after all, they do want their kids to play, don't they....:lol:

So, on the basic white bread, you froze the already baked loaves?
Click to expand...
Yes, I cool the bread or rolls for at least 2-3 hours, Slice the laoves with an electric knife, then bag them in 4 x 5 x 15" bread bags. I just bought 4 x 5 x 18" bags for my Italian bread, because they are longer, free-form loaves.

Glad to hear you'll have others doing the show day work.
 
Maverick2272

Maverick2272

Stewed Monkey
Super Site Supporter
We have frozen bread before as well. We just make sure it is completely cooled first, then wrapped to keep out as much ice crystals as we can. Comes out just find after being warmed.
Lasagna yes to being frozen ahead of time.

And Congrats!
 
JoeV

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Fresh from the oven. Will be sliced in the morning then frozen. Getting too late to wait until 0100 to slice bread.

P1010479.jpg
 
High Cheese

High Cheese

Saucier
Hey Mama, for the cicken you can make chicken marsala. As long as you use a ton of marsala wine you'll be fine. Flour chicken cutlets and sautee in olive oil, remove when 1/2 cooked, add sliced onion and mushroom, deglaze with marsala wine, add chicken stock and the cutlets back to the pan, season with salt and peper, when the cutlets are done, remove and set aside, reduce the sauce and add the cutlets back to coat just before serving.

Since they are in liquid, you could freeze and gently reheat.
 
Mama

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
Looks good JoeV! let me know how it turns out.

Thanks Jay. I'll try it and see how well it freezes. LP on the other forum is going to PM me a couple of chicken recipes that she uses to cater weddings too. When she does, I'll make a small batch of each and freeze them all for a couple of weeks to see how they do.
 
Mama

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
Thanks J.T. It's gonna be a lot of work but I think I can pull it off.
 
A

Abby

More coffee please
Super Site Supporter
I buy frozen bread dough from Krogers. They come five loaves to a package and I always have good luck with these! I spray with Pam, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate overnight to thaw. You can make rolls or leave it as a loaf. I've trained Doc on the art of making clover-leaf rolls, although he tends to slip back to placing two rather than three balls per muffin holder, which he calls "Boob Rolls" or "Butt Rolls"! I don't care what he calls them, I'm just happy to have the help!
 
Mama

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
Thanks for the clover idea Abby. I've tried the Kroger bread, but, for my tastes, it doesn't seem to have that much flavor. I will try making some of JoeV's white bread though and making clovers out of it and see how it freezes.
:lucky::biggrin::lucky:

Abby said:
I buy frozen bread dough from Krogers. They come five loaves to a package and I always have good luck with these! I spray with Pam, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate overnight to thaw. You can make rolls or leave it as a loaf. I've trained Doc on the art of making clover-leaf rolls, although he tends to slip back to placing two rather than three balls per muffin holder, which he calls "Boob Rolls" or "Butt Rolls"! I don't care what he calls them, I'm just happy to have the help!
Click to expand...
 
Mama

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
Now we are having issues with the lady making the cakes. She is a recent graduate of Le Cordon Bleu and hasn't established herself yet so she is giving them a huge discount to put an ad for her in their wedding program. She showed them some cakes she decorated and they were beautiful. Problem is, they went for a taste test the other day and my daughter said the cakes were terrible.

The grooms cake was a red velvet cake that was extremely dense and more brown than red.

The wedding cake was just a plain white cake that was coarse and dry.

She doesn't know how to break the news to her that the cakes were horrid. I told her just to be honest but constructive. The woman wants to build a business so she needs to know. I may have to find her some really good cake recipes to give her. Anyone have any really good cake recipes I could pass along?
 
rickismom

rickismom

Low Carb Home Cook
Site Supporter
Jeekinz said:
Hey Mama, for the cicken you can make chicken marsala. As long as you use a ton of marsala wine you'll be fine. Flour chicken cutlets and sautee in olive oil, remove when 1/2 cooked, add sliced onion and mushroom, deglaze with marsala wine, add chicken stock and the cutlets back to the pan, season with salt and peper, when the cutlets are done, remove and set aside, reduce the sauce and add the cutlets back to coat just before serving.

Since they are in liquid, you could freeze and gently reheat.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was going to suggest. Or make it a little lighter and make a lemon chicken picata
 
buckytom

buckytom

Grill Master
mama, i make 2 huge lasagnas that feed around 100 (along with oher things, of course) every year for my dept's holiday party. i've always used no bake noodles with good success. you may want to try that, to save you the step of boiling them. just be sure to put a thin layer of sauce or ricotta on them, edge to edge. and don't overfill the pan; they expand a lot. they also freeze and re-heat well, after having been baked.


also, i agree: picatta or marsala, or a little fauncier, chicken sorrentino or florentine. make the cutlets ahead of time, then all you have to do is re-heat, then make the sauce.

btw, what's a mashed potato martini bar?

p.s., congrats to the bride to be, and the doomed... ?:>)
 
Last edited:
D

DownByTheRiverSide

New member
buckytom said:
mama, i make 2 huge lasagnas that feed around 100 (along with oher things, of course) every year for my dept's holiday party. i've always used no bake noodles with good success. you may want to try that, to save you the step of boiling them. just be sure to put a thin layer of sauce or ricotta on them, edge to edge. and don't overfill the pan; they expand a lot. they also freeze and re-heat well, after having been baked.


also, i agree: picatta or marsala, or a little fauncier, chicken sorrentino or florentine. make the cutlets ahead of time, then all you have to do is re-heat, then make the sauce.

btw, what's a mashed potato martini bar?

p.s., congrats to the bride to be, and the doomed... ?:>)
Click to expand...

I was wondering that, too. I have never heard of a Mashed Potato Martini.
 
buckytom

buckytom

Grill Master
oh, another thing. for the green beans, how about savory italian green beans? very simply, it's the beans (thin ones, like haricot verts. or would that be haricots vert?) just blanched, then drizzled with very good evoo, and sprinkled with fresh chopped savory, sea salt, and cracked white pepper.

my sis made them at christmasstime, and they were fantastic!!!!
 
Mama

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
buckytom said:
oh, another thing. for the green beans, how about savory italian green beans? very simply, it's the beans (thin ones, like haricot verts. or would that be haricots vert?) just blanched, then drizzled with very good evoo, and sprinkled with fresh chopped savory, sea salt, and cracked white pepper.

my sis made them at christmasstime, and they were fantastic!!!!
Click to expand...

I'll definitely have to try those BT. Sounds simple yet elegant. Just what I need!
 
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