menu planning with 13 year old niece

[lyndak]

Need some help planning an easy menu that my niece and I are going to prepare at the cottage Easter weekend.

This is our first foray into cooking together. I'm hoping for some easy ideas that are tasty.

We're planning on an appetizer, main course along with a starch and veggie and dessert. We will have two days to prepare for the meal. One day I would like to dedicate to dessert as we will be celebrating a few family birthdays.

Any ideas??

thanks in advance!

[Terrie H.]

Lynda, how many people are you cooking for? Would you like to use the BBQ pit or prefer to cook indoors?

[lyndak]

depending on weather... I would like to use the BBQ pit but if the weather is really awful, I"ll resort to cooking inside.

there will be 10 of us for dinner. kids are teenagers now, so I consider them adults

[laliz]

appetizer ~~ asparagus gruyere tart
main course w/starch ~~ ham and scalloped potatoes
Vegetable ~~ carrots
Dessert ~~ coconut cake cupcakes, lemon cream pie, box of chocolates

[lyndak]

I really like the cupcake idea. It's easy and can be lots of fun with the decorating...

[ocshooter]

Well, a simple menu would be to start with a salad, for the main course do a roast with mashed potatoes, gravy, and a green veggie, and then desert is a wild card. I am guessing cake, since you mentioned a few birthdays. Not being an experienced baker, I would buy the cake or go with a mix and then do something else as well, maybe a nice mixed berries with whipped cream.

This way you can concentrate on the roast and doing some of the finer prep work, while your niece can be in charge of the salad and then help with mashing the potatoes, stirring the gravy and maybe icing the cake and making the whipped cream.

[katecm]

What are people's tastes like? Do you want casual or formal? Is this Easter dinner or Saturday? Are you starting with an empty kitchen?

[lyndak]

we're a very food friendly family so anything goes...

the kitchen will be empty per say. since it's the cottage aside from a blender (for blender drinks) and pots and pans, there's not much else. I will take any special equipment that we need from home.

there is a BBQ pit and an electric oven.