I'm having a dinner party for 12 on Sunday.  The wrinkle in my plan is that I'm busy until 1:00, my husband until 3:00 and dinner is at 4:00 (how did this happen?  It just did, trust me...).  Needless to say it's going to be an "all hands on deck" weekend for cleaning and prep. 

The menu:

Individual Beef Wellingtons

Tomato Zucchini Casserole 

Ginger-ale Glazed Carrots 

Garlic Mashed Potatoes  

Apple Raspberry Crisp 

Hidden Tofu Chocolate Pie   

No pressure huh?  It's actually all about timing.  I can do the crisp and the pie on Saturday, and even, thanks to some research, the potatoes and then just pop them in the crockpot in the morning.  I plan on using red potatoes and stirring in some chives from the garden to make them pretty.  The carrots can also be done in advance and then microwaved.  The casserole will have to be assembled on Sunday and then baked until the beef goes in.  The beef is where it gets tricky.

I'm going to sweet talk the butcher into cutting 12 perfect medallions of beef.  The boys can season and sear, and once they're cool I'll wrap them, stash them in the fridge (note to self - clean out fridge!) and let them chill (ha) until it's time to bake.  My oven isn't very trustworthy, so I'll slip a thermometer in one of the packets (I'll eat that one).   

I think today I will sample some wines to go with dinner!

Happy Friday!