Dinner for a thousand mothers...

OK.  So, it was only 5 mother's and the families...but you get the idea. :)  We had about 14 people, with 1 baby (so no food for her, yet).  Which is a lot of mouths to feed...and so much fun.

So, I was pretty good on the prep work and getting loads of things done up in advance. And, I even have 2 pictures!  But, completely lost track of time and never did get a picture of the great bounty.

Dunch (dinner/lunch) was a wonderful success, which is a good thing since we are having another this saturday. Yikes!

Appetizers were meatballs in tomato sauce, cheese plate and some grapes.  Easy breezy, as you can do up the meatballs the day before and then heat them up just before company comes. The same with chopping up the cheeses (I didn't want to leave any knives around because of the little ones - 3 munchkins under 5! so, no sharp objects)

Since we had some people who didn't eat ham, I had also made Chicken Makhani.  Roasted potatoes, roasted green beans, marinated bell peppers (the lovely ones above which were just going into the oven at the time I took the pictures). The BF was lovely enough to make a great salad with dressing.  And, my mum brought over both plain white rice and a lemon rice.  So, quite a feast.

And, then desserts...  yes, no pictures. :(
The BF's mum brought  Pineapple dessert (it so needs a better name!) which was eaten so fast that I didn't even get more than a bite.  Chocolate cup cakes with white sugar frosting, which I had made for the kids but were a hit with the adults.  And, a flour less walnut cake.

So... slowly I will put up recipes. If there is one that you want right away - let me know.  This is for the sib with the cupcake kids.

The cupcake kids were eating their respective cupcakes, with the tray too temptingly close.  Apparently, the one on S's plate wasn't enough and he stuck his finger in a cupcake on the tray.  The BF''s mum very nicely said that if you stick your finger in the cupcake it is yours.  Hence, both boys started sticking their fingers into the remaining cupcakes. LOL . Lucky cupcake kids' dad was so quick or they would be taking home quite a lot of cupcakes. :)

Chocolate cup cakes with white sugar frosting

--- Cake ---

• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (do not use imitation vanilla as it will turn it bitter)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. (or you can do what I do, dump them all together and give it a good stir. Then when putting it into the mixer, just stir a bit more. While it isn't as perfectly blended - it works. )

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl (yes, another bowl - thank god for dishwashers!) - combine water and vanilla. Add the water mixture in thirds to the butter mixture - alternating between the water and flour.

So 1/3 water, mix, 1/3 flour, mix, 1/3 water ... etc until blended well.
Put in cupcake paper liners or in a cake pan (8" or 9"). Bake until done. Cupcakes were about 20 min.  Cake is supposedly 30-35 min - but since I haven't made the cake version, I don't know how accurate that would be.

--- Frosting  ---

• 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 pound (3 1/2 cups) confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 to 5 tablespoons heavy cream (can use more or less based on the consistency you want)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I can't recall if I put any in - umm... I think I forgot)

Cream the butter (you can either use a wooden spoon and do a lot of work - or use your mixer and do a quick job. However, if you were like me - you just used your mixer and the beater is now in the wash). Add 1 cup of sugar and the salt - mix some more. Alternate adding sugar and cream until all the sugar is gone. Once you have the consistency you want - add the vanilla.