Cooking for a crowd

I worked late (just 45 min) and then had to go to both Sams and Carr's to grocery shop for food. I'm the "featured chef" for tomorrow's meal at church. We have a meal at 6:00pm before church services on Wednesdays. I don't usually cook since I work until 4:30 but they needed someone this week and I got volunteered. I've done it twice before, but was a nervous wreck both times.

The challenge is to cook a meal with meat, carbs (pasta, rice, bread), fruit or vegetable and dessert for 50 to 60 people and do it for $150 or less. That's only $3 per person my friends. I find that nearly impossible but succeeded in purchasing all my food for $152.12 so I'm only $2.12 out-of-pocket. My menu is Taco Soup, watermelon wedges, green salad and ice cream for dessert.

Not only is the cost challenging, but planning a meal for 50-60 people is difficult too. How much ice cream do you need? I bought a 5-quart bucket....I'm hoping that's enough. If not, those who snooze, lose. How much hamburger is needed? How much sour cream? Cheese? The church provides salad dressings, condiments, drinks and the paper plates/napkins and silverware.

Here's my 1-family recipe for Taco Soup....I purchased 8 times this amount, assuming that each recipe serves 8.

1.5 lbs ground beef, browned
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can ro-tel (diced tomatoes w/ green chilis)
1 can creamed corn
1 can hominy

Mix all this together and let it cook in a crockpot for a few hours. Or do it stovetop and get it hot. We serve it over Fritos corn chips, with shredded chedder cheese and a dollop of sour cream on top. I'll let you know tomorrow night how it all turned out.

Tim is heading out to the cabin in the morning and taking the pooches with him. Yay! I don't need them underfoot! I got really cranky at them today when I came home with all my groceries and had to make several trips into the house. They kept getting underfoot and I yelled at them a few times and told them to "go outside". Maryann is VERY sensitive and she headed outside to the back corner of the yard. Roxy is so stupid, she didn't even realize I was mad at her. She stood in the doorway wagging her tail at me, just waiting to trip me up again. Panda kept trying to roll over and lay down in front of me....somedays, I wonder why we have three dogs. Then I put some chicken in the oven to cook. 45 minutes later I realized I forgot to turn the oven on so I ran up to Taco Bell's and purchased tacos for dinner.