Graduation Menu Ideas

With graduation season coming up, now is the time to get your graduation menu ideas together and plan out your party.

June is the time when parents honor their children’s successful completion of their studies by throwing a party. Graduation parties are a great combination of family, friends, and fellow students so your graduation menu ideas should include kid-friendly foods. While pizza is always a student staple, a table strewn with pizzas tends to downplay the celebratory nature of the graduation party. For the best way to make sure you are at your party rather than stuck in the kitchen, think along the lines of a buffet that can be set up beforehand, leaving you free to mingle.

The taco bar is a tasty way to feed a party while giving your guests the freedom to create a taco just the way they like them. Since most of the ingredients of a taco can be purchased pre-prepared you will have more time to focus on the decorations, music selection, and invitations. Depending on the size of your party, you may want to make several batches of the taco meat filling, store it in your refrigerator in microwave safe bowls, and heat the filling, as is needed.

This makes enough filling for 24 tacos. You might want to use mild taco sauce and have hotter sauce on the table for those guests who want a hotter taco.

• 6 skinless, boneless whole chicken breasts halved
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 1 jalapeno pepper seeded and the ribs removed
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• ½ cup of taco sauce (hot, medium, or mild according to your tastes)
• 2 tablespoons of lime juice

1. Trim the fat from the chicken breasts.
2. Rinse and dry the chicken breasts
3. In a large, deep pan or medium pot bring the chicken stock, jalapeno, garlic, and oregano to a boil.
4. Lower to a simmer and add chicken.
5. Simmer uncovered for ten minutes or until chicken is done.
6. Remove from heat and let cool, about 15 minutes.
7. Shred the chicken and place the chicken in a bowl.
8. Mix the taco sauce and lime juice together.
9. Mix the taco sauce and the chicken.

• 2 teaspoons of instant minced onion (usually found in the spice section of your supermarket)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• ½ teaspoon of cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper
• ½ teaspoon crushed garlic
• ¼ teaspoon of oregano
• ¼ teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1 pound of ground beef
• ½ cup of water

1. Mix together the minced onion, salt, chili powder, cornstarch, crushed red pepper, crushed garlic, oregano, ground cumin.
2. Brown the ground beef in a large pan over a medium heat.
3. Drain off as much of the fat as you can from the browned ground beef.
4. Add the seasoning mix to the ground beef and mix thoroughly.
5. Add the water.
6. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
7. Simmer for twenty minutes.

Place the taco fillings on the table with soft and hard taco shells, bowls of shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, and a few bottles of hot sauce.

Along the same lines as the taco bar is the burger bar. To make this plan work all you need is to find a volunteer to work the grill cooking up burgers to order. Since most guys love to grill, it has something to do with the leaping flames, finding a grill master shouldn’t be a problem.

• As many preformed burgers as you think you will need.
• Be sure to grab a box of veggie burgers for your vegetarian friends.
• Sliced onions, white and red
• Sliced pickles
• Lettuce leaves
• Burger buns

Take any number of casseroles and baked foods and fill a table to give your guests a wide variety from which to chose. Some good graduation menu ideas would be lasagna, baked ziti, and macaroni and cheese.

Since a buffet type party is usually the best idea as far as large parties go, these graduation menu ideas are a good place to start. Add a few appetizers and a nice selection of desserts and you can be a part of your party rather than apart from your party. .

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