Help - cooking/reheating in hotel microwave

A

anna_x

Well-known member
We used to have annual retreats for the females in the family. This stopped for a few years, due to Dad's illnesses and death, and now my mom can see doing it again. Timing is bad, though, over Valentine's weekend,and we don't want to compete for a restaurant table.

What nice dinner could I make for seven women that I could take cold and heat the second night? This is a somewhat allergic group: no black pepper, bananas, vanilla, tomatoes, chilies, or beef. I do get stumped! Any ideas are very welcome!

 
Your favorite casserole, ccoked and refrigerated/frozen and then reheated in the

microwave? Need ideas? Mac and cheese, chicken tamales, chicken and biscuits, I'd say spaghetti, but no tomatoes... alfredo sauce? Shrimp scampi with rice, tuna noodle casserole, chicken divan, pork chops supreme, veal scallopini? All casseroles and precooked.

Cheesecake for dessert! Have a good time, sounds fun. Do you get to travel or will you be in your hometown?

 
I have been wanting to make this for awhile. REC: Big Thicket Chicken and Dumplings Recipe #52253

I am not sure what kind of a dinner you are looking for, but this has great reviews and sounds wonderful. You could make it ahead and chill it in your crockpot crock, and then just reheat it in the hotel right in your crockpot or microwave. I don't think there is any black pepper in poultry seasoning but you might want to check it.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Big Thicket Chicken and Dumplings Recipe #52253

Recipe By :Recipezaar
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : poultry soups and stews

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

1 whole chickens -- (3-4 lb)
1 gallon water
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper (optional)
2 celery ribs -- chopped
4 green onions -- sliced thin or 1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot -- shredded
6 chicken bouillon cubes
DUMPLING INGREDIENTS
6 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup margarine or butter flavor shortening
2 eggs -- beaten
2 cups chicken stock

Place whole chicken and water into large pot or dutch oven. Add poultry seasoning, garlic powder& pepper.
Bring to boil and reduce heat to medium. Cook chicken for about 1 hour or until tender. When done, carefully remove chicken from pot; set aside to cool. Remove 2 cups of stock and set aside to cool. Add celery, onion, carrot and bouillon cubes to remaining stock and continue to cook on simmer. While chicken is cooling, prepare dumplings.
Into large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, poultry seasoning and salt. Add margarine and combine until mixture is coarse and crumbly. (use a hand mixer) Add eggs and cooled chicken stock (be sure your stock has cooled to"just barely warm") then stir by hand to form a dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead slightly until smooth.
You may need to divide dough in half and only roll out half at a time. Roll out to approximately 1/8-inch thickness.
Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough in vertical strips about an inch wide. Then repeat the process, cutting horizontal strips, which will give you little square dumplings. Return chicken stock to a boil; drop dumplings in, a few at a time, as quickly as possible. Cook about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent dumplings from sticking to bottom of pan. When done, remove from heat and cover pan. Remove skin and debone cooled chicken. Cut into bite size pieces then fold into hot dumplings & broth. This recipe will serve a family of 4 two main course meals. Leftovers can be frozen.

Susie's note: If you love good, old-fashioned, down home chicken and dumplings, this is the real thing! Note that this dumpling recipe makes "a bunch of dumplin's" because around here, most folks want more dumplin's than chicken. (prep time includes cooling time for cooked chicken.)
by Susie in Texas
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -http://www.recipezaar.com/Big-Thicket-Chicken-and-Dumplings-52253

 
Some thoughts. How about ...

quiches? They transport easily, and should be fine if just gently reheated, though the crust may not be as crispy as fresh from a conventional oven. You don't have to serve them hot hot. And they'll likely fit in even smaller microwaves, as a casserole dish you take along may not fit so well if it's a smaller microwave oven.

If more like a casserole is what you are seeking, there's a yummy chicken tetrazzini recipe here in the archives that might work for your situation, but be careful about reheating...you don't want to get it too hot or the sauce will break down and start to separate.

Chicken tacos or burritos are another thought. You can take along individual containers of toppings: shredded lettuce, grated cheese, chopped onions, guacamole, salsa, etc. and let folks make their own once you reheat your taco or burrito filling. Beans and/or spanish rice would be easy to reheat in microwave if you wish to have additional side dishes.

Depending on what part of the country you'll be in and the weather at hand, how about grilling? Many hotels now have a bbq grill on site. You can then take along any items you might need, like tongs and spatula, and skewers if you want to get fancy with shrimp or do skewers of veggies or chicken.

You could pop into a local grocery and pick up some rotisserie chickens and either buy or make some cold or hot side dishes. We did that last year on a long road trip. We were tired and didn't feel like eating out at a restaurant *again* so I picked up a rotisserie chicken, roasted potatoes and bagged salad with dressing...it was an easy and tasty meal. There was a mini refrigerator in the hotel room to store the leftover chicken for the next day's lunch. You could plan to pick up the hot rotisserie chicken and bring along some homemade side dishes/salads/dessert to make it more special.

And don't forget about pizza delivery, if you want to make it easy on yourself. Many pizza places offer pesto which can be a nice substitute for the non-tomato-lovers.

Valentine heart cookies sound like a nice dessert to bring along. ;o) Enjoy your family retreat, Anna.

 
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