Thomas and Kay's wedding rehearsal dinner

Here is the menu for the rehearsal dinner with my tweaks:

Crispy herb baked lemon pepper chicken
I left out the garlic salt and added lemon pepper to the parmesan/potato flake coating.  I love these recipe websites that allow you to change the quantities.  I did that with this recipe and adjusted somewhat.  I baked 84 boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  We had leftovers.

White wine and rosemary gravy
You'll have to scroll down in this recipe and start with the shallots.  Go from there.  Again, note that I modified it to make enough gravy for 60 people!  Andrew said he could eat it straight up, like soup.

Enchanted forest
This is an old favorite recipe.  Little kids like the broccoli trees, but I didn't want to deal with broccoli so I made it minus the broccoli and substituted yellow and red sweet peppers.  Delicious and easier to do for a crowd.  Again, a bit of math was in order to determine how much rice to cook.  I figured on about 3/4 cup (cooked) per person.
 
Maple Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Make sure you have a really good peeler.  Mine came from Pampered Chef.  It works like a charm.  We peeled, chopped, and roasted right away and poured the maple glaze over warm potatoes.  Thanks to Erin who brought a half gallon of Grade B maple syrup with her from rural NY state!  

Crumb Topped Mushrooms
This was the surprise recipe of the evening.  When I read the recipe, I thought it sounded boring.  When I tested it at home, I was pleased.  At the dinner, even mushroom haters declared that it was fantastic.  I used a mixture of regular button mushrooms and portabellos.  I guess anything with this much butter and cream has to be good.  Julia Child would be proud.

Raw Kale Salad
Family favorite.  I left out the red onion this time and added plenty of mandarin oranges and craisins.

Homemade rolls (My grandmother's recipe)
Whole wheat bread and White Rosemary bread (my usual non-recipe bread, all baked the day before at home)


Store bought cheesecakes - Thank you, Sam's Club.  I figured the Cheesecake Factory cheesecake and Biltmore cakes were as good or better than what I could do at home and WAY easier.  Buying the desserts minimized my stress and was worth it!

Water and coffee

That's it.