Preparing the home for guests involves the typical tasks of making beds with fresh sheets, cleaning bathrooms, and vacuuming the house.  In our house, these come secondary to grocery shopping of all things.  Over the years our lives have revolved around the kitchen and dinner table.  My parents made having a sit-down dinner together a priority through our childhood and teenage years even if that meant dinner was served at 10 PM (no joke).  Even as twenty and thirty-somethings (gasp) we still wait to have dinner together.

Since so much of life revolves around food, planning meals ahead of time is important to a peaceful (that is, Mommy and Me not going rogue) family gathering.  Complicating this is the growth of the family from 6 to 9+ members with everchanging dietary restrictions and favorite meal requests keep us on our toes.  To help manage this I send a couple of messages to the group text.  Examples include:

• “Who is coming home for Easter?”
• “Do you want any specific meals while home?”
• “Is anyone or their spouse on a weird diet?”

These simple texts take some of the guesswork out of buying food and can replace some of the stress of deciding exactly what to cook for 9 hungry bears.

A prime example of this is the past weekend.  My sister was visiting from Delaware Thursday-Saturday morning and I planned to be home to see her as well, putting me in charge of meal planning.  I was also aware a brother and his wife would be home Thursday and Sunday night as well.  With this information and a quick scan of the grocery ads (because I like a deal) I made our meal plan for the weekend.

• Thursday: Burgers, sweet potato fries, coleslaw, watermelon, and corn on the cob
• Friday:  Shrimp with pineapple, rice, salad, siracha veggies, and fruit
• Saturday: Daddy’s Spaghetti recipe, garlic bread, salad, fruit

Well, nothing ever goes as planned!  My older brother wound up coming Friday instead of Thursday.  My twin brother and his wife who do not eat meat came home on Friday.  Thankfully the twin told us not to worry about Friday’s dinner since they brought a backup and the plan to make spaghetti was flexible enough to easily make a meat-free sauce and cook more pasta.  We also ran to the store to get the twin’s wife a cake for her upcoming birthday!

Preparation is key to hosting guests and frankly much of life.  Additionally, flexibility and the willingness to adapt to changes can make for a smoother visit (and again, life) and taking care of any hiccups in a Martha Stewart-esque way (#icon).   Moral of the story: plan, but be ready for the unexpected.

-Me

BONUS: Shrimp and pineapple recipe

This is an easy one pan recipe that everyone enjoyed. Shrimp and pineapple are two summer favorites, so why not combine the two?  Adding a little bit of spice and traditional seasoning made for a refreshing, healthy, and delicious meal.

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Ingredients: 

• 1.5 pounds uncooked, thawed shrimp
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 small pineapple
• 8oz cherry tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• Olive oil
• Spices:  salt, pepper, chili powder, oregano, basil, paprika, garlic powder
  • Sorry, I don’t measure spices…because I’m that good (side eye from Mommy)

Directions:

1. Cut all vegetables and fruits and place on baking sheet.  Use reusable baking sheet if have.  Waiting on Martha to send me one…
2. Coat in spices at your liking and drizzle with olive oil.  Mix or toss to ensure all are fully coated.
3. Cook in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.
4. While cooking coat shrimp in spices and olive oil.  Be sure to peel and clean your shrimp with cold water prior to seasoning.
5. Add shrimp to baking sheet and cook for additional 6-8 minutes until shrimp has a pinkish tone and is no longer transparent.
6. Mix and enjoy!  Can be served with rice, veggies, as a salad (grilled romaine, anyone?), and more.

Recipe serves 4-6 adults.