Vacation Entertaining: The Head Cook does NOT Clean Up!
Meet my Guest:
Mary Jean from One Nutty Girl
I got to meet Mary Jean earlier this year, and I just love her blog! Mary Jean developed a passion for her home after becoming a SAHM 8 years ago. She always loved to cook and bake and she tapped into that love and really put her heart into cooking delicious and healthy meals. (She talks about cooking lessons with Kendra below, another favorite blog of mine: My First Kitchen). Back to Mary … She had a small cookie dough company for 4 years called The Dough Nut where she sold frozen cookie dough and baked gift boxed cookies. She sold them in local stores and through Foodzie.com. She gave up cookie making when she started an online magazine for the Triad of North Carolina called SeekTheTriad.com.
Mary Jean loves making people smile with good food and food that is good for you too!!
Enjoy Mary’s post today …
I know your first thought is do the the words Entertaining and Vacation even belong in the same sentence? I believe that they can go hand in hand with a little thought, planning and a fun attitude.
I am blessed that each year my parents rent a fabulous beach house for our extended family in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Just a few weeks ago 12 of us {8 adults and 4 children} gathered together to share a week together. One of my gifts each year is that I cook a few nights for my family. Besides being expensive, going out to dinner involves long lines, cranky children, and often noisy restaurants. We much prefer to stay at home and enjoy our beach view with some good home made food.
Use what is available and set the table!
Often times rental homes can be lacking in dishes and decor. I scour the house, use what they have and make it work. Here you can see I have used the lighthouse cookie jar and matching salt and pepper shakers as my centerpiece. I dug up some hidden away place mats and set the mood to dine at the table.
Bring what you can from home.
I shopped for most of what I needed at Trader Joe’s the day before leaving. Great food at a great budget! I have to drive an hour to get to the one closest to me and I find it is well worth it. Bring some friends like I did and make it fun!
I also bring cooking staples from my own kitchen. Essential condiments like olive oil, seasonings, salt and pepper are easy to pack and save you money by not having to repurchase.
Keep the food simple!
This year I decided to go with roasted whole organic chickens. Whole chickens are cheaper and very easy to prepare thanks to my friend Kendra at My First Kitchen! I was blessed to attend one of her recent cooking classes were I learned how super easy it is to roast a perfectly succulent chicken each time. The leftovers are perfect for sandwiches too!
Here I am demonstrating the fine art of trussing a chicken! {Again, thanks Kendra for teaching me!} Note the only scissors available were from my kids craft supplies we brought! I should have added cooking twine to my bring from home list! No twine to be found in the near vicinity and I had to improvise with some kite string!
I also like to stop at Farm Stands on the way in to the beach. The best place to pick up fresh local produce.
Use all available help!
While the chickens were in the oven roasting we took some time to chop our local produce and enjoy a drink together. I love when others get involved with the meal!
Keep it FUN!
It does not have to be perfect to be fun and enjoyable. If you need to just plop the pan on the table and serve from it….then go for it!
Wear a Cute Dress!
Oh and my motto while on vacation…..The head cook does not clean up!
Do you cook when you’re on vacation?
(Thank you, One Nutty Girl!)
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
HI there! We are BLESSED beyond measure to ahve best friends who take their entire family AND US to the Outer Banks each June!!!!!!!!!!!! There are 22 of us!!!!! To say it is a big house is a BIG understatement:):) In fact that picture you posted looks like just where we stay (Pine Island). We ahve a very good system. Each couple/family is responsible for the 3 meals for ONE DAY. We all plan ahead, each family has certain food items they are assigned to bring too. When you do your day, then you are free for the week! It has worked out perfectly every year! We ahve learned along the way what NOT to bring too. The first year we brought way too much. We also ahve a kitty that each family contributes to and when we need mild, bread, ICE, etc. we use the kitty. We ahve done this for 3 years and we all love our system!!! EVERYONE pitches in to clean up though. The guys are wonderful about cooking and cleaning up!!!! XO, Pinky
I love all of the positive responses on this page! I wish I could be more positive about my family vacation in a beach house on the beach. I am nothing but stressed! It would be so easy if I could just put on a pot of chili and hot dogs and call it dinner. Even pizza night is a pain because I have to cook a veggie or make a special salad. I have a group of nine who just like to sit around at 5:00 and wait for their dinner. Then I get the bulk of clean up. I am lucky if I can get someone who will bbq at least one night during the week. My mom, who is not well most of the time, tries for weeks in advance to plan a meal or two and is too sick to cook it while she is there(I end up cooking her dinner). Mom knows I don’t really like to cook every night on my vacation so she tries to plan a full out dinner, which to me is too much work. she is trying to help but there are usually too many ingredients and too many dishes then she gets upset when I try to simplify the meal to make less work. My mom never had to cook for the crowd when we did the beach house thing when I was young and does not understand trying to please everyone and make it easiest for the head cook. Between my mom and my child who is a very picky eater I don’t enjoy cooking on vacation. I wish there was some advice to help get my family more involved and make dinner less work. I would be happy with hambugers and salad.
Pingback: Vacation Tips: Feeding the Family while on Vacation!
Wow, I’ll be in the Outer Banks in August with my 20 (gulp) in-laws, so this is really helpful. I plan on making some big casseroleish things in advance, freezing them, and bringing them up with us. I am definitely hitting up TJs beforehand, a fabulous idea!
Mary Jean, what farmstands do you recommend? (We’ll be in Duck, if that makes a difference.) Or are they all over the OB?
Ohhhh – I miss vacation on the beach! You captured it well. What a completely refreshing experience!
Oh, loved this post today. Thank you for being my guest here at RE, Mary Jean! xo
I cook more and more when on vacation, now that we are vacationing with our two little ones, it’s just easier. I think it will be a little more fun when they get older and can really help, but right now we try to keep things simple by grilling meats, making salads and pasta and enjoying fresh fruit. Now, if I was vacationing with other adults that would be a whole other story! Great post and I love your dress Mary Jean! :)
We rented a home at the beach last year when we went with my husband’s parents. It was our first time doing something like that. We ate most every meal at the house which also provided a guaranteed view. :-) We enjoyed it immensely! Someday I hope to go back!
Thank you for sharing about your time with us.
Those are some purty chickens.
Whether we are camping or in the Outer Banks (smile) I always try to make our meals more fun and family oriented. Not everyone wandering off to their own room. I especially love it when some of the teenagers of our friends are intrigued and help out in the kitchen.
Just last week while we were in Sunriver with several friends all staying in different houses, we ordered Pizza and used paper plates, not like home at all, but we had so much fun visiting all together and all feeling pampered!
We also have rented a vacation house in the past, our favorite place is Bandon Oregon, and we have always rented the same house. We have always had friends with us and when the kids were small, all 7 of them between us, and when they were teenagers they all brought friends !!! So we have always cooked while on vacation. Like others have posted we all take a night it makes it so much easier then every one gets a night off from the kitchen. We even would make some dishes ahead and freeze them so that all we had to do was plop them in the oven! We have found the best dishes for this were Enchilada’s, Lasagne, And Manicotti, a great meal and all you do is fix the salad and butter the bread! This post took me back to Bandon ahh I miss that place I need to book that house again…..
Blessings to you and yours Curtis and Sherrie
I’m right there with you! Who wants to drag 11 people, in our case, to a restaurant and endure the looks from the staff and other customers when they see 4 kids under 6 heading their way. In fact- we leave soon for our annual trip and I’ll be cooking lots of meals for our crew too! Great post!:)
I need to check out Kendra’s site for that chicken lesson. Agree with the cleaning up rule.
My husband, mom, and I spend a week in Ely, MN (near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area) in a privately owned cabin and we keep it simple when it comes to cooking. Mom has a meal plan done ahead of time, we bring as much food from home (less expensive in the Twin Cities than in small towns) and shop for perishables at the last ‘big’ city. We count on leftovers for a few meals and always eat off of paper plates. After all, who wants to be stuck in front of a sink doing dishes when you could be out enjoying the peaceful north woods, or fishing, catching some rays of sunshine, picking berries, or swimming?
what a beautiful place to vacation! i can smell the salt air, i can feel the ocean breezes.
it’s always an adventure to cook while on vacation & make do with what’s available in the condo, isn’t it? i love to, especially if there’s a group. it’s a lot more fun to cook for a crowd than for 2. & roast chicken is a fav of mine to do. everyone loves it!
the tomatoes looked fabulous, too!
& oh my, the dress. how cute! i’d love to be able to wear something like that anytime at all.
We often entertain while on vacation, whether it’s a rental house, or staying with family. If with family, I offer to cook a meal or two and we’re always in the kitchen together for all the other meals. On vacation in sunriver Oregon (our fave spot), we often invite others to join us throughout our stay. We assign guests to a meal or two and we all take turns.
It is always more fun to cook on vacation for some reason. Maybe it is because I really love to cook but there are just too many distractions at home to make it fun. Either way, this is a beautiful post and I related to it…all the way…until you got to the cute dress. Wish I could look that cute! lol
Becky K.
Pingback: The Reluctant Entertainer ~ I’m a guest writer today!
Ahhh vacation. Ahhh the Outer Banks. Ahh someone else cleaning up the kitchen. All good things. LOL!
Lovely post and I’m ready for vacation!!!