Ask the Audience: Quick, Company is Coming for Dinner

As long as I have at least an hour notice, my go-to dish is roasted chicken and potatoes in pesto sauce. YUM!!!! And so simple - I typically have all 3 ingredients on hand. If hubby can pick up a salad and some bread on the way home, we are in business!

at this very second -- lol -- hamberger fried then cooked with one can of corn (not drained), one can diced tomatoes (not drained), a bag of crushed up ramen noodles and 1/2 the seasoning package -- cover and simmer till noodles are done -- and voila!! dinner (i'm told this is guy food, and there aren't any veggies in it, but it's quick easy and everyone eats it)

sometimes i'll put grated chees on top -- yum!

but this isn't going to happen so the children and i are going right now to get something chef-boyardee -ish, and the printer paper i desperately need

Whatever I already have on hand, stretched. This used to happen to me all the time...hubby's friends (who are all huge guys), or brother in law, or entire family, would stop by exactly at dinner time. Dice whatever meat we are having to top a salad, add an extra side or two (usually out of a can), add spaghetti sauce and throw it over pasta, put it between toast or bread, turn it into taco filling or pizzas...I have a lotta tricks up my sleeve :)

I think that sounds like a perfect relaxing-with-old-friends dinner!

Last time that (or something similar) happened to me, my cousin, whom I hadn't seen in 25 years was in town, and I did the same thing - why not just come by the house for dinner?

I ended up stopping on the way home - at a butcher shop for steaks to grill and at a bakery for bread and dessert.

Did a quick potato salad and a green salad, and a good time was had by all!

We had dinner with friends last weekend, and they served sangria with fajitas from the grill. Their sangria was so good -- a bag of frozen mixed fruit and some pomegranate juice whirred up in the blender with some sangria and a dash of Triple Sec.

At this point in my life? Reservations.
In the past and in the future? Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and bread of some kind. Almost everybody likes it, it's easy to make, and you can prepare as little or as much as you need without much hassle.

This never happens to me, but I'd be okay if it did. I always have at least one day notice, and can usually come up with something with what I have on hand.
I think a great idea for unexpected guests is just something simple - they know you didn't have a lot of time to plan, so they're not expecting haute cuisine.( Unless of course, that's what you always do anyway)
This weekend I made sloppy joes. Twice. On Friday, to reheat for Saturday's lunch for our crew who volunteered to come help us clear out our woods. Then again on Sunday night to have for lunch with my inlaws yesterday when they came to help us work on our lighting and running electric lines where we need more. I used a combination of Heathers recipe and one in a cookbook I have.

I do not have this happen too often, as I live in the middle of no where and how drives through SD, really? Anyways, my go to meal is Hamburgers, beans and chips. I usually have a few lbs of hamburger in the freezer and beans and chips are easy to come by.