Easy Meals that serve 50

Baked Rice Pilaf (50 servings)
1/2 pound angel hair pasta, crushed, then toasted in 1/4 cup peanut oil
1/2 of a 16-ounce container of soup base, chicken or beef (we use McCormick's)
9 cups rice (either white or brown or combination)
24 cups hot water

Crush pasta using a kitchen towel and the edge of the counter to break into lengths from 1 to 2 inches.  Unroll towel into pan with oil heating.  Toast until quite brown.  Combine water and soup base in a commercial baking pan.  Add toasted pasta and rice, and stir.  Cover pan with aluminum foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Turn oven to 250 degrees and bake for one more hour.  If the pilaf is ready to serve, turn oven to low until serving time.

Main courses that go well with rice pilaf:

Teriaki Chicken
Roasted pork or beef
Rotisserie Chicken
Mexican food accompaniment along with refried beans

Serve with a tossed salad and any type of bread if you are feeding a hungry crowd.

Hawaiian Haystacks (50 servings)

Rice
12 cups uncooked white rice + 24 cups water
6 cups brown rice + 9 cups water

 Use two large electric rice cookers to cook white rice.  Put 6 cups of rice in each cooker.  Add 12 cups of water to each cooker.  Turn cooker as early as you want, because the cooker will hold the rice at the correct temperature for hours.

If you have a pressure cooker, make brown rice by this formula:  for every 1 cup rice, add 1 1/2 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Set the timer on the pressure cooker to 20 minutes.  Use quick release at the end.  The pressure cooker also has a hold feature, so both types of rice can be cooked before the preparation for the rest of dinner is even started.

Chicken Gravy
6 cups of white sauce mix
1 gallon water
cooked chicken


Mix the white sauce mix with water and stir on stove until sauce is thickened.  This will only take a few minutes.

Suggested Toppings for Haystack  (As many as you prefer)
2 pounds grated cheese
16 ounce bag of coconut, toasted in oven
1 bunch sliced celery (slice in a food proccessor)
12 ounces Chinese noodles (the crispy kind that comes in a can or bag, already to use)
8 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
3 whole fresh pineapple, cubed small
1 bunch green onions, sliced
3 small cans of sliced olives
soy sauce

Set out the buffet line in this order:  rice, chicken gravy, toppings.  Each person assembles their own haystack with the ingredients they prefer.