31 Days of Hospitality: Day 4- Something to Share

Hospitality often involves serving our guests food and drink.  It's not required but  most of us usually do it once we have invited friends into our home.  A possible reason for hospitality being a lost art is the pressure we may feel to provide meals for our guests.  Sometimes it's just pressure we put on ourselves, right? 

The hospitality basket helps us have pretty things quickly available when our guests arrive but it's always nice to have something on hand to serve on those plates.  My grandmother always had a cake in the freezer.  For as long as I can remember.  She was always ready for guests.  She baked her own cakes and would usually cut the cake in half or into several pieces and freeze it for later.  As soon as she knew she was having guests she would take one of her cakes out of the freezer.

If you're a baker, make an extra cake the next time you're in the baking mood, cut it in quarters and freeze it.  Or if your make a dessert or quick bread for family, serve what they need and freeze the rest.  If you're not a baker check your supermarket's bakery for a coffee cake or brownies that you can freeze.  Don't forget to check your store's clearance bakery items (our Walmart keeps this over by the milk, so does our Albertsons).  If you see something freezable you can snatch it up for a deal.  I bought a loaf of french bread at Walmart for 96 cents, cut it into 3 portions and froze it.  I took it out for 3 different dinners and it was delish all three times.  For 96 cents!

My 'go to' recipe is the Banana Bread from The Martha Stewart Cookbook.  You can find the recipe here.  When time is tight I make muffins instead of bread. They cook in about 24 minutes vs. 1 hour.  If I make the bread for our weekend breakfast there's always some left over so I freeze it. I have found that most people like banana bread, kids and adults alike.

Do you have a go to recipe to serve your guests?

Check out these other posts in the 31 Days Series.