What do you suggest for dinner?

Grill some meat and vegetables. Serve with a salad. Add an alternative side dish like quinoa.

Nothing . Your not their slave. I would order a ½ veggie / meat lovers pizza and fresh fruit.

@RedDeerGuy1 They never insist I cook. Quite the opposite. I just would like to return their kindness since they always make sure we have something to eat after driving a few hours to their home. Sometimes they get here dead tired, especially if there is a lot of traffic, a 4 hour drive can become 6 hours of driving in the sun. The interstate is always really bad in the summer time.

@Pandora Oh Ok then. I would make fruit cocktail with cooked rice and cool whip. And prime rib steak and potatoes. With corn on the cob, with butter. With fresh bread rolls. With name brand cola and or special alcoholic beverages. or orange juice with ginger ale.

How about shish kabobs – marinated beef cubes pre-threaded on skewers with veggies and then grilled when they arrive? Serve it with rice that they can have or not have. Fruit salad or sorbet for dessert.

You could do fajitas—pick the vegetables the one likes, have strips of skirt steak for a meat, and then grill or sauté them. The corn tortillas aren’t too much starch—thin and small. Can have some cheeses for garnish (maybe cotija, though cheddar would be good too).

Alternatively, lettuce wraps (recipes online for spices/veggie combos—can use ground beef as the meat.)

What type of sweets do they like?

You could do an easy chocolate mousse: homemade whipped cream (1 pint heavy whipping cream, 3 tbs powdered sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla) and throw in some cocoa powder before whipping it up… maybe some chopped bits of semi-sweet or unsweetened chocolate for texture, too.

Or a sundae with roasted plantains instead of bananas (maybe? I know they get some amount sweeter when roasted? Not too familiar with them).

Or, pick their favorite cake/pie and find a Cooking Light recipe for it. (Their German chocolate cake recipe is my favorite cake).

I had plantains in Costa Rica (went there during a school science trip—much of what we were exposed to was “Americanized” so I can’t totally vouch for authenticity)....

Guacamole (the lady did say it was a family recipe): We cut them into 1” chunks, fried them, smashed them flat, and fried them again to make plantain “chips,” then made fresh guacamole… it was a yummy combination.

I also had them caramelized in a sort of baked dish that was a side almost everywhere we went… I remember it as being plantains, cheese, and honey… But I can’t find the recipe anywhere and it was years ago.

Grilled kebabs – some fruit, some veg, some mixed. A nice tossed salad.

I’d go with a theme and also offer grilled fruit kebabs and fresh fruit kebabs for dessert.

Sweet and savoury dips for both offerings. A tangy peanut sauce and a honey yogurt sauce as well.

Simple fresh foods, prepared and served quickly but with style (and not too much clean-up other than the grill).

Have a great time with your friends.

Cioppino served with a fresh baked 7 grain loaf of bread brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with fresh basil and parm. Yum

Oh, @Cruiser you hit my weak spot. Breaaaaaad. Sounds yummy.
As usual you guys never disappoint.
@RedDeerGuy1 That sounds good as well. A fruit cocktail would be great for sugar and cholesterol problem.
@Soubresaut Hmm! I love guacamole and plantains and I know she loves it too. The flat plantain you are thinking about is called Tostones. I never thought about putting them together. Most of the time people will eat it with a garlic sauce or plain. But I’ve got to try that one day.
To answer your question, the diabetic one loves cheese cakes and anything sweet but not a big chocolate person or like regular bananas and the other one doesn’t really care for sweets but does like fruit. I’m thinking maybe a jelly roll. It’s light on the tummy and is a mix of cake and fruit.
@janabb Shish kabob sounds good too. Easy to make.

@Pandora Also bread with melted thick marble cheese.

If it’s warm, why not just make a picnic buffet spread? One of my favorite summer things.
Breads, cheeses, salami, ham, chicken salad or tuna salad maybe.
A dish of black and green olives, pickles, pickled peppers etc.

An array of fresh fruit and veggies with some sort of dip. Baby carrots, cucumbers, radishes, grape tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, red grapes, kiwi, strawberries etc.
Maybe some potato salad. Plenty of variety to please everyone, easy to prep and leftovers to snack on the next day.

Tostones, steak, onions, rice or red potatoes, and a salad or vegetable medley like zucchini and carrots.

I like the shish kabob idea also, with lots of veggies, maybe make some skewers just vegetables. You can still have tostones on the side. Maybe add a Greek salad.

Spinach salad with bacon, mushrooms, and egg. Girard’s makes a great spinach salad dressing.

An antipasto plate of marinated veggies and salami for a starter. That you can prepare ahead and just keep cold. I also like the pastries filled with spinach (can’t think of the name) the one made with filo dough.

Don’t bother with dessert if everyone wants to be healthy. Or, put out some fruit.

Steak, poblano peppers with cheese and without (I don’t bread the peppers) rice, black beans, tostones.

My mom generally woos everyone with this in the main course. You could accessorise it with some salad and a dessert, probably this one. Rest assured, you would rock their palates if you could pull it off! Oh watch out for the cholesterol thing though.
*Subject to availability of ingredients :)

@Joell Oh, that looks so good. I guess I forgot to mention, I have acid reflux and so does one of my guest. Curry would have me hurting all day.:( I may make it one day when my kids come over for them. They love curry foods and their dad. They also have no stomach problems.

What would be the biggest help, @Pandora, is if we knew some of the things that your friends had served you, when you visited.

Obviously, that suited everyone, and it’s easier to come up with creative variations on a theme than is is to start from scratch with those kinds of restrictions.

I’m leaning toward grilled fresh Mahi Mahi or tuna for the entree. Both meaty, flavorful fish that are heart-healthy.
What few vegetables are we working with?

@ibstubro I originally suggested salmon in my list, but I deleted it because one guest only likes red meats.

I have a cholesterol problem and I worry about fish as much as I worry about beef. I do believe fish is a healthier option, but not a tremendous amount healthier. Anything animal has cholesterol.

“What would be the biggest help, @Pandora, is if we knew some of the things that your friends had served you, when you visited.
Obviously, that suited everyone, and it’s easier to come up with creative variations on a theme than is is to start from scratch with those kinds of restrictions.

Why are you quibbling about the details when my larger question (which should provide the definitive answer) remains unanswered, @JLeslie? Do you know that fish is off the menu?
If so, please tell @Cruiser and @Pandora.

“The other person doesn’t like…rice”

@ibstubro Unfortunately, most of the dishes are African. My husbands family is from Senegal. Some of the dishes I’m not that crazy about but my husband loves them. They do eat fish of any kind, and as for vegetable, its usually your usual starchy or tuber vegetables. Yuca, yams, cucumbers, peppers, but usually large peppers cooked in large chunks so people who can’t eat them and push them aside. She does make hot spicy meals but usually for those guest who can eat them. She and I will usually not partake because of our acid reflux. You know, the older you get the less you can have. We can’t eat like we did in our 20’s. But we still enjoy flavorful food.

@ibstubro I wasn’t trying to quibble. I was saying I thought fish also initially. I was thinking like you. I hesitated about writing rice or potatoes, but I just figured if there is plenty of vegetables that is the most important thing for everyone concerned.

@Pandora Since now we know they like fish I’ll rewrite that I like Salmon with dill and tomato slices. I salt the salmon a little all over, then dill all over, then tomato slices all over on top and around the sides, then salt the tomatoes. Bake at 375. The little ice eaten African food I think it would be appealing to their tastes.

The small peppers that come in a bag (I like the pero farms) can make a pretty plate. Broil or grill them.

Salatu niebe looks delicious to me and is beautiful. You might use milder peppers, or make ½ with habanero and ½ with plain green pepper.

If you’re afraid of messing up a dish they’re expert at, Greek Chopped Salad is similar enough it might please them and be newish.
If that thought suits you, you could go Greek and try Greek-Style Mahi Mahi. The suggested potato side sounds great, too. Reminiscent of Yassa without as much spice (at least to me).

@JLeslie‘s salmon suits my taste well, and you might not want to flirt with native African cooking. The potatoes suggested in the Mahi Mahi recipe would be good, and perhaps some sauteed cucumbers.

Where have you taken them to eat when they were on trips here before? What did they seem to enjoy the most? That would be another avenue for starting to plan a meal.