September 2018: Hopkins Cross-Country Pasta Party Details

Thanks for your interest in pasta parties! Please reach out to booster club members if you need support or have questions (in 2018: joellehoeft@gmail.com). Each pasta party is a little different - so feel free to adjust anything. It’s nice to co-host if possible.

Please submit receipts for items purchased if you wish. You can send the receipt or a photo or the receipt to anyone on the booster club or email directly to the current treasurer (in 2018: kevin.denhartog@gmail.com).

Post-party, we welcome tips for improving - share your feedback! As the team grows, we try to adjust quantities, etc. but with every party we learn soember 2018 note: Please check etc wwwwwwx.      supplies ahead of time to see if anything is needed (especially consumables such as plates, forks, napkins).

Harris said he can bring cups (along with the 2 jugs - see below) - however it may be good to have some in the bins in case he is running late with coaching duties.

For entire team (Jr High - High School)

  • 14 lbs penne
  • 6 jars marinara sauce (32oz)
  • 8 jars alfredo (smaller)
  • 2 bags (12 - 16 lbs total) meatballs
  • Large canister lemonade mix - September 2018 note: Harris has been bringing a jug of Gatorade, a jug of water, and cups - so we haven’t been doing lemonade
  • Everything except penne is available at Costco
  • Cook penne one day ahead
  • Use large pasta pots with colander inserts
  • Cook 2 lbs at a time
  • Rinse in cold water and coat with a bit of vegetable oil
  • Bag in gallon-size ziplocs (about 2 lbs per bag) & refrigerate

Note: To ensure that the pasta doesn’t become too soft,  adjust the cooking time a little so the pasta is slightly underdone. We had 5 minute penne that we boiled for about 4 minutes and 10 seconds.

  • Day of party
  • Heat meatballs in crockpot & leave them in crockpot for serving (one Costco 6 lb bag fits in one crockpot) Note: The meatballs take a while to heat up. They can be left in the crockpot for 3-4 hours if that works for you. Microwaving works too - a plate of 20-30 takes about 4 minutes. They can also be heated in the oven.
  • Bring water to boil and warm about 2 lbs of pasta at a time for about 2-3 minutes each
  • Line roasters with foil
  • Dump pasta into roasters -- about 7 lbs in each
  • Cover with foil to retain heat as you transport to party
  • About one hour before kids arrive -- add sauce to roasters (one marinara, one alfredo) and turn up heat.

Note: We skipped the heating in water part since we did not have the roasters until we got to the high school. Instead, we brought the pasta to room temperature at home, sitting it out for a few hours before heading to the high school. Once there, at 3pm, we layered pasta and sauce in each roaster and turned it up pretty high to heat it through. Keep the lids on, taking them off just to stir every 15 minutes or so until heated through. This takes a good hour and 30 minutes. Stir more frequently as pasta heats up.

Also, for the alfredo, it seemed like we were a little low on sauce. After dumping out the alfredo of one jar, I filled it ⅓ of the way with water and shook it up, then poured that water/alfredo mixture in another jar that had been emptied, and just kept doing that with all the jars until I had about another full jar of sauce. I think the extra moisture helped too.

  • Expert tip: Consider serving the kids as they go through the line so that they don’t take too much. People can always come for seconds if there is extra.
  • Bring extra extension cord and power strip if party is at HHS - September 2018 note: there are 2 extension cords and a power strip in the pasta party bins now
  • Get extra water jug from Harris (one for water, one for lemonade)
  • A lot of napkins are left & just bought box of 500 forks; hosts will need to get more plates & cups

Note: We had the buffet set up so hot food was served last. It may be better to serve the hot food first or have the cold food at a different table all together. I noticed a lot of fruit and veggies getting buried under the hot food.

For partial team (No JHi- Varsity and Junior Varsity only)

  • 9 lbs pasta total (penne and rigatoni)
  • 1 bag (8lbs) Costco meatballs
  • 3 jars marinara sauce (32 oz) Costco
  • 4 jars alfredo sauce (Ragu or similar at Costco)
  • Large canister of lemonade mix
  • We had way too much lasagna (see sign-up genius), but we finished all of the macaroni and cheese

9/4/18 inventory list:

BLACK BIN/YELLOW TOP

2 large bottles hand sanitizers

2 small bottle hand sanitizers

2 bottle of Ragu Alfredo - please use!

1 bottle red Prego - please use!

4 large Aluminum Foil

1 small aluminum foil

1 box of gloves

2 wire cooling racks

1 large box (pretty full) of Ziploc bags

1 green reusable grocery bag

150 plastic dinner plates

200 + small plates

50+ bowls

550+ napkins

 

RED CHIP BOX – will see about getting a better box

700+ forks

100+ spoons and knives

 

LARGE GREY BOX

2 full roasters

3 clear cookie trays

1 Double boiler with strainer

3 medium sized plastic serving bowls

 

 

PINK PLASTIC CARRIER

1 Double Boiler

1 Tall orange beverage cooler - September 6, 2018 note: Joelle Hoeft is checking with Hoffman’s if they want this back (their name is on the bottom of the cooler). As noted, Harris will bring 2 big jugs to pasta parties - 1 with Gatorade, 1 with water, and also cups.