John’s Change of Command

Life has been a whirlwind, and my kitchen is the proof. It literally looks like a tornado blew through. I still haven’t gotten it fully clean after all the cooking I did for John’s Change of Command reception last week.

Even after cooking for 150 people and going a bit over the top with the setup and decor, I managed not to completely stress myself out. I stress out over weekly meal planning, so that’s kind of a big deal. I have to send a HUGE shout out to Kait, who gave me the idea to serve pulled pork. I also had a wonderful friend help get all 90 pounds cooked.

The night before the ceremony, John and I went and set just about everything up. We got the tables and chair in order and put down the centerpieces. We also set up the tables for the food, cake, and drinks, so that all I’d have to do on the morning of the ceremony was put the food into the chaffing dishes and pour the drink mixes into the dispensers.

Along with the pulled pork, I included buns to make sandwiches, coleslaw, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, and chips. All pretty easy to make. I made the dressing for the slaw the night before and mixed it with the cabbage the morning of the event to prevent it from becoming soggy. The beans and macaroni were also easy to heat the morning of the event.

We stuck with a green and yellow theme, for the Military Police Corps. The table cloths were green and I ordered yellow calla lillies for the centerpieces. I used the Cricut to cut out vinyl cross pistols, which I stuck to the jars holding the flowers. The decorated jars were a huge hit. I actually have to make a few for some of the guys. 

The fact that everything went so smoothly makes me a little sad that we don’t get to throw the reception when he relinquishes command, but I guess we’ll have plenty of time for fancy parties throughout the next year and a half.