Thanks for the advice, everyone!
I definitely ended up getting a little "over-assigned" for this shindig! Admittedly, it's partially my own fault. I never should have suggested toppings for mac & cheese!! I made myself way too busy & stressed over this.
I searched for a good crockpot recipe without luck. I knew Costco mac & cheese would be good, but the big size wasn't huge. I bought two of them, and it didn't look like enough. So I spent a ton more time trying to figure out how to make a whole bunch myself. I ended up going to Wegmans and getting THREE family/party size trays of frozen Stouffers, which was my favorite when I was younger. I cooked them at home and put them all together in a much bigger roasting pan. Should have stopped there. I made a batch of caramelized onions and also slow roasted tomatoes. Both great, but neither touched at the party. They've been yummy at home, though! I did Ritz cracker crumbs, and those were well received.
I came home with probably 2/3 of one tray remaining. BUT, I still have the two Costco packs in the fridge. I'll freeze one and we'll eat the other tonight or tomorrow (since we had the other mac & cheese with the pulled pork last night).
Sooooo after I had mentioned a little pulled pork to the hostess, she called me later and asked if I could make more than I intended, so she would be able to skip getting a ham. Of course I said sure! But I totally took an easy way out on this one. I got a package from Costco of just pulled pork, no sauce, and added bbq sauce and put it in the crockpot. Unfortunately, I thought it was way too little, and I ran BACK to Costco and got two more packages.
We stayed late at the party and right before we left a couple good friends broke into the pork (with one person saying she tried it earlier and it was good). They kept some for later for themselves, and I took the crockpot full home.
Needless to say, I way over bought, the hostess way over-requested, and we'll be eating a bunch of mac & cheese along with pulled pork to kick off the New Year. "Very healthy way to kick off our eating in 2014." DH said sarcastically.
All in all, if anyone is faced with a situation like this in the future, I'd say the only thing I did right was to get the frozen Stouffers. If it were a smaller group, the Costco trays would have been adequate.
Big Brother 5/07
Little Brother 9/09