My mom always does a huge rump roast with gravy in the crock pot. Mashed potatoes,green beans,rolls,dessert,done. It's always a hit and so easy.

Pulled pork is popular here in the midwest, made in the InstantPot or crock pot. It is served with rolls and a variety of side salads and of course, dessert. "Funeral potatoes" in a crock pot are very good too.

We also make Italian beef or french dip type sandwiches in the crockpot, as well as BBQ beef or beef pot roast.

Annie

I make a lamb tagine with apricots and chickpeas. It gets rave reviews from everyone, including me, who doesn't really care for lamb.

I usually do lasagne or chicken divan.

If you're okay with chicken, I recommend Ina Garten's Chicken Stew with Biscuits. I've made it many times for larger groups. A great Fall dinner dish served with a salad and something like apple crisp for dessert. I use rotisserie chicken that's tasty and a great time saver. This is totally make-ahead. Just add the biscuits at the end as instructed in the recipe. The biscuits in the recipe are very good, but you can also use frozen biscuits (such as Pillsbury's Buttermilk Grands).

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/chicken-stew-with-biscuits

I know you wanted something different than beef stew. Just wanted to mention Ina also has a delicious version of Beef Bourguignon.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beef-bourguignon-recipe-1942045

If beef, I'd do beef bourgenionne. Other options would be a ham w/ scalloped or creamed potatoes. Or for a different stew how about a pork & cider stew?

eta, my iPad spelled bourgenionne for me and I didn't think it was right. Lol!

Ina Garten's Chicken Stew with Biscuits is wonderful and goes along the same line as the stew but without being beef stew!

Probably overdone but lasagna is another good choice -- a big pan of it is wonderful and with salad and crusty bread it's a meal!

One of our favorite company meals is beef brisket (with BBQ sauce on the side), baked beans, oil and vinegar coleslaw, bread (which can be used to make sandwiches or eaten as bread) and dessert.

Fairly quick and easy? how about oven baked chicken parmesan? Chicken breasts, layered in a baking dish...or 2. topped with either your own home made marinara or jarred, like Rao's....top with a good sprinkle of parmesan and a slice of mozzerella....serve with a side of pasta and more sauce....green salad and crusty bread.

If that’s how your iPad spells it, it’s wrong, party_music. Correct spelling is “Bourguignon”.

I love pork loin roast sliced thin and coated in the pan gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, roll, dessert. Fruit, particularly sauteed apples and salad are nice additions.

colleen, I know that and that's what I was saying! my freakin' ipad keeps "correcting" my spelling and introduces errors, or completely changes my words to something else... usually microseconds before sending/posting. lol! Sometimes I have to correct the ipad "correction" 4 or 5 times before it will stop changing it to something stupid. ugh. It's come up with some dandy corrections lately... just can't think of any at the moment. Just got back from taking BF to the ER so having my morning coffee!

Thanks everyone for all the good suggestions.

My family really loves my pseudo lasagna dish or casserole. There are probably a million recipes for this. I just wing it though.

I use zucchini and or eggplant onions cauliflower bell peppers and mushrooms. I cut up the zucchini and all the vegetables and layer everything. Between each layer I add sauce and a layer of your cheeses of choice and a meat of choice. This time I'm using turkey. The sauce consists of about 3 cups of salsa a can of crushed tomatoes and half a container of spreadable cream cheese. I also add extra garlic powder. We like ours rather spicy though. You want there to be enough sauce to make it look lasagna like. If you are worried about the dish being watery then use the usual techniques to make it less watery like pre cooking everything and draining off the water. I'm lazy and the salsa makes the flavor stand up against any extra level of water. I use my turkey casserole dish and make a huge portion and freeze it in lunch sizes for our lunches. I find around 40 minutes to be perfect in a 350 oven.

I have read it that it is spelled both ways depending on if you are saying it in French or English. Bourguignon is what comes up when I say it. But on Wikipedia it says both spellings. Including "Beef bourguignon or bœuf bourguignon, also called beef Burgundy, and bœuf à la Bourguignonne,"

Party music I hope your BF is okay.

Thanks, yeonassky! He's already been released and will be fine with some meds. :)

I really did know that my ipad was spelling it wrong, but I got tired of fighting it! My BF is a good cook and makes a mean bourguignon that's one of his top choices when entertaining. He also likes to do a roast pork with roasted vegs. or a chicken & 40 cloves of garlic! yum! We need to have a party. lol!

PM, you can turn off autocorrect. It makes life much more peaceful. :)

Pigeen, I've made chicken pot pie for similar crowds. The trick is to make several in large baking dishes that hold at least six portions and use berry spoons to serve. To get even distribution, it's best to layer the ingredients, in each dish. Make the dough for the top ahead of time or use frozen.

This time of year, I make a harvest version, with lots of roots, like parsnips, carrots, celeriac, etc., and a little spice in the gravy.

Ooops! I don't know why I had in my head that it was for 30! If you have the bowls, or don't mind buying a dozen cheap ones, you could do individual pot pies and make a very easy, homey dish, that much more fancy. ;)

I just turn auto correct off on every device:

for an ipad:

You toggle auto-correction on or off in the Settings app.

1. Tap the Settings app on the Home screen.
2. Choose General from the menu.
3. Tap Keyboard to open the keyboard settings.

4. The Auto-Correction setting is just below Auto-Capitalization. Tap the slider next to Auto-Correction to turn it on or off.

How to Auto-Correct With Auto-Correction Turned Off

If you want to have your cake and eat it too, you can still use
auto-correction without having it correct your typos automatically as
you type. By default, spell checking is turned on for your iPhone or
iPad. So long as it remains on, you can tap any misspelled words to see a
pop-up menu with three choices for correcting the misspelling.

You can tap out a message and then go back through your misspelled words and quickly change them to the correct spelling.

Pay attention to Predictive typing, which is also turned on by
default and configured in the same keyboard settings screen. Predictive
typing suggests words as you type. If you are typing a long word,
keeping an eye on the predictions across the top of the keyboard allows
you to use one tap to complete the word.

pigeen, I was just thinking of another dish with chicken that you can make ahead. I would double the recipe for 12 people. All you need is a salad and good bread. I like to make this with penne instead of linguine. Like the Chicken Stew with Biscuits, I use rotisserie chicken for this.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chicken-tetrazzini-recipe-1943960

yes, I know I can turn off auto-correct but it's handy for the majority of cases. And re alternative spellings, in the case of the 'B' word here, the choices of spelling on my ipad were ALL wrong. And yeah, I can probably update their dictionary, etc. etc., but I really don't use the 'B' word that much. LOL!!!

just ask Siri and she'll spell it in the question.

I like that ... the 'B' word

Lasagne is my go to, or maybe a turkey? But the side dishes would make that labor intensive unless you delegate side dishes to others.

If you like beef stew, then why not try a variation? I'm doing a big lunch in a couple of weeks and to avoid the bourguinon, I'm going to do the meat in a dark beer, with a little pain d'épices spices.... cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. The flavour and perfume is very different.

Islay, that sounds a bit like the Flemish variation I do sometimes which has dark beer called, not unsurprisingly, Carbonnade a la Flamande...my version is topped with mustard croutes which are really yummy.

Thanks again for all the suggestions -- dinner will be too close to Thanksgiving, so no turkey. One guest really has to watch salt, so no ham. But the stew variations are probably the way I will go, as this crowd likes beef. I also thought of pork tenderloin or shoulder, but really want the major cooking done ahead of time. I really appreciate all your responses.

Colleen, how to you do your croutes? Sounds so good.

It's been a while but I think I used to do thick slices of a baguette toasted then buttered on one side and spread with mustard on the other, then placed on the top of the carbonnade mustard side down and slightly pressed down into the gravy. Place in the oven for the top to brown a little.

Moussaka is very good. Can be made with ground lamb or beef.

Had my dinner party tonight -- served salt your own, no pork, boeuf bourguignon, which turned out--- delicious. Used a combination of Julia Childs and Martha Stewart. Started with goat cheese celery nibbles. caprese skewers, jambon de bayonne, and mini crab cakes for appetizers. No left overs. Thanks for all your suggestions.