What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?

It was my daughter's 19th birthday on the weekend, and we had a fair sized party. There are a few options when one is looking to feed a bunch of people, but we went a way that we haven't in the past.

Huge pot o' chili - I made a mild meat and bean chili. I started by sauteing everything, then stewing it together in an instant pot, including ground Beef, onions, several types of relatively mild peppers, black beans, chickpeas, a few types of tomatoes. I make a chili powder a couple of times a year with ancho, cayenne, and some dried bell peppers, along with some onion powder, salt, etc. I added that, and some maple - all chili needs a sweet element with it - and various other tastes, such as garlic, cumin, etc. I usually have too much liquid in my chili (kind of by design) and enjoy a heartier chili, so I often finish by adding a bit of rice, which turns watery chili into hearty thick chili.

Baked Potatoes - washed and wrapped 10 pounds or so of big russet taters, and baked them over a series of hours at relatively low heat, then finished them off at high heat for about 20-30 minutes.

Caesar Salad - I thought we overloaded on the salad - we cut up 5 heads of romaine - but we ran out. I also made homemade bacon bits and croutons the previous day, which seems fancy, but it's really just baking some bread and bacon and then retaining them. The extra bacon fat actually went into the chili.

The general idea was to have a baked potato slathered in chili, and we had a variety of other sauces and toppings to add, such as sour cream, various cheeses, hot sauces, green onions. It was a great way to feed a lot of people, but I think I overestimated how much food people would eat because I have so many baked potatoes left over.