Appetizers and Snacks

• When cowboys rode on the long, dusty trail, they often had to eat on the run. Serve beef jerky at your party as a hearty snack to keep your guests from getting too peckish before the main course makes an appearance. Steaming hot biscuits with jam and butter are filling and were a treat that cowboys often had the ingredients on hand to make. Use canned biscuit dough to make horseshoe-shaped bread sticks and serve with plenty of melted cheese and marinara sauce for dipping.
  
  

Main Dishes

• Think meat when you want to serve stick-to-your-ribs foods to a bunch of hungry rustlers. Fried chicken made with buttermilk, flour and plenty of herbs and spices, barbecued baby back ribs dripping with sauce or a brisket rubbed with chili powder, cayenne pepper and brown sugar are all good options. When you have to feed a lot of hungry cowboys on a budget, prepare a towering stack of juicy hamburgers topped with sharp cheddar, jalapeno or baby Swiss and sauteed mushrooms.
  
  

Side Dishes

• Cowboys often ate whatever was handy to cook over the campfire. Make skillet-fried potatoes by slicing the potatoes thinly and adding diced onions; cook until they're lightly brown and crispy. Baked beans were another favorite on the trail. Combine several cans of baked beans with ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, crumbled bits of bacon and diced onions. When you really want to go all out, cook up a couple of pots of chili for your guests. Make it hot and hearty with plenty of chili power, peppers, onions, meat and beans.
  
  

Desserts and Drinks

• Cowboys kept warm and alert by drinking plenty of strong, hot, black coffee. Serve an aromatic pot of java to your guests. The cowboys of yesterday often knocked back a few drinks as well. Offer your guests icy cold bottles of beer or a variety of mixed drinks made with tequila, a cowboy favorite. Dessert can be as simple as s'mores, made by melting marshmallows over the fire and placing them between layers of chocolate and graham crackers, or as elaborate as homemade pies, such as apple, peach or blueberry, topped with spoonfuls of whipped topping or ice cream.