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Hosting a dinner party for friends? Or have you been
selected (or singled out, ahh!) to host Thanksgiving or
Christmas dinner this year? How exciting. And what a pain in
the rear. While having the people you love in your home and
feeding them a ton of food is rewarding and can be a lot of
fun, chances are you're a little stressed about it. Unless,
of course, you're Martha Stewart. When you're overwhelmed
planning a dinner party, sometimes choosing a few good
buffet recipes and setting up a simple buffet seems like the
easiest thing. And though it's true that, in many ways, a
buffet is simpler to do than a sit-down dinner (where you
have to prepare each guest his or her own plate); hosting a
buffet style dinner is no walk in the park. After all (and
especially if your family is as piggy as mine), you'll still
have to cook a whole big pile of food, won't you? Choosing
Buffet Recipes: When choosing recipes for a buffet dinner,
the first thing you'll want to think about is ease of
preparation. When having a lot of people over for
Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner (or any other holiday
celebration), there is always a lot of food involved. Can
you easily prepare a particular dish for a large number of
people? Do you have room in your oven or on your stove to
cook all of your dishes at once? Another thing to think
about when choosing buffet recipes is how much time each
dish will take to prepare. When you host a dinner party,
there are about 100 things on your to-do list the day of the
party or holiday... and about 100 other things that you
never even thought of. The best way to cut down on your work
load a bit? Pick recipes that you can make ahead of time. If
80% of the cooking is done in the morning before your dinner
party, you can be sure that things will be a lot easier when
the guests arrive. Some great dinner party recipes that you
can make up ahead of time are: 1. Cold vegetable salads and
pasta salads 2. Soups and stews (add any rice or pasta at
the last minute) 3. Veggies and dips 4. Cold appetizers 5.
Reheat-able sauces 6. Breads, biscuits, etc. 7. Sliced
cheese and fruit trays 8. More stuff I can't think of now
Last, you'll want to think about how easy a particular dish
is to eat. Especially if you're going to have some guests on
their feet or perched on chairs, you'll want foods that they
can eat without too much cutting or hacking. Unless you want
them to eat a whole steak in their hands like some kind of
carnivorous squirrel (which would be entertaining but
unhygienic), skip preparing a large piece of meat. Buffet
Table Setting Tips: Got your buffet recipes figured out? Now
it's time to get the table ready. While it seems like
setting up a buffet table should be as simple as tossing
things together, there are a few things you can do to make
you buffet table both look nicer and be easier to use. One
is to vary the height of different dishes. This makes the
table look more appealing visually and makes it easier for
guests to access a particular dish. Another important buffet
table setting tip is to... avoid being boring! Most people
have been to about 1000 buffets in their lifetime, and most
of them are ordinary and all the same. But with some
creative decorating ideas and a little flair for the
unusual, you can create a beautiful and unforgettable buffet
table. Good luck!
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