This is a follow up post about our Spring dinner party. I thought I would share the menu and some tips about preparing food for a dinner party. People are often afraid of having a dinner party because the task can seem so daunting. But a little bit of pre-planning and a lot of ahead of time prep work can make things go really smoothly.
I will begin by sharing my top tips for hosting a dinner party:
Tip #1: Keep it small. Invite just a few friends, especially if it is your first time. This makes for a more intimate evening and it makes a little less work when you are preparing.
Tip #2: Keep the menu simple. This isn’t the time to try four different main dishes at one time. Keep your guests food preferences or allergies in mind, but don’t go crazy trying to accommodate everyone. Now if someone has an allergy that might kill them, then you would want to be careful. You will likely know that ahead of time though. I always try to think of having a variety of dishes that will appeal to people with different food preferences. I try to keep the protein gluten-free. I also like to have sides that are vegetarian and even vegan.
Also, this is not the best time to try out a dish you have never made before. If you do want to make something new, then try it out on your family a week or two before your party.
Tip #3: Start making your grocery list the week before. I like print off all of the recipes I am going to use, highlight ingredients I need to buy and then start my list with those items.
Tip #4: Prepare as much as you can ahead of time. For example, if you make a cake, bake the layers early in the week. You can wrap them and freeze them until the day of the party. On the day of, cut up the veggies for salad and prepare veggies for any side dishes. They will keep just fine in the fridge until it’s time to prepare them. For our dinner party, I made Chicken Roulade, which is just a fancy name for rolled up chicken. Early in the day, I cut the chicken breasts in half, placed the filling and rolled them up. I put them in the pan that I was going to cook them in, wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. When it was time to cook them, I just pulled them out and popped them in the oven.
Tip #5: Set the mood with music, a few candles and a beverage station that’s ready when guests walk in. Have a self-serve bar. It will give guests something fun to do as they arrive and it will make them feel more at home. Make sure to have good non-alcoholic beverages, too. Non-drinkers get tired of only being offered water.
For the Spring Dinner Party, I wanted to keep the menu very simple. Here’s what we served:
- Cheese Platter that included Vermont Cheddar, Goat Cheese and Pimento Cheese
- Chicken Roulades with Goat Cheese, Serrano ham and Asparagus
- Mushroom Rice Pilaf
- Simple Green Salad with my homemade vinaigrette
- Whole Wheat Baguette with butter
- Dessert: Red Velvet & Vanilla Cake and Cheesecake (more on these tasty morsels later!)
