With young kids, going “all-out” for a meal doesn’t happen all that often. Aside from holidays, I love putting more effort into meals for friends that love food and the experience of a good meal as much as I do! Since I love cooking though, when I make the extra effort to put together a more elaborate meal I really do enjoy it. Usually it involves more planning than I would otherwise take the time to do. I use some tips I have learned over the years: I write a menu, reading the recipes carefully so I can make a list of all the cookware I will need, the ingredients, as well as a clear idea of how long each step will take. Then I write down a plan, working backwards from the time I want to serve dinner. Anything I can make ahead I do a day or two before. Since I know I might be interrupted by kids or other household stuff as I am getting the meal ready to serve, I even write down details like when to turn on the oven, when to begin prepping ingredients, etc. This gives me a clear checklist I can refer to so I don’t go crazy.
I love to entertain, so my favorite meal to go all-out for is when we have a group of friends or family coming over to share a meal. I like every part of entertaining: planning the meal, shopping, cooking, setting the table, and most of all spending time over a good meal together. It may sound crazy, but I even enjoy the clean up. I put on good music and think of the good time that we had.
I prefer to go all out for friends too. They appreciate it and I have more fun planning and preparing it. There are so many other stresses with getting the meal on the table for family and extended family that I tend to go easy and simple. With friends, I like to have a date on the calendar and anticipate it for awhile so that I can really think through the menu – each part of it – and what each person might enjoy. Building a menu around a theme is really fun too. Thanks for the veggie inspiration this week!