Hosting Dinner, Without the Stress

Somewhere in the middle of the second hour of the fourteen hour drive back to New York from South Carolina, I looked over at Ian in the driver's seat and thought, "Here I am, driving back to our home, with my husband. If this isn't a time to reset and start fresh, I don't know what is." Immediately following this romantic reverie I glanced at my calendar for the first time in two weeks and thought, "SHIT! It's the High Holidays and I have to host dinner on Sunday."

I love to celebrate the weeks of the Jewish High Holidays, starting with the New Year- Rosh Hashanah. The holiday always coincides with the beginning of Fall and always feels like a great fresh start. Nothing better than a meal with friends and family to usher in a new year and season.

Because Rosh Hashanah dinner this year happened exactly three days after we got back from our wedding it was the perfect opportunity to flex my hosting muscle. In the past, pulling together dinner for six people in less than a day would've sent me running for Valerian root. But over the years I've tested some foolproof tricks to help avoid stress and actually enjoy getting ready for a dinner party.

This past Sunday, I felt a bit brave and logged the entire day on Instagram Stories. (As I grow this project, it's only natural to try new mediums of communication and I am so appreciative of those of you who followed along.) I want to make sure I continue to regularly post on the site so I've written out my tried and true tips for hosting a big dinner for a crowd. Just to clarify, when I say "big dinner" I mean one that involves more than one course, several appetizers, and a dessert. 

Dinners don't have to be difficult and stuffy. Having friends over doesn't mean you spend three days straight slaving away in your kitchen only to emerge dripping in sweat and covered in flour. You can cook food for a ton of people and actually enjoy yourself! Surprise. (Pouring a glass of wine along the way helps too.)

 

Hosting Dinner, Without the Stress

1. Confirm guests. It is so important to know how many people you're cooking for. There's nothing more stressful or embarrassing than running out of food or having to make something last minute. I always send an email and ask for an informal RSVP. Then, once I've confirmed the number, I make enough food for one extra. That way I always have more than enough and am prepared in case someone changes their mind and decides to come!

• Most guests will ask if there's something they can bring to the meal. I always request bread, cheese, wine/beer, or a salad. These are not expensive, easy to assemble, and don't require your friends to go too much out of their way. (It's alright to ask people to contribute something as long as it's not too much of an imposition.) I know I always like to bring something to the table and do my part in helping the host and I'm sure my friends do as well.

2. Decide on recipes ahead of time. Hosting a meal is not the time to experiment with new recipes. It's a guaranteed way to stress yourself out and take all the fun out of preparing the meal.  In order to make things easier I like to pick my recipes based on this format:

• 1 time consuming recipe: this is usually the main course.
• 1 easy starter: soup or this can be a special salad.
• 1 base: rice, quinoa, etc.
• 2-3 easy to assemble dishes: roasted vegetables, pickled sides, cheese board.
• 1-2 salads
• 1 dessert
• fruit: not everyone has a sweet tooth, always have some fruit on hand as an alternative

3. Prep all your ingredients the day before/morning of the meal. The most labor intensive part of cooking anything is the prep. Make sure you go grocery shopping the day before your dinner. Cut, chop, slice, dice what can be done in advance the morning of your meal.

4. Schedule what you are preparing depending on recipe cook time. I stick to a few rules when preparing any large meal.

• Always make dessert first. Most cakes, pies, cookies need to cool and rest regardless - make them in advance so you don't have to worry about last minute mixing and measuring. Also, desserts tend to be messy. The last thing you want to be doing is cleaning up flour off your kitchen floor 5 minutes before people come over.
• Soups/stews can be made the day before or morning of and kept in the fridge. There is nothing wrong with reheating. That's all. Most soups and stews taste better after the flavors have some time to hang out.
• Green, fork + knife, and generally most veggie salads can be assembled when guests arrive. No one likes a soggy salad so save that for when your guests are almost walking in the door. Also, you're not a superhero and there's nothing wrong with your friends seeing you putting vegetables in a bowl. They do it too. 
• Marinate protein right after you prepare dessert but cook it last. If you can show me one person who likes steak that's been sitting around for a few hours, I'll show them the way to an Olive Garden.

5. Build in breaks. If there's one thing I learned from watching hours of Ina Garten (other than reserving 1/3 of my salary for "good olive oil"), it's to make sure you're not exhausted by the time dinner starts. What's the point of cooking a huge meal if you're too tired to enjoy it? Rhetorical question. The point is, make sure you have time to rest before people come over. I always take a 1-2 hour break during the day to shower, relax, nap, whatever.

So, now that I've written out my tips for a stress free dinner I want to give an example of how I planned out a real meal. My Rosh Hashanah dinner for 6 people, mapped out, below. I've linked the recipes for the soup and the cake, in case you want to try them!

Menu:

Appetizers/Nibbles: apples + honey, pomegranate seeds, challah, arugula salad w. apples + shaved Parmesan

1st Course: Mushroom, Spinach, + Chickpea Soup

2nd Course: Roasted, dry rub chicken w. yams, apples, and carrots.

Dessert: Honey cake, more apples and pomegranate.

Process

1. Prepare honey cake first thing in the morning. Cover, set aside.
2. Dry rub chicken and set in the fridge. 
3. Cut, slice, dice, rinse all vegetables for 1st and 2nd course. Place in Tupperware in refrigerator for later.
4. Take a break.
5. Early afternoon, prepare the soup. Cover, let cool, place in fridge.
6. Clean up a bit, do all dirty dishes accumulated so far.*
7. An hour before guests arrive place chicken in baking dish with vegetables, roast and then keep heated until ready to serve. 
8. Put out all appetizers and snacks.
9. Prepare all beverages (beer, wine).
10. Assemble salad as guests arrive.
11. DONE! EAT! RELAX! ENJOY!

*Shout out to husband who swept and washed all the floors so I didn't have to.

L'Shana Tova!!

Brown Butter- Greek Yogurt Pancakes

I don't really love pancakes. When going out to eat I never order them because they feel boring, not an indulgence. I also barely make them at home because whenever I do, I regret it instantly. They're the kind of food that make me think all the effort isn't worth the result. Mostly I end up feeling heavy and the pancakes sit on the bottom of my stomach like a giant lump of processed flour. For lack of a better way of presenting it-  pancakes give my stomach a hangover. 

That being said, I do love a weekend ritual. Something that signifies that you're out of the weekly rush and into the relaxed, easy feeling of a Saturday or Sunday morning. Leisurely, with nothing to do but sip some coffee, eat breakfast, and lounge around with the pups. At first I tried waffles, unfrozen and popped into the oven (going on 15 months without a microwave). Although satisfying, something about frozen waffles feel amateur and reminiscent of  college food. I wanted something delicate but not requiring a ton of effort. Interesting but simple. Basically, it was a very specific craving and I did what I always do when I can't put my finger on exactly what I want: open the fridge and peruse the leftovers. 

On a Saturday morning a few months ago, I found a container of Greek Yogurt in the back of the fridge. One small scoop used as a topping for something or other but most of it intact and on the verge of it's expiration date. Right beside it was half a stick of butter, taking up space in my teeny fridge. On the ledge right below, some ripe bananas I had taken off the counter because they were attracting fruit flies. With these simple, left behind ingredients, the Brown Butter- Greek Yogurt pancake was born. 

Something between a pancake and a crepe, the result is nutty and not too sweet. It's the perfect balance of delicate and filling. Seriously, I'm addicted. Give this recipe a try this weekend! If you have guests in town for Labor Day I guarantee these will be a huge hit with everyone. 

Brown Butter- Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Ingredients

Mix everything together in a large bowl. add your cooled brown butter last. 

• 1 container Greek Yogurt, I used 7 oz. of Fage
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 ripe (or normal) bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• chocolate chips, raisins, powdered sugar... any pancake filling/topping you like!

For Brown Butter: 

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 stick for cooking the pancakes

Prep: 

1. Prepare your brown butter. Many a great chef has put together much more comprehensive directions for this than I can provide. I've linked a tutorial here but basically: melt your butter on medium heat and then whisk that goodness until it's nutty and brown bits form on the bottom. 
2. Set aside. You want your butter to cool before you pour it into the pancake mix. Otherwise, you'll cook your eggs and your pancakes will taste like a crepey-omelette which... no. Don't do that. 
3. Mash bananas with a fork. Some serious culinary technique is required here. I've added a visual because this move is so stunningly complex. (Clearly this cutting board has seen many a mashed banana.)

mashed banana. an exercise in technique. 

Do the thing: 

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a big bowl. 
2. Add wet ingredients including most of the brown butter. Reserve some for drizzling. 
3. Stir everything together until combined and smooth. 
4. Heat up a non stick skillet with a dollop of butter and place heaping spoonfuls of batter on the sizzling surface.
5. This next part is the hardest piece of the entire recipe. You have to wait for the edges of the pancakes to brown and develop a crust before flipping. Because the batter is not super thick, your pancakes will risk falling apart. Wait for the crust, then flip. Don't worry if the bottom is not your normal pancake color- these aren't normal pancakes!
6. Stack on a plate and drizzle with the reserved brown butter. Now add maple syrup, agave, honey, chocolate sauce... anything you want! Enjoy!

Stress + Salty, Crunchy Sugar Snaps

I've neglected this space over the last month and let myself slip into a spiral of stress, followed by more stress, followed by not sleeping. Wedding planning has ramped up and projects at work have become so numerous that I have at least 7 various spreadsheets staring at me throughout the day. The stifling heatwave we've been experiencing on the East Coast has only added to what ultimately feels like a sense of drowning. Projects, money, insane temperature and humidity levels.... Even stopping to take slow breaths is hard right now. The weather is suffocating. 

I hate to admit this, I really do, but I am terrible at managing stress. I get what I need to done but it's always, always at the cost of self care. Because it's a month before my wedding, I need to pull it together. It's that simple. No more excuses, no more sugary snacks, no more missed workouts.  

Stress + Sugar + No Exercise = CRASH

I don't have time to crash right now.

Ever felt this way? I'm sure you have. We've all been there. 

My office is full of protein bars, chips, and cookies. Although these options are delicious, the unhealthy factor of them adds up quickly.  In times of stress I'm someone who reaches for a cookie instead of a healthy salad. Instead of staying hydrated with water I down iced coffee to keep myself going. All this to say- it's time to stop and reassess. The status quo isn't working. Even protein bars aren't intended for someone who spends most of their day staring at a screen. The sugar content alone in a single Clif or Kind bar is through the roof. They're meant for active lifestyles- perfect for a hike, not so great for when you're hungry and writing a report. 

In an effort to get back to normal, I decided to rework a favorite snack recipe from a few years ago. Sugar snap peas are a great alternative and a staple in my fridge during the Summer months. These brightly colored legumes are loaded with protein, fibre, and iron which makes them a great way to boost energy during the workday and super affordable. They're fresh, green, and just looking at them makes me feel like I'm doing my body good. They're also fantastic for building immunity against those pesky summer colds! 

I've been making a big batch at the end of the weekend, throwing them in sandwich bag, then stashing in my purse every morning for all day nibbles. Here's how I fix them:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. 
2. Trim the ends off snap peas OR if you don't mind them, leave as is. 
3. Drop sugar snaps in for no more than 3-5 min.
4. Drain and transfer to bowl of ice water. 
5. Throw in a sandwich bag with a sprinkle of salt/pepper (bit of grated Parmesan is great too) and enjoy! I've also enjoyed sprinkling Paprika for added flavor. 

* You can also freeze for later use in salads or sauteed as a side dish. Just place on a baking sheet in freezer for 1 hour, then transfer to freezer bag for storage for up to 5 months.

I'll be back with more posts soon, I promise. Turns out managing stress is a project in itself. Any tips for doing so, greatly appreciated. Leave them in the comments below!