When a holiday is approaching, any hostess is usually puzzled by the question, “What to cook?”. Planning your holiday dinner in advance is the key to success.
The choice of dishes for the holiday table depends on many factors. If it’s just a family celebration, you have a great opportunity to make a new dish that will delight your loved ones and add to everyone’s festive mood. Don’t try to make more than one new dish, though, as you’ll have a higher risk of failure. When looking for a new recipe, keep in mind the common food preferences of your family. When you’ve found the most suitable recipe, make a list of the products required and add them to the list of purchases. Pay attention to the time needed to make the new dish and include it in your overall calculations of the cooking time. The other dishes should be familiar to you and easy to make.
If you haven’t done enough cooking before, a holiday is not the best time for experiments. In this case, you’d better use semi-prepared or ready-to-eat foods and not postpone the decision to the last minute when you’ll be standing in disarray before the shelves with rows of similar foods. Do your Internet search, read reviews, and go to the store after you’ve made a decision. Better yet, order what you’ve found online, as some products may not be available in your chain store.
If you invite guests, the tasks become more complex, and you may need assistance from your family members. While planning meals, consider the various tastes and preferences of your guests. If possible, ask in advance if they have any dietary restrictions. Make the most diverse menu with a larger selection of appetizers and two or three main courses.
You should begin to prepare dishes several days before the holiday. Dishes that can be frozen, such as ravioli or dumplings, should be the first to be made. Next should be the ones that can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days, and may even acquire a better taste from it, such as layered salads or soups. After those you should prepare the dishes that cannot be stored for a long time, but can be heated again without losing flavor. At last, just before serving, main course and fresh vegetable dishes should be made.
If there are kids around, set a separate table for them with specially prepared and portioned dishes. Because children’s tastes are underdeveloped, avoid heavily spiced and savory foods. Pay more attention to the visual attractiveness of the dishes, which should resemble objects familiar to a child.
Dessert is the apogee of the party and the king of the holiday table has always been a cake. If you want your guests to be truly delighted, you have to make the right choice of a cake. Instead of buying a cake in your chain store that’s stuffed with sugar and trans-fats, you can prepare a delicious and healthy cake yourself or buy a special cake in a store with a good reputation.
Do not forget to decorate your holiday table. You don’t have to buy factory-made ornaments. You can improvise with the natural colors of vegetables and fruits or create a design by arranging a platter. It all depends on your flight of fancy. Online supermarket RussianFoodUSA.com will help you to have a bright and tasty holiday lunch.
