Holiday Entertaining Made Easy

I love entertaining. Especially at the holidays.  But, let’s be honest, it can also be stressful. Here are a few of my simple tricks to make holiday entertaining fun, easy and virtually stress free:

Specialty Cocktails

Everyone, and I mean everyone (even my normal non-drinking friends), loves a specialty cocktail. It’s super festive and will quickly elevate your party to memorable. And there’s no reason for it to be complicated. One of my favorites for this time of year is Prosecco with Pomegranate juice. Fill a champagne glass 3/4 full with a dry prosecco (Trader Joe’s sells one that’s delicious and super reasonable), top it with about 1T of unsweetened pomegranate juice and finish with a few pomegranate seeds.  It looks fantastic, tastes delicious and even sports a few anti-oxidants.  Just make sure that you have some Wine Away on hand in case anyone spills…..

The Cheese Platter

My friend Kim has elevated the cheese platter to a work of art. I kid you not. And though I have yet to achieve her degree of cheese beauty, I have picked up a few of her tricks over the years:

• Pick a mixture of cheeses ranging from soft to hard and mild to smelly. A few of my favorites are Humbolt Fog, Manchego, St. Andre and any kind of blue cheese.
• Make sure that your crackers come in different sizes, textures and heights. This not only gives your guests a variety of taste options, but it also makes your platter look unique. Think bread sticks, fruit & nut crackers, and potato crisps.
• Sprinkle your platter with fun add ons such as Marcona almonds, squares of quince paste, and a lovely container of fig jam.
• If you’re not serving dinner, think about adding some dried meats like prosciutto and salami or maybe a smoked fish such as salmon or trout.  I often add sliced sausages with a couple of different mustards and it’s always a hit.
• Arrange your platter asymmetrically. It will make it more interesting.

The Christmas Tree Napkin

If you celebrate Christmas, seriously, what is cuter than these napkins folded to look like Christmas trees? My friend Mary sent me this video and I just had to share. A super simple trick that will make your table shine: