This week is the start of the holiday season. This is also the time of year people have dinner parties to celebrate the season. One of things that can be frustrating about hosting a party is that these days everyone have different dietary concerns. You have to make sure that everyone has something to eat. We will give you some suggestions that could help you if you are going to host a dinner party. It might also help you if you are attending one. Just some tips that you may or may not know already.
The tradition meal of the season usually includes turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, salad, rolls and some pies. You will also want to include some other vegetables for people who might not be able to eat the traditional foods. Have some roasted vegetables but make sure for your vegetarian guests you do not use any meat products or anyone else who might not be able to eat the traditional meal.
If you are serving stuffing this year instead of making it with chicken soup stock make it with vegetable soup stock. Then your vegetarian guest will be able to enjoy this food too. Another tip for the stuffing do not cook it in the turkey as there may be guests who are allergic to turkey or have some other medical reason they can’t eat it. Just cook the stuffing in a casserole dish. You do not have to make 2 separate stuffing if you use vegetable stock then everyone can enjoy it.
You may have guests who have Gout and can’t eat turkey. For them you might want to serve a small chicken as well or make a small pot roast. Chicken is easier because most grocery stores do sell chickens already prepared and all you have to do is warm it up. Just have another option. If you do have vegetarian guest coming to your dinner they do have vegetarian options for faux turkey. It is the same with the gravy if you use any part of the turkey in it. You might want to check out some options for gravy that might have turkey. Such as chicken turkey. Most vegetarian options come with little packets of gravy in it.
Then there is mashed potatoes. If you want to satisfy your vegan guests or guests who are have lactose intolerance maybe make some baked potatoes or sweet potatoes. They will not be able to eat the butter or milk in the mashed. Mashed potatoes made from scratch are gluten free. If you make sweet potato casserole you will not want to use marshmallows as the have gelatin and vegetarians will not eat it.
Green Bean Casserole made with Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup is not vegetarian. You can make the soup from scratch. We will give all the recipes at the bottom of this blog. Another thing to know is the Frenches Onions aren’t gluten free. As we said before you may want to just make some roasted vegetables just so that people have vegetables to eat.
You will think salad should be easy to serve. Just make sure it doesn’t have cheese in it. Also have some dressing options for your guests who are diabetics. They do have low sugar dressing.
Now comes to the dessert part of the evening. Again you will may have diabetic guests. Make sure to have no sugar desserts.
To be a good host is to make sure that everyone at your dinner party has something to eat. Talk to your guests with dietary concerns and see what they can and can not eat. Then when you have the party and you are serving each dish make sure that everyone knows what each food item is. Don’t point out that it is made for the person with the special guest as that is rude to single them out. Make sure this person feels welcome. If you do not want to do this then don’t invite these people to your party.
If you are person with dietary needs make sure your host knows. This way they won’t feel bad if you just sit there and not eat anything. They might think it is their cooking and not the fact you can’t eat what they made.
We hope these tips have helped you. Do you have any that we may have left out?
Turkey
Vegetable Soup
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Vegetarian Options
Let's not forget the Pumpkin Pie
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Have a happy and safe holiday season!!!
