Food Just for Fun

Coming together a family and friends at this time of the year should be fun.

If you are spending hours in the kitchen both before during and after your friends and family have left... this is not fun!!! 

How do you make food fun??? Here are my tips on how to make food fun this Festive Season

1. Plan ahead and make your menu easy to prepare a day or two ahead so that you can sit and eat and enjoy with your friends and family. This could be as easy as making sure all the food is served cold - think platters or light organic salads served with lashings of Italian Deli Meats, Cheese and Seasonal Fruit.
2. Use Eco Friendly Plates for Service - these can be thrown on your compost or in the bin at the end of the day and no dishes, also try to use easy to clean platters or serving dishes that can just go into the dishwasher and not have to be handwashed.
3. Keep it simple. Don't try and go for 4 or more courses. If you have a sit down event choose a light cold Entree and Easy Slow cooked Oven Style Main (Marinated Meats are great to slow cook and place in the middle of the table - using condiments such as Labneh or Hummus rather than gravy) and serve with Organic Salad rather than fiddly veges. Using a Seasonal Fruit Selection with a Honey Yoghurt or Fruit Drizzle is easier than spending hours trying to put together a dessert equal to a pastry chefs skills.
4. Dress up the table and settings the night before or morning of so that you can set and forget. If you are trying to create a theme... I always draw a sketch of what I would like the table to look like and where everything is going to be placed, then I just set it up according to diagram on the day. Adding little splashes of light/colour in your decorations and keeping the table cloth and napkins plain. I like to wrap ribbons around the napkins and that will be the same colour as the flowers on the table or candles.
5. If your event is during the day... use your Garden Flowers as your center piece or small branches from shrubs in the middle of the table to increase the feel of being outdoors in a magical garden atmosphere.
6. Make up a Jug of your favourite cocktail and add the ice cubes just as guests arrive. Make sure you have one yourself. Once that runs low then open a bottle of wine and relax.
7. If all this is sounding too much... pick up the mobile phone and ring 0403800010 to arrange for Nutmeg and Pepper Catering to take over.