Please-Everyone Dinner Party #1

Includes: printable menu, shopping list, & game plan. The first in a series!

credit: Yossy Arefi

Greetings eaters and readers! The results of this week’s entertaining survey are IN, and you will perhaps not be shocked to learn that 47% of participants, nearly half of you, resist having people over because it can be a pain to dream up a menu that works for everyone at the table. Well, I’m happy to report that you can now cross that excuse off your list. What follows is the first in a series of Dinner Party Game Plans. I’ve written up the menu line-up, shopping list, and plan (when to shop, prep each dish, etc), on a printable PDF, so all you just have to do is download the file and follow my instructions.

{Alternate title for this series: Connecting on Autopilot.}

I love this menu because it works for every kind of eater — vegetarian, gluten-free, meat-loving, cocktail drinking, mocktail drinking — but also because it’s almost entirely make-ahead (no answering the door wearing an apron and a sheen of sweat), and is deliciously satisfying without being fussy. Thankfully, 78% of you align with me and prefer casual, unpretentious cooking when entertaining.

Without further ado, here is the Please-Everyone Dinner Party line-up…