Tag: holiday party tips

How to be an AWESOME Holiday Dinner Guest

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It’s that time. YES today is Thanksgiving Day and I hope you are having an absolutely incredible day!

It’s also about that time to start thinking about all of those holiday parties coming up. One of my FAVORITE things to plan when it comes to holiday parties, is, confession, not only the food to bring but also how to bless the host or hostess of the party.

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I mean, how amazing is it that all we have to do is throw on our party dress and enjoy the hard work and cooking of another fabulous person?

I think it’s pretty amazing, and I think I have some great ideas on ways you can UP your party guest love even more.

And for the bulleted version:

5 Ways to be an AWESOME Holiday Guest

  1. Consider your host or hostess and bring them a gift. Ideas: a potted plant; fresh flowers in their favorite color; a bottle of their favorite wine, or fresh coffee beans.Thai-Peanut-Zucchini-Noodle-Salad-024
  2. Bring a good appetizer. Meaning: something that doesn’t require oven time! When you are cooking a holiday meal, the host or hostess has to protect their oven or stovetop because that is where a lot of the cooking magic is happening. :) A great recipe for this: the Thai zucchini noodle salad above.
  3. Love people over politics! Avoid hot topics, and stick to things that are positive and uplifting to the people around you.

Skinny-Pop-3-Ways-0214. Offer to clean up. It’s such a kind gesture offer to give back to your host or hostess and offer to help with the dishes!

5. Send a thank you note. There is nothing better as a host or hostess of a party than receiving a sweet note in the mail affirming all that you did to make the party happen! To me, this is one of the most thoughtful things we can do to love on each other.

So there you have it my lovelies! Happy holiday party planning this week:)

Easy Holiday Dinner Tips with Hormel

Orange Glazed Ham

WOW.

Umm- are you guys busy these days? I mean- is your holiday season flying by like Santa on a jet ski? Yep, #sameboat. I actually just had to practice some deep breathing a bit ago to calm down about ALL that awaits me on my to-do list between now and December 25.

But you know what? There is HOPE. That’s right, there is a beacon of light that lies across that sea of gift wrap on your living room floor. It’s going to simplify your life, take one MAJOR requirement off of your shopping-bag laden shoulders, and allow you to breeze through the most pressure-filled of Christmas feats- the holiday dinner.

Ham Dinner

That’s right. The once-a-year celebration that involves your family, your friends, and those relatives that you haven’t seen in years but somehow arrive at your doorstep hungry and ready for ALL the egg nog. The people that you truly love and want to feel special around your table. The people you text on the daily. That dinner. The solution? Hormel is here to save the day- and help you feed everyone on your gift list with no host-stress. Pun intended:)

This season I had the chance to partner with Hormel for these easy holiday dinner tips to utilize all I’ve gleaned from my work as a food and prop stylist to create a holiday menu that is both easy to do and will formally establish you as the Holiday Hosting Queen or King. These dishes make simple, fresh tweaks to Hormel foods that are sure to please your fave people. It’s a menu that includes:

  • Orange and Rosemary Glazed Hormel Cure 81 Ham: This ham is already cooked, and our glaze only has two ingredients! All we have to do is glaze and bake.
  • Golden broccoli and cheddar rice cups: Perfect for portioning out your buffet- especially when your relatives really love the sides; as in, ahem, maybe don’t leave much for those people behind them in line.
  • Fresh Sautéed Asparagus with Lemon Zest: Fresh trimmed asparagus + butter+ lemon zest. Voila!
  • Salted Maple Butter Sweet Potatoes: Utilizing ready-to-go, mashed potatoes takes the boiling and the pulverizing out of the equation for you. Save that bicep strength for unwrapping presents later!
  • Sautéed Apples with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Candied Pecans: Sweet apples with creamy ice cream and candied pecans. Yessss pleeeassee!

To see the WHOLE menu and all of the how-to tips, click here: Hormel Holiday Ham Dinner Hacks!

Oh AND surprise!! The Hormel team also took some sweet behind-the-scenes photos I thought you guys would dig.

Let the film roll begin!

Sharing my love of ham with the camera!
Sharing my love of ham with the camera!
Broccoli Cheddar Rice Cups
Our broccoli-cheddar beauties baking up in the oven.
Our Cherrywood Cure 81 ham and glaze ingredients awaiting their glorious debut.
Our Cherrywood Cure 81 ham and glaze ingredients awaiting their debut.
Warm cinnamon apples with vanilla ice cream melting into the fruit, topped with candied pecans for our dessert. Yummmmmmm.
Warm cinnamon apples, vanilla ice cream and candied pecans for dessert.
Fresh sautéed asparagus with butter and lemon zest deliciousness.
Fresh sautéed asparagus with butter and lemon zest deliciousness.
Sweet, caramelized glazed ham in all it's glory.
Sweet, caramelized glazed ham in all it’s glory.

You guys, my amazing readers and watchers- I couldn’t be more thrilled to share this video, and this season, with you. You and my friends and family- you guys are the ones that make holiday food special for me. And the fact that Hormel has made an effort to make this easy for all of us- well, I’d say that’s Luv Cooks style: having a blast, cooking delicious food, and making the people around us feel special.

So, from my kitchen to yours, may your table be full of the food, sparkle  and loving warmth of a hope-filled season. I can’t imagine anything more delicious.