Pre-prep for a stress free dinner party

I have a full-time job so having people over on a weeknight for dinner means I need to prep as much as I can ahead of time and really time my day of the party out. This way I’m not frazzled or too busy in the kitchen when the guests arrive.

Last week Lou and I had some good friends and their pup over to our apartment for dinner. Once we set the date I asked our guests if they had any allergies or dietary restrictions. Once I got that information I was able to plan my menu. I decided to make a couple of different varieties of tacos for dinner. Tacos are great because you can do a lot of prep work ahead of time.

The night before the party I did my grocery shopping and made some things ahead of time. I pickled onions, made the marinade for the carne asada so they could sit in the fridge overnight, and made the key lime pie.

The next morning before work I made a seasoning blend for chicken breasts that I threw in the slow cooker. I also made some salsa verde. For both of these recipes, I omitted the garlic since one of our guests had an allergy. I was able to find a great humo salsa in the store that is garlic free. It’s tricky to find garlic-free hot sauces but Yellow Bird had some great options.

Danny Trejo’s cookbook is my go to for taco recipes.

After work, I set the table, made a pitcher of Palomas, and threw on my dress and makeup. When my partner came home from work he cut up the taco fixings. When our guests arrived we had chips and salsas out with cocktails while my partner heated the tortillas and grilled the carne asada.

Dinner was fun and pre-prepping and timing things out meant we could enjoy hanging out with our guests instead of stressing out in the kitchen.