Hosting for the Holidays? Our Automagic Menu Maker Is Here to Help

You've conquered the turkey, that old holiday foe, and the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers have been frittered, pho’d, and sandwiched entirely away. Some will immediately turn their attention to the task of obtaining a Christmas tree, even trimming it on Thanksgiving Day. Others (and maybe you’re among them) will instead begin thinking of gingerbread, eight days of oil, bowls of tangerines and pomegranates—that is, the best part of the holidays: the food, and the making of it, and the gathering of friends and family to eat it all with you.

Whether these visions of sugar plums/rib roasts/potato pancakes are pleasant and exciting or more, ahem, looming, turn to our Automagic Holiday Menu Maker for inspiration. Why? Because there’s no one day for celebrating this time of year, and the Maker works just as well for Christmas dinner as it does for a New Year’s cocktail party or a Hanukkah lunch. Just pick the parts of the menu that you want intact (cocktails! desserts!) and skip the rest. You can give it a go as many times and make as many menus as you like.

Here’s a little more about how the Menu Maker works:

• First, scroll down to start with the more pressing questions—like, what kind of main dish do you want to serve? (Remember, you only have to answer the questions you want. Heck, you can make a whole menu out of appetizers! It’s your party.)

• Next, pick a couple of recipes from our collection based on your answers to each question. The recipes you select will go into a custom holiday menu, with all of the dishes in one place.

• Finally, you can email the menu to your holiday guests so they know what’s on the docket. You even can post your menu to Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest for your relatives and everyone else to get inspired by. And you can print your menu and recipes for easy reference as you cook.

Ready to start planning? Let's make that menu.