Here’s a step-by-step illustration of creating a menu.

Step 1: Choose a main dish. In this case, Chicken w/ Cider and Bacon Sauce, which is an American dish.

Step 2: Choose starch and veggies. Since this is an American dish, stick with potatoes and green beans or carrots.

Step 3: Look for common themes in the different dishes. Use common flavors to pull the meal together. Example: Cheddar & Cider Scallop Potatoes and Sautéed Green Beans With Bacon. Another option: Apple-Glazed Carrots With Bacon (though this may overkill the apple flavor).

Step 4: Use common flavors to determine drinks and dessert. Some options that could work: cinnamon apples with chocolate sauce and hot chocolate, apples with caramel sauce and hot cocoa or coffee with caramel, cinnamon apples and cinnamon-flavored coffee, or throw in something unexpected, like chocolate fudge and hot cocoa with peppermint sticks. Not everything has to be matchy-matchy.

Possible Menu:

Main dish: Chicken w/ Cider and Bacon Sauce
Starch: Cheddar & Cider Scallop Potatoes
Veggies: Sautéed Green Beans With Bacon
Drink: Hot chocolate w/ peppermint sticks
Dessert: Cinnamon Apples w/ Chocolate Sauce

Common Flavors:

bacon in the greens beans to bacon in the chicken
apple cider in the chicken to apple cider in the potatoes
cinnamon in the potatoes to cinnamon in the apple dessert
chocolate in the apple dessert to chocolate in the drink

Adding extras:

Now, add some extra pieces to the meal, like cheddar cheese bread or biscuits, sliced almonds in the green beans and/or sprinkled on top of the apples, cinnamon sticks as garnish, and add some mushrooms or carrots to the meal.

Planning a party or just want to cook something for dinner? Putting a menu together can be difficult, so I always break it down into three easy pieces:

1. Meat (poultry, beef, pork or fish)
2. Starch (tortillas, rice, pasta, potatoes)
3. Veggies (broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, etc)

First, choose your meat or main dish. Next, match your sides with the main dish you are going to prepare. Here’s a general guide, depending on the style of dish you want to make:

1. Asian: rice, broccoli, carrots, peppers
2. Italian: pasta, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots
3. Mexican: tortillas, tomatoes, peppers, corn
4. American: potatoes, green beans, carrots

With vegetables, make sure to add color and flavor to the plate. Try to imagine the overall look of the plate with all three key pieces. Think your favorite restaurant dish, how are the pieces combined?

Then it’s time to think about drinks and dessert. What beverages would go well with your meal? Generally, I stick to these basics: lemonade, iced tea, and wine, although, a good American dish goes well with a glass of cold milk. I don’t always serve dessert, but if I do it is usually one that I can make ahead of time, like cookies or fudge.

Now that you have decided on a meat, starch and veggie, look for common ingredients to tie everything together. Example: Citrus Chicken, Lemon Couscous and Spinach Salad. Why this works: the citrus in the chicken is complimented by the lemon in the couscous, as well as in iced tea w/ lemon or fruity sangria. The spinach salad adds color to the plate. Look for ways to tie the different dishes together, like adding orange slices to the spinach salad or topping the chicken and spinach with the chopped green onions that are used in the couscous.

Recipes are open to interpretation, so look for ways to add your own flavor to each dish. I’m not a big pepper person, but I love mushrooms. Mushrooms are rather universal in that they work in a variety of dishes, so I’ll add them in where I can. Starches don’t have to be boring. Instead of plain white rice, try brown rice or a wild & white rice mix. Look for tri-colored pastas to punch up the color of your meal. Use chicken or beef broth instead of water when preparing couscous.

Don’t neglect the table setting. Make sure condiments are out and ready to be used. Any time I serve Italian foods, I make sure there is parmesan or mozzarella cheese on the table. For Asian dishes, I put out soy sauce and chow mein noodles. For potatoes, make sure there is butter, salt and pepper on the table. For Mexican meals, set out sour cream, cheese, peppers and hot sauce. Those extra touches can make a meal very memorable.

Before you start to cook, determine how long each dish will take to prepare and to bake. Will you be able to prepare and cook your veggies while the main dish is baking? Will everything get done around the same time so nothing gets cold? Typically, I start my main dish, then my starch, then veggies and they all are ready at about the same time. Leave yourself little cushions of time to move from one dish to the next. While you have down time, like waiting for water to boil, help yourself out by setting the table or putting used dishes in the dishwasher. Pull your cold items out last so they are still chilled when everyone sits down to eat (it’s much easier to warm something up than to cool something down).

Lastly, look at the final touches like picking out some great music, lighting candles, and adding a festive table cloth. Clear clutter out of the dining area and make sure the area is not too warm from all the kitchen activity.

And if all else fails, you can always call out for pizza.

Preparing broccoli in the microwave can make for a stinky kitchen, especially if the microwave is in a small or enclosed space. If air fresheners, fans and windows aren’t available, here are some natural ways to banish the broccoli smell.

Brew some black tea and cut a large lemon into wedges. The black tea and lemons can be served to guests as an after dinner treat. Squeeze some extra lemon wedges into a glass or the sink, or grate the rind, releasing the crisp, clean smell into the air.

Brew strong black coffee (regular or decaf). This can also be served to guests and will help eliminate that broccoli odor.

Light a scented candle such as clean cotton, linen, rain, ocean or fresh-cut grass. Fruity or floral scents can mingle in with the broccoli smell and make it worse, but baking-inspired scents like vanilla, hazelnut, sugar cookie or baked bread work well, as well as cleaning-inspired scents like pine or lemon.

Take out the trash! The empty broccoli bag and plate scraps can make that broccoli smell linger for days.

Bake some cookies, like the pre-made cookie dough variety. Even if they won’t be served at dinner, cookies can stay fresh for over a week when stored properly.