If you are planning to entertain this holiday season, consider preparing a buffet dinner. There are many holiday recipes that work well on a buffet table and if you plan ahead, it can be fairly easy on the cook.

A buffet dinner works especially well if you are hosting a larger group and don't have room for them all around the dining room table.

The key to a really successful holiday dinner buffet is to offer a variety of foods for your guests to choose from. That way if guests don't like a particular food, there is always something else for them to try.

If people will have plates on their laps, make sure that none of the food you serve requires them to cut with a knife, as that is just too awkward. The better alternative is to offer a selection of both finger foods and foods that only require a fork. Roast beef or steak, for example, can be difficult meats to eat with the plate on your lap. Instead choose something like meatballs in a great tasting sauce or very thinly sliced meats.

When you are planning your holiday buffet menu, take into consideration the colors of the food you will be serving. A buffet table, especially during the holidays, is much more appealing when it includes a variety of colors in the food served. A few colorful salads will often do the trick. So will a dessert table that has a mix of colorful and appealing sweets.

During the holidays, cookies with red and green cherries and a variety of squares and tarts studded with nuts, fruit and caramel really add color to your dinner buffet, even without decorating the table.

One of the most important things to consider for your holiday buffet is how to get it all cooked and ready to be served at the same time. The tip here is to plan as many foods as possible that can be prepared ahead. That way you can spread the preparation over several days (or weeks if you can freeze some of the recipes) instead of having to prepare everything on the one day.

Many recipes such as the one for meatballs below can be made a day or two ahead then reheated just before you serve them. Mix in a few recipes for salads that can be made ahead and need no cooking at all and life will be much easier on the cook.

Meat Balls in Cranberry Sauce

2 pounds ground beef

1 cup cornflake crumbs

1/3 cup parsley

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons soya sauce

1/4 teaspoon pepper

garlic powder to taste

1/3 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons chopped onion

Mix together and form into small balls and place in roasting pan.

Sauce:

1 can jellied cranberry sauce (large)

12 ounce bottle chili sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoons lemon juice

Mix and heat the sauce ingredients in a saucepan until the cranberry sauce is melted. Pour over uncooked meat balls and bake at 350°F for approximately 40 minutes.

With a bit of pre-planning and a few easy holiday recipes, your holiday dinner buffet will be a big hit.