Even if you’re a dinner party veteran, you know that cooking for a crowd can be both stressful and time consuming. It requires simultaneously cooking, serving and mingling, which can be a tall order. But what if you could reap the social benefits of a dinner party and share in the cooking? Enter cooking parties! Friends and family can share in the behind-the-scenes fun, and you can learn new recipes and cooking tricks in the process. Here, some ideas and tips for cooking party success.

Size Matters
Keep in mind the size of your kitchen. (It’s best to start small in most spaces). If you need help getting a feel for a good number of invitees, enlist your family members to move around the kitchen with you, or use chairs as placeholders around the kitchen to gauge the crowdedness.

Prep Your Guests
Before you all cook, you’ll be tasked with gathering the ingredients for all menu items, or distributing the ingredient list evenly amongst guests. (Group e-mails are an effective way to coordinate and get everyone excited!). Ensure that you have all of the necessary kitchen tools to make each dish. If possible, shop for ingredients the day prior to the party (so everything is fresh) and, before your guests arrive, consider performing basic prep work, like chopping or preparing workstations.

Determine the Menu
As mentioned, deciding what to cook is arguably the most fun part of prep. Be creative while selecting relatively easy dishes -- you don’t want your first foray into cooking parties to be frustrating. Ideally, each menu item should take approximately the same amount of time to prep/cook so you can enjoy them together. Keep snacks on hand in case guests want to nosh while cooking!

KISS: Keep It Short and Simple
Guests will look to you to provide direction as they prepare dishes. As mentioned, keep the dishes fun and relatively simple. Guests may become frustrated if prep becomes too advanced, so save deboning that whole chicken or flambé-ing for another time. As you host more advanced parties, dedicating a night to a new technique is fine -- just let guests know ahead of time that it will be experimental!

Preparing Dishes
Task each invitee with a different recipe, or split guests into teams, depending upon how many are attending your cooking party. When assigning partners, try to pair inexperienced cooks with more skilled partners. Pick recipes that can be adapted during the process (like salads or pizzas), and don’t stress if your guests’ creative energy takes hold as they cook their dish.

The After Party
After a successful cooking party, be sure to print out the copies of the recipes you cook. Voila -- instant party favor!

If you and your family resolved to eat healthier this year, you probably began by basing your dinners around grilled chicken and vegetables, occasionally adding whole-grain starches like brown rice and whole-wheat pasta. All too soon, you find you’ve either fallen off of the healthy eating wagon, or else dread the boring chicken and veggies on your dinner table every night! Luckily, stepping up your dinnertime game for delicious results can be as simple as tweaking recipes that are based around one sauce. (And we promise they won’t derail your healthy eating!). Here, we’ll show you some new ways to use tomato sauce in a variety of dishes to surprise and delight your taste buds.

For a quick and easy dinner -- or even an afterschool snack -- make English Muffin pizzas. Simply preheat your oven, split English muffins in half, and then top with sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake around 10 minutes at 375 F, or until the cheese melts. We give it an A-plus in ease and taste.

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For a fresh spin on chicken, whip up this Chicken and Wild Mushroom Pilaf recipe, made with chicken drumsticks, green peas, mushroom and herb rice pilaf mix, with tomato sauce. You’ll be surprised at how the rice absorbs the sauce in the skillet, and how this tomato base helps add a new flavor dimension to historically ho-hum chicken and rice dishes. Plus, it’s a new and delicious way to incorporate chicken and veggies into a dish that doesn’t feel tired.

Whether you love slow-cooker chili or make a faster version on the stovetop for a one-dish dinner, use tomato sauce as your base. Simply add it to the beef and bean combo, then add paprika, chili flakes, chilies, jalapenos or other seasonings to make it as spicy or seasoned as you’d like!

Tex-Mex may not be an obvious thought for a healthy weeknight meal. So you may be surprised that no salt added tomato sauce can be a great base for slow-cooker Southwest Beef and Bean Burritos. The sauce keeps the beef moist and tender for tasty tortillas!

Calling all lasagna lovers! If you’ve been making mom’s homemade lasagna recipe for years, but are looking for a new twist, we’re here to help. We chatted with Chef Carla Contreras, founder of the healthy cooking blog RedClogKitchen.com, for her expert tips for jazzing up lasagna. Here are a few ways to kick up the flavor -- and make healthier -- this favorite Italian dish your family loves.

Change Up the Sauce
“I love adding chilies to my pomodoro or red sauce,” says Contreras. Bringing in the heat changes the sauce and the overall flavor of the dish. If you don’t have fresh chilies, you could add smoked Spanish paprika, crushed red chili flakes or chili powder to your tomato sauce or alternative.

“I also like to add mint instead of basil to sauces sometimes, or sprinkle in a teaspoon of smoked Spanish paprika along with a teaspoon of cumin,” says Contreras. “Add a tablespoon of fresh ginger to a pomodoro sauce for a unique-quality flavor that you can't quite put your finger on, but stands out.”

You might even want to swap your red sauce for pesto sauce in lasagna. Contreras likes making pesto sauces with different nuts, like pistachios, walnuts and Brazil nuts (they all make pesto a little more interesting), while adding a few tablespoons of lemon juice to the sauce to brighten up the flavor. “I also use different veggies to make pesto, like kale and broccoli rabe,” says Contreras. “Not only do they amp up the nutritional value, but they make the everyday lasagna something special with different flavors.”

Swap Out Meats and Cheeses
“I make a mean all-veggie lasagna that uses butternut squash as the ‘noodle,’ and is paired with pesto sauce,” says Contreras. To get started, slice raw butternut squash on a mandolin to turn it into thin noodle-like strips. These same strips would be delicious with a simple pomodoro as well, notes Contreras. Another option: Swap meat for vegetables, like roasted eggplant and portobello mushrooms, or cooked spinach and zucchini.

If you want to remove the cheese altogether from your lasagna recipe, swap in firm tofu that you’ve mashed up. The secret to making it taste delicious? Add one to two tablespoons of nutritional yeast to the tofu for that cheesy flavor, suggests Contreras. You can also add a clove of minced garlic and chopped up fresh basil, and season with salt and pepper.

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Ditch the Casserole Dish
If you want to make slow cooker lasagna, spray the dish with cooking spray and layer the ingredients. If the dry, hard noodles don't fit, you can always break them to fit your crock. Then cook on low for three hours or until the noodles are cooked.

Or, there’s always the option to make single-serving lasagna if you have a night solo from the family. Contreras starts with fresh pasta, cutting it into circles and putting them in eight 10-ounce ramekins that have been prepped with cooking spray. Layer as you would lasagna in a large baking dish, then bake about 30 minutes at 350 F. Cover with aluminum foil the first 20 minutes, then take off the foil. You could also do this in a cupcake or muffin tin pan if you didn't have ramekins. Substituting round wontons for the fresh pasta could also be an easy swap.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons Pure Wesson® Canola Oil
• 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 can (14.5 oz each) Hunt's® Petite Diced Tomatoes, undrained
• 1-1/4 cups water
• 1 cup Hunt's® Tomato Sauce
• 8 ounces dry rotini pasta, uncooked
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 6 slices fully cooked bacon
• 1 pkg (6 oz each) baby spinach leaves
• Kraft® Grated Parmesan Cheese, optional
  

Directions

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until tender. Add undrained tomatoes, water, tomato sauce, pasta and garlic salt; stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Cover; reduce heat and cook 12 minutes or until pasta is almost tender.
2. Meanwhile, heat bacon in microwave according to package directions. Chop bacon; set aside.
3. Place spinach on top of pasta mixture. Cover; cook 2 to 3 minutes more or until spinach wilts and pasta is tender. Add bacon; stir to combine. Serve with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Nutritional Information

6 servings (about 1 cup each) Calories 241; Total Fat 7 g(Saturated Fat 1 g); Cholesterol 4 mg; Sodium 635 mg; Carbohydrate 36 g; (Dietary Fiber 4 g, Sugars 5 g); Protein 8 g; Percent Daily Values*: Vitamin A 60%; Vitamin C 30%; Calcium 5%; Iron 15%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Kraft® is a registered trademark of Kraft Foods, Inc.

Pizza is a favorite meal in pretty much everyone’s home. And while a typical slice may satisfy, pizza is the type of food that can be tweaked in endless ways. Whether you get creative with the toppings, the dough or the entire concept, it’s easier than you may think to make your everyday pizza recipe feel special (and even more nutritious). That’s why we’ve rounded up these recipes.

Beany Mini Pizzas
While burgers and pizza are both famous as comfort foods, combining them may seem a bit of a stretch. Not so! Beany mini pizzas utilize Italian sausage, ham and beans, and pepper jack cheese atop English muffins to give this dinner a sloppy-joe feel.

Artichoke Turkey Pizza
Who says pizza can’t be nutritious? Swapping in turkey instead of pepperoni means fewer calories and less saturated fat. Plus, this combination of delicious ingredients can help you achieve your daily goals of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium and iron.

Greek Style Pizza
Create a pizza that brings out all of the flavors you love in Greek food -- think, a crispy crust topped with spinach, tomatoes, artichokes and classic feta cheese. Substituting standard dough for phyllo crust gives mealtime a Mediterranean flair, and the add-ons make it a great way for your family to eat their daily veggie servings (and be none the wiser!).

Pepperoni Pizza Chili
Whether you’re hunkering down during a cold winter, or just craving some good ol’ comfort food, you likely know how a chili can satisfy your need for a warm, savory dish. Now, just add pizza. Who wouldn’t be comforted by pizza in a bowl? To prepare this pepperoni pizza chili recipe, use pepperoni instead of beef, and the whole family will be asking for seconds. Bonus: Each serving provides a healthy amount of fiber and protein to help keep you and your family feeling full until the next meal!

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