depends on the ocassion and the crowd but i will usually do something like this:
(take into account that my house is kosher so that means that meals are either meat/chicken OR dairy. eggs can with either meal. Fish can go with either meal but we don't eat fish and meat/chicken in the same course/dish. we do eat fish with dairy. don't ask...)
starters: soup (vegetarian if there are vegetarians), or mezze (array of cooked and fresh veg and bean salads) with bread, crackers and rice cakes (if GF guests). we don't always do starters.
mains:
two types of main usually - let's say meatballs and some kind of roast chicken. if there are vegetarians then i will add a vegetable/bean type of main (bean/nut patties, bean/veg stew etc). sometimes we will just do a meal of grilled meats where i will do some on the electric grll and some in the oven (say wings or legs in BBQ sauce in the oven and chicken breast, hot dogs, burgers on the grill).
starches: whole grain couscous or brown basmatti rice. usually will add roast potatoes and sweet potatoes bec everyone loves that.
veg: the easiest is a big tray of 3-4 types of roast veg which i brush with olive oil/lemon/herbs and sprinkle with thick salt and garlic. this can be roasted in advance and served at room temp. I set them out on a serving platter all nice and neat and it looks very impressive even though it's five minutes work (also pretty cheap if you use in season veg). so you can do 3 different peppers, or peppers/fennel/eggplant slices/red onion/carrot etc.
dessert: tray of artistically set up sliced fruit, and my
go to cake (i subsitute one cup of brewed coffee for the milk to keep it non dairy).
for a dairy/fish meal:
same type of starters
main would be salmon filet and brocolli/cheese "pie"
sides the same as above but i would add a vegetable/chickpea stew for vegans
dessert - cheesecake
or and my favorite fudge brownies with the above-mentioned fruit.
