Mashed pumpkin or winter squash? Easy and easy to keep warm. I would like it with the ham and latkes. Or, roasted green beans in a light mustard glaze - or a recipe I just saw this morning on Cook's Country, had goat cheese in it.

Asparagus used to be only available in the spring, but times have changed, and it's available year-round. A nice steamed asparagus then marinated in an Italian-style dressing and served cold? Or warmed up?

I've never mashed winter squash. That would be easy to keep warm. Would you try to reheat the green beans?

I like to mash Hubbard squash (the one that looks like a beige Schmoo) with butter and a little cinnamon. Yummy.

Nothing jumps out at me either. Anything 'green' like beans would be ugly done and over soggy...and i like green things fresh...or fresher than 4-5 hour prepped ahead.

The menu is great as is. I think i might take a cold smoked salmon platter with mustard horseradish yogurt cream sauce. Fresh dill, cucumber slices. Even roasted red pepper slices, cornichon, pickled tiny onions, olives, fresh sliced radishes, daikon or any radish you can find locally, Yellow beets sliced thin. A pear and apple sliced. Something a bit fresh to go with the ham.

Apple and pear is lovely with ham and latkes. All veggies i mentioned do so well with a quick 'pickle' method. Sliced and soaked in a cold water bath with a splash of vinegar and a pinch of a sugar like maple ...then dry on p-towel and bag in zip-lock for travel.

Even platted ahead it will travel well. No heating needed. Unless fresh veggies will freak out your hostess and other guests, it is a good compromise as i would eat that over other offerings. (we do tend to bring what we like)....

Succotash is in my soul as a love dish being an EasternShore baby. So i need no other...than that. Except a few fresh veggies.

I have served grilled veggies, room temperature with a blue cheese and sour cream sauce.
I grill horozontal slices of zucchini sliced the long way, fat slices of sweet onion, mushrooms, or slices of big porto bellos, red and green peppers and hbalved cherry tomatoes.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and a bit of dry oregano or basil or dill...or some of each. Grill until soft and grill marked....and serve them up with a sauce or a drizzle.

What about a fresh citrus 'salad' or platter?

I second the roasted beets, maybe marinated. Any chance you can bring soup and heat it up in a crockpot? My crockpot has a handled, insulated carrying case and that's great for bringing to parties. Cold beet borscht would work and is the classic, but I don't much care for it. I make hot borscht when I make it. Other good soup options are carrot bisque or squash soup. But if that's not an option, as Emily Litella would say, "Never mind."

Other nice marinated salads I have made are French lentil salad, mushroom salad and asparagus with cherry tomatoes and tarragon and a dusting of shredded hard swiss. Another option is a good apple salad. I make apple fennel salad with a lemon juice marinade and a few toasted walnuts, that is great! Or fresh apple cranberry salad with orange juice.

Edited to add how about "Hoppin John" marinated bean salad. I do two options, one is just hoppin john with blackeyed peas, peppers and tomato, and the other just subs blackeyed peas for that classic southwest black bean salad cowboy caviar or whatever you want to call it. Good and colorful and mildly traditional since that dish is served for the New Year.

I'll add a third vote for the beets, maybe even a salad with sliced beets and apples or pears, with a balsamic vinegar dressing to keep the fruit from oxidizing. I saw one that looked good recently, now I'm trying to remember where. It had roasted beets, pears, walnuts and I think maybe goat cheese, although it could have easily been gorgonzola....

Annie

I had this post on my Facebook page and clicked on it for fun. Lots of eye candy but not things I would normally make, but maybe some ideas here.How to Throw a Very Merry Vegetarian Christmas Dinner

ALSO, last night believe it or not, I woke up with the word "ratatouille" on my mind thinking of this thread. It is IMHO, the ideal dish to serve room temp. I make it almost exclusively in the summer, but I know some folks who make it in the winter too. Another option is caponata.

Here's a recipe for Syrian beet salad, with a cool inspiring photo. I have made a version of this, from the Moosewood Daily Special cookbook I think, but added toasted walnuts, cumin and a dash of alleppo pepper (makes me sad just to type alleppo). Syrian beet salad

I took these to a Thanksgiving buffet, I was invited to. Everyone seemed to enjoy.

prosciutto wrapped brussel sprouts

I love to cook and have some pretty decent "skillz", but I can tell you that I've been enjoying microwaving green beans lately!

Many stores carry small and large bags of washed and prepped green beans that you heat (in the bag) in the micro for 5-7 minutes.

I cook in micro according to directions, then transfer to a bowl with butter, soy sauce and grated Parmesan. Put the top on to allow the butter to melt under the bean, then toss and serve.

You could have a compound butter awaiting in that bowl. You could bring along slivered almonds. Really, any way you want to finish beans, it's so simple.

Maybe roasted brussel sprouts? If you have a le creuet type Dutch oven warm it up and put veggies in and then wrap in a quilted blanket with those hunters hand warmers tucked in. You can get them at the tractor supply or dick' sporting goods

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All kinds of good suggestions here. I forgot to add a few things. There will be a soup course (not sure what.) The green salad will probably have some fruit & plenty of other goodies. Hostess is allergic to sweet potatoes, and host hates brussels sprouts! Sprouts would have been my first choice.

I second the suggestion for asparagus. I like just plain asparagus with a bit of butter.

I really love a lot of these. Narrowing down the ideas, right now I'm leaning towards one of these. As you've said, the menu is already fine as is.

microwaved & sauced green beans –
prepared at host's home

cold platter with apple, pear &
quick pickled beets

fennel apple salad (I pink mountain - could I have your recipe?))

Syrian beet salad

Come to think of it, DH really loves fennel, and we don't have it often enough.

Not sure why....but a fair amount of the people I socialize with hate beets.....so unelss you are sure I would skip the beets.
Given all you have said...I would buy some of those quick frozen haricotes vert and make a butter almond sauce in a little container....and do a quick sautee of the beans and add the almond butter and serve.

If the salad already has fruit in it, that makes it even more tricky.

I think the delicious apple fennel salad I made was just thinly sliced granny smith apples and fennel bulb, dressed in an extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Then before serving I threw in some toasted walnuts and probably some goat cheese crumbles. I may have doused it with a bit of ground fennel or the fennel leaves since I often feel fennel is somewhat bland. I googled it and found a million yummy sounding recipes online. Some used other cheeses and added celery, which is less expensive than fennel. A few used other acids, but I was on an anti-yeast diet at the time and was really into fresh squeezed lemon juice. Here's a link to a similar recipe, Raw fennel apple salad from Trader Joes

I can't wait to serve prosciutto wrapped brussel sprouts some day at a party! :)

I know Brussels are controversial. My DH hates them. Other family members request mine. Maybe roasted cabbage or carrots? I seem to like all the stuff many hate. Ina Garten was on the Chew and made a maple glazed carrot salad. Maybe look their website, it looked yummy

What about Stuffed Baked Potatoes? I make and freeze those, so they would reheat in the oven or microwave just fine.

Can you bring along a crock pot to use to reheat something?

Perhaps ask the host if there's anything in particular they want or if you can bring an appetizer or dessert instead. Both of those can be made in advance and served/eaten cold.