I know, I know -- we all have anxiety when we invite people over to our homes for a meal or a party. Entertaining, however, does not need to be stressful. In fact, as the host, you should be having just as much fun as anyone else.

So a few weeks ago, I invited a friend over for dinner that I hadn't seen in several months. We needed some serious catch-up time, and she wanted to save money, so I figured we'd stay in and I'd cook. But there was one little twist -- this friend went to culinary school with me and works in a restaurant. I could easily have started stressing out about elaborate menus, but instead I took the other route. I decided to serve her spaghetti with sauce out of a jar. In fact, I decided to serve her a meal that I hadn't really cooked at all (without cheating by ordering take-out). I figured it would be both ironic and anxiety-free.

When it comes to serving guests in your home, here's my philosophy: If you buy quality ingredients (this is essential -- you can't skimp on quality or freshness) and put them together properly, there's hardly any work involved, and you're still serving really delicious food that everyone will enjoy. So here is what I served my cooking school friend Rachel:

-Sottocenere cheese (a cow's milk cheese studded with black truffles) with water crackers

-Salad of baby arugula, fresh mozzarella (you MUST use fresh), halved grape tomatoes and prosciutto di Parma, with the most basic vinaigrette possible: a good fruity olive oil whisked with balsamic vinegar

-Spaghetti wtih puttanesca sauce (the sauce was Donatella brand and was surprisingly flavorful and zesty, with bits of olives in it), with fresh Parmesan grated over the top

-Good-quality vanilla ice cream (my standby is Haagen-Dazs) with dark chocolate sauce and dulce de leche (both from jars) and crumbled shortbread on top (leftover Girl Scout cookies!)

-Of course, lots of red wine throughout the entire meal

 The meal was pretty darn tasty, if I do say so myself, and Rachel also loved it. It was pretty much the easiest, least time-consuming menu I could have served without actually ordering in a pizza, and was far more satisfying and elegant. In fact, this is the amount of work that went into it (other than a bit of grocery shopping):

-Tearing up the mozzarella and prosciutto with my hands and scattering over the greens

-Slicing the grape tomatoes in half

-Whisking the oil and vinegar together

-Cooking the pasta and heating up the sauce

-Crumbling cookies

I set out the microplane and Parmesan so I didn't even grate that myself -- I let Rachel garnish her own dish.

So my point is, there's no need to go crazy when you entertain at home. Shop wisely, don't skimp on ingredients and just relax and enjoy the company. And honestly, there's nothing wrong with jarred spaghetti sauce if you don't have time to make it from scratch.