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I am hosting a baby shower brunch and I would appreciate some ideas on what to serve!:)
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13 Comments:
Pigs in blankets!
What sort of crowd/atmosphere is this? Very casual, very girly, aiming for any special vibe?
renzata at 6:41PM on 05/01/08
It's easiest to serve a brunch buffet-style. Then you can wrangle up a few chafing dishes and sterno for things that are best hot, like meat, eggs, and potatoes. You can also brew coffee and hot water for tea an hour in advance and fill insulated carafes. If you're doing a cold cocktail, you can mix that an hour before, too. Every other brunch staple can be made a day ahead and served at room temp. This includes things like quiche, frittata, cheese & meat plates, muffins, scones, rolls, and fruit salad.
You'll probably want to pick a general menu theme and then plan dishes that fit your theme. If you go with Italian, for instance, then you can make frittatas with your choice of filling the night before and bring them to room temperature before. Potatoes can be sauteed with red peppers and basil and served from a chafing dish next to little sausage links. You can prepare an antipasta platter the night before, too - just some thin-sliced proscuitto, olives, and cheese. There can also be a platter of sliced peasant bread for toast (if you have a toaster available) with some butter and jam. You can make bellinis with prosecco and peach nectar, and brew strong coffee an hour before. Then when it's time to eat, everything is ready and you can concentrate on your guests instead of the stove.
butterface at 6:59PM on 05/01/08
Kind of on the same note as pigs in blankets - cocktail-size puff pastry with whatever filling you like - spinach, potatoes (or a combination thereof), mushrooms, sausage, cheese, etc. I often make several fillings, different shapes (e.g., triangles - with mushrooms, squares - with spinach, etc.).
And I second renzata - tell us more about the party.
brooke29 at 7:12PM on 05/01/08
We are doing a buffet style but some what formal because of the home of the other hostess. Think Tara from gone with the wind & beach front. We are doing the whole China, crystal , Linen napkins ect.... I am making Crepe paper Dahlia flower pom poms from Martha stewart crafts to hang in the oak trees in the front yard and smaller ones for napkin rings.
I made them before and had rave reviews so check them out at her web site! The time is from 11-1 so quiche and frittatas are a must ! I love the idea of the bellinis !! Yum!
Nina0411 at 7:39PM on 05/01/08
I have catered brunches before and I'm going to do one in June for guests that are coming from out of town for a bridal shower. I will make quiche or strata, home fried potatoes, sausauge, bagels& assorted cream cheese, low fat yougurt & granola and lots of fresh fruit. I will also make my signature "Joan's Scones"
joanpieroni2 at 8:27PM on 05/01/08
How wonderful and elegant! How many people???
Mini Scones
Mini Muffins
Mini Quiches (spinach/feta? Broccoli/cheese?) (in muffin tins)
A large frittata of some variety (maybe roasted red bell peppers and swiss cheese?) that can be cut into portions
Granola/Yogurt/Fruit parfaits (or three large bowls containing each ingredient and empty parfait glasses.
I'm not really wild about breakfast meats but you can throw in bacon, ham or sausage (she said half-heartedly...LOL)
DEFINITELY...
Chocolate
Dipped
Strawberries
chiff0nade at 9:12PM on 05/01/08
Last May a friend and I hosted a baby shower and we did the whole china, crystal, linens thing, too.
We served
quiche (two veggie and two meaty),
shrimp & grits with tasso gravy,
grilled veg (marinated japanese eggplant, zucchini, portabella, asparagus) with a balsamic reduction on the side,
fruit (pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberry, blackberry) with a yogurt dip,
mini muffins and scones, butter & jam
a tower of chocolates, and
a three teir cake that would have impressed the Ace of Cakes.
I grilled the veggies and made the balsamic redux'n the day before; sliced the pineapple and melons the day before, wash & dried all the berries, stored everything in separate zip bags the day before and arranged the fruit tray the morning of; the yogurt dip was just a purchased berry yogurt; the cake my sister did and delivered on the day of; my friend baked all the mini muffins the day before and baked the scones that morning; the chocolates were purchased and arranged on a 3 tiered silver tray; the shrimp & tasso gravy I did early in the morning and reheated before placing in a chafing dish; the grits were done as the guests started to arrive and then into another chafing dish. The quiche was made the day of (I got up really early) and I wish I had done it the day before and let it come to room temp.
We only needed one chafing dish with a split compartment (found at Costco--really awesome), but if you need more there are lovely chafing dishes at party rental places. And of course I love collecting platters and serveware, so it was great having extra large platters, pedestal cake servers and three tiered trays for the food. Since most of my serving pieces are white or silver or stainless as well as the table cloths, my co-hostess made a table cloth in pinks and greens that we placed on the buffett table on the diagonal.
wookie at 9:16PM on 05/01/08
I just bought the Vera Bradley cook book and there is a recipe for shrimp and grits tartlets that i will test this weekend , i hope it works out ~!!
Nina0411 at 9:37PM on 05/01/08
There will be 30 - 40 people,wookie is the nick name of one of my best friends sons! I do not here that nick name very often! I like the yogurt idea, A Yogurt Bar!
Nina0411 at 10:00PM on 05/01/08
I just had a shower this past weekend! I made mini cheesecakes with a shortbread crust (in mini muffin tins), a lovely fruit tray with a homemade fruit dip (simply whipped marshmallow and cream cheese - yummy), I had a warm spinach dip with mini pitas. I made a couple food sculptures as well (I'm a artist), and a cheese tray...along with much much more. Little bit size items are great for showers.
Lilartist at 9:08AM on 05/02/08
For my bridal shower, my mom put wonton wrappers into mini-muffin pans and broiled them for a few minutes. They formed little cups, which she then filled with a kind of spinach artichoke dip. They were awesome.
She also put some cocktail sauce in matini glasses and hung 3 shrimp off the rim. Fancy!
And we had a big orzo salad, a charcuterie plate, chicken salad in endive and polenta rounds topped with breakfast sausage/apricot jam/parmesan (those were amazing!).
bitchincamero at 10:22AM on 05/02/08
This probably doesn't fit with your theme, but I thought I'd share this anyway.
The one and only baby shower I have hosted was a "double entendre" themed event. Everyone had to bring an appetizer or buffet small plate dish that somehow was connected with the baby/pregnancy/newborn etc...the planners & I had a brain storming session to come up with the menu, then assigned items accordingly....
Here are some of the dishes I remember people bringing & why:
Pork Buns (bun in the oven)
baby carrots & dip
pink lemonade (the baby was a girl)
pigs in a blanket (they didn't get pregnant by sleeping in separate beds!)
cream cheese PICKLE rollups
Bundles of Choy (steamed dumplings made with bok choy)
apple tarts (apple of their eye)
Hummus (served in a giant mocked up Gerber jar)
oranges, tangerines, grapefruit with a dip (C-sections)
deviled eggs (a weak ovum joke)
condiments in baby bottles
biscotti (teething)
There were other tie ins that I don't remember....
The actual guests (non-panners) were given a game card & each dish was labeled with a number....they had to write down the connection....No one was a big game player, so...this was the only shower game....
everyone had a blast.
The one item we didn't make because some thought it would be too gross was a "dirty diaper wonton"....had we made it, it would have been a filled pasta (think bishop's hat) with a spinach filling.
tastetless yes, but it would have been the talk of the party!
2qrs at 10:39AM on 05/02/08
At our family baby showers, the tradition is to make name tags with leetle teeny diapers on them. At the end of the shower, the guest with the dirty diaper (a dab of grainy mustard) gets a door prize.
sarajane at 5:22PM on 05/08/08