What would be good recipe ideas for a Bridal Shower!?!
What would be good recipe ideas for a Bridal Shower!?
I am throwing my best friend's bridal shower in June. It is an early party, from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm. I am serving Mimosas and iced tea... but I need FOOD ideas! I am not looking to serve a full lunch... more like finger foods, but PRETTY. Any quick, easy (and CHEAP) ideas?
Answers:
Iced tea and Mimosa's - that is simple and lovely! What a great idea! Yeah, I would keep the finger foods pretty simple, but they need to be "pretty", too!
I would do a veggie and dip tray, but do the veggies with snow peas, blanched asparagus, endive leaves, red, yellow and/or orange peppers...make it beautiful and colorful. A nice herb dip is perfect, and putting it in a hollowed out colored pepper is a nice touch!
Also, bowls of steamed and salted edamame is nice and easy.
I would also think about a crab dip - even the deli ones are usually wonderful and then you don't have to fuss.
Spinach dips are also easy - especially if you just buy it.
Serve these with a nice array of whole grain crackers and such! And buy a couple of loaves of french bread, and slice them...some people prefer bread over crackers.
Cucumber sandwiches is a terrific accompaniment to iced tea, so I would definitely consider those!
I would also do a tray of fresh melon and/or berries...very colorful and goes with your drinks!
Deviled eggs are basic,but everyone loves them, and can be made to look better with a sprig of inexpensive parsley on top...or chives, too.
I would keep the foods as cold appetizers - they go best with the drinks you're serving.
Shrimp cocktail is always a hit, but sadly not very cheap!
I hope this helps!! Good Luck!
pigs-in-a-blanket
finger sandwiches
veggie tray
fruit tray
chips & dip
chips & salsa
potato sald or pasta salad
Smoked Salmon and Dill Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches Recipe courtesy Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh
6 eggs
2 ounces smoked salmon, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chopped dill
2 teaspoons nonpareil capers
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
14 slices sturdy white sandwich bread
1/4 cup chopped chives, for garnish
Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Boil the eggs for exactly 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit 10 more minute before draining. Run under cold water and peel the eggs immediately - the shell will come off much more easily while the eggs are still wet and warm.
Using a box grater, grate the eggs on the shredder side into a bowl. Add the salmon, dill, capers, 1/4 cup of the mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Lay out 7 slices of the bread and spread 1/4 cup of the egg salad onto each slice. Cover with the remaining bread slices. Trim the crust off of all the sandwiches and cut each sandwich crosswise into four triangles.
Spread the long side of each triangle with a little mayonnaise and dip each one into the chopped chives. Arrange decoratively on a platter.
I think you should make a bowl of chicken salad and set out some nice croissants cut for sandwiches. At that time of day people need something a little bit filling. You can buy nice chicken salad from a local tea room or deli or you can make your own. Use canned chicken, mayo, honey, chopped grapes, almond slices, curry, and diced celery.
A few of my favorites are:
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE- you will need a punch bowl (clear because you will layer this), whip cream, angel food cake (2) and a good bit of strawberries. The night before, slice the strawberries and put them all in a bowl. Pour sugar in the bowl with them and stir up (this will make the juice come out). keep adding sugar until it is syrupy! Then cut up your angel food cake in small bite-size pieces. You are done for the night. On the day of the shower, take your punch bowl and cover the bottom with some of the angel food cake, then pour on some of the strawberries, then some whip cream. Keep layering until you are out of goodies. Have whip cream cover the top and garnish with a few extra berries.
TACO ROLL-UPS:
You don't want everything sweet so this can alter it up a little. Have a pack of cream cheese and mix it with a pack of taco seasoning. Take some soft tortillas and lay them out flat and spread the seasoned cream cheese on top. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on them (I like the mixed shredded that is in the bag). Roll them up and then cut into slices so they resemble pinwheels.
Other than these, places like Sam's or Costco have these mini-quiches that are great. Look online at a site such as recipezaar.com or recipegoldmine.com to find some other recipes... since it is a brunch style shower, you can find an egg souffle or something of the sort. Chips and some dips are always good to throw in too so that there is something salty! Oh yeah, and the seven layer mexican dip is always a hit !
Tortilla roll ups are good. You can do so much with them. You can do; cream cheese and jalapenos, cream cheese and deli sliced ham or turkey, or spinach dip. Just spread the filling of your choice on a large tortilla, roll up tightly and the cut in small pieces using a serrated knife!
Fruit tray
Veggie tray
Chicken or ham salad and crackers or croissants
Chex mix
Cream puffs (wal mart has great ones in the freezer section)
i went to a fancy baby shower that had red and green grapes rolled in sugar on a "crystal" platter they tasted good and they were soooooo pretty, put a cheese spread on a tortilla with canned chicked, roll it up and cut into "pin wheels" go to food network.com and look some ideas up there i am sure they will have a ton!
you could also go to a place like Sam's club and buy little frozen quiche, stuffed mushrooms, etc.
We always make fancy finger sandwiches for showers, none of these are very expensive to make.
Use white or whole wheat wonder-bread style sandwich bread for all of these, with the crusts cut off.
-spread bread with softened cream cheese, add a line of marachino cherries and roll up. Slice rolls in half diagonally to serve.
-spread bread with smoked salmon flavoured cream cheese, add an asparagus spear (either canned, or fresh blanched lightly in boiling water) Roll up sandwiches and slice diagonally.
-spread bread with honey-mustard. line one end with baby spinach leaves, then a long thin slice of brie cheese. Top with a row of halved seedless red grapes. Roll up and slice.
Also you can have egg salad or chicken salad or ham salad sandwiches served either or miniature croissants, or in bite-sized (2" diameter) pita-pocket halves, or wrapped in tortillas and sliced.
I'd also add a fruit & cheese platter, and a veggie & dip tray.
Have fun!
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My first suggestion for pretty would be to start looking for serving trays. Last year I did a tea party for my daughter and I bought this 3 tiered serving dish. It looks like this, but my plates are frosted glass. http://cgi.ebay.com/porcelain-flowered-3... It was less than $10.
If you bought a few of these you could do one with finger sandwiches. I did cucumber with alouette (any herbed cheese would be fine though), tomato with mayo, chicken salad. The problem for me with the chicken salad was that I had to mince the chicken salad in the food processor, and Iike mine a little chunkier.
On another tiered tray you can have cured meats, cheeses and fruit. Serve breadsticks and crunchy flat bread in tall clear glasses.
On another you could have little desserts. You can buy a tin of butter cookies, frozen eclairs or cream puffs and suppliment this with minis from your bakery.
Of course have a veggie tray, eveyone loves these. One interesting and pretty way to serve this is on a breakfast tray. I generally buy my store brand veggie dip and everyone loves it, but whatever your group likes is fine. Just serve the dip in two clear bowls at either end of the breakfast try. Make sure you have a wide array of colorful veggies. Red peppers, English Cukes, carrots, celery, yellow zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower should make a nice colorful display.
Finally for something warm make chicken, beef and some type of seafood or fish skewers. I have done this before and it seems like more work than it is, but it's really cute. Take a flower pot put a piece of that green foam stuff from a craft store in it. Top it off with shredded cabbage or lettuce. Then put each type of skewer in each of the flower pots.
Decorate the blank table space with rose petals. Check your local craftstore they sell bags of them pretty cheap, but if you want the real rose scent your local florist will probably sell you a bag pretty cheaply if you tell them in advance.
Good luck!
Bridal/Baby Shower Tuna/Chicken Salad:
50 min 30 min prep
14 servings
3 cans tuna, flaked or 2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
3/4 cup chopped green onions
1 diced red pepper
8 sliced mushrooms
1 can sliced and drained water chestnuts
1 can bamboo shoots, drained
1/2 cup oil based French dressing
1/2 cup sweet n sour salad dressing (Henri's is best)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
lettuce leaves (to garnish)
1. Marinate tuna or chicken with the rice in combined dressing ingredients overnight.
2. Add all other ingredients approx 1 hour before serving.
3. Serve on lettuce lined platter.
When my Mom did mine, she served several salad's like chicken salad, egg salad, and crab salad. She also had fruit salad, a vegetable tray, crackers and croissants for the salads. Everything was very light and easy to prepare ahead of time.
chip salas crab dip grillied shrimp sweet tea strawberry