Good cooking is always memorable...
What to serve depends on the time of day and the "plan"...will it be lunch? Dinner? brunch, Mid day dessert? Cocktails and hors d'ouvres?
How about a lovely crab quiche with imported gruyere fresh crab, home made crust, a crusty loaf of home made bread and a mesculin salad with a honey vinaigrette and toasted pecans and a strawberry tart for dessert.
Linda C

Need more info about time of the day, number of people and who is actually providing the food...a bride and her immediate family need to be with their guests, but a pal or auntie can spend more time bopping in and out to check on things. Also, budget is definitely a must as far as info goes.

If it is an evening party, I would suggest going with a few light appetizer foods such as bruschetta, the cold veggie pizza made with Crescent roll dough, cheese spread and crackers, fruit kabobs, and something sweet like cake squares, little tarts, ice cream pie, etc. For a larger number of guests, just add an extra item or two.

If the party is held during the day, you could make a fruit salad and add something like deviled eggs.

I would keep everything to bite size, and perhaps only the dessert would need a fork. A platter of several kinds of pickles would be fun....pregnancy + pickles!

It's easy to come up with foods a little more creative than finger sandwiches, cake squares, nuts & mints, and punch. And your party will be remembered.

It is a baby shower and will be held between 2 and 5 pm.

Here is the veggie pizza recipe:

Garden Veggie Pizza Squares from AllRecipes.com
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Yields: 24 servings

"Pre-packaged crescent roll dough gets baked into a single rectangle, then topped with ranch dressing-spiked cream cheese and crunchy vegetables."

1 (8 ounce) package
refrigerated crescent rolls
1 (8 ounce) package cream
cheese, softened
1 (1 ounce) package Ranch-
style dressing mix
2 carrots, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped red bell
peppers
1/2 cup chopped green bell
pepper
1/2 cup fresh broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green onions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Roll out crescent rolls onto a large non-stick baking sheet. Stretch and flatten to form a single rectangular shape on the baking sheet. Bake 11 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Allow to cool.
3. Place cream cheese in a medium bowl. Mix cream cheese with 1/2 of the ranch dressing mix. Adjust the amount of dressing mix to taste. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust. Arrange carrots, red bell pepper, broccoli and green onions on top. Chill in the refrigerator approximately 1 hour. Cut into bite-size squares to serve.

And here is a very good ice cream dessert made with ice cream sandwiches. When my mom makes this for a family dinner, she does not use the peanuts and serves the sauce warmed and on the side in a small glass pitcher.

Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert Recipe #27600

10 min : 10 min prep

SERVES 15 or more depending on what size servings you cut

* 19 ice cream sandwiches
* 1 (12 ounce) carton frozen whipped topping, thawed
* 1 (11 3/4 ounce) jar chocolate fudge topping
* 1 cup salted peanuts

1. Cut one ice cream sandwich in half.
2. Place one whole and one half sandwich along a short side of an ungreased 13x9x2 inch pan.
3. Arrange eight sandwiches in opposite direction in the pan.
4. Spread with half of the whipped topping.
5. Spoon fudge topping by teaspoonfuls onto whipped topping.
6. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup peanuts.
7. Repeat layers with remaining ice cream sandwiches, whipped topping and peanuts.
8. Pan will be full.
9. Cover and freeze.
10. Remove from freezer 20 minutes before serving.
11. Cut into squares.
12. Can be frozen up to 2 months.

** serve with warm chocolate sauce on the side

I just held a "sip 'n see" a few weeks ago in honor of the birth of my step-daughter's second baby. Not quite a shower, more like an open house. I used a bee theme for the party and coordinated my food around that. It was held from 2-4 so I did more sweet items than savory. Here was my menu:

Brie & goat cheeses with fresh honeycomb, grapes & figs w/crackers
Meringue daisies filled with lemon curd
Spice cookies (cut out with bee shape cookie cutter)
Apricot nectar cake (baked in WS beehive mold)
Brownie-peanut butter cup bites (baked in mini muffin pan)
Mini fruit tarts with creme fraiche filling
Bee decorated cupcakes for the kids

I find doing some sort of theme helps me with both my food choices and decorating.

Remember that there will be folks at the shower that may be watching their weight, or even other parts of diet and nutrition. A good fruit/veggie platter and some good dips are always appreciated!

DonnaR/CA

We do a lot of very casual entertaining, and I find that most parties require at least 3 components: a "salt," a "fresh," and a "sweet."

For the "salt" part, you'll make most people very happy if you incorporate some kind of cheese. I like cheese straws, brie and crackers, or even cream cheese with raspberry-chipotle sauce dumped over the top, served with crackers.

For the "fresh" you could do tomato, basil, mini-mozarella ball skewers, a hummus or herb dip platter with veggies, or a simple fruit platter.

The "sweet" part you can figure out on your own or find out what the guest of honor's favorite dessert is. I hosted a brunch shower recently, and for our dessert we made pastel colored cupcakes and topped each with a mini sugar baby bottle or alphabet block that we got from a local cake decorating store. They were super cute.

Good luck!

Chrissy

Julie, your Bee theme sounds adorable! Can you tell me about your creme fraiche filling?

Chrissy, that's a very good "rule of thumb"..I'll have to remember that!

When I/we ate packaged foods, I loved that veggie pizza that Teresa shared. Even my kids would eat it if it only had their fav veggies on it.

Here are two CF favorite appetizers which would be good for a large group. Linda's menu sounds fab for a more intimate gathering--crab quiche with gruyere, I would love some of that right now!

Artichoke Heart And Red Pepper Bites - Ann T.
April 12/02 From Perfect Entertaining website
These simple appetizers are something that we always have on hand for surprise guests.
They freeze extremely well, are very easy to make, and are always popular. They go together very well with the rest of this festive Easter menu and require no preparation
time at all on a very busy day. Simply defrost and eat!

6 ounces marinated artichoke hearts in oil
6 ounces roasted bell peppers
1 small chopped onion
2 minced cloves garlic
4 eggs
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
¼ cup dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Dash hot pepper sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 inch baking dish. Drain the artichoke hearts, reserving 2 tablespoons of the oil. Drain the
roasted peppers and discard the liquid. Finely chop the artichoke hearts and peppers and set aside. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the reserved oil, onion, and garlic. Cook for five minutes,
or until soft and translucent. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl until thick and lemon colored. Beat in the remaining ingredients along with the artichoke hearts, peppers, and onion mixture. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or
until pale golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes, then cut into one inch squares. Tightly wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to a month. Serve cold, at room temperature, or gently reheated in a
300 degree oven for 5-10 minutes.
Makes 60 bites.

SPINACH BROWNIES (Sheshebop)
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopPed spinach, thawed
16 0z. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
4 Tb. butter, melted
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8 x 12 pan with cooking spray. Drain spinach in colander and squeeze out moisture. Combine cheese, spinach and onion in large bowl. Mix. Stir salt and baking powder into flour and mix with spinach. Mix eggs, butter, milk, and stir into the other ingredients. Pour into pan. Bake 30-35 minutes.
You can also make these in mini muffin tins as hors doeuvres. Makes about 42. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

terri pacnw ~ this recipe comes from Martha Stewart website. Very versatile recipe, not too sweet.

Creme Fraiche Filling

Makes about 2 cups
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 ounces creme fraiche
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Put cream cheese into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until smooth. Set aside. Whisk creme fraiche in another medium bowl until the whisk begins to leave lines, about 1 minute. Whisk 1/3 of creme fraiche into cream cheese. Add remaining creme fraiche, beating until smooth and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Sift confectioners' sugar over top, and fold to combine. Stir in vanilla. Refrigerate at least 1 hour (up to 5 hours).

My dear departed good friend Ann, God rest her soul, did the funeral lunch thing that I do for her church.
She made a fruit pizze that was wonderful....I need to get that recipe. Seems to me it was crescent rolls spread out on a pizza pan, spread with something creamy and sweet, topped with fruit...and them topped with something else? Marshmallwo cream? No not that sweet.
I need to go to her church and ask for that recipe! It would be perfect for the shower.
Linda C

Thanks Julie..I snagged it..I think I have just enough homemade creme fraiche left to do that! It would be splendid spooned over warmed fresh peaches!!

Linda my friend used to make that fruit pizza. The "crust" she made was basically a giant sugar cookie. I think she used a sugar cookie mix, but you can buy roll out sugar cookie dough too. That was spread with sweetened cream cheese, then topped with fruit, and basted with jam, probably apricot.