Brunch
Baby Shower Menu
Brunch is a meal often enjoyed by the leisure class,
people who frequent country clubs and exquisite
resorts. A Mom-to-be certainly deserves to be
pampered, and a lovely brunch would be a special
treat for her and her guests. It would be the
perfect meal for a late morning or early afternoon
shower. Best of all, a beautiful brunch can be put
together fairly easily, with lots of help from the
grocery store, for a fraction of the price you would
pay at a fancy restaurant.
If
you are hosting a small number of guests, you could
set a dining room table with china, and present the
foods on platters or in bowls to be passed around
the table. For a larger baby shower guest list,
brunch items lend themselves nicely to a buffet
presentation.
There are few different food groups that need to be
covered. You will definitely want to have some type
of bread. Croissants are an elegant choice. Be
sure to serve them with butter and jam or
preserves. You could also go with the always
popular bagels and cream cheese. Since this is a
special occasion, you should purchase fresh bread
products from the bakery or a bagel shop, and forgo
the lower quality frozen or off the shelf varieties.
An
egg dish is another standard brunch item. Most
guests would enjoy quiche. If you don’t feel
comfortable making a quiche yourself, there are
usually very tasty premade ones available in your
grocery store’s deli or frozen food sections. You
may wish to serve a few quiches with different
fillings, including at least one that has meat and
one vegetarian variety, to suit everyone’s taste.
Mini-quiches, which you can make ahead of time or
get from the frozen food section, are a great option
for a buffet. Whole quiches should be sliced into
individual pieces before serving.
You
may wish to serve some type of breakfast meat, such
as bacon or sausage. There are precooked varieties
that simply need to be reheated in the microwave.
You could also get a precooked, pre-sliced ham,
which can be served warm or cool. Biscuits filled
with breakfast meat are another popular brunch
item. You can make your own or purchase pre-made
frozen ones from the grocery store. Sausage balls
are easy to make ahead of time, and are an excellent
choice for a buffet line.
A
proper brunch includes fruit. This could take many
different forms, ranging from a purchased fresh
fruit platter, to a bowl of seasonal berries or
melon, to your favorite fruit salad recipe. You
could also prepare fruit and yogurt parfaits by
layering yogurt, granola and your choice of berries
in dessert glasses or champagne flutes for a seated
brunch, or in clear plastic cups for a more casual
buffet.
No
brunch is complete without a selection of breakfast
pastries. Popular choices include muffins, coffee
cake, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts and fruit or cheese
filled breakfast pastries. If you like to bake,
this is the time to demonstrate your skills,
otherwise pick up whatever looks good that morning
at the bakery.
Don’t forget the beverages. You should have a
variety of juices, such as orange, grapefruit and
cranberry, on hand. Some of the baby shower guests
would like coffee, but since pregnant women often
abstain from coffee, you may wish to check with the
Mom-to-be to see if she will be upset if others are
gulping java when she can’t. If you choose to serve
coffee, have both regular and decaffeinated
varieties on hand. If possible, have a pot or
carafe of hot water on hand, and offer a selection
of teas and hot chocolate.
These are just a few suggestions to get you
started. Feel free to add your breakfast favorites,
such as pancakes, waffles or hashbrown casserole.
Since you’re serving brunch, you could also serve
some lunch type dishes, such as salads or deli trays
of sandwiches or chicken fingers, along with the
breakfast items. You can make things as fancy or as
simple as your time, budget and culinary skills will
allow. A brunch meal is a tasty way to start a
delightful baby shower.
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