Wednesday, September 21, 2011

 CB's Wedding Shower
A delightful couple in my church is getting married next month and to celebrate with the church membership, we hosted a shower in our fellowship hall.
Invitations were made to continue the theme of the party, turquoise and kiwi green with a little brown and ivory. Honestly, this had the largest number of guests that our church has ever seen for a Sunday afternoon shower. I was pleased that the couple received so many gifts and hopefully found out just how much they are loved!
Several hostesses worked to provide the menu items. We used burlap to dress the tables and I stenciled burlap panels to hang as a back drop for the gift table.
The Menu:
Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tarts
A Crudite Platter with Harris Vegetable Dip
Fresh Fruilt Selection
Brie En Crute (One with Pepper Jelly and the other Strawberry Preserves)
Sausage Stuffed Cherry Peppers
Tarragon and Celery Chicken Salad Tassies
Cranberry and Almond Chicken Salad and Crackers
Mini Cupcakes of Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Icing and  Poundcake and Chocolate Icing
Pecan Brittle Toffee
To Drink: Peach Lemonade and Regular Lemonade served in Mason Jars






Thursday, September 8, 2011

Goat Cheese Toasts with Marsala Mushroom Sauce
The picture is horrible, but the taste of this delicious treat is too good to ignore. Thank you to my brother Jon for introducing this recipe from Susan Spicer to me. The version in the picture is an adaptation of the original recipe seen here:
I urge you to make these- they are so delicious that you will find yourself eating every one and realizing that it is meant to be served as an appetizer not a main course.

Greystone Wedding Reception- As Caterer not the Wedding Planner
I was hired to cater a wedding reception for 100 guests on a Sunday afternoon. Something I thought would require just a little more work than the many parties and showers I have held for 50 guests. My sweet and talented friend Kristen agreed to work with me and we were ready to begin. After quoting a price for a menu for a 3:00 reception- in the client's words: "you know just punch and tea sandwiches", the reception time was moved to 5:00 and we were given the option of using the same items or changing the menu to our liking.


Since the budget had been set and would not be adjusted, we decided to serve a fresh fruit selection of pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, cantaloupe, and honeydew. We kept the spinach dip and crackers and a large cheese board made up of Cheddar and pepper jack slices, cubes of Colby, wheels of brie, goat cheese rolled in herbs, with nuts, grapes, and crackers on the side. We served a vegetable and bow tie pasta salad, sliced Dijon-rosemary pork tenderloin served with rolls, cranberry-almond chicken salad tassies as well as an original flavored chicken salad tassie. The punch was a mango- pineapple sherbet punch. And what southern reception would not include sweet tea, so we served the tea and water out of large crystal beverage canisters. The wedding colors were black, ivory and red, and the client asked if I could do the flowers for the table as well, so to keep to their budget I used red gladiolas in tall vases for the center of the table and low cylinder vases on the sides crammed full of red roses. I wrapped all the vases with a wide black satin ribbon and all the food cards were made out of a black and ivory damask and solid red card stock.
Several gracious guests came to the kitchen to let us know how much they enjoyed the food. The client was most appreciative and complimentary and asked if she could pass our info along to several people who asked for my contact information. I think that is a good sign.