Baby Shower!

My friend Cassandra & I threw a shower for another good friend of ours last Saturday. I put together a menu the Tuesday before, yes I know a little last minute, but I was having party planner block.

Food:
Veggie Tray w/ ranch dip
Fruit Tray w/cream cheese dip
bacon wrapped jalapeno thingies
Italian white bean dip w/pita crisp
3 Tier Bruschetta: tomato, sweet red pepper w/feta & mushroom
Antipasto snacks
Baked Brie
Cake

Drinks:
Lemonade
Sprite
Diet Coke
White Wine Sangria

Cassandra will be the first to tell you she is not a master chef, so she was in charge of drinks, ordering the cake, the veggie tray & the fruit tray.
I had instilled the help of the hubs the day of the shower as we had a lot of work to do! I did a lot of it the Thursday before, as I knew I would not have time the day of. The shower was at 2pm and we had an hour drive to get there.

On Thursday, I made the white bean dip, this was Giada recipe and I happened to have everything in my house to make it, so it was a last minute "Oh I don't have enough food" addition. I made the pita crisps the day of the shower.

Also premade was the bruschetta. I did a regular tomato one, a mushroom one & a red pepper w/feta. I left this recipes at home so I will post them tomorrow!
We toasted up the bruschetta bread the day of.

The day of, we made up the bacon-wrapped jalapeno thingies. And yes, that is the real name. These went fast. I would have made more only that whole FDA thing with jalapenos made for slim pickings at the store.

I snagged the idea of the antipasto snacks from my friend Leslie. I didn't have time or the patience to look around for medium sized kabob sticks so I used toothpicks.
On one toothpick I put a green olive, pepperoni, basil leaf & fresh mozz, on the other I did a black olive, genoa salami, basil & fresh mozz. There were pretty darn good!

I also made a baked brie, a recipe I snagged from my friend Kim. I did not take pictures of this, as it was running a wee bit behind (wasn't ready until about 2:45) but it is soooo good! I only made one of these.

Baked Brie
Dried pecans, finely chopped
Dried fruit, finely chopped (I use craisins, peaches, etc.)
Brown sugar
Flour
2 large Alouette Brie wheels
Puff pastry if not adding details- Pepperidge Farm works the best
Defrost puff pastry to where it can be rolled, but is not soft.
Roll out into more of a circle, using flour underneath and on rolling pin.
Cut brie wheel down the center, so that they are still circles.
1 handful of nuts, 1 handful of fruit, 1 handful of brown sugar on top of first pastry.
Lay coated side of brie wheel down towards fruits/nuts, sticky side up.
1 handful of nuts, 1 handful of fruit, 1 handful of brown sugar.
Put stick side of brie facing down, coated side facing up.
Pull sides of pastry up like pleats; use water to smooth sides and help get rid of air bubbles.
Fold on top, using water to seal the pleats together.
Repeat with second brie.
Saran wrap each brie and wrap in tinfoil, can be frozen.
To cook:
Defrost for at least 5-6 hours before cooking.
375 degrees
Cook in bowl as brie can leak from the sides of the pastry.
20 minutes covered
Uncover and brush with a beaten egg, leave uncovered
Cook for another 20-25 minutes.
Let cool for at least 10 minutes.

Overall the shower went very well, we played gift bingo & a match the mother animal to its offspring (who knew an Ape's offspring is also called a baby).
Congratulations to Mom & Dad! We can not wait to meet him/her in September!