Bridal Brunch & Mimosa Bar

Last night Alex and I attended one of my best friend’s wedding.  She was absolutely beautiful and we had a great time.  Karen (the bride) and the other bridesmaids stayed over my house Friday night before the big day.  For Saturday morning, I wanted to have a bridal brunch with a mimosa bar in her honor to start the day off right!  All of the girls loved it and I must say … the food was pretty amazing.

I just want to say that I believe creating a cute table is just as important as the food you are serving.  The bride’s colors were black, white, and teal … so I tried to use the things around my house with these colors.  Also, the little things, like serving food items in martini glasses or mason jars can add a cute touch!

One item I made was egg cups.  These were made in a muffin tin pan and super easy to do, also the ingredients can be changed to your liking.  I lined the cups with ham, put in some shredded cheddar cheese, cracked and egg on top, hit it with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and baked for about 12 minutes. The egg cups slide out easily, the ham becomes crisp, the cheese melted, and the egg yolk runny (or cooked to your liking).  When finished, I stopped them with sliced scallions for color and flavor!  For Christmas last year, my sister made a similar dish with pressed cinnamon swirl bread at the bottom of the pan … it was delicious with the sweet and salty flavors!  Keep in mind that different foods can be used … the cups can be stuffed with spinach, or other vegetables, different cheeses, topped with hollandaise sauce … whatever!  Regardless of what you use, they will be delicious.

I also had fresh strawberries out to dip in a nutella cream cheese dip.  I mixed a couple of tablespoons of nutella and cream cheese together and put it in a mason jar to serve.  This is the first time I have even bought nutella and probably the last – only because I love it too much. 

Mini brie and raspberry cups were one of the favorites! I have made these for parties before so this is not anything new, but they are always the first to go.  The funny thing is that they are the EASIEST to make!  All you need to do is buy phyllo cups, slicing brie, and preserves.  It is as simple as filling the cups with a cube of brie and topping it with a bit of raspberry preserves (or again – any other topping you would like).  I did leave some without the preserves as one of the beautiful bridesmaids happened to be allergic to berries – but it was just as delicious, just more savory.

The next item I made was pancake and sausage bites.  I have always been a lover of eating my breakfast as a salty sweet combo or a savory sweet combo.  Making pancake muffins with sausage crumbles satisfies both of those flavors, are easy to make, and taste amazing.  I happened to see these on pinterest after I made them a couple of times … the nice thing is they can be made in mini muffin tin or regular size… frozen for later meals …  or taken to morning tailgates.  All you have to do is brown up breakfast sausage out of the casing (I used turkey breakfast sausage), make a pancake batter (I used bisquick from the box), combine the two together, and pour into a greased muffin pan.  They baked for about 15 minutes total on 375 and came out perfect!  The outside had a little crisp, the center was moist, and the combo of sausage and pancake was perfect.  I served them with pure maple syrup to dip, which was placed in a martini glass.

The last food item I made was smoked salmon bites.  These are super healthy, easy to make, and so flavorful!  To make these, first you should slice some cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onion thinly.  Start with the cucumber on the bottom, with a thin layer of tomato on top, and one or two thin slivers of red onion on the tomato.  Next, place a thin layer of smoked salmon (bought it in the seafood section at the store) on top of the stacked vegetables.  I made a mixture of cream cheese, sour cream, and horseradish to dollop onto the smoked salmon bites.  To garnish and add a burst of flavor, I then topped the dish with capers!  My favorite part about this dish was the fish serving platter it was served on – this is my favorite piece in the kitchen. 

And lastly – the star of this brunch included the mimosa bar!  I made all of the girls champagne glasses for the wedding morning! What I mean by “made” is that I bought champagne glasses from the dollar store (50 cents each) and painted them so they were personalized to each girl and wedding colors.  I painted the base of the glasses with teal paint and painted each girls name in black.  For the bride, I painted a white wedding dress with a little black and white flower … also, a white tulle bow was placed around the glass stem because I think bows are the cutest stinking thing in the world.  We carried our glasses around all day to the salon and the wedding venue – it was perfect!! The mimosa bar had two types of champagne (one sweet and one dry), two different juices (orange and grapefruit), and three different garnishes (raspberries, pineapple, and strawberries).  Again – the fruit was placed in martini glasses just because it is adorable that way!

The day was so successful!  I wish the little newlyweds so much fun on their honeymoon to Jamaica and a long, happy, and healthy life together!  Congrats Karen and Lucas!!



The BRIDE!



On a side note – LUXE salon was so accommodating and fantastic! They had a private area for all of the girls with space to sit – they provided us water /coffee and champagne … Basically anything we wanted.  What was even more impressive was that they saw that I had brought champagne for the girls and they told us to save it for later as the graciously gave us theirs!  They made the girls look and feel like a million dollars!  If anyone needs a salon or spa in the Lancaster area – I HIGHLY recommend LUXE!  Here is access to their website http://www.luxelancaster.com/

Lastly, the wedding venue – The Yorktowne Hotel – was also amazing.  It is a historic hotel from the 1920’s with an amazing rooftop view for pictures.  The food was excellent, the cake was amazing, and the wedding planners were incredible and kept everything on time.  Again, I highly recommend this hotel for any event!!  http://www.yorktowne.com/index.php

After a busy and long day yesterday, Alex and I are relaxing and watching football.  I love that even after being married for over a year we still act as excited for each other as we did the day we were married (do not get me wrong, I know it is not super long – but it is still nice to see!) …  oh and GO STEELERS.  I have a “yinzer” stew currently cooking and can’t wait to share later.