Baby Shower Foods

[Jen]

Wow, it's good to be back! I haven't been posting much lately (mostly lurking), but I've missed seeing everyone's posts - especially the reviews!

Anyway, on to my question...we've had 3 pregnancies this summer at work (in a company of 45, that's a lot!) and two of them have been in my department. The first one, my closest coworker (she and I have worked side-by-side for five years) had her baby four weeks early (the nerve!!) so she missed her own baby shower! We're having a combined shower for the other two since their due dates are two weeks apart. Anyway, we're doing a potluck lunch for them and I would really like to bring something special, (a) because I REALLY like both of these women, and (b) because I have kind of a "cooking" reputation (of course you all know what I mean)!! I would like to bring something that would pass as a main dish, since it looks like not many people have signed up for those.

So, does anyone have any ideas for dishes with the following criteria: (1) doesn't need to be heated up, (2) isn't too expensive to make, and (3) is easy to serve outside? If it has some kind of clever "baby" tie-in, that would be great too, but I haven't been able to think of anything so far. Or maybe someone has an idea for kind of decorating up/garnishing my dish with a baby theme? Any ideas out there? (BTW, the shower is on Thursday so I have limited time - I've been waiting anxiously for the boards to go up!)

Sorry for this long post...I guess it's been too long and I'm out of practice! :)

[JulieM]

Jen, does the shower have a theme? I know you asked about a main dish, but there are others here that can answer that question better than me. However, I gave a baby shower for my step-daughter earlier this year that had a baby duck theme, and I made a kazillion large duck cookies that I iced and they were a big hit as party favors. People thought I'd bought them, which I took as a great compliment. I iced them in yellow, with orange beaks, purple eyes, and a blue ribbon around the neck. I put 4 each in clear plastic bags and tied them with blue ribbon. There was also a large bowl filled with them at the party. I know that doesn't answer your question but it's just an idea! :)

[tracey67]

Hi Jen!

I just gave a baby shower a few weeks ago. I made a bunch of stuff that could be served at room temp. Here's what we had (and what people thought of each):

Barbecue Roasted Salmon from CL (it's in the recipe finder)
people LOVE this dish! I've made it for a couple of parties and it always gets the most RAVES and there is never any left over (sad for me). It has a really unusual mix of ingredients that just come together so well. I make it the night before and serve it cold on the buffet. I've had it hot AND cold and I actually think it taste better cold.

Chicken & Green Bean Salad (my own recipe)
for this I roast some chicken breasts, let them cool and then shred the meat. I then add blanched green beans, olives, thinly sliced red onion and mix it with a lemon-dijon vinaigrette. Occasionally I'll also add halved cherry tomatoes and marinated artichokes. Serve over mesclun. People really like this dish, but if they eat fish, they rave more about the salmon.

Rice, Asparagus & Cucumber Salad from Bon Appetit (here's the recipe link from their site: http://www.epicurious.com/run/recipe/view?id=1788)
I always substitute orzo for the rice and usually increase the dressing amount by about half. This also gets lots of compliments and there's usually never any left.

also a simple platter of sliced tomatoes with basil leaves, fresh mozzarella and a little olive oil

If you're just looking for one dish, I would suggest the salmon as the best - it's REALLY yummy. Also, salmon is usually pretty cheap this time of year (about $4 a pound on sale) so you can buy a few pounds (if there are a lot of people) and still keep the cost under $15.

Hope this helps (and after my rambling, you don't have to feel bad about your "long" post) !!
:D :D

[Chefzhat]

This isn't a theme idea, but I hosted a baby shower for my niece and wowed everyone with homemade Angel Food Cakes, one plain and one Chocolate, with diced fruit toppings. Very classy, everyone was impressed that they were not made from a box and you CAN tell the difference in taste! This is not the easiest thing to do, but if you have a mixer they are a breeze to make. Have a great party!

[suziking]

Thanks tracey for the salad recipe link. it looks yummi - i added it to my list to try!!!

[tracey67]

no problem, suziking! Let me know how you like it.

[Susann]

How about a pasta salad with baby vegies- carrots, squash, pearl onions, even those cute little ears of corn that always remind me of Tom Hanks from the movie Big ?

[Jen]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! After all that, I checked the signup sheet today just before I left work, and tons more people had signed up to bring main dishes! So I decided to bring something different - I'm making the two-cheese-oregano bread from the March 2000 issue (the bread cooking class). I've made it twice before and it's really delicious...plus it's quite impressive for the amount of work it requires.

The only thing is, that the second time I made it, I guess I didn't squeeze all the air bubbles out, since I got an "explosion" out of the side of the bread! I called it a "tumor" - so hopefully I don't get tumor bread this time! (Although maybe I could call it "pregnant bread" so it would fit with the baby theme!):p

Thanks again everyone! Our group will be having a "mini-shower" for the girl from our department closer to her due date, so I'll print out this thread and refer back to it then.