BLD in one meal

[Bazel]

I will be hosting an “Around the Clock” bridal shower and in keeping with the time theme I would like to have a menu that is reflective of breakfast, lunch and dinner. The bride and her mom are super picky eaters so I am having to balance their simple (boring) tastes with my need to flex my culinary muscle some – what’s the point of a party if you can’t get creative in the kitchen? But I seem to be struggling with how to tie it into an overall cohesive menu without having too much bread or cheese in the menu.

The other constraints I am working around are timing and kitchen appearance. The shower starts at 11:00am so I need to minimize day of prep and cooking. As well my kitchen is part of my great room and when guests arrive I like to have the kitchen pretty tidy and only need to do a minimal amount of prep when hosting a party where people will be mingling about as opposed to tucked around the corner in the dining room.

Thus far I am toying with the following ideas:

Breakfast:
Ham and gruyere crepes
Fresh fruit kabobs

Lunch:
??

Dinner:
Herb cheese crostini with filet and onion marmalade
Stuffed zucchini and mushrooms

Thanks for the ideas and creativity!

Bz

[luciaannek]

The food I associate most with lunch is the sandwich. I realize you're trying to stay away from too much bread and cheese, but you still have options. There is a lot of room to play here.

You could do a play on a traditional sandwich. Some sandwiches that come to mind that don't have cheese are the felafel sandwich (also less bready), the BLT, and the lobster roll.

Or you can just do some sort of tasty combo of your own.

Under-toast your sandwiches and keep them on a tray in a warm oven until ready to serve. Very tidy.

[Emme]

how about miniature crab cakes or salmon croquettes with salad and roasted potatoes

you could also do a bunch of tea sandwiches, open face if you like to reduce the bread... kind of bruschetta style egg salad, chicken, cucumber, and a couple of more exciting options to please you :)
a warm tomato soup might pair nicely with a cheese sandwich as well

or lettuce wraps with chicken, mushrooms, veggies etc if you do a basic (not too boring) sauce...

what are their boring tastes? and how many are you serving? best of luck!

[eclecticsynergy]

Agree about the strata for breakfast. Make-ahead convenience. Or along the same lines, this baked Peaches and Cream French Toast: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Peaches---Cream-French-Toast.

Was going to suggest quiche as a lunch dish, but sandwiches are more suggestive of lunch. Especially with soup. Maybe some picnic style sides- deviled eggs, coleslaw? Here's a good simple bacon-curry cole slaw: http://www.talkfood.com/forum/showthr...
Again, make-ahead sides to minimize prep on party day.

And maybe add salad to your dinner course. Or greens of some sort.

[Bazel]

Picky means no tomatoes and pretty much no sauce, dressing or condiments, really just meat and potato (or starch). I was skipping soup because we live in the desert and it could very well be in the 90’s still. I am just hoping it is cool “enough” to set up some tables outside. Don’t have a headcount yet, just got tapped to play host on Sunday, will have best guess this weekend. Had thought about doing little yogurt parfaits as a breakfast option. The crepes I was going to do ahead and then put them in a casserole and top them with a little béchamel and reheat before service. I love a good salad and was really wanting to put that on the menu .. and in the end I may just do that.

I guess in my head I am envisioning small plate type items so that people can have a nice variety. Maybe I just need to go low stress and plan a simple light lunch and call it good.

[Emme]

you could also do mini-meatloaf "muffins" with a mashed potato "frosting" to satisfy the meat and potatoes in them... no need to serve hot. and can pass an optional gravy...

maybe some variations of bruschetta?

or, sliced chicken roll-ups... flattened chicken breasts layered with cheese and fillings of (tolerate) choice, rolled up, crusted or not, baked and sliced

mini filled tacos? too pedestrian?

[mamachef]

Several luncheon salads would be in keeping: a Caesar, maybe a shrimp Louis or a Nicoise?

[Dcfoodblog]

How will you keep the crepes hot? A great make ahead breakfast dish would be a strata with breakfast sausage. You can have it prepped ahead of time and just bake it day-of.

[mamachef]

She could also do rolled crepes and put them in a baking dish and sauce, then bake. Not exactly the same, but delicious.

[chowser]

I was thinking salads for "lunch" too since there are so many other heavy foods. I like the idea of seafood for protein, either shrimp Louis, Nicoise or even this crab mango avocado:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

Something nice, cold, easy, do-ahead.

[nemo]

If you moved the crepes to lunch, would you consider a yogurt/granola/fruit parfait for breakfast?