How to Plan A Bridal Shower: Part 2

SUCCESS!!! WHEW. We had about 20 people show, a very respectable number but not so many that you want to run and hide under a draping table cloth, silently clutching a fistful of hors d'oeuvres. But seriously, it was great fun. I drew a lot from the hosting experience of the mother of the bride, including the importance of not stressing! If you're enjoying yourself, chances are your guests will as well.

Our menu was as follows:

• Christmas cookies and brownies
• Fruit and veggie trays
• Cucumber Cups Stuffed with Spicy Crab (courtesy of Domestic Fits)
• Onion and Goat Cheese Mini Pitas (2nd generation of my Onion and Fig Pizza, originally inspired by My Fancy Pantry)

After all this, we also baked a few pizzas from a local place that sells them uncooked. They were to die for, even though we may have overfed everybody! :) Let me talk about these Onion and Goat Cheese Mini Pitas, though. YUM.

Ironically enough, I left the fig butter from Thanksgiving at my parents house, which was kind of the whole point of this combination. I realized it at around 11:45 PM the night before the shower so I decided to improvise and skip that flavor all together. Honestly, I like this better than the pizza!!

Onion and Goat Cheese Mini Pitas

3 large sweet onions

1/2 package of Trader Joe's Chevre with Honey (goat cheese)

prosciutto, chopped into small pieces

pistachios, roasted and salted

Publix Mini Pitas

olive oil

salt

Slice and caramelize the onions in the olive oil and salt. This takes a a good 30-45 minutes so plan for it! (An awesome tutorial on how to do this on Serious Eats) Once those are nice and amber, place them in a mixing bowl and combine with the chevre, proscuitto and pistachios, proportions to taste. Slice your mini pitas in half and stuff with the mixture. They're good as in, they are amazing baked at 350 F until slightly crunchy and warm through. I have to admit, I was very pleased with these. They were gone in no time! (NOTE: there's something funky with the picture I took on my phone and I can't get to it... will make these again and take a real picture to post later!)

We didn't have to decorate since the mother of the bride had her Christmas stuff out (super handy) but I did put together:

• A Jar of Dates - invite guests to fill out a card with a date suggestion for the bride and groom to remind them to continue to "date" each other throughout their married life! Bonus points if you volunteer to babysit in the future. I hadn't planned on reading the cards aloud, but we did by popular demand and only had to censor one, haha.

• He Said/She Said on Facebook Cards - create a list of things posted or 'liked' by the couple on Facebook and see who can guess them correctly! I passed them out early and read the answers off as the official closer of the shower.