Life as we go it

The table settings I made for 'breakfast in bed'  at the dinner table...

If you're looking for ideas for a future dinner party or creating your very own food club/gourmet club with a group of friends, here's an idea for you -- a breakfast-in-bed theme! Most people I know love breakfast food. So I feel like you have a pretty fair shot at causing happiness when you serve breakfast for dinner :)

Matt and I hosted Gourmet Club at our house last month. The group, which consists of six couples, tries to meet 5-6 times a year. The couples take turns hosting at their homes. The host couple plans everything (the theme, menu, drinks and decor) and makes the main dish + provides all of the drinks. The rest of the couples bring the other courses (appetizer, salad, dessert, etc).

It's a huge undertaking, planning everything and pulling it off successfully, but it's lots of fun and totally worth it!

The last time we hosted was way back in October 2013 (I was pregnant with Chloe and couldn't drink the champagne....not that I remember that detail...). The theme we chose then was Julia Child recipes and you can see photos from it here.

The theme we chose this time was "Breakfast In Bed". I especially love breakfast food (french toast, bacon, donuts, cheesy eggs...I could go on and on) and Matt likes making breakfast. So we thought it'd be fun to incorporate breakfast into our gourmet dinner :)

The menu was a bit tough to decide on because we wanted to 1) make breakfast foods but still have it feel like 'dinner' 2) have six courses that melded well with a mixture or savory & sweet (we asked ourselves - what salad do we make for breakfast? do we need a seafood dish for breakfast?) 3) still have it feel 'gourmet' enough (how do we put a gourmet twist on pancakes?) and 4) make the mood/decor/ambience feel like we were eating true breakfast-in-bed style!

After perusing cookbooks and pinning a hundred things on Pinterest, we set the menu and sent the invitation out. We also required people to wear their pajamas, which added a touch of fun to it!

Here's the MENU we planned. I found all of these recipes online:

Course 1 - Appetizer - a twist on jelly donuts 

Lavendar Sugar & Blueberry Jam Donut Holes

Course 2 - Soup - a twist on the bloody mary 

Bloody Mary Gazpacho 

Course 3 - Salad - a twist on fruit and granola 

Avocado Citrus Crunch Salad with Oat Croutons & Buttermilk Drizzle 

Course 5 - Main Course - a twist on bacon, potatoes and french toast 

Spicy Southern Hashbrowns

Cinnamon Roll Pie

I didn't get many photos of the actual food because I was so busy serving drinks, making food and socializing, but I did get a few photos before the party started of the table that I decorated all by myself!

I wanted to give the table a 'breakfast in bed' feeling and also had to set up spots for TWELVE people to sit! Our dining room table only seats 8 comfortable, so we had to borrow tables from friends and create one large square table to accommodate everyone.

That's twelve sets of plates/bowls/dessert plates/etc and twelve settings of wine glasses/water glasses/etc. Twelve cloth napkins to fold, mini flower vases to fill and silverware sets. Luckily I have extra sets of silverware from Matt's grandma, extra glassware from our wedding yet and a mom that graciously let me borrow more plates!

We are HUGE fans of eating soup in the wintertime. It's fairly easy to make, it warms your stomach on a cold night, and it warms your soul.

We made this soup a couple of weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since. It's one of those recipes that makes my mouth water a little bit each time I think about it. 

In fact, we enjoyed it so much, I think we're going to make a big ol' pot of this for dinner at Liam's birthday party next month.

It has bacon in it. Need I say more?

I got this recipe off of a blog that I follow, so I need to give this lady props. The blog is The Gourmand Mom. Here's a link to the recipe: http://thegourmandmom.com. 

This soup is the perfect balance of salty, earthy, creamy, smoky goodness.

Here's a photo of the soup we made, and a 'Bremser' version of the recipe:

We made it in a dutch oven...

• 1 pound bacon, chopped
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained
• 2 (15-ounce) cans chicken broth (we used veggie broth and it turned out just fine)
• 1 bag (approximately 4 cups) baby spinach (we added extra spinach to make it healthier)
• Salt and pepper, to taste