Categories: party

Couples’ Bridal Shower!

Just hosted a couples’ shower for my daughter’s good friends (Kirstin and David) this summer, and it was held my house by the pool. She decided to go with a “luau” theme, and she enlisted my help to decorate and organize the event. So fun to organize and execute a LUAU!

Here’s what we went with menu wise:

MENU:

APPETIZERS:

SMOKEY BLACK BEAN DIP

HAWAIIAN SALSA AND CHIPS

MAINS:

SLOW COOKER KALUA PORK SLIDERS

HAWAIIAN MEATBALLS

SIDES:

MACARONI SALAD

THE BIG GREEN SALAD

PINA COLADA DIP WITH FRUIT

DESSERT:

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN BITES

SIGNATURE DRINK:

K&D ALOHA PUNCH

SMOKY BLACK BEAN DIP
(Adapted from Oprah.com)

This dip may not be THE most attractive dip you’ll ever eat, but the combination of flavors is amazing!

1 1/2 TBSP canola oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions , including green tops (I was low on these so used some dried chives as well)
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
2 cans (15 ounces) black beans , drained and rinsed
1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
2 tsp canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 – 1 small jalapeno chili , seeds and ribs removed, minced
1/2 cup and 1 TBSP minced cilantro

In a medium sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, coriander, and cumin.

Sauté, stirring frequently, until onions are softened, about 2 minutes. Add beans and 1/3 cup water.

Simmer until water evaporates, 5 to 7 minutes. Cool 5 minutes.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process bean mixture until coarsely mashed.

Add lime juice, chipotle chilies, and salt. Process until smooth. Add sour cream, jalapeño, and 1/2 cup cilantro. Pulse just until cilantro is incorporated.

Adjust seasoning, then transfer to a bowl.

Garnish with remaining cilantro, some shredded monterey jack cheese (if desired) and serve immediately with chips. Salsa would be a nice accompaniment.

DELISH!

HAWAIIAN SALSA

(Adapted from Emeril)

catebogue

1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 ripe avocado, peeled, seeded, and diced
1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple
1/4 cup minced red onions
1/4 cup minced red bell peppers
3 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro
1 TBSP fresh lime juice
2 tsp minced jalapeno
1 tsp minced garlic
Pinch salt

Combine the mango, avocado, pineapple, onions, bell peppers, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno, garlic, and salt in a bowl and gently fold to combine. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Let sit for 30 minutes before serving for the flavors to blend.

SLOW COOKER KALUA PORK SLIDERS FOR A CROWD

(Adapted from alohadreams.com)

To serve 30:
This recipe is very easy to make with little effort. It turns out perfect every time, and the smell while it’s cooking all day is devine! It’s seriously a delicious pulled pork!

A 9 pound raw pork butt roast cooked down to 85 ounces after the fat cap is removed for serving. 28 servings of 3 ounces each.

1 (9 pound) pork shoulder or Boston butt roast (I used 2 – 7 1/2 oz butts)
2 TBSP liquid smoke Hickory or Mesquite flavor
2 TBSP red Hawaiian sea salt
2 tsp kosher salt

Pierce roast all over with a knife, then sprinkle the sea salt evenly all over the roast. Place the roast in the slow cooker, fat side UP. Then pour liquid smoke over roast.

Cook, covered, on LOW for 10 – 12 hours.

When roast is fall-apart fork tender, remove it from the crock pot.

Gently remove most of the fat cap with tongs and discard.
Gently remove roast from pot to a large bowl and shred with a fork (or bear claws).

Season with 1 teaspoon kosher salt.Pour the juices from the slow cooker through a strainer into a fat separator. Add ½ cup of the separated juice back in.

You can either just return the roast to the slow cooker to serve immediately. Then place a spoonful of pulled pork on an Hawaiian roll with a bit of your favorite BBQ sauce and you set!

MAKE AHEAD NOTE: Pulled pork will keep up to 3 days, bagged and refrigerated or up to 2 months, frozen in a heavy duty freezer bag.
When ready to serve, pulled pork can be returned to slow cooker and held on LOW setting for up to 2 hours.

For fewer:

1 (4 – 6 pound) pork shoulder or Boston butt roast
1 tablespoon liquid smoke Hickory or Mesquite flavor
1 tablespoon red Hawaiian sea salt
1 teaspoon kosher salt (OR 1/2 teaspoon table salt)Pierce roast all over with a knife, then sprinkle the sea salt evenly all over the roast. Place the roast in the slow cooker, fat side UP. Then pour liquid smoke over roast.
Cook, covered, on LOW for 7- 8 hours.
When roast is fall-apart fork tender, gently remove most of the fat cap with tongs and discard.Gently remove roast from pot to a large bowl and shred with a fork. Season with 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
Pour the juices from the slow cooker through a strainer into a fat separator. Add ½ cup of the separated juice back in. You can either just return the roast to the slow cooker to serve immediately.

HAWAIIAN LUAU MEATBALLS
(Adapted from Chef Savvy)

chewoutloud

These meatballs are a perfect blend of savory, sweet, and tangy. I doubled the recipe for this party.

2 lbs lean ground beef
½ cup panko breadcrumbs
2 large eggs
½ cup onion, minced
1 tsp ground ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
~ 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 can (20.5 ounces) pineapple chunks, reserve juice
¾ cup light brown sugar
3 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
3 TBSP vinegar
½ TBSP water
2 TBSP cornstarch

catebogue

In a large bowl combine beef, breadcrumbs, eggs, onion, ginger and garlic. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper.

Form into 24-40 meatballs (my count came to 35).

Heat a large skillet with about 2 TBSP olive oil. Add the meatballs and brown on all sides, about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, to a medium saucepan add in the reserved pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce and vinegar to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.

In a small bowl whisk together water and cornstarch.

Slow whisk in the cornstarch mixture to sauce. Whisk constantly until thickened. Season with salt to taste. Grease the slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place meatballs in the slow cooker and pour the sauce over the meatballs. Add in the pineapple chunks.

Cook on low for 2 hours. Serve warm.

AHULANI’S MACARONI SALAD

(Adapted from alohadreams.com)

For the macaroni
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
1/2 tablespoon salt

For the Dressing
1 1/2 cups Hellman’s mayonnaise
1/2 small onion diced
8 ounces imitation crab chopped
1 cup frozen peas cooked
1 stalk celery chopped
2 large hard boiled eggs chopped
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
1 green onion chopped

In a very large pot bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta. Cook until soft, about 13 – 15 minutes (you don’t want al dente pasta for this). Drain pasta and set aside.

Meanwhile in a large bowl combine onions, crab, peas, celery, eggs, salt and pepper. Mix in the mayonnaise.

Gently stir in the cooked and drained macaroni.

***MAKE AHEAD NOTE:
Can, and should, be made at least 4 hours in advance and preferably up to 1 day for the flavors to marry. Cover and refrigerate.

Quantities for 30 people
For the macaroni
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 TBSP salt
For the Dressing
3 cups Hellman’s mayonnaise
1 small onion, diced
1 pound imitation crab , chopped
1 (10 ounce) package frozen peas , cooked
2 stalks celery , chopped
4 hard boiled eggs , chopped
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 green onions chopped

In a very large pot bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta. Cook until soft, about 13 – 15 minutes (you don’t want it al dente).

Drain pasta and return to pot.

In the meantime, in a large bowl combine onions, crab, peas, celery, eggs, salt and pepper. Mix in the mayonnaise.
Gently stir in the cooked and drained macaroni. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

THE BIG GREEN SALAD

Serves 20-30

1 (2 pound) bag lettuce

2 (10.5 ounces) cartons cherry tomatoes (I just cut up 6 plum tomatoes)

1 bell pepper – red, cut in 1/2 inch strips

1 bell pepper – yellow, cut in 1/2 inch strips

1 red onion – diced

20 ounces salad dressing

PINA COLADA FRUIT DIP
(Adapted from cooks.com)

My friend Wendy gave me this recipe. It’s so perfect for a Hawaiian themed event, and it’s delish! I’m doubling the recipe for this party.

8 oz. can crushed pineapple in its own juice, (undrained)
3 1/2 oz. pkg. instant coconut pudding mix
3/4 cup milk 1/2 cup sour cream

In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients.

Refrigerate several hours or overnight to blend flavors. Serve with fresh fruit of your choice. Makes 2 1/2 cups.

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN BITES

(Adapted from Rachel Ray)

This recipe sounded so good to me – bite sized items go fast at parties, so I knew that would be a success, and I thought they’d be adorable atop a platter. Recipe makes 24 mini bites, so I’ll triple or maybe quadruple the recipe. Easy peasy although you need to allow time to cut small squares out of parchment paper (see below).

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 maraschino cherries, quartered
1/3 cup diced pineapple, patted dry
1 16 1/2 ounce box yellow cake mix, prepared into batter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Cut out small parchment rounds and place in the cups of two 12-cup mini-muffin tins, layering 1/2 tsp. butter, 1/2 tsp. brown sugar, a cherry piece, a single layer of pineapple (about 5 pieces) and about 1 tbsp. cake batter (cups should be about two-thirds full; save remaining cake batter for another use).

Bake until golden-brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cupcakes, about 12 minutes. Immediately run a knife around the edge of each cake and invert to cool on a baking sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

K&D ALOHA PUNCH

1/2 cup light rum

1/2 cup dark rum

3/4 cup orange juice

3/4 cup pineapple juice

3/4 cup cranberry juice

2 TBSP grenadine

Mix all ingredients together. Add ice and shake or stir. Top with an orange slice to serve (can also top off with a bit of club soda if you like it a bit carbonated).

Ice, Orange slices,Club soda (optional)

ARTS & CRAFTS!

We thought it would be fun to have something on the front door so that guests immediately get in the mood for an ALOHA! Saw this image from Kelly Elko while exploring and thought it would be perfect:

Buy wreath form and paper cocktail umbrellas (I bought box of 144 Amazon here)

Stick paper cocktail umbrellas into wreath form

Just have at it! Shove the parasols into the form in any way you like – it looks great no matter what.

Voila! Instant Aloha wreath:

That’s it! Adorable! I’ll add some tulle and call it a day!

I’ll have several tables set up for food, drinks and party favors, and I’ve got white tablecloths to go on them, but I thought it would be fun to also throw some Hawaiian print fabric on top of the white. Found this site that had very reasonably priced fabric:

https://hawaiifabricmart.com/product-category/hawaiian-print-fabric/

I think this one is my favorite:

And you can go a bit crazy with the Hawaiian theme, so we honed it to be sort of “Lilly Pulitzer” inspired – meaning pinks and greens. No brown tiki masks here.

Centerpieces:

Pineapples carved out with simple flowers.

Found the very inexpensive flowers at Kroger – THE perfect color combo!

And I bought some cute parasols to go in the drinks at Amazon for $6.91 as well as paper pineapple straws (also from Amazon).

We’ll also have a pink inflatable flamingo in the pool and grass skirts to surround all the tables. I also will have a dozen tiki torches lit around the backyard area.

We ordered personalized M&Ms with their name and image:

Caroline made these fans of the couple to use not only to cool yourself in the heat of August, but also, these will be used in the game that she’s got planned:

Should be a very fun couples’ shower! More pics from the party will be forthcoming!SaveSaveSaveSave

And how cute were these customizable invitations from Zazzle? I think the back was almost as cute as the front!

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SaveSaveAnd a friend of mine (Abby) makes the most amazing cakes and cookies, and I got her to make these adorable cookies to use as party favors:

Rain is looming in the forecast so we may have to move the party partly indoors. Food, decor and the happy couple pics to follow! A shower for the shower…SaveSave

THE TIKI BAR!

The “hosts” just prior to guests arriving:

Our BRIDE:

Great friends for over 10 years!

Representing North Gwinnett High School:SaveSave

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The Groom and his Bride:

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