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New Orleans Bridesmaids Luncheon Cooking Class

Hey everyone, I hope you had a lovely first weekend of spring! Today I’m finally sharing the details from my bridesmaids luncheon cooking class at Simplee Gourmet in New Orleans. If you know me, then you know I like all of my parties to include games or activities. It’s the best way to get your friends and family members to interact with each other instead of just standing around talking. At my bridal shower I incorporated a flower crown making class so I thought it would be fun to turn my bridesmaids luncheon into a cooking class. Simple Gourmet was so kind to host us and they chose the perfect chefs to teach us how to whip up some New Orleans inspired dishes like shrimp and grits, lump crabmeat salad and crawfish and mirliton soup. Don’t worry I’ll be sharing all of the recipes to these mouthwatering dishes in today’s blog post especially the Crepes Fitzgerald that we made for dessert.

See more details on the MacKenzie-Childs Sweetbriar Collection here—> Bridal Brunch Table Setting With MacKenzie-Childs

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 I ordered my bridesmaids luncheon invitations and menus from Minted.com and they even came with thank you cards to match. It took me forever to decide though because offer so many pretty gold foil designs.

As for bridesmaids gifts, I picked out quite a few different goodies for both my New Orleans bridesmaids and my Cabo bridesmaids. I gifted my new Orleans bridesmaids personalized Mark & Graham compact mirrors, rose gold Loren Hope jewelry, rose gold Yosi Samra flats, Ashley Sievert bronzer and contour brush and some floral appliqué clutch from my exclusive Gigi New York Wedding collection that hasn’t even launched yet to use on the day of the wedding. See a sneak peek below.

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Outfit: Lace Midi Dress | Nude Ankle Strap Heels | Sequin Floral Hoop Earrings | Gigi New York Clutch (will be available soon)

You may recognize the dinnerware and flatware from my at-home bridal brunch and that is because Simplee Gourmet also carries MacKenzie-Childs tabletop and kitchen collections. I’m in love with the new Sweetbriar Collection so be sure to check it out and add it to your registry if you’re a bride-to-be. See more details on the collection here—> Bridal Brunch Table Setting With MacKenzie-Childs

Simplee Gourmet had the most delicious pimento cheese board set out for us as we all arrived and it was the most divine pimento cheese dip I’ve ever tasted. Lucky for you, I’ve included the recipe below!

Jennifer’s Bridal Luncheon Cooking Class Recipes

Pimento Cheese Dip

Ingredients:
1 1⁄2 C white cheddar cheese, grated 1 C sharp cheddar cheese, grated
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1⁄2 C mayo
1 t red wine vinegar
4 oz. pimentos
1⁄2 t onion powder
1⁄2 t garlic powder
1⁄2 t paprika
1⁄4 t hot sauce

Directions:

  1. Grate cheese and add to bowl.
  2. Add cream cheese, mayo, vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and hot sauce.
  3. Using a hand mixer, blend all ingredients
  4. Fold in pimentos

Serve

Jumbo Lump Crab Salad

Ingredients:
Jumbo lump crab meat
1⁄2 bunch chopped green onions, whites and light greens only 1⁄4 C mayo
3 t jalapeño juice
1 t Tabasco
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Old bay to taste
3 T capers

Directions:

  1. Blot excess crab juice with paper towel once in bowl
  2. Add all ingredients to bowl
  3. Fold in carefully, making sure not to break up crab meat

Serve over lettuce or with crackers

Shrimp + Cheese Grits

Ingredients: Grits:

2 C stone ground cheese grits 8 C water
1 bag shredded Gouda
1 bag shredded cheddar

1⁄2 stick butter, cubed
1⁄2 c heavy whipping cream
S+P
Shrimp:
8 strips bacon, chopped
1 1⁄2 # shrimp, peeled + deveined
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t Tony’s
4 green onions, chopped whites + light greens

Directions:

  1. In a stock pot, bring water to a boil. Slowly stir in grits, reduce heat, and cover. Cook for20 mins or until thickened. Stir in cheese, butter, + cream. Set aside to keep warm.

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and reserve oil in pan. Use the oil in the pan to sauté shrimp. Once the shrimp are pink, turn off heat and serve over grits. Top with green onions.

Crawfish + Mirliton Soup

Ingredients:
2 T oo
2 T butter
1 C finely chopped onions
1⁄2 C finely chopped green bell pepper 1⁄2 C finely chopped celery

1⁄3 C finely chopped Tasso 1 T minced garlic
1⁄4 C flour
2 T tomato paste

6 C veg stock 1 bay leaf
1⁄2 t esssence 1 1⁄2 t salt

1 t liquid crab boil
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 C peeled + seeded + diced mirlitons 2 C chopped tomatoes
1 t chopped fresh oregano
1 # crawfish tails
1 T fresh basil, chopped

1 T fresh parsley, chopped 1⁄4 C heavy cream

Directions:

  1. Heat a 4qt stock pot over med high heat
  2. Add oo and butter to pot
  3. Once hot, add onions, bell peppers, celery, + Tasso, cook until very soft
  4. Add garlic and continue cooking
  5. After 1 minute, sprinkle flour over veggies and cook 1-2 mins
  6. Add tomato paste, stock, bay leaf, essence, salt, crab boil, + cayenne
  7. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer
  8. Allow to simmer 5 minutes then add mirlitons and cook until tender, 20 mins
  9. Add tomatoes + oregano cook for 5 mins
  10. Add crawfish, basil, parsley, + heavy cream and stir
  11. Cook about 5 more minutes
  12. Make sure seasoning is as desired

Serve

Crepes Fitzgerald

Ingredients: Crepe mix Cream cheese Powdered sugar Strawberries

25 T Grand marnier 10 oz Sugar
10 oz Butter

Directions:

  1. Mix crepe mix.
  2. Make crepes using a crepe pan.
  3. Spread cream cheese and powdered sugar inside crepes and fold.
  4. In a small saucepan heat butter + sugar, add strawberries and cook for about 3 mins.Add grand marnier.
  5. Pour sauce over crepes and serve.

If you’re looking to do something fun with your bridesmaids, family or group of friends, I highly recommend booking a cooking class at Simplee Gourmet. They did such a wonderful job planning the event from top to bottom and catering to my every request to make it a great experience for my bridesmaids.

Decorative Wedding Cookies by The Little Oven 

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Not only did I host my bridesmaids luncheon at Simplee Gourmet, but Blake and I also registered for some of our wedding gifts there as well. Keep your eyes out for my upcoming post featuring all of the items we registered for. Simplee Gourmet carries the most beautiful selection of dinnerware, flatware and serving pieces. They also carry the top brands for wine glasses, cutlery and cooking pots and pans.

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A huge thank you to the owner of Simplee Gourmet for working with me to make this an an incredible experience for my friends and also to the amazing chefs,  Alexandra Waguespack and Amelia Rosso who managed to teach us how to cook!

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Spring Bridal Shower Invitations

Hi everyone, today I’m sharing the spring bridal shower invitations that I created with Minted for the shower I’m hosting for my best friend this weekend. I even threw in the personalized thank you cards for the bride because they were just too pretty to pass up! Just to give you a little back story, I’ve only been wanting to be a maid of honor for my whole life so I’m sure you can imagine how I excited I am being that this is my first time. I even used to randomly text my friends like a freak and double check that I’d still be their maid of honor if they got married tomorrow because I’m ridiculous like that. I live to plan things though. It’s my specialty so of course it makes sense as to why I love planning parties, events, trips and staged photo shoots for my blog! I love all of it from the themed decorations and flower arrangements to the delicious food and extravagant cake.

spring-bridal-shower

However, the one thing that is not my speciality is designing invitations. I’m so jealous of all graphic design majors! If I could go back again that is most definitely what I would do. Thankfully, Minted.com makes it super easy to create the most beautiful invitations just by entering in your event information and then they take care of the printing, the envelopes and even the thank you cards! Once they arrived, which was about a week and a half after I ordered them, all I had to do was simply address and stamp them. Super easy, right? Minted also offers a variety of other invitation designs such as birthdays parties, graduations, holiday cards, birth announcements, save the dates and even wedding invitations. Those are just a few examples to name, but make sure to check out their site to see more of whey they offer.

floral-invitations

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I hope the shower turns out as beautifully as the invitations did, but I have a good feeling it will considering all of the other 10 bridesmaids have been so amazing in doing their part. Stay tuned on snapchat this weekend for behind the scenes action of us setting up for the shower! I’ll be sure to share all of our party ideas on the blog for all you other maid of honors! I will be also be sharing bachelorette party ideas next month so be sure to check that out too!

bridal-shower-ideas

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