DIY

How to Set Up a DIY Mimosa Bar

These tips for setting up your own DIY mimosa bar make it easy for the hostess to relax as guests help themselves at your weekend brunch, wedding, bridal shower, or other reason to celebrate.

Unlike cocktail party martinis or game-day beer busts, mimosa brunches aren’t intended to get anyone hammered or be the stepping stone to the dance floor and get the party started. Instead, they’re for those of us who appreciate a barely buzzed, lazy day, bubbly champagne sipper.

I recently hosted my niece’s bridal shower and like any good hostess, my first goal of the party was to keep things easy on myself. I set up a DIY bagel brunch bar with a few salads and desserts so the guests could help themselves.

For drinks, I thought abut setting up another on of my famous DIY Bloody Mary Bars, but feeling the need for something more refined, I made a DIY mimosa bar with all the makings for the perfect mimosa recipe instead.

Stocked with plenty of chilled and bubbly sparkling wine, fresh juices, and fun fruits to add to the champagne flutes, a DIY mimosa bar for baby showers, Mother’s Day, Easter, or just about any excuse for a holiday is just the right recipe for adding a little fizz to the day’s festivity.continue to the recipe… about How to Set Up a DIY Mimosa Bar

The Best DIY Foil Packet Dinners

Cooking an entire dinner in a simple foil packet is every cook’s dream. Everyone can choose their own ingredients, you can cook in the oven or on the grill, and there’s minimal clean-up afterward.

This post is brought to you by Reynolds Wrap.

If I had a genie in a bottle, these would be my 3 wishes.

1: I wish I could just win the lottery/win the cumulative jackpot at Wheel of Fortune in Las Vegas/discover a pirate’s treasure trove of precious gems, jewels and coins/ so that I never had to work again. I would be the BEST philanthropist EVER.

2: I wish that I could eat whatever I wanted, all day every day or whenever the whim struck, and never gain weight.

3: I wish that I never had to do dishes again.

Sadly, #1 and #2 are highly unlikely to happen. But #3…now that is somewhere in my sights thanks to foil packet dinners.

The thing is, everyone thinks of foil dinners (or as we used to so un-polictically-correctly call them, hobo dinners) as the meal you prepare when you go camping. And for good reason. All you need is some aluminum foil, a sampling of ingredients and some heat.

But in my opinion, there’s no reason to wait to break out the camp fire because foil dinners are so incredibly easy to make at home and EVERYONE ends up loving them. People love the idea of harkening back to memories of camping and eating these out in the wild. It’s almost romantic that way.

And even more, they’re one of my favorite things to make for a DIY dinner party. Everyone gets to choose what they want, and prepare the packet dinners themselves. And even better for the hostess, clean-up is a breeze and that makes everyone happy.

continue to the recipe… about The Best DIY Foil Packet Dinners

Sweet and Savory Crepes

Today, homemade c-r-e-p-e-s spell b-r-u-n-c-h.

While most any other time of the year I lean more toward get togethers via BBQs and dinner parties, sometime between Easter and Mother’s Day my cravings for celebrating with brunch hit an all-time high.

I love my go-to brunch favorites Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole and Banana and Chocolate Chip Baked French Toast because they’re just so dang easy to have done beforehand.

But I think it’s a lot more fun when all hands are on deck, so breakfast and brunch become a little more DIY.

continue to the recipe… about Sweet and Savory Crepes