I look forward to Mother’s Day every year! Yes, I love celebrating my mom, but I allllllso love getting to host a girly lunch (cue all the fruit recipes!) and get away with it! We hosted a Mother’s Day lunch this past week, and it really made for a perfect summery gathering, so I wanted to share more! Today I’ll be giving you some inspiration for your next lunch or party.
Let’s talk environment! I got these Anthropologie dishes recently and love them! When it comes to setting a table, I usually start with dishes in mind and then create the mood to go around it. Don’t feel pressure to make everything match – I think mixing different patterns and colors really adds layers to the tablescape. Side note – the second thing I think about is how it will match with the food (who does that?), but we were going with some pinks and yellows in dinner so I went with that!
We have a very dark dining table and I wanted more of an airy look, so I added a cream tablecloth and then added a white & yellow runner. I opted for dried flowers instead of fresh ones (I made a fresh flower arrangement as a gift – more coming on that in the near future!). I’ve found that so many times, I work on making a big table centerpiece only to move it off the table during dinner so everyone can see each other! I found these little cute apothecary bottles at Hobby Lobby, and they’re great for showing off single blooms or little sprigs. To finish it off, I stacked dishes on top of these dainty gold placemats from Target, and went with napkins draped in between the plates to tie all the colors together.
Now for the best part – fooooood. There’s a restaurant that we actually take a road trip to visit, and one of my favorite things on the menu is a Pear & Brie pizza. Because, brie. And pizza. Okay. Anyway, I put a little twist on it and recreated it for this lunch! AND, no matter what toppings you use, I’m gonna give you the secret to the very best (and easiest) pizza crust!
Pear and Brie Pizza
yield: 2 pizzas
the crust:
2 cans of crescent roll dough (get ready for the lightest, yummiest crust)
the toppings:
1 small can of pear slices (or 2 fresh, ripe pears)
8oz Brie
2-3 Figs
Honey (optional) – drizzle it on top once it’s done cooking if you want an extra pop of sweet!
directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the crescent dough onto a pizza stone or nonstick pan. Arrange all the sliced ingredients (brie first) over the pizza and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Spinach & Strawberry Salad
Spinach leaves
Strawberries – sliced
Walnuts
Goat Cheese
Brown Sugar
Raspberry Blush Vinegar (dressing)
There isn’t a way to do this salad wrong – I just toss all the ingredients together and then put a tiny sprinkle of brown sugar before adding raspberry vinegar. Yum!
Summertime is just around the corner, and the flowers are cheeeeaaap at Trader Joes, so get on out there and throw a little party! And don’t forget to tell me how much you LOVE that pizza crust. You’re welcome. I mean, my pleasure!
