April Showers Bring Wedding Season

 It may be a day for jokes but April is a serious month. This is the time for those bridal showers that herald in May ,June and even July weddings. Get out the planners and start looking up recipes . A good shower requires a good menu.

The first step is considering the them of the wedding.If it's one that takes place on a farm or in a farm house then consider a farm house themed shower. you don;t have to go all farm to table but you can have dishes that reflect the land. Think of the crops that are grown on a traditional farm. One crop is beans. You can easily make a cannellini hummus  by using white cannellini beans instead of chickpeas It's the same as regular hummus with the addition of tahini and olive oil for a creamy smoothness. Best of all you can make large batches of it if you have a large number of guests. A fun dip is cowboy caviar which is always a crowd pleaser.It's mixing beans with corn. cubed avocados and tomatoes. Celery and parsley are also added for flavor.Onion and black eyed peas are also added for flavor. Veggie loaded quiches  make for a good main course for a farm themed luncheon.Try a variety of different ingredients from ham to broccoli. Another main dish is chicken pot pie galette. This is a savory take on the classic French dessert. Simple roasted Cornish hens are also a good mean meal too. As for dessert. just plain scratch cupcakes work . Think elegant simplicity with basic ingredients.

Many Spring and summer weddings are beach themed. This makes for a perfect reason to have a beach themed bridal shower. Of course seafood is on the menu. You can easily have shrimp in lettuce cups with a splash of shrimp sauce. Another idea, if you want to splurge is a lobster salad or lobster rolls. If you feel this may be too expensive, one you can check your local Lidl .The store is selling them for $14 a piece.Also check out deals at Wal-Mart and Sam's CLub where they range around $16 for one. A better substitute is crab which is versatile for a number of recipes.These are much cheaper being $8.99 for snow crab legs cluster. Salmon and scallops can also be used. Salmon is one of the most versatile fishes. You can easily make  large sheet pan dinners with it. Give it a Spring twist by cooking it with asparagus  and new potatoes. What about dessert at a beach themed shower? Think cupcakes with frosty blue icing decorated with colored shells and edible pearls. An ocean cake can also be made with the layers being tinted in blue and green. Carry the theme over to the frosting. and scatter candy shells on top for decoration.

It may be April Fools's Day but it's time to get serious about shower season. Start planning for yours.Pick a theme that works with the theme of the wedding.It's be a nice preview of what's to come.