Galentine’s Brunch

To celebrate my friends, I hosted a fun & festive Galentine’s Brunch complete with lots of delicious food (that is of course, real ingredient focused and dietary inclusive) and vibrant, girly decor. The room was filled with pinks and reds and lots of laughs. It was so fun!

Because so much of the brunch (from both the recipes to the decor) could be prepared in advance, I found this lineup to be very doable! Below I’m sharing my full menu, the links to everything I used as well as my timeline to keep things as organized and as stress free as possible.

Click on the following links to watch the event come to life:

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three

THE TIMELINE

Hosting can seem intimidating or stressful, but I make sure to plan for them in a way that creates the most low stress hosting experience possible so I can actually enjoy the event alongside my guests. Here is a rough outline of how I prepare in the days leading up to my gatherings!

Month-Week Prior:

• Draft a menu and grocery list, inclusive of dietary needs and taste preferences of your guests
• Take inventory of plates, linens & serve ware to ensure you’re covered based on the amount of guests and types of dishes/drinks
• Order any supplies or ingredients that need to be purchased online

Week Of:

• Main grocery shop of everything that can be purchased in advance
• Make menus as a fun (and completely optional) touch!

Day Before:

• Gather and organize all serve ware so it’s ready to be set out
• Prep any recipes that can be made in advance
• Decorate and set the table
• Make wine ice mold

Morning Of:

• Secondary grocery shop as soon as the store opens to get any final needs and so you have as much time as possible (or opt to go the night before)
• As soon as you get home, measure and prep all ingredients that can be prepared in advance and set aside into stations based on each dish
• Arrange florals

1-2 Hours Before:

• Finish any dishes that need cooked
• Set the table while the dishes finish cooking

During:

• Enjoy!

Bonus Tips:

• Have food made in advance that you can eat while prepping because you probably won’t want to be cooking when prepping multiple dishes for your party, plus it saves time!
• Run and empty your dishwasher before the party so you can load everything instead of hand washing and taking up counter space. The easier the cleanup the better!

THE DECOR

• Doilies Banner – I taped together a bunch of heart doilies and hung them from the ceiling
• Heart Balloons – since I don’t have a helium tank, I taped the balloons to the ceiling and added a ribbon to each for the full affect
• Table Cloth
• Red Napkins
• White Plates
• Pink Plates
• Heart Flutes
• Juice Glasses
• Crystal Candle Sticks – thrifted most of mine, but there are lots of options online too!
• Candle Sticks
• Wine Ice Mold
• Red Ribbon
• Pink Ribbon
• Claw Clips & Rhinestones
• Lips Latte – I dusted freeze dried strawberry powder with this powdered sugar duster over these Valentine’s stencils, so fun!

THE MENU

Having a custom menus is totally optional but adds such a nice touch! Sometimes I will have handwritten or custom designed menus at each place setting, but lately I’ve been making and hanging a large scale menu that I write on fabric and hang in my dining room which has been so fun!

Below is everything that I included on the menu for my Galentine’s celebration. All of the recipes are customizable and in turn dietary inclusive, all while being so delicious that even those without allergies will love them. They are also super easy to prepare, so you won’t be stressed putting these together!

Galentine’s Brunch Menu:

Wine (Pinot Noir, Rose & Sparkling Rose) – I kept it simple here to cut out a step of preparing cocktails. To make it look and feel special, I created a floral ice mold (click here to watch me make it!) and it was so fun! Click here for the mold I used.

Cinnamon Rolls with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting – I use this mix (it’s my favorite!) and added freeze dried strawberry powder to the frosting recipe on the bag!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits – I had regular Greek yogurt as well as my favorite dairy free yogurt so that everyone could enjoy these, dairy free or not. I used layers of the yogurt, fresh diced strawberries and my homemade Brownie Granola (click here for the recipe!). I also topped the parfaits with a homemade chocolate covered strawberry.

Candied Bacon Hearts – to make these, I coated the bacon in a drizzle of maple syrup and 1/4 cup of coconut sugar. Once it was evenly spread onto each piece, I formed hearts out of the bacon strips and placed each on a baking rack on top of a foil lined backing pan. I baked them at 350 degrees F and took them out once they were cooked completely!

Heart Hash Browns – I used my Garlic & Rosemary Roasted Potatoes recipe, but cut the potatoes into flat, thin slices and used a cookie cutter to make them into heart shapes! If you make these, save the potato scraps to make these mashed potatoes the following day!

Whipped Ricotta & Strawberry Crostini – to make these, I tweaked my typical Whipped Ricotta recipe and used 8 oz ricotta (I use Kite Hill for dairy free), 2 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp honey and a sprinkle of salt. I piped the ricotta onto gluten free baguette slices and topped with diced strawberries and honey!

Soft Scrambled Eggs – whipped these up right before my friends arrived! I cooked them in dairy free butter and topped with salt, pepper and chives.

Strawberry/Cherry Chip Affogato – I had a pint of dairy free strawberry ice cream and a pint of cherry chip ice cream that we poured shots of espresso over for dessert!

A NOTE ON CALORIE COUNT, NUTRITIONAL INFO AND SERVING SIZES

Due to my past experiences, I do not include most of the above information within my recipes as it is unsafe for me to do so personally. While I try to share a rough estimate when it comes to the serving size, please note that it is very subjective as we all have different hunger levels both from person to person and even from meal to meal.

If any of the above information is important to you, I understand! We are all different and have various goals and needs. If you’d like, you are welcome to calculate the information needed based on the ingredients you use when making one of my recipes.

I hope you understand! This comes from a place of love and protection both for myself and others like me. If you ever have any questions, send me an Instagram message for the quickest response time! Thank you for being here!

FOLLOW ALONG

Be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok to see all of the behind the scenes of recipe creation as well as how to videos to watch them come to life! You can also head over to my Pinterest to save all of my recipes in one spot that you plan whip up in the future.

PS – If you make any of these recipes or follow any of my hosting ideas, I would be so grateful if you left a review so I can hear what you think! I also am happy to answer any questions you may have on here, but if you want a quicker response, be sure to shoot me a message on Instagram. Thank you so much and talk soon!