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Summer season Cookbook Dinner Membership Social gathering Menu – summer season entertaining is formally right here! And the most recent banquet pattern for summer season 2025? Women’ evening Cookbook Membership dinners!
Beneath, I’m sharing a whole summer season banquet menu that includes favourite recipes from all 4 HBH cookbooks. Assume seasonal drinks, crowd-pleasing appetizers, vibrant mains, summery sides, and naturally… dessert! It’s the final word potluck-style menu — excellent for internet hosting a relaxed, flavorful evening with buddies.
I’m so excited to share our first-ever entertaining publish! Certainly one of my objectives this summer season is to create extra long-format content material round gatherings and menus — and so a lot of you will have requested for precisely this.
One pattern I’ve been seeing throughout social these days is Cookbook Membership dinner events — and I adore it. I’ve been tagged in so many posts the place you’re cooking from all 4 HBH cookbooks. It’s such a enjoyable idea, and I’ve cherished being part of your cozy nights with buddies.
A few weeks in the past, my cousin Maggie hosted her personal cookbook membership dinner — they went with a Mexican theme utilizing solely HBH recipes. It was so enjoyable and completely impressed me.
So, I pulled collectively my very own Cookbook Membership banquet menu — and at this time, I get to share it with you! I had the perfect time creating and capturing this story, and I hope it conjures up your individual summer season get-together.
The Particulars
Location: The Colony Resort, Palm Seaside, Florida
The Cookbook: all 4 HBH Cookbooks, The HBH Cookbook, Tremendous Easy, Each Day, and Fast and Cozy
The Social gathering: a summer season potluck dinner with buddies
The Menu
Social gathering Prep
To start out planning your occasion, first select the cookbook — or cookbooks — you need to characteristic, then construct the menu. The concept is straightforward: every visitor brings a dish from one of many books. This helps take the stress and workload off you, the host.
For at this time’s occasion, we’re utilizing recipes from all 4 of my cookbooks: The Half Baked Harvest Cookbook, Tremendous Easy, Each Day, and Fast and Cozy.. You may both handpick the recipes your self and assign them to your friends, or let every visitor select one or two dishes they’d wish to deliver.
I like to recommend assigning everybody a course — appetizers, mains, salads, or desserts — to ensure all the things’s coated. Maintain the drinks for your self because the host, so you possibly can greet friends with one thing enjoyable to sip after they arrive.
For our occasion, right here’s what we served:
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Drinks: Creamy Coconut Mojito and Pomegranate Thyme Spritz
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Appetizers & Sides: Whipped Goat Cheese Dip, Summer season Melon Salad, Grilled Corn and Basil Salad, Dad’s Pasta Salad
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Mains: Parmesan Pizza, Sheet Pan Mahi Mahi with Herby Potatoes
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Desserts: Summer season Blueberry Peach Cobbler and Strawberry Rye Shortcakes
Set The Desk
Subsequent up: the desk! That is your likelihood to set the scene and convey all the things collectively.
For our dinner, I created two separate tables — one for displaying all of the dishes potluck-style, and one other for everybody to sit down down and benefit from the meal collectively.
Having a delegated meals desk retains issues organized and makes it simple for friends to assist themselves, whereas the eating desk units the temper for a relaxed, shared expertise.
cocktails glasses
barware
the tablescape
Cocktail Hour First
Begin issues off with cocktails! Because the host, I like to recommend getting ready one or two signature drinks forward of time. It’s additionally a good suggestion to have bottles of each white and purple wine readily available, plus just a few non-alcoholic choices as nicely.
If a few of your friends love a mocktail, think about making at the very least one in every of your cocktails with out alcohol — or provide a model that may simply be served each methods.
For our occasion, I made a pitcher of Creamy Coconut Mojitos from Fast and Cozy, and a refreshing Pomegranate Spritz from Tremendous Easy.
Tip: Select cocktails that may be made prematurely and served pitcher-style. Similar to with any occasion, you don’t need to be caught enjoying bartender all evening — prep forward so you possibly can benefit from the enjoyable too.
Dinner Subsequent
Now for the primary occasion — dinner!
Put together your buffet desk and lay out all of the dishes so friends might help themselves and pattern a little bit little bit of all the things. It retains issues informal, interactive, and stress-free.
Tip: Add a enjoyable private contact by labeling every dish together with the identify of the visitor who made it. On the finish of the evening, invite everybody to share their favourite dish or recipe — it’s an effective way to spark dialog and have a good time everybody’s contributions!
Recipes:
Onto Dessert
Dessert is at all times essential — it’s the candy end to the evening!
As soon as dinner winds down, clear the desk and invite everybody to assist. Then set out the desserts, or you probably have the area, create a devoted dessert desk. Even a easy folding desk dressed up with a reasonably tablecloth works fantastically.
For our occasion, we made particular person berry cobblers from Fast and Cozy and strawberry shortcakes from Each Day — each had been huge hits!
Tip: You’ll want to embody at the very least one single-serve dessert. We went with mini cobblers, however cookies, cupcakes, or mini pies all work nicely. Plus, they double as a cute take-home deal with for friends!
tableclothes
Recipes:
Social gathering Favors!
Social gathering favors are completely elective, however I feel they’re such a candy, private contact — and a enjoyable approach to finish the evening!
To suit the vibe of the night, Asher and I discovered the cutest jelly Hermès-lookalike baggage at a boutique on Price Avenue. They had been the proper measurement to fill with a handful of my favourite Goop merchandise — very on theme, particularly since we shot this story within the Goop Villa!
Tip: Bake an additional batch of cookies, or choose up one thing candy from the shop. Package deal it up in a cute bag or field, and ship friends house with a deal with. I like ending the evening by giving everybody one thing candy to take with them — it’s a small however considerate gesture.
Low cost: Goop is providing 15% off all Goop Magnificence merchandise to our HBH neighborhood with the code TIEGHAN15. Take pleasure in!
the mini jelly baggage
the Goop merchandise
Our Location Particulars
And lastly, an enormous shoutout to The Colony Resort in Palm Seaside! We shot this story of their Goop Villa and across the lodge grounds — it was the proper setting for a summer season banquet.
After all, you possibly can completely host a celebration like this at house. However for me, it was actually particular to return to a spot that holds so many recollections with my Nonnie — the one who impressed my love for entertaining, cooking, and making a heat, welcoming house for everybody who walks via the door.
Nonnie and I used to come back to Palm Seaside on a regular basis. We’d spend the day buying, then cease by The Colony for lunch or dinner. This was my first time truly staying on the lodge, they usually had been probably the most gracious hosts. I stayed within the lovely Goop Villa, which was simply as cute as you’d think about — and it was the proper house base for me, Asher, and my sister. Sure, as you could have observed in just a few images, Asher joined me for this shoot! One of many perks of making one thing only for our web site — I get to form the shoot my manner. Having her there made this journey much more particular.
We shot the story within the kitchen and front room of the Goop Villa, lounged with cocktails by the lodge pool, and wandered via the plush gardens. We grabbed breakfast every morning from their cute espresso store and had a ladies’ dinner at Swifty’s, the lodge’s iconic restaurant. It really was the proper spot for this story — I simply want Nonnie might have been there with us.
A giant thanks!
To The Colony Resort! I can’t wait to return — Asher and I didn’t have time for the spa this journey, but it surely’s positively on our listing for subsequent time. Oh, and don’t miss their reward store — it’s so cute.
That’s all for this banquet! This was such a enjoyable one to create. I’d love to listen to your ideas — would you wish to see extra tales like this? Let me know the way I could make them much more useful, and what particulars you’d like to see included in future entertaining posts.
Subsequent up: the 4th of July!
Shoot Producer/Planner: Ashleigh Amoroso & I
Images: Kristen Kilpatrick
