Host an AIP Meal to Impress Your Friends

Recently, I had the honor of being on the Phoenix Helix Podcast to share my tips on saving time in the kitchen. If you haven't already, take a listen to get some great tips to cut down your time in the kitchen, without sacrificing flavor and balance in your meals. On the podcast, I shared one of my favorite batch cook meal ideas, make a lot of soup. I freeze each soup in multiple pint size jars and  then pull them out to make the base of a meal. The soup is topped with either leftover or also batch cooked protein options, veggies, and fun toppings. 

Hostess with the Mostess

When I first agreed to host an AIP meal with a few of my blogger friends, I didn't think too much about the menu. However, as the date grew closer, I started braining storming ideas. The meal needed to not be too much work to put together since I have a 6 month old needing my full attention, but it also needed to be something that all could enjoy. As I stared hopelessly into my fridge and freezer for inspiration, the idea emerged.

Make Your Own Soup

It sort of steamed from the build your own baked potato bar with an AIP twist. I love to build my own soups and be creative, and this meal allowed everyone to create your own Instagram worthy soup. Plus, everyone can pick and choose what goes into their meal. What was even better, was that over half the menu was already cooked and in my freezer. BONUS! 

I love to cook to impress, and when I didn’t have a little one to look after, this was not too difficult to achieve. Now, I am all about make the most of my time in the kitchen. Batch cooking has become a key to my survival. I was able to cook all the soup and protein options well in advance of this brunch and freeze them for later. Some things I made as a meal for my husband and I, and then froze the leftover. Other itemss I cooked up during a long batch cook day and froze for later.

This meal worked for a great fall/winter option, but as a nice summer alternative, you could do a build your own salad bar. 

Decorate

Again, keeping it super simple, I used what I already had in the house. Since it is winter squash season here, aka my favorite time of the year, I used some squash I had as part of a center piece along with some fresh picked apples and mandarins posing as mini pumpkins. To make it feel like a fancy restaurant style meal, I used a simple Microsoft Word template to make a menu for each person. If you have nice hand writing, you could even write out the menu yourself to make it even more personal.

Building the menu

When building the menu, I tried to stick with recipes I knew were simple, but when put together, make a delicious meal. I was also looking at what I already had in my house to cook with or items already prepared that go well together. When building your own menu, take stock of your kitchen and go from there. No need to go out and buy all new, fancy things, just keep it simple. Here was our menu for the brunch as an example of what you can do next time to impress your friends.

SOUP BASE

Butternut Squash, Carrot and Ginger Soup

Cauliflower Leek Soup

Creamy Mushroom Soup

Golden Beets and Caramelized Leeks Soup

(from The Paleo AIP Instant Pot Cookbook)

PROTEIN

Greek Inspired Bison Meatballs

Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Maple Bacon Balsamic Pulled Pork

(from The Paleo AIP Instant Pot Cookbook)

TOPPINGS

Avocado

Coconut Cream

Green Onions

Lemon Wedges

Parsley

Watermelon Radish

Rory from The Paleo Pi, Jaime from Gutsy By Nature, Angie from Autoimmune Paleo and yours truly.