Grazing Table-Brunch

Like the rest of the world, I am currently obsessed with any meal I can put on a wooden board. I love to make a charcuterie board for friends and family, or lay out a make-your-own fajita style dinner on a big board to make dinner time more fun. When it came time to plan my sister’s baby shower, I immediately knew I wanted to incorporate this fun and convenient way of displaying and eating. Enter- the grazing table!

Think of a grazing table as a gigantic charcuterie board, complete with meats, cheeses, fruits, and more! You can arrange your foods all across the entire table for guests to chose from. We opted for a brunch-themed grazing table, letting guests chose from both breakfast and lunch options!

THE SET UP

While any table will work. I suggest a long, rectangular table for it’s ease of access to guests. A round table can get tricky when food is piled in the middle and out of your guests reach. I purchased a roll of brown craft paper to place down the middle of the table for the food to lie on. Use an assortment of wooden boards, glass/plastic trays, and bowls to highlight special foods.

Items like books, boxes, and cake plates can be used to give height to your grazing table! Place books under craft paper or a decorative table runner to elevate certain dishes and provide interest to the eye.

To keep certain items chilled, such as meats, I used small ice packs under trays. You can also chill or freeze metal trays and wrap them in craft paper, or use ice in bowls to keep condiments nice and cold.

Lastly, make inexpensive food markers with cardstock, tape, and toothpicks! Write the name of each food you have on small pieces of cardstock and tape them to a toothpick. Stick the toothpick in your foods so guests know exactly what eat food is!

THE FOOD

To incorporate the brunch theme, we started with a variety of bagels. Guests had choices of several cream cheeses, as well as lunch meats and cheeses to make breakfast or lunch sandwiches. Everyone had fun picking out breakfast and/or lunch items to fill their plate! Below is a complete list of items used for our brunch table:

-Plain, blueberry, and cinnamon bagels
-Plain, cinnamon brown sugar, and vegetable cream cheese
-Chicken, ham, turkey, and pepperoni deli meats
-Variety of sliced cheeses
-Variety of crackers
-Cheese balls (Hawaiian was a hit!)
-Lettuce and tomato
-Mayo and mustard
-Sausage Balls
-Chex Mix
-Grapes, strawberries, and blueberries
-Assorted vegetables with ranch dip
-Chips
-Pimento Cheese Dip
-Spinach Dip
-Potato Salad

LAY IT ALL OUT

Now is the time to get creative! Once you have your table set up and your foods prepared, start laying it all out in a fun but logical order! Think about what you have on your table and the sequence in which your guests will be assembling their plates.

I began by placing items that had designated homes, such as bagels (first on the table), potato salad (big bowl) or deli meats (cold tray). Then, I fanned crackers out on the craft paper around large trays of cheese and placed the various dips nearby for easy access. Fruit and veggies filled in the gaps to make the table come alive with color! Last, prepacked chips lined the back of the table.

ENJOY

Any table can be a grazing table in my opinion! Give your guests something to rave over- they don’t have to know how simple it was! Grazing tables give you the oppurnuity to be creative and your guests the chance to make their plate exactly how they want it. Other grazing table ideas could be taco night, pasta bar, or finger foods! Whatever you choose, I just know you and everyone will love it!

RECIEPES

VEGGIE CREAM CHEESE
24 oz cream cheese
5 green onions
1 red bell pepper
2 stalks celery
2 tbsp chives
1 tsp dill
Garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste

Place veggies into a food processor until minced. Mix into cream cheese with seasonings.

CINNAMON BROWN SUGAR CREAM CHEESE

I used this delicious recipe from An Edible Mosaic! I quadrupled the recipe for this batch.

https://www.anediblemosaic.com/brown-sugar-cinnamon-sweet-cream-cheese-dip/