Shared lunch at antenatal course - which dish to bring?

[RiskIt4Biscuit]

We have to bring a dish to a shared lunch at our antenatal course in a few days, and I cannot figure out what to bring.

Do you have any suggestions? Would you rather have something shop-bought or something homemade?

I was thinking of making mince pies as a second “dish” (because I’ve been craving them for a few days), but my recipe contains rum in both the mincemeat and the topping. Obviously it gets cooked, but would that be a problem?

People were asked if they had any allergies and similar, and no-one mentioned anything other than a few wanting vegetarian dishes.

I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed with a homemade mine pie! I personally wouldn’t add any rum though as some people are super paranoid about all alcohol in pregnancy. Can you replace it with something else? If you’re soaking the fruit in it you can substitute for something like orange juice which works well too?

My default thing to bring to picnics etc is homemade hummus and carrot sticks/celery/posh breadsticks. Looks like you’ve made lots of effort when you’ve actually just put a few ingredients in a food processor (google a recipe - there are loads of nice ones out there)...

Are you in a whatsapp group or similar? Might be worth coordinating so there is a good balance of sweet and savoury stuff.

Posh dips and nibbles in a good suggestion. Personally I would happily eat your mince pies but I'd leave out the rum as some people are ultra cautious. I took brownies and spinach/feta muffins to mine - easy to make in bulk and freeze well so I did an extra batch for my maternity leave at the same time ;-)

Thanks for your ideas!

We are not in a whatsapp group - I think our teacher is supposed to set one up, but she hasn't done it yet.

You are right about the mince pies and alcohol - maybe I'll just get some shop bought mincemeat to avoid the alcohol in it.
The topping only has a two tablespoons rum in (I wouldn't know what to replace it with), and that's divided between 12 normal-sized mince pies and then baked, so I'll make sure to tell people - if they don't want to eat it, then they don't have to.

I think I'll make a salad and/or a quiche.

You can do some lovely big salads with pomegranate or something in... then alongside the mince pies everyone will feel guilt free 😊 it’s also a veggie.