december brunch ideas

We recently had a brunch for friends at the house... the thing that I most like about these things is the menu-planning*. Out come the cookbooks, but I also check my archives of saved recipes. Do you use "del.icio.us"? It's genius for bookmarking everything with nifty tags and labels, but I mostly use it for recipes. If I come across something that would be a great cookie or brunch or weeknight recipe, I save it and tag it as such.

So, in pulling together this menu, I basically checked out my "brunch" file and picked out some seasonal options for this time of year. Here's what we served...

Early Winter Brunch

=================

Egg Tartlets (or "Egg Flowers", see photo above--cute, no?), from Taste Buddies

I turned these into a vegetarian option, by trading out the bacon for sautéed chard and Fontina. Also, I obviously used puff pastry rather than short crust. Almost too cute to eat.

Canadian Bacon Strata, from Everyday Food

The un-veggie option. I upped the nutrition factor with whole-wheat, organic English muffins. I've made this recipe with regular muffins, and this worked just as well.

Winter Fruit Salad, from Smitten Kitchen

The antidote to the above :). Super tasty, wintry flavors. I decided to leave the pretty red, green and golden peels on the fruits, and added slivered almonds on top to garnish.

Cranberry Cream Scones, from Smitten Kitchen

with Orange Butter (blend 1 stick soft butter with 1 t. orange zest and 2 T. fresh orange juice. Add a tiny bit of salt (or use salted butter) and sugar (if needed) to taste).

If you ask me, scones are always part of brunch.

Oven-roasted Potato Wedges

Russets, cut into wedges, tossed with oil and spices, roasted at 400-degrees until crisp.

Toby made these delicious little slivers.

...all served with Mimosas (OJ & Grapefruit style), juice and lots of Peets coffee.

=======================

* The other thing I love about hosting brunch is it's over so early, so people can get on with their days... and we're left to enjoy a clean house full of flowers for the rest of the day. Yep, I'm officially old ;)