Morning Drinking...

But when I am feeling classy, I call it brunch. My mom's birthday was last week and we didn't have any plans. So, I asked her if she wanted to have a brunch at my house. I love brunch. Mainly, it's for the mimosa's, but the food doesn't hurt either.

For brunch I decided that it was critical to have a mimosa bar. It was awesome! I had 4 bottles of different champagne, 3 different juices (orange, cranberry, and grapefruit), and different fruits to put in your drink.  For the fruits we had strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I bought a pineapple, but i was too lazy to cut it. My favorite mimosa combo was grapefruit juice with a raspberry and blackberry. So good. It was a pretty setup and I was happy with how it turned out. I might have gone to Target the night before and purchased a few pitchers and a little bit of server ware.

I forgot to take pictures at the actual brunch (I was hungry!!!) but this is what I used for the mimosa setup.

For the menu....

Caramel French Toast Casserole. Oh yes. One of my best friends (Shout out Meghan Green :P) sent me this recipe maybe 3 years ago. After the first time I made it, it was an automatic hit with the entire family. We make it at every family get together when we are having brunch. It is the greatest thing ever and so so simple. You have to let it sit over night, but in my opinion that makes it easier, especially because I am usually running around like a mad person the morning of. It is so nice to just have to pop it in the oven. The recipe for this will be at the bottom of this blog.

Cheesy Hash browns. These were also easy and delicious. I found these on Pinterest and the best part is you make them in the crockpot! As soon as I woke up, I put everything in and then was able to walk away until it was time to eat. I doubled this recipe and it was very unnecessary. The only changes that I made were adding a cup or so of mozzarella and that was just because I didn't have enough cheddar when I doubled it. I love cheese, so the more the better, in my opinion. Also, I used cream of mushroom soup instead of chicken because we have a few vegetarians in the family.

Salted Caramel Pumpkin Muffins. Ok, we all now about my love of pumpkin and these actually changes my life (might be a slight exaggeration, but they were so amazing). I don't even know if I can call these muffins, they are more like cupcakes. Pumpkin makes everything so moist (I know some people hate this word... so sorry if you are one of them) and freaking delicious. They were very sweet so my kids loved them. I made these the night before so I wouldn't have to stress in the morning and I had an audience (my husband and his cousin) sitting in the kitchen fighting sleep so they could have before bed. They smelled as good as the tasted.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. This too, was good. I had some extra ripe banana's so I figured a banana bread would be a good option. This wasn't my favorite part of the menu, but I would make it again just for the kids to have before school. It was also extremely simple, so that is definitely a plus.

The morning of I made a quick fruit salad with my kids favorite fruits and some extras that just looked good. It has strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and grapes. I also found some seriously amazing little appetizers from Target. I love Archer Farms brand, everything is so good and they have so many good options. All you have to do is pop things in the oven and put them on a tray...my way to go. I found mini quiche with bacon and asparagus, mini quiche with vegetarian chorizo and peppers, a variety mini quiche (cheese, mushroom, and spinach) and my favorite find... mini baked bries with cranberry. They were all a hit. I also cooked up some bacon and sausage, my aunt brought over roasted asparagus with roasted potatoes that were they best. I will ask for the recipe and post it here when I find it. It was a very successful brunch and everyone left stuffed.

The question that I know you all want to know is how many mimosa's did I drink? Answer... I lost count. I think it was less than 10, but definitely more than 5.

One last thing. I posted last weekend about waffle recipes. This Saturday I made buttermilk waffles with a fresh strawberry sauce and whip cream. An oldie, but a goodie. I think these were may favorite so far. For the strawberry sauce all you do is core and cut a 16 oz container of strawberries and put them in saucepan with 2 tbsp of lemon juice and 1/4 cups of sugar. Heat then and stir over medium high heat for about 5 minutes and then turn down the heat and let simmer for abut 5 more.

Caramel French Toast Casserole.

Equipment needed:

Saucepan

13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish

Ingredients: 

1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar

¾ cup butter 

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons light corn syrup

10 (1 ¾ inch thick) slices French Bread

4 Large eggs, lightly beaten

2 ½ cups half and half

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ cup butter

Combine:

First 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat. Stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until mixture is bubbly. Poor syrup mixture evenly into a lightly greased 13 x 9 in baking dish. Arrange bread slices over syrup.

Combine: 

Eggs and next 3 ingredients; stir well. Gradually pour mixture over bread slices. Cover and chill at least over night.

Combine: 

3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon; stir well. Sprinkle evenly over soaked bread. Drizzle ¼ cup melted butter over bread. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Serve immediately. Yield: 10 servings