I accidentally invited people over for brunch!

[arabella]

and I don't really cook!

help! what should I make? should I do a "theme" or just have random foods that don't really go with each other (but that I do know how to make)

all advice welcome!

[emjwisc]

i think you can get away with whatever you want to eat for brunch
and im sure you could go to a deli and take care of it all

I think if i were having brunch i'd want to cover sweet, salty and savory foods. also have some basics for picky eaters. some things id make:
\hashbrowns with onion, green and red peppers
\quiche
\fruit salad
\bagels
\donuts/cinnamonrolls/muffins
\hard rolls and ham
\bacon/sasuage

juice, bloody marys, mimmosas, etc

[Afeminista]

that is a brilliant menu - and all do-able! i am inspired to invite people over to my house for brunch!
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[arabella]

I love the idea of covering salty sweet and savory!
I wish I could make crepes... oh well.

I like your menu except I should have said - I'm vegetarian and will not prepare meat (including fish).

I'm not sure I can pull off quiche though. or hash browns.

I have the urge to do something with polenta. is there anything brunchy I can do with polenta?

[Fidget]

You could make a strata. It's just cubed bread, cheese, and veg with eggs poured over, and baked. They're fairly easy to make, and very yummy.

Here's a pretty good recipe.

You could do also baked garlic-cheese grits. Southern twist on polenta. Super easy, big crowd-pleaser.

Cheese grits

Edited because my links sucked.

[BlueJedi]

What about cooking vegetarian sausage? It tastes practically the same as the real thing, and isn't as greasy. Same with the faux bacon.
I'm omni and I like that better than the real stuff most of the time.

Pancakes or waffles are pretty easy, and most people like those.
Egg substitutes could work for scrambled eggs?
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[arabella]

[Morgan]

Quiche is super easy. We have "pie" in Sweden that is really similar.

Here's a recipe:
dough:
you don't have to roll it out, just press it into the pie form.
3 dl flour (you can do half whole wheat flour if you want)
½ teaspoon salt
3/4 dl olive oil
½ dl water

(but you have to figure it out in cups! Translating the recipe from Swedish is enough for lazy me to do right now!)
Then you bake the pie crust at 175 Celsius for 15 minutes.
Then put in the filling. You can use whatever you've got. My favorite is a mediteranean-type pie, with olives (black & green!), feta cheese, sundried tomatoes. But it works well with onions that you've sauteed a bit, tomatoes, brocolli, spinach, (you don't have to cook the brocolli or spinach first, although you can sautee the spinach with the onions and some garlic if you want!) or whatever else you've got that sounds good!
Then whisp a mixture of 3 eggs & 3 dl milk together with some spices, and pour over the filling until the pie is full-ish. Bake for about 30 minutes until pie is solid and has a nice color. You can mix some grated up cheese in with the eggs if you want, too.

Did it sound complicated?? It's really easy, and super good. Or you could always buy a pack of quiches at Costco! They have good mini quiches for parties. I think some of them have ham or some meat in them, though.
Otherwise, for brunch I really like eating waffles. Which are easy, if you've got a waffle maker. But kind of impossible if you don't, haha! & fresh fruit! That's all I need.
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[arabella]

uh, can I just buy dough for quiche? maybe I'll stick to this strata thing...

we do have a waffle maker! tho we've never used it... might be time to bust it out!

[racheli]

The only problem with a waffle maker is that if you have a small one (ours only makes two at a time) and you're making a lot, you'll probably end up spending all your time at the waffle maker making hot waffles! (They are not terribly quick, ours take about 5-7 minutes per batch) Pancakes might be better because you can make several at a time (especially if you have more than one frying pan), but I'm just really partial to pancakes. :)

I've made hash browns with frozen hash brown stuff you can buy in the supermarket! They turn out well - slightly more appetizing looking than when I've just shredded potatoes, which tend to turn out grayish. However, I think home fries (not sure if they're called that everywhere - the small potato cubes sauted with onions and peppers) are better than hash browns - heartier, and easier to eat with a fork. I think you can get those frozen, too - if not, they should be easy to make.

Mmmm...now I'm getting hungry!
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[WorkAndPlay]

[pinkie]

For a crowd this is what I do:

Get a few of those soft french loaves that they sell at the grocery store. Nothing fancy with a nice crust, just the soft ones... usually next to the roasted chickens. Anyway...

Cut the top off and hollow it out. I then layer in spinach, cheese,mushrooms, bacon, roasted peppers, whatever sounds good, and a layer or two of very loosely scrambled eggs. Put the bread back on top and wrap in foil.

I usually do all that the night before, and when I wake up the next morning I put it in a lowish overn, 275-300 maybe, for an hour or so. The eggs firm up, the cheese melts, the bread gets toasty.

To serve it I slice it on a diagnal. Make a big fruit salad, some mixed greens, maybe some home fries and you're good to go. It's nice because you're not spending all of your time in the kitchen on the morning of.
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[WorkAndPlay]

That french loaf sounds delicious! I'm already thinking of variations.

[scg]

if you don't cook much or don't have time to cook, i think the key to successful entertaining is to find as many you-put-it-together dishes for your guests as you can. the height of this idea is putting out bread and sandwich fixings, chips and drinks. the guests put stuff together on their own.
that is one end of the spectrum, however. for a brunch i would find someplace in the middle--make one/two things and then find a coordinating something that the guests can put together on their own. i, personally, because i hate "american" food, always tend towards more "ethnic" fare for anything i make. for a brunch i would definitely do a mexican inspired affair with:
chilaquiles
(a black bean/zucchini chiliquile recipe)
and another recipe i found:

Chilaquiles

* 4-6 corn tortillas
* 3 (or more) onions
* Oil for frying
* Water
* Several chopped tomatoes (or canned roma tomatoes)
* Chopped jalapeno or green chiles (can substitute chile powder and bell peppers)
* Soup stock
* Salt and pepper to taste

Cut tortillas into strips. Place in oven in a single layer at about 300 F until they are crisp. Fry onions in wok or sauté pan, in about 2 Tbs. Oil, stirring constantly. When they begin to brown, pour in half a cup of water, stir, and let it evaporate. Repeat twice. Add crisp tortillas, tomatoes, peppers, stock, salt and pepper. Pour in enough stock to completely moisten everything. Simmer until all stock is soaked up and tortillas are soft.

Variations:
Scramble eggs into mixture at this point.
Layer with shredded cheese and salsa and bake until it melts.
Substitute a can of tomatillos (with cilantro and chiles) for the tomatoes.


chilaquiles are so easy to make. they are sooo good and extremely variable. you can make one basic casserole and then offer your guests a variety of add ons--eggs (scrambled or non), cheese, sour cream, olives, scallions, salsas, guacamole, etc., that you have placed out on the table for their choosing. (i figure if your guests eat meat they'll eat cheese/eggs.) you can make one casserole of chilaquiles with tomato sauce and one with tomatilla sauce. or one plain and one black bean/zucchini. the key, though, is that the dish is customizable per the guests preferences. once they have customized the dish with add ons you really don't need to offer much more, you know? maybe a tossed salad and some alcohol--maybe some nice tortilla chips for snacking?

after chilaquiles popped into my brain i also thought of migas:
migas recipe
i adore migas. i make mine with scrambled tofu and vegan cheese. soooo goooood. and again, easily customizable by guests with add ons. migas might work for you, too.
--scg
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[knittykat]

Um, for quiche you don't need to make your own pie crust OR mess around with puff pastry; all you have to do is buy one of those frozen pie shells! They come two to a package so you can make two quiches :-)
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