Thursday, May 9, 2019

I don’t know if this is a “thought” per se, other than me thinking “what am I thinking by doing this?”.  Ha!  Maybe you are hosting a brunch for Mother’s Day on Sunday?  In my experience, everyone loves a special breakfast, so I thought I would share what I did this past Tuesday morning for a group of 36 students.  It ended up feeding many more, though.  I had extras for some other students and a few colleagues, as well.  We have a two week period right now of students taking 3-4 hour long exams to try to earn college credit.  My exam was at 8 a.m. and the students had to report at 7:45, so I planned a 7-7:30 breakfast. 

I was so busy that I didn’t get great individual food photos, but here goes…  Also, if you are still in need of gift ideas, check my post here for a few!  

When doing something big like this, do your shopping a couple of days in advance if you can.  I did grocery shopping on Sunday so that all I had to focus on Monday was the cooking.  I had to have it ready for 7:00 a.m. so all I wanted to do on Tuesday morning was reheat and transport food.  I shopped for the table wear about a week before so that helped, too.

Monday after school I set up the tables with tablecloths and laid out the placards stating what each food was.  I laid out the plates, forks, and napkins, and spread mints down the middle of the table.  I also had the ketchup and syrup ready to go.  In addition, I had the platters for donuts set out.  

Here was my menu:

salami and cheese cubes

fruit salad (recipe below)

donut holes

glazed donuts

tater tots (cooked from frozen on Tuesday morning) with ketchup

Betty Crocker coffee cake mix (2 boxes) – this is so good.  I also love Krusteaz brand, but Betty is cheaper!

Mexican egg casserole

Normal egg casserole

French toast casserole with syrup

*Note:  I left out meat/pork products except for the salami because I have few vegetarians and a few who avoid these for religious reasons.  You can add diced ham to the egg casseroles.  

**My other advice is to not cook everything.  Do a mix of store bought and home prepared or you will drive yourself crazy.  I spent about 4 hours on Monday afternoon cooking.  

Fruit Salad (The kids commented that it reminded them of Chick Fil A’s)

I cut up fresh strawberries (2 lb for only 1.99), added one container of fresh blueberries, added two full sized cans of mandarin oranges drained, sprinkled 2 TBSP of vanilla instant pudding powder and used 1/2 cup lime juice.  This turns a fruit salad to magic.  I can’t even describe how yummy this was.  

Egg Casserole:  

The key is to use the same number of slices of bread as you do eggs

For a 13 x 9 I used 6 eggs and 6 slices of white buttermilk bread

Crack your eggs in a bowl and break up the yolks, add 6 slices of bread torn or cut into pieces, add a few shakes of salt and pepper or cajun seasoning, add about a cup of milk, add green chiles if desired, add ham chunks if desired, add about 2 cups of any type of shredded cheese.  Pour into Pam sprayed pan.  

Bake at 350 for 30 – 45 minutes until golden on top

French Toast Casserole:  Does best when you prepare the night before and bake next morning.  I prepared it and let everything soak together for about 3 hours before baking.

5 eggs in bowl (using fork break the yolks), a cup of milk, a splash of vanilla (maybe a TBSP.), and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

In a saucepan, melt a stick of butter with a cup of brown sugar.

Break up about 10 pieces of bread.  I used a loaf of Texas toast.  

Pour the butter/brown sugar mixture over the bread pieces in a 13 x 9.  Then, pour the bowl of egg, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon on top.  Stir around with a spoon and refrigerate.  If you think it looks too dry, you can pour more milk.  You can also sprinkle more cinnamon at this point.

The next morning, bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes.  Cut into squares and top with syrup.  This tastes a bit like a bread pudding, too and could easily be a dessert food!  

Bon apetit or as we say in Spanish class, Buen provecho!

Amy