Weekend brunch is so over-rated. The line ups alone are enough to kill me. Seriously, I cannot even bear it. I see it all the time – huge lines outside popular brunch spots, folks just waiting around, probably hangry, to get a table. I’ve been guilty of the same thing, waiting sometimes up to an hour during prime brunch time to sit down with friends over coffee and eggs, etc. And all the while, I always thought to myself, damn, with the same money and time I spent waiting for brunch, I could have just MADE brunch. In my PJs.

Now feeding a crowd can be daunting – I totally get that. I hosted a birthday brunch for my sister this past weekend and I made a lot of different things. I had some hearty eaters coming, 11 adults and 2 kidlets in total, and these included several food allergies/intolerances including nuts, gluten, and sesame. To accommodate, I made a huge spread of sweet and savory dishes so everyone could enjoy a bit of something.

The menu included (clockwise from top left): Potato crusted quiche, chocolate chip waffles, mixed berries, croissant BLTs with brie, jalapeno cheddar cornbread waffles, melon kebabs, bacon, and berry stuffed french toast.

For me, I really had to plan ahead and I tried to be as organized as possible, especially to prepare all this in my tiny kitchen. Here’s how it went down:

Week Before: I mapped out my menu, figured out my colour theme (black, white, polka dots), and created a shopping list by store and item (i.e. Costco – bacon, cheese,  etc.) and shopped for the groceries and decor during the week after work. I also set the table and got all the cutlery, cups, decor set up a couple of days before. I made the waffles in the evenings and reheated them during the brunch which saved a lot of time.

These are the cupcakes I baked for dessert. I used nut-free/gluten-free chocolate cake mix from Kinnikinnick and everyone enjoyed them, especially my niece and nephew who ended up bouncing off the walls afterward.

Night Before: I baked the cupcakes and frosted them the night before and scooped out the melons for the kebabs. I also made the potato crusted quiche and ordered take out for dinner. D was a huge help and his puttering around after me and washing up made the whole process a lot easier.

Morning of Brunch: I made the french toast filling and pan-fried them before keeping them warm on a baking sheet in the oven at 170 degrees for about 45 minutes. I reheated waffles, put out fruit, assembled sandwiches, and made a lot of bacon.

Whenever I’ve hosted a party, no matter how organized I tried to be, I generally had a bit of a meltdown about 20 minutes before guests arrived. Not this type of meltdown, more like this. This time it was over forgetting to get/make coffee. Oh well, it worked out in the end with my cousin doing a Tim Horton’s run on her way over. Despite my best efforts to be organized, invariably something always goes a little awry where I go a little mental, but thankfully, I tend to calm down once everyone starts to eat. D has also become very skilled at snapping me out of my crazy.

Brunch can be made a lot easier too by baking the bacon in the oven. You can make tons of it, and it comes out perfectly every time with almost no cleanup. Menu-wise, your guests would probably be happy with a cup of coffee, boatloads of bacon and some simple eggs and toast. I know I would. But probably not as happy as these people.