Mother's Day Brunch

Brunch is one of my favorite meals to prepare because it is easy, quick, and sets the tone for a long lazy Sunday. Today's fare included Paula Deen's baked French toast, mushroom crust quiche, hash brown casserole, watermelon, shrimp cocktail, sausage patties, and buttermilk biscuits with gravy. Our beverage selections included coffee, orange juice, and bloody marys. "Feast" seems to be an apt description since there was too much food to even taste it all.

The highlight of the meal was definitely the baked French toast. This was easy and decadent. The bread soaks overnight in the fridge before getting topped with a pecan praline mixture and baked to golden perfection. It is like eating a cross between French toast and cinnamon rolls with a gooey, brown sugary top. The recipe is available on Foodnetwork.com, and I followed it closely with one exception. I added a lot more cinnamon and nutmeg than called for because I love the way the aroma of baking cinnamon fills the kitchen with warmth. One bite of this makes any ho-hum brunch a spectacular event.

Another crowd pleaser was the hash brown casserole. I mixed one bag of frozen shredded hash browns (defrosted in the fridge over night) with a can of cream of broccoli soup, 8 ounces sour cream, 8 ounces of "casserole" cheese (a blend of cheddar, jack, and mozzarella), and a good dose of pepper. This was turned into a large baking dish and went into the oven at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Mmm...hot, crusty on top, melty and tasty within.

Of course items like sausage biscuits and gravy are standard fare. I like the Pillsbury Grands biscuits, but the off brand are nearly as good and cost less than half the name brand price. In addition to this, you can never go wrong with perennial favorites like shrimp cocktail at brunch. I have to admit, though, several of us were disappointed in the mushroom crust quiche (which I pulled from Gooseberrypatch.com). This dish combined sautéed chopped mushrooms with saltine cracker crumbs to make the base of a quiche. This "crust" was the best part of the whole thing. After pressing the mushrooms into a pie plate, some cooked green onions and shredded cheese are added before filling the plate with a combination of cottage cheese (I substituted ricotta) and eggs. The pie goes into the oven for 35 minutes or until it is set in the middle. The flavor was alright, but the texture seemed out of place as a quiche. This would be much better stirred into pasta, topped with parmesan, and baked or stuffed into pasta shells and baked with fresh tomatoes. (I'm considering using the leftovers to make a pasta dish tomorrow.) Another solution might be to increase the eggs and decrease the cottage (ricotta) cheese to make it more like a standard quiche texture.

In addition to how good (almost) everything tasted, this was a pretty quick and easy meal. Three of the entrees were casseroles, so they were simply a matter of assembling a few ingredients and turning them into a baking pan. The biscuits were from the dairy case because I learned long ago that my homemade versions are never as light, fluffy, and tasty as store bought. In addition, sausage is a quick fix which naturally leads to country gravy. I actually started preparations around 10 a.m. with eating commencing at 11:30. However, most of this was baking time and did not require my presence in the kitchen at all. To top it off, there are plenty of leftovers for breakfast tomorrow which means I won't be cooking again!

The icing on my cupcake of satisfaction with Mother's Day brunch is that the guys cleaned it all up in the end. There's nothing left for me to do but take a nap!