Skip the Restaurant--The Perfect Mother's Day Brunch at Home

Unwilling to beg for reservations that would accommodate a large family, fight with crowds, and shell out big bucks to celebrate Mother's Day at a restaurant, I began the tradition of hosting a buffet style Mother's Day Brunch in my home years ago. Here are the recipes I use each year, all easy to make and easy to personalize, to help you create a menu that honors your own special ladies.

For the main course of my brunch I begin with a Breakfast Casserole. Is Mom a meat-lover, or does she prefer lighter fare? The basis for this casserole is potatoes, eggs, and cheese, and can be altered to adjust for any number of taste preferences.

For this recipe you will need:

6 potatoes of any variety, peeled, cubed, and boiled to the barely soft stage

8 eggs, either hard boiled, peeled and sliced, or scrambled into large, fluffy curds

1 8 oz package of shredded cheese, any variety

1 cup butter

1 16 oz tub of sour cream

At this point, you may choose to add any of the following:

1 16 oz package of bacon (cooked, drained, and crumbled) or 1 16 oz roll of bulk pork sausage (cooked , crumbled and drained) or 1 16 oz package of Canadian bacon (chopped)

1-2 cups of any of the following: chopped green peppers, chopped onion, sliced mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, drained

1 Tbs minced garlic

1 Tbs chopped parsley, preferable fresh

1 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 3 quart casserole dish with cooking spray. Toss chosen vegetables and spices with the potatoes. Toss 1 cup of shredded cheese with the eggs. Begin layering the casserole, potatoes/vegetables first, then eggs/cheese, then meat, if any. End with potatoes. Melt the butter with sour cream and pour over potatoes evenly. Bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup shredded cheese evenly over the top and bake another 10-15 minutes, until center is hot and cheese is melted. I set out salt and pepper shakers and a bottle of hot sauce as condiments.

This recipe should serve about 5-6 people. For Mother's Day I will double or even triple the recipe (depending on how many guests we're having) and bake in two or three casserole dishes. This dish refrigerates well if you'd like to prepare it a day ahead, but you may need to bake an additional 10-15 minutes or so, checking often.

Another mandatory course of my Mother's Day Brunch is fruit. I cut a watermelon in half and remove most of the inside with a melon-baller to create two 'boats.' I fill them with the watermelon, cantaloupe balls, canned pineapple chunks, and grapes, and then toss everything with a little lemon juice to keep browning at bay. The possibilities for your fruit course are endless. How about adding honeydew balls, sliced bananas or kiwi, or orange wedges? Would Mom love a dish of large strawberries sprinkled with sugar? Tailor the fruit menu to meet the tastes of your guests. I also set out dishes of fruit toppings, including prepared vanilla pudding and whipped cream or non-dairy whipped topping.

A staple of any brunch buffet is the breakfast breads. I include the standard muffins, usually blueberry and apple-cinnamon, made from a packaged muffin mix. The fun part of my breakfast breads are the biscuits, though. My favorite biscuit recipe is so easy to prepare that I make at least two or three different kinds at a time. I start by combining two cups of all-purpose baking mix and 2/3 cup of milk. From there, the variations are endless. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, and then you could:

-Mix the dough with 1 cup of shredded cheese and 1 Tbs oregano. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake approximately 10-12 minutes.

-Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Melt a ½ stick of butter and brush over biscuits. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and bake approximately 10-12 minutes.

-Mix the dough with or 1 cup of cooked, crumbled, drained bulk sausage for a hearty biscuit. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake approximately 10-12 minutes.

-Mix the dough with 1 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake approximately 10-12 minutes.

-Add 1 tsp of either vanilla or almond extract, or 1 Tbs minced garlic. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake approximately 10-12 minutes.

Watch your biscuits in the last few minutes of baking, as ovens vary. These biscuits are fool-proof, so be creative and use the flavors your mom will love! Don't forget to put out a couple sticks of softened butter along with your biscuits.

To round off my Mother's Day Brunch table I set out a tray of vegetables and dip, and cheese, hard sausage, and crackers for munching.

As for beverages, I think it's great fun to set up a 'coffee station' at any gathering. I have a pot of coffee brewing, and nearby on the counter I set out the coffee cups, saucers, and teaspoons. I buy canisters of flavored powdered creamers (amaretto, Irish cream, chocolate) and a couple bottles of flavored syrup (hazelnut, praline) found near the coffee in grocery stores. I put out the sugar bowl, small pitchers of half and half cream and milk. Also we usually have at least one or two that like tea, so I put out a few tea bags as well. To finish off the 'coffee station,' I set out small bowls of cinnamon sticks, red hots, milk chocolate candies, anything I have lying around that will melt into a good cup of flavored coffee.

A favorite beverage around here is punch. This is something my mother made at every family gathering for as long as I can remember.

The basic recipe is:

2 2 liter bottles of lemon-lime soda

1 ½ gallon container of sherbet, any flavor, softened slightly

Combine the soda and sherbet in a punch bowl. From here you can direct the flavor of your punch any way you want. Does Mom love cherries? Try rainbow sherbet with a large jar of maraschino cherries, and the juice too! Use strawberry sherbet with a package or two of frozen or fresh strawberries. Is Mom a citrus-lover? Use orange sherbet and squeeze a few oranges, lemons, and limes into the punch, and garnish with fruit slices. You can't go wrong with this basic punch recipe, so think about which flavors your honored guest would enjoy.

When it's time for the dessert course of my Mother's Day Brunch, I have found that the following three recipes seem to offer something to satisfy everyone.

First is a recipe for a gelatin and pretzel treat that was passed down to me by a friend's mother. It's become one of those things the people always ask for when it's not there!

You will need:

1 ½ sticks melted butter

2 ½ cups crushed pretzels

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened

2 large containers of non-dairy whipped topping

2 cups of sugar

1 16 oz package of gelatin dessert mix, any flavor

Mix melted butter, pretzels, and ½ cup of sugar. Press into the bottom of greased 9X13 baking pan. Bake 6 minutes at 350 degrees and cool completely. Dissolve gelatin dessert in 2 cups of boiling water, and set aside to cool, but not in the refrigerator. You want it cool, but not to start becoming gel-like. Beat cream cheese, non-dairy whipped topping, and ½ cup of sugar until well blended. Spread cream cheese mixture over the pretzel crust carefully. Make sure there are no gaps between the cheese mixture and the edge of pan, as this layer needs to keep the gelatin from getting through to the pretzels. Put the pan into the refrigerator while the gelatin finishes cooling. When the gelatin is completely cooled, pour it over the cream cheese mixture. Cover and refrigerate over night. Around here, we love strawberry gelatin in this recipe, but have also tried raspberry. Again, look to your guests' tastes. Also, including a fruit that matches your gelatin choice is easy and delicious. Add one small package of frozen fruit (strawberries, raspberries, etc.), thawed and drained, the your gelatin before setting aside to cool, and stir before pouring over your cream cheese mixture.

Next I put out a tray of Thumbprint Cookies. The wonderful thing about these is that the basic recipe is so mild and light, there is no end to the flavor combinations you can make!

The basic Thumbprint Cookies recipe I use calls for:

¼ cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

1 cup of butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream sugar and butter, add vanilla. Gradually beat in flour and salt. Now you can choose to add nuts. Use 1 cup of any nut, finely chopped. Either purchase them chopped, or run them through a food processor.

Measure out rounded teaspoonfuls of dough and form into balls, trying to keep the size uniform. Place onto ungreased cookie sheet and press your thumb into the middle of each cookie. Bake 20-30 minutes, checking at 20 minutes and every few minutes afterward. You want a light golden cookie.

The real fun with these cookies begins with what you put into the thumbprint! Here are just a few of the fillings I've used over the years: canned frosting (softened in the microwave), strawberry and raspberry preserves, chocolate Kisses, peanut butter, and cream cheese mixed with sugar, which was left over from the gelatin dessert! By far my favorite though, is a powdered sugar glaze. The recipe is as simple as mixing 1 cup of powdered sugar with ½ tsp of flavoring and enough water, added slowly, to create a glaze that will gently drizzle off the end of a spoon. What is Mom's favorite flavor? Almond, vanilla, maple, peppermint? Chances are you can find it in the baking section in the form of an extract. Absolutely anything goes here! When you have your glaze to the right consistency, just dip a spoon into the glaze, and let it drip off the spoon to fill your thumbprint. This glaze becomes soft solid at room temperature.

Finally is a chocolate bar-cookie treat. The basic recipe calls for:

1 ½ cup of all-purpose flour

1 cup of brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 sticks of butter

1 ½ cup oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X13 baking pan. Mix flour, sugar, and baking powder. Cut in the butter until dough resembles coarse crumbs.

Now you can choose to add the following:

½ cup coconut

½ cup chopped nuts, any variety

Press the mixture into bottom of baking pan. You may choose to reserve a bit of the dough for a topping.

Now choose your chocolate. Does Mom like white? German? standard semi-sweet? Whichever flavor you pick, either use 1-½ cups chocolate morsels, or chop 5 squares of baking chocolate coarsely in a food processor. Sprinkle chocolate pieces evenly over the dough.

Lastly comes the jam. Think about Mom's favorite flavors, or what would go nicely with the chocolate choice. Strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, or apricot preserves? Orange marmalade? Choose 1 12 oz jar of any flavor, and spoon small dollops evenly over the top of your dessert. If you chose to reserve some of the crumb mixture, sprinkle that over the top as well. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool before cutting into squares.

And that's it, my entire Mother's Day Brunch menu. Have fun choosing ingredients and flavors to create a buffet of dishes your Mom will love!