The Christmas Meal - Plan A Lovely Brunch This Year
Date: Tuesday December 15, 2009Posted in: Family
Perhaps your family is re-thinking their Christmas dinner plans this year. You may be traveling, you may be eating a meal at several family’s homes, or you simply want to cut costs this year by eliminating a big sit-down dinner. Planning to share a Christmas brunch may suit your plans this year for any or all of those reasons.
If you are considering your family’s budget, big sit-down dinners tend to be more expensive than even the nicest brunch. The menu for a big dinner will normally include a large meat main course, numerous side dishes, and many fancy desserts and candies. The beverages served during a formal sit-down dinner in the evening will typically include fancy drinks, wine, and after dinner drinks. In other words, a big dinner can add up to a lot of money.
For a family who needs to travel, eat at more than one household, or cut back on expenses, a Christmas brunch could solve many of those problems. Let’s see how we could put together a brunch that would be festive, fun, and have food that is filling, but inexpensive.
Brunch Casserole - Recipes for these dishes are too numerous to count! Assembled the night before your brunch, this is probably one of the most popular of all the time saving dishes you can make. There are a variety of combinations of ingredients to consider, beginning with hash browns, bread, ham, sausage, onion, green pepper, broccoli, and cheese. This is held together with a generous portion of egg, baked and served hot by cutting into square segments, similar to lasagna.
Skillet Dish - A skillet meal is very easy to prepare quickly and with relatively little fuss. There are many recipes to choose from, like this familiar favorite, a Frittata. This is typically a skillet of fried rice or potatoes with a variety of meats and vegetables added. Then eggs are poured over and the Frittata is cooked without stirring until the eggs firm up. Cut into wedges right in the skillet and serve just as it sits. Use a nice cast iron pan for a pretty and homey appeal.
Muffin Tin Meal - Little individual pot pies is what we’re thinking here. Use any refrigerator biscuit to form the crust. You may want to give them a little pre-baking time, then cool and fill with a variety of breakfast food, which could include some sausage, bacon, egg and cheese. Bake them until the egg sets up and the biscuit is golden brown. You can even make actual muffins and stir the ingredients right in the muffin mix.
Omelets - I hesitate to mention omelets only because they require a lot of work while your guests are there. You can’t make omelets ahead of time. You can, however, prepare all the filling ingredients, you know, the mushrooms, green pepper, ham, onions, or anything else that you like inside your omelet. The deciding factor should be whether or not you want to be cooking while you have guests. If you have a kitchen dining room combination where you can visit with your guests while you’re in the kitchen, that may work out for you. However, if you are going to be isolated from everyone while you’re whipping up omelets, you may want to consider a different menu.
Prepare a variety of food and fill your brunch buffet with lots of choices and your guests won’t be disappointed. Add a tray of fresh fruit, some coffee, tea, milk, and juice, and your brunch is complete. Don’t forget a simple assortment of cookies to finish off the meal. No fancy pies, cakes, or candy for brunch. Some of your guests could be on their way to another meal!
With just a few ideas for a simple brunch menu, you can put together a nice meal for Christmas. It’s all about spending time with the people you love and not spending your hard earned money on a big fancy dinner. Enjoy your brunch!
You’ll find plenty of festive Christmas meal ideas when you visit us at FreeQuickRecipes.com.
