mother's day brunch

I woke up earrrly this morning and got ready for a long run. I planned on running basically as long as I could running around my small town. I ran hills and neighborhoods, through the strong winds and through the sunshine and felt pretty strong. But when I mapped my run, it was only 6.56 miles but thats better than nothing.

Date	5 /10/2009
Route	Ashland Run
Distance	6.56 mi
Time	55:30
Pace	08:27/mile

I gotta get a ten or 11 miler in this week no matter what. I'm hoping for tomorrow or Tuesday. Before I left for the run, I had half of this bar:

When I got back around 9:30, I quickly got to work on our Brunch meals. Last night, I had prepped the ingredients for the two quiches I was making and my baked french toast was in the fridge absorbing the egg mixture. This is how I made the Baked French Toast. This recipe was inspired by Paula Dean but I made a lot of substitutions. Here's my recipe

Baked French Toast Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French bread + 5 slices of Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Swirl Bread cut into cubes
  
• 6 large eggsand two egg whites
  
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup of 1% milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash salt

Directions

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch thick each and cut the additional bread into bite size pieces. Arrange slices in a flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices.
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the topping evenly over the bread and bake for 45 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden.

Topping:

2 Tablespoons of Smart Butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped glazed walnuts
1 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Spread over bread as directed above. I also added some dried Cranberries. Here's how it turned out!



My father in law is lactose intolerant so I made a version of this recipe with Lactaid Milk.

I also made a fruit salad combining strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, apples and mangos.

A late addition to the brunch menu was a veggie sausage and egg casserole. Here's the recipe:

Apple Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

6	Morningstar Farms® Maple Flavored Veggie Sausage Patties
1	small cooking apple, cored and chopped
1 tablespoon	sugar
1/2 teaspoon	cinnamon
4 cups	cubed, firm-textured multigrain bread
1 1/2 cups	shredded cheddar cheese
6	eggs, beaten
1/3 cup	sour cream
2 tablespoons	sugar
1/2 teaspoon	vanilla
1/4 teaspoon	salt
1 1/2 cups	fat-free milk

Directions

1. Chop Morningstar Farms Sausage Patties into bite-size pieces. Set aside. In small bowl toss together apple, 1 tablespoon sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. Place half of the bread in 8 x 8 x 2-inch baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Top with half of the veggie patties, half of the apple mixture and half of the cheese. Repeat layers.
3. In medium bowl whisk together eggs and sour cream. Whisk in 2 tablespoons sugar, vanilla and salt. Add milk, whisk until combined. Pour over mixture in baking dish.

4. Bake, uncovered, at 375°F about 60 minutes.

This was really fun and interesting. It was sweet and cheesy and delicious all at the same time. I would definitely make this recipe again!

My sister in law Natalia and I also made two quiches. I had prepped all the ingredients the night before making sauted onions, spinach, cooked mushrooms and bacon. One quiche had bacon, spinach, onions, mushrooms and cheddar and mexican blend cheese. The other had bacon, spinach, onions and swiss and feta cheese.



These turned out a little watery because we tried to cut out some of the fat and use egg substiuite for some of the eggs which didn't work. Here's the recipe:

Quiche

-Unbaked pie shells defrosted
- 5 slices of Bacon diced
- 1/2 Onion, cooked and translucent
-1 package of mushrooms, cooked
-1 package of frozen spinach defrosted and drained
- 1 cup of various cheese per quiche
-1 cup of 1% milk
-1/2 cup of cream
-4 eggs
-1 egg white
-nutmeg and s & p

Beat together eggs, cream, milk, nutmeg, s&p. Fill pie shells with toppings and then add the egg mixture and bak in the over at 375 for 40 minutes.

I also made REAL bacon (not sure the last time I made REAL bacon).

And no brunch is complete without bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, tomatoes, red onion and capers! My favorite! I also bought bran muffins and for dessert, I bought a chocolate coffee cake. We had mimosas and coffee as well.



My plate:


Lots of food. I'm still stuffed. I ate dinner at 6:30 and my plate pretty much looked the same as above, minus the french toast. I'm off to watch the Celts and go to bed. Night!