Brunch for 70 - please help

20 years ago

Hi -

Sometimes it seems like the 11th commandment of planning a wedding, bar mitzvah, etc. is "thou shalt have the brunch." When there are a lot of out of town guests, you have to do something with them to say goodbye on Sunday morning. Anyway, my husband and I offered to give The Brunch for some friends next month. They just told us that there will be about 70 people. I've given The Brunch once or twice before, so I'm not afraid. And I knew where to come for help, tips, and advice!

Here are our parameters:

No meat or shellfish

The party the night before is dessert, not dinner (I mention it because that makes me think we don't want to be dessert-heavy the next morning). At the synagogue the day of the b'nai mitzvah (it's a brother and sister together), there will probably be at least noodle kugel, tuna salad, raw vegetables, and desserts.

So here is what I am thinking so far:

bagels (of course!) and cream cheese, lox, vegetables

coffee

orange juice

soda

cut fruit (I'll probably order that from the supermarket)

Some sort of hot dish or two, such as:

- French toast sticks (I found industrial size boxes of frozen ones once that were good -- I hope I can again)

- that bread/cheese souffle casserole

- stuffed French toast casserole

marinated vegetable salad and/or rice salad

cake and cookies

But I know you all have good ideas for what to serve, and also other tips on serving the crowd. I hope we have good weather so they can spill outside!

Thanks in advance for your time and ideas.

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Comments (4)

sharon_fl
20 years ago
Sounds like a nice brunch. I do have a few other suggestions-if you like any of them-email me and I'll send you the recipes for each. I would suggest that with 70 guests-and because it's a meal that is best served really hot (eggs, French Toast, etc)..maybe you could set up food 'stations'-like one for beverages, another for egg/French toast, another for breads, sweets, another for sides. This would eliminate a large group gathered all around one table at once.
Other menu suggestions:
**Baked Salmon Loaf balls with roasted red pepper sauce
**Cheddar Cheese Mini Biscuits..Blueberry Muffins
**Oven Baked Egg Omelet (fluffy, creamy & cut in squares!)
**Mini pancakes (made ahead & frozen until the night before) spread with a mixure of lemony cream cheese, sour cream & topped with smoked salmon
** Vegetable Lasagna?
** Using your store bought fruit chunks-why not place a variety of the chunks on wooden skewers (inexpensive by the bag at the grocery store), then poke them into the shell of an inverted watermelon shell..makes a colorful display!
** warmed cinnamon buns?
** how about a spaghetti salad-using angel hair pasta,sweet red pepper, scallions, cherry tomatoes, water chestnuts, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, chick peas, chopped mushrooms, sharp cheddar cubes-all marinated in a catalina & italian dressing combined?
** Iced Coffee, Iced Tea w/fresh mint
gellchom
Original Author
20 years ago
Thank you so much! Those are great ideas. I'm sure I am not the only one who would love to see the recipes if you have time.
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TerriJM
20 years ago
Have you thought of having cheese blintzes? This is a great recipe which I have used oven for brunch.

Blintze souffle
12 Frozen cheese blintzes
Â¼ lb Butter
4 Eggs
1 c Sour cream
Â¼ c Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla

1. Melt butter in large pan. 2. Layer (frozen) blintzes in bottom of pan. 3. In mixer, beat eggs, add sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Beat well. 4. Pour over blintzes. 5. Bake 1 hour at 350. Can make ahead and refrigerate before baking.
gellchom
Original Author
20 years ago
Thanks, terrijm. This is a great idea (I have made a similar recipe before, and I agree, it's great and easy, too). I just have to check and make sure they aren't serving anything too similar at any of the other events of the weekend.