my mother loves lox, so I would put them on top of spring greens with a fried egg, capers, and a lemon olive oil dressing. for something sweet on the side, i would do a lemon tart or some chocolate mousse with raspberries. don't forget the champagne!

Bellinis, strawberry tarts, croissant bread pudding, a baked ham, biscuits and a big green salad. Love the chocolate mousse idea, too.

every year for the past 12 year's I've made nutella stuffed french toast with raspberry sauce for my mom - she loves it!!! I make the raspberry sauce ahead of time (mush up the raspberries, strain, add lemon juice and powdered sugar) and use two slices of brioche with nutella sandwiched in the middle - prepare french toast as normal!

with a big enough pan you can make a lot at once. serve with some maple glazed bacon and yum yum!

I think a tray of warm jam- or cheese-filled kolaches are lovely. Rise and shape the dough the night before, then do the final rise in the fridge overnight. Take them out to warm on the counter before you go to church, then toss them in the oven to bake when you get back. Hello, warm deliciousness!

Just this past weekend I did a brunch for my daughter's first communion. We also did not get home from church until 10:15 but we ate by 11:40. Here's what I prepared:

a large crudete platter that I prepared the day before (radish, blanched asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas, red peppers with a light lemon caper dip);

big bowl of fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and grapes)

italian pasta salad (made the day before with tricolor pasta, black olives, broccoli, red peppers, artichokes, parm cheese and a oil & vinegar dressing)

2 pans of the sticky lemon cream cheese rolls (recipe on this site! To die for!)

Ham sandwiches

BBQ'd salmon

And yes, quiche

I prepped and prepared as much as I could the day before including making the pasta salad, baking & slicing the ham, washing all the fruit and veggies, making the veggie dip and I make the 2 pans of lemon rolls and put them in the fridge. Sunday morning before I went to church I put the sliced ham in a roasting pan in the oven very low to just reheat while we were gone. When we returned, I took the ham out and put in the lemon rolls. I then wrapped the salmon in foil and put it on the grill. When the rolls were done I cooked the quiches. I had it all set out buffet style. People took rolls I bought and made ham sandwiches, took a piece of fish and filled their plate out with pasta salad, veggies & fruit (and a lemon roll if they didn't have one hot out of the oven!) It all came together well and it was a fantastic meal. Good luck to you!

i prefer salty brunch (not the pancake-y type) so i would make a buffet of breakfast tacos - fresh scrambled eggs, homemade salsa, potato, cheese etc. you can make it "fancy" by including lots of fresh summery ingredients (avocados, homemade salsa, black beans cooked with oregano and cumin etc). you could even do some sort of "brunch" margarita with fresh OJ/grapefruit and tequila. almost all of these things could be prepped ahead of time. personally, i would just whip up the eggs once everyone has arrived.

I love an overnight french toast casserole - I always make an eggnog version for Christmas brunch, but it can be adapted to any flavor. And biscuits are always good, with gravy or butter and jam, maybe with a side of mustard-brown sugar glazed bacon. And here in spring, a rhubarb crumb cake is a treat.

http://therunawayspoon.com/blog/category/breakfastbrunch/

What I would make for my mother:
- puy lentil salad with vinaigrette, shallots, parsley and tarragon
- taboulé with pine nuts, sultana's and cucumber
- mushroom-potato tart (the recipe from Once Upon a Tart)
- maybe some gravlax with dill-mustard sauce
- little asparagus tarts with blue cheese
- toast with beet caviar, smoked trout, mild curry dressing and dill
- spicy fruit salad
- Smitten Kitchen's Russian Tea Cakes
... and you could make most of them ahead
Enjoy!

I made brunch for 7 this weekend, everything was prepared the day before so all I had to do was pop things in the oven and warm the eggs. It was delicious and stress free.

The menu:
Baked doughnuts with chocolate glaze - I prepared the dough the night before, just let it proof for an hour and baked just before guests arrived

Eggs Meurette - eggs poached in red wine so good! You can make the whole recipe the night before, then just reheat all the elements before plating

Simple Salad

Flourless Chocolate cake - always better the second day.

All in all I spent maybe 4 hours in the kitchen on Saturday, then an hour in the kitchen Sunday before guests arrived.