ISO "light" brunch menu?

[Romandub]

Hosting 3 women friends this weekend and am looking for an easy and "light" brunch menu. I will have a fruit salad, and pastries, but need an alternative to my usual "go-to" breakfast casserole with sausage, eggs, cheese, etc. It's too heavy for this group. Plus it's a thousand degrees outside. Any ideas?

[dae]

I guess "light" is somewhat relative. Personally I'd be happy with the fruit salad and pastries along with a good cup of coffee. If that doesn't seem like enough for this group, then add a quiche (which you could bake early in the a.m. before the temp climbs too high and served at room temp) for those who'd like a bit more. And maybe mimosas?

[sfarler]

This is not light, but I think it screams brunch:

Stuffed Breakfast Croissants
(4 servings)

4 bakery-fresh croissants
4 large eggs
1 and 1/2 cups mushrooms - sliced
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup green onions - chopped
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a 10x10ish casserole dish with a light coating of cooking spray.

Slice each croissant in half as if you wer making sandwhich. Place the bottom halves in the casserole dish with the cut-sides up. It's okay if you have to squeeze them in to fit.

In a medium fry pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and onions
and saute until both are tender and mushrooms start to brown.

In a seperate bowl, beat the eggs with the milk and salt.

Pour 1/2 of egg mixture over the croissants in the casserole dish. Next, spoon mushrooms and onions evenly over croissants. Follow this with all of the cheeses sprinkled evenly. Cover with remaing egg mixture.

Place the tops of the croissants over their respective bottoms.

Bake for about 25 minutes minutes until egg is completely set.

Let stand for 10 minutes. Serve warm using each croissant as a portion.

[funniegrrl]

I agree something protein-y would be good to round things out. What about just offering some yogurt to go with the fruit? and/or cottage cheese? I like the quiche idea, too -- you could go crustless to keep it light.

[Vinca]

I had some chicken and mushroom crepes recently at a wedding reception brunch that were delicious. When I talked to the person who made them I told her how much I like them and that they must have been a lot of last minute work. She told me that they really weren’t. The crepes were made 3 days in advance and the filling and assembly took place the day before. The morning of the reception they were placed in the oven to heat up and left on warm until time to serve. She told me it was really a pretty easy dish to throw together. Crepes depending on the filling can be pretty light and I felt fruit salad went nicely with them.

Sorry I don’t have a recipe I can suggest but crepes can be filled with almost anything from ice cream to seafood and everything in between.

[Wendi]

How 'bout a frittata...that's my "go to" light brunch item...along with fruit, and scones (or really hearty whole grain toast). I never use a recipe...just a bunch of vegetables from the inventory in the crisper (asparagas, mushrooms, onions, red pepper are always good) and a little cheese (feta, swiss, ?)...done!

[Canice]

Do you mean light as in fat and calories or light as in perception? I really liked the ricotta tarts (on puff pastry) that I was experimenting with for a while. They present well and look a heck of a lot fussier than they are. They make for a "light" lunch or brunch in the second sense, but not the first.

[misskitty100]

How about something like this:

Veggie mini-quiches

I love these for breakfast, but they are also great as appetizers or as a side dish.
Prep Time: 0:15
Cook Time: 0:20
Ingredients:
•3/4 cup liquid egg substitute or 3 large eggs or 3 /4 cup egg whites
•1 package frozen chopped spinach (10 oz.) or one large bunch fresh spinach
•3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheese
•1/4 cup diced red or green peppers or mixture of both
•1/4 cup diced onions
•Salt to taste - I like it salty and used a half teaspoon.
•Option: fajita spices
•Option: garam masala
Preparation:
Makes 12 mini-quiches
Need: muffin tin, cooking spray, oven
1. Heat oven to 350F

2. Spray the muffin tin cups with the cooking spray. Be sure not to omit this step, or the quiches will stick badly to the baking cups.

3. Thaw and drain spinach - I wring it out well in my hand, which eliminates a lot of the "spinachy" taste for those who hate boiled spinach. If using fresh spinach, steam it in the microwave, press out all juice, then chop.

4. Mix the spinach, eggs or egg substitute, cheese, peppers, onions, hot pepper sauce, salt in a bowl.

5. Fill the muffin tin cups with the mixture.

6. Bake at 350F or 20 minutes. You will know they are done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

[witchy]

To keep it simple and light I would just add some great vanilla yogurt and granola. I love the Bear Naked Granola brand.

[Aninha]

To keep it simple and light I would just add some great vanilla yogurt and granola.

Exactly what I was going to suggest!
Yogurt and granola plus fruits and pastries should be great with tea of coffee! That's what I usually do for brunch with my girlfriends (which are always watching their calories) and everyone always loves it!
Homemade granola adds a nice touch and is super easy to make, plus you can control the sugar... and calories!
Ana

[margeslp]

Here is a lightened breakfast casserole we love:

Lo Cal Blueberry French Toast

Nonstick cooking spray
12 slices Italian bread cut in 1-inch cubes
1 8-oz. package no fat cream cheese,divided into small "globs"
1 lb.frozen blueberries
2 1/4 cups Egg Beaters
2 cups fat free skim milk
1/2 cup reduced calorie pancake syrup


Total: 2339 cal; 18.75 fat;
12 servings: 195 cal; 1.56 fat