I think your menu is wonderful (my favorite kind of food is brunch food) and I think there is definitely enough lunch style food (quiche is really a breakfast, lunch or dinner food, in my opinion). While I am not much of a desserter, I think that dessert is always appropriate!

Here is a marinated veggie salad that I've had more than once, it is light and refreshing and don't leave the sugar out, it really adds something with the lemon.

Cindy 5NY's Marinated Vegetable Salad
Source: adapted from grouprecipes.com

5 cups assorted vegetables, cut in bite size pieces
(cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, cherry tomatoes, radishes, asparagus, green beans)

MARINADE:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
2 T sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp oregano

Combine marinade ingredients, pour over the vegetables and toss gently.
Refrigerate for at least 6 hours to combine flavors.

Servings: 8

Boy, woodie, that salad looks great.

robin, I don't have a salad suggestion. Your menu is really good. However, if you want a dessert, how about a cookie platter? Not the Christmas kinds, but large, fat ones such as chocolate, chocolate chip, oatmeal, etc. I don't think you need anything else because your menu is rich.

Have fun!
Kathleen

Thanks! Woodie--does the marinating time soften the vegetables at all? Or do they stay as crunchy as they would be raw?

Cookies are a good idea and simple.

I think you are fine with the muffins/danish as a sweet offering, so no I don't think you need a dessert. Also, your menu sounds delish! If you wanted another marinated veg type thing, I make the following a lot and it is well received.....

Marinated Antipasto

3 large carrots, cut diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2 large handfuls fresh green beans
2 cups broccoli florets
2 red bell peppers, roasted and cut into strips (jar is fine)
2 yellow bell peppers, roasted and cut into strips
a 12-ounce jar peperoncini drained well
3/4 pound black or green brine-cured olives or a combination
3/4 pound marinated or plain bocconcini (small mozzarella balls,
available at specialty foods shops and some supermarkets)
1/2 pound pepperoni or soppressata (hard Italian sausage, available
at Italian markets, some butcher shops, and, some specialty foods
shops), cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices and the slices
quartered
two 7-ounce jars marinated artichoke hearts, rinsed and drained well
2 cans Hearts of Palm
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley leaves plus, if desired, parsley sprigs for
garnish

Vinaigrette Dressing  about 2 cups, use your favorite recipe

In a large saucepan of boiling water blanch the carrots for 3 to 4 minutes, or until they are crisp-tender, drain them, and plunge them into a bowl of ice and cold water. Repeat for the Green Beans and Broccoli. Let the vegetables cool and drain them well. In a large bowl toss together the carrots, Green Beans, Broccoli, the roasted peppers, the peperoncini, the olives, the bocconcini, the pepperoni, the artichoke hearts, the Hearts of Palm, Vinaigrette dressing, the minced parsley until the antipasto is combined well and chill the antipasto, covered, for at least 4 hours or overnight. Transfer the antipasto to a platter, garnish it with the parsley sprigs, and serve it at room temperature.

I think your menu is great, certainly has all my favourites on it!

A vegetable salad would be a nice addition but I don't think you need a specific dessert. I would just add a strudel or Danishes to your breakfast bread selections.

Have fun!

I think your menu sounds good, too! My first thought, tho was that it need some "crunch", so a salad might be a good addition. Here are two simple/similar salads that would be great for brunch.

Bev's Winter Salad

I large head romaine lettuce
1 c shredded swiss cheese
1 c cashews, toasted
1/4 c dried cranberries
1 apple, chopped
1 pear, chopped

Toss salad ingredients together.

Dressing:

1/2 c sugar
1/3 c lemon juice
2 tsp chopped red onion
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 T poppyseeds
2/3 c vegetable oil (not olive)

Mix dressing ingredients together, toss with salad just before serving.

Your menu sounds nice....but...You say some will come later and some earlier and some will want more breakfast-ey stuff and others more lunch.
I'm concerned on how you are going to hold some of those dishes? Like the quiche and the hashbrown casserole?
Scrambled eggs hold well for almost an hour in a chafing dish and sausage gravy and biscuits is always good kept hot for a while.
When I make a marinated veggie casserole, I briefly blanch the "hard" veggies like carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. Not enough to ruin the crunch bit enough so they will absorb a bit of the dressing. Here's a big recipe for the dressing I use for a marinated veggie salad....it can be halved....or just saved, it's also good on other salads.
vinaigrette
1/4 cup Dijon
4 cloves garlic crushed
¼ c honey
1 1/3 cup vinegar
Whisk and add 2 cups Olive oil in a slow stream whisking.
Add 2 tsps oregano and about ½ cup parmesan cheese

the menu sounds wonderful to me, although you may have a problem keeping the quiche warm as mentioned.

Either of those salads that doucanoe posted would be good, I like salads with fruit in them and they'd be a nice addition.

Another sugggestion would be one of my girls' favorites, a slice of turkey breast spread with herbed cream cheese and wrapped around a slightly steamed spear of asparagus. They're good cold out of the refrigerator and so they could be kept and just put out on plates as needed.

Annie

I often make something called "Chopped Salad" which has proven quite popular at my food parties. Chopped salad is whatever crunchy vegetables look good at the market, mixed with an oil and vinegar marinade, sometimes I add chopped pitted kalamatta olives too, and you can add garbanzo beans for protein. A typical mix for me would be green and possibly one other color peppers, celery or fennel, radishes or carrots, maybe fresh broccoli or cauliflower, depending on the cost and scallions or red onion. Little cherry tomatoes, halved. Chop this up, mix with olive oil, red wine vinegar, a dash of balsamic, a dash of garlic and a generous dash of italian seasoning mix and some chopped fresh parsley or cilantro. Marinade for a while, and serve in a clear glass dish. You can serve this with torn lettuce and people can make their own salads if they want. You could also just do a crudite tray with veggie dip, that way people could nibble veggies and mix and match what ones they like.

One veggie salad I've made that always receives a good reception is Many Peppers Greek Salad. Super quick and easy. It can be made ahead.

Many Peppers Greek Salad
(3-4 servings)
1 European cucumber (or 2 regular cucumbers, seeded)
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1/2 orange bell pepper
1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1/2 cup Kalamata olives (without pits)
1/4 cup red onion, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup diced feta cheese
1/2 cup Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing
(or use your favorite dressing)
1 tsp. dried oregano
fresh ground black pepper to taste
extra squeeze of lemon, optional

Mix oregano into salad dressing, set aside. Peel cucumber in strips, leaving green stripes lengthwise. Cut in half lengthwise, then in slices. Dice peppers in 3/4 inch pieces. Combine cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes. olives, and onion and toss with desired amount of salad dressing. (You may not need all the dressing.) Sprinkle feta cheese over salad and grind on black pepper,add a squeeze of lemon, then serve.

Kari

Thanks everyone! My brunch turned out well.

I had an electric warming tray which kept the french toast and hash brown casserole hot for most of the brunch. The quiches did cool to room temp by the time the latest guests arrived, but they were still good at room temperature. But I think I'll have to get a nice chafing dish or two before I have another buffet-style party, because the warming tray can only hold 2 dishes.

Trader joes had some very good grape tomatoes, so for a vegetable I served tomatoes with diced mozzarella and fresh parsley with the lemon & oil dressing that Woodie posted as the vegetable salad marinade and a little red wine vinegar.

I didn't have time to make dessert, but the french toast casserole was almost like bread pudding, so that plus the cinnamon rolls and mini muffins provided enough sweets.