Poached eggs? Love them.

Lovely brunch. The only think I'm missing is a nice green salad.

Sounds good but are any of the ladies vegetarians? Might be an idea to leave the bacon out of the quiche if so, give them a more substantial dish than just scones, muffins and jello.

I'll echo the vegetarian suggestion, if you know your guests well enough. I'd add more fruit.

Sounds perfect....but there is nothing but grapes for a vegan....but if one of your guests were vegan I suspect you would know and provide a vegan dish.

I, too, thought of leaving the bacon out of the quiche for vegetarians and anyone who doesn't eat pork. You could instead wrap your bacon around figs, dates or even pineapple, or just serve it on the side.

A green salad would be nice, too, but since you have spinach in the quiche, I might do a marinated veggie salad with green and sweet red peppers, roasted or raw, some artichoke hearts, etc., just to add some nice color and texture to the selections.

I don't expect a salad with brunch...and the bacon in the spinach quiche gives it a lot of flavor.
When I invite 16 friends to a meal, I sure know who is vegetarian and who might be vegan.....after all....they are friends, you are supposed to know these things about friends. And you could have ovo-lacto vegitarians, pescatarians, or someone who doesn't eat red meat but will eat chicken and fish....or a true vegan who eschews anything animal, including gelatin and some wines that are filtered with something from fish....and that also includes honey>
But if they are friends, we know this about them.

And if they're all these things, one just cancels the party! WAY too much bother to meet the dietary demands of some very fussy folks!

I think all the dishes sound good, but as a total, they're unrelieved sweet, unless the sausage is particularly savory. Most turkey sausage is sweet, as is custard (quiche) from the milk, and cheese, ditto. I think this is part of why people are asking for a salad. Instead of both scones and muffins, and gingerbread, I'd eliminate one of the former two and add something like asparagus with a citrusy hollandaise. Basically add something sharp and distinctly not sweet or milky, as well as something acid. That would enhance the experience of the sweet things on the menu by providing contrast, as well as giving relief to those who don't fancy that many sweet foods.

While Linda is right about you knowing your guests, I think you could substitute sautéed shallots for the bacon in the quiche and have plenty of flavor, if you decide to cut down the meat/pork.

Best wishes for a lovely party,

JC

Sounds lovely but I would omit the meat from either the quiche or potatoes and add a plain bread such as bagels, croissants , biscuits .......maybe instead of one of the sweet breads/muffins

I like the sweet! If you need to add not sweet, I would add a tray of cheeses and salami...proscuitto etc.

Suggestions:

Spinach quiche, crustless, with bacon no bacon in quiche
serve lots of bacon as standalone side

Turkey sausage and potatoes roasted together Roast these separately
and serve separately

Sliced ham

Gingerbread roll with cream cheese filling eliminate

Scones with currants and lemon glaze

Small muffins of some kind (apple, pear?) eliminate

Red and green grapes arranged with cheddar cheese (looks
like a Christmas tree) sounds great

Sliced apples and pears

Cranberry Jello (a friend insisted on making) Thank friend and advise that it will
be lovely for your Thanksgiving meal and put in your refrigerator

bagels, croissants , biscuits as previously suggested

Beverages: Coffee Tea Eggnog Orange/pineapple juice

I just went back to the OP and rethought the menu. That's a LOT of food for just 16 women for brunch! And a LOT of work! I'd keep the menu far simpler. Perhaps make two kind of quiche - one with bacon and one with spinach - that way you have any dietary wants/needs covered. With it, I'd serve a great citrus salad. Grapefruit and avocado is always lovely and you can use a sweet/sour dressing over it to keep it light. You can have one or two types of bread - one sweet and one not. I would then serve two desserts - one light and fruit based, one sweeter and richer. You will have plenty of choices and much can be done ahead of time so you can enjoy eating with your 16 friends!

Brunch - breakfast and lunch. Where's the breakfast? LOL

Quiche is great, but I would rather make a spinach quiche and a quiche lorraine (w/ bacon)... at least one of each! then I'd pre-cut them in 16ths. :)

I'd roast the potatoes separately and rather than turkey sausage I'd serve ham... like a spiral cut ham -- either hot or cold suits me just fine. :) And I'd add some nice buns or bread and condiments/things required to make sandwiches.

I'd love to see a photo of your grape & cheese tree arrangement! it sounds cute. And the gingerbread roll sounds fantastic. Scones, check. But you aren't sure about muffins... it is the holidays and some people indulge at this time of year, so if you go overboard on the sweets there will be many people who love it. I'd highly recommend Pecan Pie Mini Muffins in this case.... they're just fine if made the day before. Didn't I find that recipe on this forum??? anyone have a link?! I'll post again if I find it...

I'd like to see a bowl of fruit... sliced melons, berries, and perhaps banana slices... maybe with a side of yogurt sauce? I highly recommend this vanilla yogurt sauce! (ETA: I use reg. cream cheese, not light, and it works fine -- and it's best to just go ahead and make a double batch... you'll need it. ;^)

Many people (like me :) would also love a green salad option. :)

oh! if you want to make it special, get some sugar cubes, dry/cheap champagne... add a drop of angostura bitters (optional), and put the orange juice on that. :O)

Well I am one of those people who likes moderation in sweet and too much of it gives me indigestion. So on the one hand, the menu sounds perfect, I can find more than enough to eat there and if I'm at a friend's house for a gathering I am just happy to be there and not obsessing about my veggie intake at the moment. On the other hand, you could just get a veggie tray from the deli section of the grocery and put it out for someone like me and you can use the veggies for salad later on if there is any left over. OR, throw in some green peppers and onions with the sausage roast. We have that for brunch all the time, I love roasted vegetables, even for brunch. There are others you could use too, but those spring first to mind. You could add zucchini too, if you want to give the sausage dish an italian vibe, or throw in some cabbage for a more germanic vibe. Folks who don't like veggies can easily pick out what they do like if you leave the pieces big enough.

I think it sounds great and the only thing I would change is to make the roasted potatoes without meat. Add some onions or something. Serve turkey sausage by itself. Some sliced tomatoes would be nice too.

I, too, think it sounds great. I think you've got all bases covered. And you've got the most important part of brunch covered -- dessert! That's what makes breakfast different from brunch -- dessert!

What great input! Since I have a sweet tooth, I knew I was leaning towards desserts, but I agree with Martha who just pointed out, desserts are what make it brunch instead of breakfast.

Although there are no vegans or vegetarians in the group, I wanted to not have more than one egg dish. I'm thinking of leaving the bacon in the quiche and adding onions and red peppers to the sausage and roasted potatoes. Plllog suggested using a more interesting sausage than turkey and I like that idea. Something spicy IS called for!

Undecided about the pear mini-muffins. It would be one less thing to make. I don't think they add that much to the menu except a different shape and they would look so cute piled up on my little 3-tier pastry rack. If I do bake them, I'd go with a simple, not-sweet bran muffin with some chunks of pear baked into the top.

The suggestions for adding fruit are excellent. I'll probably add the grapefruit and avocado salad. Although some would add ham and other sandwich makings, I'm drawing the line there because these are retired women; they don't eat that much. About the quantity and variety -- I don't mind leftovers.

I can't say no to the gingerbread roll or the cranberry jello. These are from friends who really want to help. And because,

leftovers!

I saw a photo on Pinterest for the grapes and cheese platter -- attached..

That tree is great! I had a totally different image in mind, which was cute, but I like how the real thing looks like a regular party platter, but dressed as a tree, rather than looking like decor. The thyme twigs make it perfect.

The non-sweet bran muffin with pear sounds good, as does the grapefruit and avocado salad. They stay in the sweet zone you like without being particularly sugary.

I'm sure your friends will love it. Have a great time!

Since there are no vegetarians in the group, having the sausage - a bit more peppy than turkey -- in the potatoes would help kick up the potatoes a notch. And yes, the bacon can remain in the quiche. Serving it on the side would almost certainly mean it would be served cold by the time people start eating. Which could be a bit off-putting.

I do love the "Christmas tree" platter, cheese and fruit and herbs!!

I would enjoy small mini-muffins of the apple or pear nature you mentioned (far more than the jello or the gingerbread, which I would ignore).

I do love grapefruit/avocado salad -- a nice vinaigrette would go well with that -- my mother used to make that with Catalina salad dressing, but they've upped the sugar content in that dressing to unbearable levels.

Enjoy! When do you plan this brunch?

O.P. here. The brunch happens fairly early in the month, on December 6, before everyone's schedule gets jammed. It will force me to get the house decorated early!

A friend I showed the menu to mentioned that since many older people are on statins and are not supposed to eat grapefruit, I should rethink the grapefruit/avocado salad. So, I will use oranges instead. I don't like repeating major ingredients in a menu, so I'll change the punch from orange pineapple to coconut pineapple with some ginger ale for fizz. That means I can omit the eggnog since it's slightly similar (creamy). I'll test that punch on some Thanksgiving guests!

Barbara, that "tree" is lovely and looks perfect on that board. I'm glad your brunch went well.

Annie

Thank you so much for letting us know how it turned out. That red is inspiring. Wish I could have been there to taste the quiche, gingerbread roll and cranberry salad. Bravo ;-)

Your 'tree' came out great! the star fruit top is perfect, and the kiwi trunk is much better than celery.

Re the muffins, you should have made mini pecan pie muffins! :)