I have brunches for most of the holidays. Here is my goto list...a ham, an egg casserole or quiche, French toast (oven baked), fruit, a banana or pumpkin bread, donuts, mimosas or bloody Mary's and coffee. Most of it is easy to prepare the day before and slip into the oven that day

edited to add that I make the French toast with coconut milk.

Bagels and lox has always been the standard for brunch in our family.

Instead of hash browns, you could make a potato frittata. I make mine with onions, red bell pepper, and a Habanero chili, plus 5 or 6 eggs. It reheats well. I would probably make blueberry flax muffins instead of pancakes, as they are easier to serve and don't need to be hot. Instead of a parfait, I would make a banana-date smoothie, and for the quiche, I would use asparagus instead of broccoli.

I'm only mentioning these variations because they are what I personally serve, but your versions are fine.

For dessert, you can serve a quick sorbet made with frozen fruit that you purée with your sweetener of choice - even sweet fruit usually needs a bit more sweetener, such as a simple sugar syrup or Splenda. I add yogurt to mine, but you could thin yours with water or ice, if necessary. Melon is my favorite fruit for this, but it might not be in season yet.

My basic brunch menu is as follows:

egg dish (be it a quiche, a frittata, a breakfast casserole or just scrambled eggs

vegetable dish (sometimes potatoes -- roasted or hash browns, other times, roasted cherry tomatoes or roasted asparagus)

fruit dish (can be a fruit salad or just a bowl of mixed fruit)

breads (I like to serve three -- a white bread (a GOOD one), a muffin or banana bread, and cornbread or rye bread OR you can serve a cinnamon roll!)

And because it is BRUNCH -- I always serve DESSERT!!! Not that cinnamon roll but a regular dessert!

(IMO, that is what distinguishes breakfast from brunch -- DESSERT!)

Coffee and tea and juice, of course, and if you want you can do mimosas or bloody mary's.

Obviously, if you have a dairy free, you wouldn't want to do a quiche or a breakfast casserole but you could do a frittata without cheese and scrambled eggs.

There is also good recipes for oven baked french toast which could take the place of one of the breads.

Martha

I did a brunch in March and made a quiche lorraine in a hash brown crust, roasted cherry tomatoes, a salad of grapefruit and oranges with a vinaigrette, carrot muffins (there was only 4 of us and so I didn't have 3 bread choices) and a lemon dessert.

Martha

Your menu sounds fine, depending on what the parfaits are, because they sound a bit redundant, but I'm hoping "can't have dairy free" is an editing error that was supposed to be either "can't have dairy" or "eat dairy free" and they got smooshed together. That would make the most sense.

If that's true about half your family, then I assume you're accustomed to making dairy free quiche? Mine has butter in the crust and milk in the custard. I know it's possible to make it come out right, but if you aren't experienced, you should probably make at least one ahead of time because the hydration and fat to liquid rations might be different, for example.

The menu does sound fine, but it leans heavily toward carbs and sweets. If that's your intention, fine. Lots of people want a carbtastic first meal of the day. Otherwise, you could balance it by losing the potatoes or pancakes and adding some kind of meat. Because it's brunch, you might also consider adding something vegetable.

An alternative menu might include breakfast meats, a squash/egg casserole, pancakes or bakery rolls, and fruit for the sweet. With optional whipped cream and non-dairy topping if your people like something on their fruit.

Lots of dairy in your meal in the quiche, parfait, and pancakes.

I usually serve a meat of some type, maybe a small ham, thinly sliced, but you have some in your quiche, so that may also be redundant. Potatoes in some form, I have a nice quiche recipe with a hashbrown crust or I make roasted potatoes in the oven. My family loves Woodie's Creme Brulee French Toast, so I make that a lot, but sometimes I make cornmeal pancakes or waffles, depending on how many guests I have. Biscuits are another choice that's popular, along with muffins or bagels. If I'm making the sweet French Toast then I don't make sweet muffins too. Fruit salad is always good and you have that.

Like Martha, I like to add "dessert", which is often coffee cake or sweet pastries but can be brownies or lemon bars or a fruit based crisp.

I'm another person that's confused with the parfaits, though. They can't be yogurt, or they wouldn't be dairy free, so would they be granola/cereal type parfaits or something else?

Coffee, tea, and juice, of course. No one in my family drinks, so things like bloody marys or mimosas are not necessary.

Have fun!

Annie

I forgot to say what I, personally, serve for brunch, and only add this to give you a laugh because it's dairy+. Lasagna. Pumpkin (no meat or tomatoes) and regular. Really. And salad. My people would rather have lasagna and vegetables than pancakes and eggs. :)

I also generally serve meat as well, usually bacon and some type of chicken sausage. For Easter brunch I add a ham.

I like to wrap asparagus spears in prosciutto and roast them during the Spring (since hollandaise is out of the question).

I also make roasted potatoes, as it is easier for a crowd than hash browns.

I generally do cut up fruit, spread in a platter for people to choose

Usually scrambled eggs, half with cheese.

Breads, quick bread/scone/muffin (won't work with the dairy-free) and then a real dessert. A struedel or pie made with shortening instead of butter might work.

Wish me luck, I've got some new Russian tips I'm trying out on the Easter cupcakes.

It depends on how many I am serving.....if it's 30 or so...I do a ham, home made rolls, eggs in some fashion....either scrambled for a mob or an egg, veggie ( like mushrooms, or spinach or broccoli) casserole, but bowl of cut up fruit and "booze" of some sort....mimosas, ro bloody Marys or Clam diggers Cape cod cocktail....and coffee with embellishments....either a liquor, or grated chocolate and orange peel, whipped cream....something sweet and fancy.
For a smaller group, I do different quiches, breakfast meat, sausage bacon or ham....and sticky pecan rolls...if I am brave I will do a cheese souffle!

I would make the pancakes into muffins: scoop 1/4 cup batter into greased muffin tins. Bake for 15-18 minutes. For mini, scoop 1 tablespoon into a mini muffin tin. Bake for 10 minutes.

they taste really good and you can do ther things while they bake.

i would make a quiche with peppers, onions, and maybe spinach all sautéed then mixed with eggs and unsweetened original almond milk. I always use almond milk instead of normal for everything.

fruit salad. Bacon, sausage or ham. Roasted potatoes.

Wow, I wish I did the brunch thing more often! Everything sounds so good.

I am so used to being dairy free now that I don't consider my subs other than the norm. Yes, the yogourt is coconut based. I didn't mention it's mostly kids with a few adults. So, I'll probably do the pancakes as muffins, extra scrambled eggs, change to roasted potatoes instead of hashbrowns. I will add a veggie tray. It is way heavier in carbs than I am used to so I may add in some bacon. I am also leaning towards a crustless quiche. I would love to have geared it more towards adults but the kids complain louder. I think I will make the french toast casserole for Easter breakfast though.

Gooster - good luck with the Easter cupcakes.