Need Ideas for Office Breakfast Club

[SarahEats]

My husband's office does breakfast club every Friday and he's up next week. Since I don't work on Fridays I usually go in to help as the guest chef and I'm looking for some new ideas to spice things up.

They have a kitchen with an oven, stovetop and microwave, so I usually bring in a few things that need heating up. I can't have too much in the oven, though, or nothing cooks (as I learned the hard way one time). Breakfast is at 9 on the dot, so I don't want something that needs to be baked for longer than an hour.

I can do some things on the stovetop, but nothing fried as the boss hates that "McDonald's smell."

His breakfast club partner always brings in bagels, fruit, pastries, juice, etc. since she doesn't cook, so all of that is covered.

I was thinking of some kind of egg casserole, maybe a strata since that has to be done the night before. I would love to do as much as I can the night before since I'm not exactly a morning person and in order to get everything ready by 9 we have to get there super early as it is.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[foodfosheezy]

try a hashbrown bake....I always make one that can be prepared the night before easily by using frozen hashbrowns then adding cheese, peppers, etc. and cooking it in the morning

[ElissaInPlaya]

How many people are you feeding? If it's more than 10; than this might not work...but it is fun and tasty:

ZIPLOC OMELET

(This works great !!! Good for when all your family is together. The best part is that no one has to wait for their special omelet !!!)
Have guests write their name on a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag with
permanent marker.
Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to
combine them.
Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper,
tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc.
Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake.
Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.
Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.
Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.
Nice to serve with fresh fruit and coffee cake; everyone gets involved in the process and a great conversation piece.

Imagine having these ready the night before, and putting the bag in boiling
water while you get ready. And in 13 minutes, you got a nice omelette for a
quick breakfast!!!

by Annie Alexander

[othervoice]

I'd go with the stratta,maybe make 2 or 3 different ones vegetarian/meat.

I did a breakfast buritto bar for about 30 people and even having done alot of prep ahead it was hard to keep up.

[SweetPhyl]

We do an office breakfast every Christmas and every year, without fail, the most popular dishes are my homemade biscuits with creamed chipped beef (kept warm in a crock pot) or the same biscuits with thinly sliced country ham.

[chef chicklet]

Oh I bet it is!

[othervoice]

I didn't realize people still ate that stuff. Great on a chilly night like tonight.

[AnjLM]

Tortilla Espanola. The spanish version of an omelete with potatoes and onions cooked in lots of olive oil. You don't even have to reheat it. Tortilla Espanola is often served at room temp in Spain.

[ballulah]

One summer I was with a huge group of friends at a small and ill equipped lake house, and making meals for 20+ people everyday was a challenge I really enjoyed. I concocted this egg recipe on our last morning there based on what was available at hand and convenience, and everyone loved it. One of my friends looked up at me in awe with a fork halfway to his mouth and said, "How did you get the eggs so FLUFFY!?" And honestly, I didn't do much at all.

We had 4 gorgeous red bell peppers and a Spanish onion and a dozen farm fresh eggs...and some milk. I chopped up the peppers and onions and sauteed in the last dregs of olive oil we had left until the veggies had lost some of their crunch. (You could do your chopping the night before, the rest of the recipe almost cooks itself.) Then I poured the peppers and onions into the bottom of a disposable, aluminium lasagna pan and set aside. I whisked the dozen eggs in a large bowl with some milk, salt and pepper until the egg mixture coated the back of the fork. Poured the eggs over the veggies, and put into a preheated 350 oven until the whole thing puffed up, was ever so slightly browned and had lost it's jiggle in the middle. You could serve this room temperature, but I wouldn't reheat because the eggs will toughen up.

If I'd had some wild mushrooms, and maybe a small hunk of feta I would have thrown that in too.

The result is sort of like a frittata/crustless quiche, but without the fuss.

[SanseiDesigns]

In addition to all the yummy savory suggestions, a family favourite and a big hit at all the breakfast/brunch gatherings I've been to is Danish Puff. I don't know where my Mom got the recipe (she's been making it for years), but I found a very similar recipe in Betty Crocker's classic cookbook recently. The base is a simple cookie/pastry crust, the top is pate au choux. It's easy to make this ahead (day before). Once glazed, cut it into diamonds, arrange on a platter with strawberries and small grape bunches. It looks pretty and tastes even better! I sometimes use it as a dessert for lunch.

[chef chicklet]

I do this for my husband for their office meetings sometimes.
Breakfast burritos, Egg,green onion, bacon cheeses, egg sausage,mushroom and cheeses, and plain egg and cheese with green onion. All with hot sauce.
And I also send plain yogurt, fruit, dried fruit granola, and a couple gallons of milk and juice.

I've done scones,muffins and breads
And egg mcmuffins with ham, cheese or bacon. I wrap it all in foil and you can keep in the oven til ready.

[SarahEats]

I like the idea of the breakfast burritos (I actually made a breakfast enchilada casserole last time) but can this be done ahead of time? Do you think I can assemble these the night before and then wrap them individually in foil and reheat them in the oven? That would be perfect!

[chef chicklet]

Yes you can, actually you can microwave them if you wrap them in plastic then rewrap in foil before serving- just buy those sheets or bags of wax paper to micro wave, and the sheets of foil to rewrap.
I have usually made them all the morning of, and kept them toasty in the oven, throw them in my thermo carrier and then he puts them out in the confrence room with pico pica, salsa, sour cream.
I started making these awhile ago for my kids for breakfast before school, and I often froze them and they microwave them before heading out. Be sure to get the large burrito size flour tortillas and fill them with all kinds of goodies.

[SuzMiCo]

blintzes - you can make them ahead of time and just heat them up in the oven. Serve with defrosted frozen strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Yum!

I also sometimes make an egg-cheese-spinach casserole - pretty much the same as the crustless quiche suggestion above.

[piccola]

If you're covered for bread, I'd say something like a clafoutis or even a fruit crumble, both of which can be served room temp.

You could also make a breakfast trifle: layer cubed angel food cake (or cinnamon raisin toast) with Greek yogurt (sweetened to taste) and fruit. Top with granola.

[librarian]

Crepes. Make (or buy) them ahead of time. Then set up a small "buffet" with various fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses and sauces.

[Pincho]

I second crepes, with a "fillings buffet". Did this for an office potluck, and then for every potluck after, people specifically request that I bring the crepes again... I cook up a huge stack of crepes ahead of time, they'll still be great a few hours later. Then chop up whatever fruits and nuts are available, and also bring whipped cream, chocolate sauce, whatever jams and jellies I have around, and some powdered sugar. Always a hit.

[HillJ]

http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/...

Make this ahead from The Splendid Table! Can be warmed in the office microwave!

[HillJ]

My dh's office also has a breakfast club. His favorite (so far) has been stuffed breads. Using a prepared pizza dough he layers scrambled eggs, pre-cooked hash browns, canadian bacon slices, maple syrup, salt & pepper. Bakes at 350 for 40 minutes first thing in the morning and slices the breads at the office.

They go!

[blue room]

HillJ, forgive me, how does this go together? Where is the bread dough? Like a calzone?

[HillJ]

Sory br...I really did run threw that tip

1) Take the prepared pizza dough and roll to a circle (pizza like)
2) Take prepard fillings as mentioned above and layer on top of dough
3) Roll dough to form a roll
4) Bake
5) Slice

Like a stuffed Calzone but more loaf-like in shape (prior to slicing).

[SarahEats]

This sounds great! I'll run this idea by my husband.

[farmersdaughter]

French toast bread pudding? My mom makes this for brunches sometimes. I prefer strata or something not sweet, but her guests seem to love this.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...

[cheryl_h]

I like the strata idea. I made one recently with hot-smoked salmon which was amazingly good. It was all made the previous day and just reheated.

[Candy]

iin my office we bring in AM treats on the Tues AM closest to our birthdays. One year I asked, what woudl you all like for me to make. They all wanted brakfast casseroles. Easy and cheap enough. I have two of the large Le Creuset lasagna bakers that really hold the heat. I do one breakfst bread pudding and one more strata like casserole. It varies by year and I have found a number of good recipes for the bread pudding type at Epicurious. On the strata type I wing it. Last year I made sort of a baked migas with chorizo, cheese and garnishes of crisp tortilla strips and salsa. This year I gave it and Italian twist with spicy Italian sausage and a variety of cheeses and a pretty sprinkle of parsley garnish. Every bit was eaten. The beauty of the stratas or the bread pudding things is that almost all of it can be done the night before and just popped in the oven while you shower and dress. The bread puddings I assemble the whole thing the night before and with the stratas I get all of the components ready the night before and throw it together in the AM. No thinking needed. I too am not a real AM person either. Epicurious has almost 300 options.

[SarahEats]

Thanks for the suggestion...I'll check out Epicurious.

[Elizzie]

If there's bagels and pastries, you might want to consider a "crustless" quiche instead of a strata (so much bread...). I've had great success just baking the filling in a well-buttered pan. How many people?