Hosting overnight guests for the holidays means having to serve them breakfast (or brunch if you do things right and sleep in). Nobody wants to spend time cooking in the morning instead of chatting, playing board games in a bathrobe, or staring at a wall as you recover from the night before. Now’s your chance to take the easy road.

Making stuff ahead and letting people serve themselves equals less stress, and you don’t have to deal with whiners asking for special treatment. You can appease most by offering options for picky eaters. Tell people if it’s not out on the table you don’t have it, and you are not making anything else! For those of you with “mixed” families, be sure to offer vegan/vegetarian or gluten free options.

The other bonus with these recipes is that you can control the calories and added sugar in your own serving without depriving everyone else.

Oatmeal buffet (serves 10-12)

Breakfast doesn’t have to be a pain in the ass. Make steel cut oats the night before in the crock pot, or just quickly make some old fashioned oats in the morning. Old fashioned oats can be made in less that 10 min on the stove top. Quick cooking oats in my opinion aren’t worth the couple of extra minutes saved.

Slow cooker steel cut: 4 parts liquid to 1 part oats. (I use 12 cups water and 3 cups oats.) Butter or spray crock before adding ingredients. Add 1/2 tsp salt if desired. Cook on low for 6-8 hrs.

Stove top old fashioned oats: 2 parts liquid to 1 part oats. I used 12 cups water and 6 cups of oats. Boil water, add 1/2 tsp of salt and oats, cook 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, to desired texture.

Set up different fixings and let people create their own masterpieces. You can keep it simple or go crazy.

Fixings ideas:

Milk (or milk alternative)

Cream or alternative

Fruit (dried or fresh). I like sliced bananas, chopped apples (cooked for 2-3 minutes in the microwave), blueberries, dried cranberries, cherries, raisins, apricots

Flavorings (cinnamon, vanilla or almond extract)

Sweeteners (brown sugar, maple syrup, coconut palm sugar, agave, honey)

Flaky salt

Butter

Bonus items, like chocolate chips, nuts, seeds, shredded coconut, and maybe even sprinkles for the kids

Breakfast burrito bar (serves 8-10, doubles easily )

Prep your fixings the night before, or better yet get your guests to help after they’ve had a couple of whiskeys. I put everything into little lidded containers on a cookie sheet in the fridge so it’s ready to pull out and use the next day.

Beat 1 dozen eggs with a half cup of milk or liquid of choice. Bake in a greased 9×13 pan at 350 for 20-25 min, or until set, stirring once halfway through. Fluff and break up the eggs a bit when done cooking for easier serving.

Heat up some flour tortillas (or wrap of choice, like these) in the microwave and cover with a clean tea towel to keep warm. Provide 2-3 tortillas per person if using taco-sized, 1-2 per person if using burrito-sized.

Breakfast burrito bar fixings ideas:

Something spicy—Salsa, warm enchilada sauce, picante

Something creamy—Sour cream, cubed avocado or guacamole, shredded cheese

Something beany—Prepared beans—canned or homemade (pinto or black beans). Need 1 can per 3-4 people. Microwave to warm If needed.

Something green and strong—cilantro, green onion

Something salty—Crumbled cooked bacon, sausage, meatless breakfast sausage, black olives

Something crunchy/wet—shredded jicama, shredded carrots, fresh sprouts, shredded cabbage, diced tomatoes, diced onion

If you are extra motivated you can soak beans overnight and cook them quickly in a pressure cooker while the eggs bake.

I personally don’t like to make quick soaked beans or pressure cook beans from dry. It’s like wishing for Farty the Christmas Elf to surprise you with gifts by afternoon.

Baked French toast (serves 8-10)

This is a great way to use up old bread or dinner rolls. I used these hamburger buns leftover from my son’s birthday dinner. I like my French toast bake barely sweet, and people can add their own dang sweet things on top after cooking. Eating sweetness on the outside of your food, where it is instantly accessible to the tongue, allows you to use less sugar.

Cut bread into 1” cubes. You will need 10-12 cups. This is about a loaf of bread’s worth.

Make your custard. 8 eggs beaten with 2 cups milk of choice.  Flavor with 1/2 tsp cinnamon, the scrapings from 1 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp vanilla extract), and 1/2 cup maple syrup. I used my blender to make this easier.

Add bread cubes to a greased 9×13 pan and pour custard over. Cover and let soak overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake uncovered for 40-50 min, until set and browned to your liking.

Variations:

Add berries to top before baking

Add 2 mashed bananas to custard mix, top with walnut pieces.

Add 1 cup pumpkin purée and 1/8 tsp nutmeg to custard mix.

Gluten free version

Vegan version

Baked French Toast Fixings:

Warm fruit compote or sauce 

Whipped cream, coconut whipped cream, or cashew cream

Maple syrup for drizzling

Chopped toasted nuts

Banana slices

These breakfasts work for anytime you want to kick back and actually talk to the people in your house, whether they are guests or your doting spawn. I personally don’t need guests to arrive in order to eat a giant breakfast, and you don’t have to either: save your leftovers and you will have breakfast all week!