Dear Sharon,

I have a couple of thoughts for you. How about a waffle/pancake station? I am including here my family's recipe for Mock Sourdough Pancakes/Waffles. You could increase the recipe. The great thing about this recipe is that you make it the night before, in order to give it time to rise. That's one less thing you would have to do the morning of. Here you go:

MOCK SOURDOUGH PANCAKES/WAFFLES

Mix:
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water with
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
Blend in:
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk
2 to 3 cups flour
Let rise in cool place overnight. Cook as you would any pancakes or waffles.

Then you can just have bowls of toppings handy for guests to help themselves. If you are in a rush, you could simply use canned pie fillings as toppings. I prefer mine with just butter and maple syrup however.

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Next thought: just this morning I made a batch of Malt-O-Meal muffins. The recipe was on the side of the box and they are truly delicious. You could probably make several batches of these the day before the brunch as well.

MAGIC MUFFINS

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dry Malt-O-Meal
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Stir together until all ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into greased or paper-lined muffin pans, filling cups 3/4 full. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until center is firm to the touch.

Yield: 12 muffins

Fruit salads and pasta salads are a nice serve-yourself to have at brunch. A while back I posted recipes for Snoopy's Seafood Salad, Corn Salad and Jell-O Pretzel Salad. I will try to locate them here on the website and re-post them for you.

Good luck, and I hope you have a lovely brunch.

Marilyn