Brunch vs. Dinner: My Trials and Tribulations

My favorite meal is brunch. Not breakfast, not lunch, but a big ole BRUNCH. I love it so much that we had a brunch for our wedding. A brunch that was catered by my mom, my aunts, my cousin, and myself. The night before my wedding I was up to my elbows in whipped eggs and cream cheese and I literally couldn’t have been happier.

More than eating brunch, I love to have people over and serve them brunch. My brunch menu is pretty set in stone and it is something I can pick up on a day’s notice and by the next morning everyone is raving about my strata’s and baked french toasts and light and simple desserts. Brunch, I can do.

Dinner gives me heart palpitations. I never know what to make, I never know how much to make. I’m always trying out new recipes when I have guests over and then panicking that what I made isn’t going to be any good. I can’t seem to find the perfect meal for evening entertaining, my one go-to. Also, with dinner you have to worry about vegetarians and vegans and pescetarians and everyone else’s dietary needs in a way you don’t have to with brunch. You put some bagels out and everyone has something they’ll eat.

I’ve decided to start a dinner club with some of my friends so that I can get over this ridiculous fear of cooking dinner. The bottom line is, I love to cook, I love to entertain, and I need to get over myself. Even though we’re not getting together for another week and a half, I’m already planning (freaking out!) about the menu. I’m pretty settled on Smitten Kitchen’s Mushroom Bourguignon because I made it once before and liked it. I also thought about a taco night, or a make your own pizza night, but I wanted to go classy and actually cook something.

I think the hardest thing about dinner vs. brunch is that there is so much you can do to prepare brunch in advance so that by the time your guests come the food is either in the oven or resting on the counter. I can’t seem to find a recipe for dinner that is so low maintenance.

Here is my favorite brunch recipe ever. Its a Spinach and Cheese Strata the I really consider my signature dish and my friends expect when they come to my house for brunch.

Do any of you have a great dinner recipe that is low maintenance and awesome? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Read more about Cooking here: Why I Never Stole Cookies from the Cookie Jar and Turkey Bacon Biscuit BLTs and Don’t Judge the Chopped Judges