Books and Brunch: Well “Red” with Ripe Offerings for the Holidays!

Posted on Nov 19 2014 - 5:21pm by Brenda Meehan

With the holidays around the corner, hosting “Book Club” at our house brings new “Brunch for Lunch” ways to munch mid-day. We’re crunching right along with amazing apple offerings: Overnight Crock Pot Apple Pie Oatmeal and Applewood Smoked BLT’s on a Bun! All while “booking it” right along to enjoy a day with our literary lovelies. Read into fast and festive ways to minimize the effort of a big brunch, while still enjoying a memorable meeting of the minds.

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Apple-icious Autumn Menu: Pairing up our spin on porridge with bite sized BLT’s on crusty buns brings brunch to lunch without feeling too heavy. The ABC’s of a beautiful morning: Apples, Bacon, and Cake! 😉

– Overnight Crockpot Apple Pie Oatmeal
– Applewood Smoked BLT’s on a bun
– Our dessert “pick”: Cake Gone Fruity!

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Overnight Apple Pie Oatmeal! Our friend and reader Kailey made this tasty breakfast for her girls at work at Lululemon, and they loved it. Thank you for sharing, Kailey!

Ingredients: this recipe has been doubled to feed 6-8 people.

– 4-6 apples, peeled, cubed
– 2 cups of steel cut oats
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp nutmeg
– 4 tbsp brown sugar
– 6 cups milk (We used skim)
– extra brown sugar
– a touch of extra milk for each bowl

Instructions:
1. Start by peeling and chopping the apples and put them in the crock pot.
2. Add the oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and milk to the crock pot and stir.
3. Cover your crock pot and turn on low for 3 hours.
4. Turn crock pot to warm for the remainder of the night.
5. Wake up and smell the oatmeal! Gently stir, spoon into individual bowls, add a touch of milk, sprinkle additional brown sugar on top of each bowl, and enjoy!

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Applewood Smoked BLT’s on a Bun!

**Most of the work for these tasty little guys can be done ahead of time. All you have to do is bring home the bacon!

Ingredients:
– Fresh crusty buns
– Applewood Smoked Bacon ( A little pricey, but worth the investment!)
– Sliced Roma Tomatoes
– Fresh leafed lettuce
– Condiments: mustard, mayo, etc.

The How-To:
1. Fry up your bacon, set on paper towels to drain and set aside.
2. Wash and leaf your lettuce, store in fridge.
3. Slice roma tomatoes in slices to fit buns.
4. Plate your buns on a rustic serving platter (we used a cheeseboard!), and prep for BLT building!

…and last but not least: Cake Gone Fruity! A simply delicious recipe from our good friend Cheri…

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Ingredients:
– One or Two Dozen Donut Holes
– One Box Strawberries
– Skewers

Directions:
1. Couldn’t be simpler! Layer your donut holes along your skewers with alternating Strawberries, and repeat!

Book An Outstanding Orchard Tablescape:

By using tones of orchard red and mossy green, table building around books and a bounty of apples was easy as apple pie. We “picked” a green table runner, adorned with shining red charger plates that doubled as placemats. Every setting was complete with a mug for coffee or cider, a bowl for apple pie oatmeal, and utensils all wrapped with coordinating napkins and raffeta!

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Next on the menu: Apple-tastic favors with flavor and fun! Each guest received an apple bag (scored at Target for $0.30!! Can you believe it?) that we filled with goodies: breakfast trek granola and raisins for topping off oatmeal, hand sanitizer for sticky hands, a pumpkin spice tea, and brown sugar bags to “sweeten the pot”.

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Low cost literature to love, that pulls double duty as a centerpiece! While I was visiting a friend on the mend, one of her gal pals brought over this inspirational and incredible gift! We were instantly motivated to make our own. Read, relax, and recycle with this no-cost gift of food for the soul. Bag up a few books you love for a loved one, an include a DIY custom gift tag using a recycled card!
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Cards saved throughout the year can go crafty when you save the covers! This card worked perfectly, with a quick hole punch!

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Gathering all of my peeps in one basket, around our table, LOL…provides us each with the blessings of beautiful company, brainy discussions, hearty laughs, and of course a delicious brunch. 

1 Comment so far. Feel free to join this conversation.

  1. Marie Gould November 21, 2014 at 12:57 pm -

    Love oatmeal so can’t wait to try this Crock Pot Oatmeal Apple Pie.