Annual Family Brunch Made Easier

Every year, my family holds a reunion that takes place over a four day weekend. The majority of us live in one central location, and the others either drive or fly in, depending on their location. It consists of outdoor activities that we can do together, one very nice catered dinner, one barbecue, one nice luncheon out at a restaurant, and on the final day, a great big brunch that I host.

It started with about 20 of us, when I first started hosting 15 years ago. Now it has increased to about 40, give or take depending on who can attend. Once people started having children, things really blew up, especially as these kids really started eating. It’s amazing to see the family grow, but WOW, it is a lot of work.

As the family got bigger, doing everything by hand was simply not an option anymore. I knew it was time to break out the big guns. I needed my Cuisinart food processor. I did my research on what recipes are made easier by using this tool, and I was pleasantly surprised by all that the internet had to offer.

I checked on my food processor, and figured I should probably buy some new blades if anything unexpectedly broke or wore out fast,  and a few work bowls to keep me moving without having to wash every single one for different recipes. I went to KitchenWorksInc. to order these parts, as I had ordered from them before and knew they sold legit Cuisinart DFP 14 parts.

I wanted a wide array of everything: appetizers, main dishes and desserts. There were so many options and I was super excited. I started developing a pretty unique menu. I couldn’t wait to get started.

My appetizers were really fun to come up with, and every single one was made with my food processor. From the gazpacho, eggplant spread, beer cheese sauce with pretzels, to the meat and veggie kebabs with chimichurri sauce.

My family is also crazy about hummus so we make several different kinds: traditional, avocado, black bean, edamame, beet and sweet potato. It may seem a little overboard, but everyone really loves hummus. It’s literally all gone at the end.

I try to keep the main dishes fairly simple, but also give some variety. I decided to make an assortment of sliders, which are all made up in the food processor. I made salmon, beef, turkey and a veggie slider of black beans and quinoa. Next were the mixed meatballs: a combo of turkey, beef and pork. And to finish the main dishes, jalapeno avocado macaroni and cheese.

For dessert I made cookies and cream cookies, cheesecake, and chocolate hazelnut spread with crepes. The bulk of all of these things are, you guessed it, made with the food processor. It’s really unbelievable.

One of the best things about it is I can make so many of these things up ahead of time and freeze them, rather than having to do them the day before or the morning of! It really makes this huge brunch way less intimidating. Everything comes out seeming like it was professionally done and it’s all because of my Cuisinart food processor.