Simple Mimosa Bar and Bloody Mary Bar

Putting together a simple mimosa bar and bloody Mary bar adds fun and several options to a brunch menu with very little effort.

A very casual Sunday brunch has become our quarantine habit this year.  After our early morning Sunday pickleball match, our small group all contributes to brunch afterward – usually at the pool.

But with a cold front moving in, we moved our brunch indoors and DF Evon really upped the game with a gorgeous Christmas table setting and yummy tater tot casserole.

Look at the adorable peppermint napkins she found. So cute.

My contribution this week was a simple mimosa bar and bloody Mary bar.  Personally, I don’t like diluting my champagne with juice and it makes my drink too sweet, but I do love adding fruit. 

I found some really nice Langers pomegranate blueberry juice at Sprouts this week, and that, along with traditional orange juice and some nice fresh berries, made an easy yet pretty mimosa bar.

For the vodka drinkers, there were screwdrivers and bloody Marys.  I’m not a vodka drinker, but I do love a virgin drink with spicy V8 and jalapeno-stuffed olives.  Yep.  It’s good.

My weekday non-alcohol mocktail is pomegranate blueberry juice, sparkling water and a few cranberries floating.   When served in a pretty footed crystal glass, I feel so special and like I’m getting a real treat.  I use about 2/3 lime seltzer to 1/3 juice.  The juice is no sugar added, but it’s still a whopping 29 grams of sugar in a full glass and I certainly don’t need that!

What I’m Reading

Saving Jason is the fourth and perhaps final in the Jason Stafford series by Michael Sears.  I really loved the first three, and while I’d recommend the series, this particular book fell flat.  The characters were two dimensional, the plot was uninteresting and the action sort of non-sensical and hard to follow.  I was really looking forward to this book which makes me disappointed.  I’m giving it three stars because I like the author so well, but it’s probably really a 2.5 out of five.

This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind by Ivan Doig is a memoir that reads like his novels.  Interesting, colorful in both the characters and the Montana landscape, I loved this audiobook.  I may have mentioned this before, but Doig was from a time my parents were from and though his experience was different, I feel close to them when I hear his story.  Recommend!

What I’m Eating

John is the cook this week so I’m sharing what he did.  For a small neighborhood get-together, he made potato skins.  These are such a hearty appetizer, that if you don’t get dinner, you still feel like you’ve had a meal.

For our brunch, he made a beautiful layered mint chocolate cake from Eating Well.  He is a baker who does it by the book, which he did and in my humble opinion, it came out a bit too sweet.  Well, it was his opinion too.  I always use about 1/3 less sugar than the recipe calls for and I think it would have helped on this.

He did a great job with it and it was a wonderful dessert on the brunch table. My picture does it no credit.

For the potato skins, this is what he did:

Baked Potato Skins

• 8 small russet potatoes
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1/3 cup bacon bits
• ½ cup sour cream

Bake potatoes at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.  Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out part of the potato white, sprinkle with cheese and bacon bits, reheat a few minutes until cheese melts and skins are a bit crusty.

Serve with a side of sour cream.

If you don’t want to waste the potato insides, you can whip up some mashed potatoes to eat another time.

Marley

DFs Barb and Stu welcomed a new member to their family this week.  Marley joined us along with Chloe and Millie for brunch on Sunday so we could meet him.  He’s only seven months old and only eight pounds.  He’s such a tiny bundle of unbounded energy I could not get him to sit still for his Christmas pic. 

Sorry the picture is poor, but I’m sure the little cutie will make an appearance again.

It’s hard to believe Christmas is just about a week away.  Egads.  I hope you are finding some reasons to celebrate this season – even if it is just with a mocktail.  Sending peace and love.