In my family we have a tradition of waking up early on Christmas morning, opening gifts, and then enjoying a nice breakfast together as a family. I know that is pretty common in most families. You want a delicious meal for your family that won’t blow YOUR plan, but how to do that without lots of work and mess?

We’ve got your back! Nik and I love coming up with tasty weekend morning breakfast treats, so we already have quite a few you can refer to that are both easy to make and something that everyone will love for the perfect Christmas morning spread.

You can set up a “Parfait Bar” with the ingredients for my Daybreak Protein Parfait and let everyone help themselves. Put some pretty glasses at one end, then each ingredient in a separate bowl so people can make them however they like.

Put a platter of fresh fruit alongside the parfait bar, with a thermos of coffee and a carafe of something cold to drink. I like to mix the Diet V8 Fusion Juice with a little bit of Diet Sprite or Club Soda for a refreshing alternative to Fruit Juice. If you’re early out and not cleared for carbonated drinks, you can serve it without the “fizzy mix-in.” A big pitcher of Crystal Light Sunrise is a good replacement for Orange Juice.

Now let’s talk about the main dish. Depending on what your family prefers, we have a few tasty choices. SOS is always a breakfast favorite, served on toast. It’s also delicious on grits if your family likes grits.

Vegetarians in the crowd who don’t eat eggs? Nik’s Vegetarian Breakfast Tostada is a delicious alternative for the non-carnivores who also happen to not eat eggs. (I know there is an official term for that, but I can’t think of it at this moment.)

If your family is into eggs and you have a big crowd to feed, I’d say one of my Frittatas or Nik’s Southwestern Scramble would be just the ticket. You can double any of the recipes to feed more than 8 people. For a smaller crowd, Nik’s Egg Rosettes are delicious and festive.

If you need to get food out quickly, then I wouldn’t suggest making these as the main dish for a big crowd of mostly non-ops, because you can only make them in batches of 12 or so. For larger groups, they are perfect side “bites” and everyone always raves over them. Protein Latkes make a delicious accompaniment to any of these main dishes.