If there is one thing I’ve missed throughout my ex-pat experience it is waking up on a weekend morning to a table full of hearty breakfast treats. I’ve learned that few countries celebrate this meal the way we do in the US.
Most often breakfast in Brazil is bread with butter, coffee and maybe some fruit. Breakfast is a bigger deal to me. While I’ve been known to have toast now and then, eggs, oatmeal and yogurt usually join the mix. If it is a weekend, well, things get a little more extravagant.
After sharing stories of cozy weekends filling our stomachs with country breakfast favorites, we found that many of our new Brazilian friends wanted to experience it too.
With plans to have a breakfast party at some point the October Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 event gave me the motivation to put things together and enter the idea.
Well, here we are! On October 25th we took part in this exciting event with a Country-style US Breakfast in Maringá-PR, Brazil.
Making your favorite foods in a new land is an interesting challenge. Not to mention the fact that when you are living in a place for only a short time (and can ship few things along) elegant dinnerware and serving platters are the first to go.
I made the best of it and along with my husband, a ½ size oven and some borrowed forks and knifes, we exposed our friends to some of our favorite foods from home.
Let’s start with the menu. I’ll warn you, it is a bit carb-loaded, but then again what great US breakfast isn’t. I wanted to give our guests a taste of many things without making a ton of separate dishes.
Ham and cheese sandwiches turn into a breakfast casserole in this recipe my mom received from a friend a few years ago.Oven Home Fries
Potatoes, onions, and peppers baked topped with grill seasoning.
Pancakes with Maple Syrup
Pancakes made from scratch, topped with syrup brought to us by coworkers visiting from the US.
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon sweetness adapted from a recipe at The Salty Cod.
Fresh Fruit Salad
In an effort to offer a healthy option, fruit salad in a watermelon boat made from fruits popular both in the US and Brazil – watermelon, pineapple, kiwi and bananas.
Mimosas
Orange juice and champagne to cool us from the summer heat.
(I think these were for me. Entertaining can be stressful!)
Considering the fact that we would have some guests who only spoke Portuguese, I made some little signs for each food with both languages to clear up confusion and keep me from having to explain multiple times.
Prep started the night before with the breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls, both of which rested in the fridge overnight giving me a lot less to do in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
The Ham and Cheese Brunch combines 4 favorite breakfast items into one dish – ham, cheese, bread and eggs. Unfortunately we had to make due with processed cheese. Good cheddar doesn’t exist around here. It wasn’t my first choice for keeping things focused on real foods, but what can you do?
Ham and Cheese Brunch Bake 
16 slices bread (any variety would work, but I used plain ol’ white)
8 slices deli-sliced ham
8 slices sharp cheddar cheese
6 eggs
3 cups milk
1 tsp. brown mustard
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup corn flakes, crushed
1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained
Layer a large casserole dish with 8 bread slices. Top the bread with the ham and then the cheese. Layer the 8 remaining slices of bread on top. Mix eggs, milk and mustard. Pour over casserole, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning add crushed cereal to the melted butter. Stir in the mushrooms and spread over the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Makes 8, main course servings.
I adapted the cinnamon rolls from a recipe by The Salty Cod. For the inside of the rolls I used what I had available here – brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon and some pumpkin pie spice (brought from home). I also took my chances cutting them with a serrated knife instead of floss.
Saturday morning was a frenzy of baking off the rolls and casserole, cutting fruit, chopping potatoes and pancake making. I am the worst pancake-maker you will ever meet, so this is where my husband came in and saved the day.
The original plan was to make pecan pancakes and while I promise I saw them around the holidays last year, they are no where to be found in supermarkets around here at the current moment.
Pancakes 
from the Betty Crocker’s Cookbook Bridal Edition
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup milk
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Butter for the pan, if needed
Beat egg in medium bowl until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients (except butter) until smooth. For thinner pancakes, stir in additional 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk.
Makes nine 4-inch pancakes. We doubled the recipe and made small, silver-dollar pancakes.
Guests arrived at 10:00 am and included friends I have made during my time here (one who found me through my blog) and my husband’s coworkers/friends and their loved ones.
My first surprise was all the pictures. Everyone had their camera out to snap photos of the food. Next came the eatin’ and I have to say I was certainly happy with the response. I think enough was said in the fact that many of them went back for seconds and even thirds.
“Muito bom (very good)” and “delicioso (delicious)” were repeated many times.
For some this breakfast brought back memories of their travels and for others it was a completely new experience. We’ve experienced so many new things especially regarding food since moving to Brazil and it was nice to be able to provide this opportunity to our new friends.
Hooray for hearty, satisfying breakfasts!! :0)
WOW! What a breakfast! So impressed with you. While we always eat some sort of breakfast, I rarely cook a big one. We’re much more likely to have a big breakfast at dinner than in the morning. Can’t wait to see more in the future!
So cute! What a great idea. Thats amazing that you shared our crazy US traditions in Brazil. Way to make due with what you had in the kitchen. We have most of our stuff in storage so I struggle in the kitchen as well!!
Amazing post! Love all the pics and recipes!
How awesome! I love making a big meal like that. It takes a lot of time, but it’s totally worth it! When I was in Italy for a few weeks, we made burgers and fries one night. I hardly eat that at home, but it tasted darn good!
Thanks so much everyone! It was a lot of fun… and to be featured on foodbuzz, even better!
jenn – I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes when we travel we’ll sit down to a burger and fries. It seems like regular, unexciting food to everyone else, but like you we rarely have it at home.
that’s one great breakfast!
-DTW
http://www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com
Yum. Love big, hearty breakfasts. Also an interesting way to learn more about Brazilian cooking and eating.
Those pics and recipes are making me hungry!!!
Sounds like it was lots of fun.
OH MY GOD Lori!!!! Tell me these cinnamon rolls taste the same as those in the US and I’ll love you forever! I got addicted to it when I was living in the US, but didn’t find anything that would come even close to it back in Brazil! I’m trying this recipe today!
forgot to say that I’ve tried LOTS of recipes and was never able to make the rolls soft enough…
Bru – Well, they didn’t turn out quite as good as I had hoped. They weren’t as fluffy as the ones in the US, but I am going to give them another try. I think a lot of it has to do with our weather here.
I’m still learning a lot about bread making at home. I used to work at a bread store, but baking it at home is very different for me. I’ll keep you posted on how they turn out when I try them again. Let me know how they turn out for you!
Wow, looks great! I can identify with the difficulty in trying to make favorites from home in a foreign country.
WoW! Looks tasty…what a post! 🙂
One of the things that I love the most here in the States is breakfast. You guys really know how to start the day 😉 Congratulations and great job!
Lori,
I heard that you have to use some specific “brands” of flour to get better results on some baked goods. Please let me know if you are interested and I will get the names from my Brazilian friend.
Loved your recipes, I am definitely making your breakfast casserole…
On another note, I saw a big cut out for “ACAI JUICE” at a “Smoothie stand” at the Cambridge Mall in the Boston area this afternoon, I was drinking coffee, so I decided to try it the next time around…
Ray
Thanks again for the comments!
ihmmb, ben – Welcome and thanks for stopping by!
ray – I would definitely like to know the flour brand. Let me know how the acai is there.
It was AWESOME!
loved everything Lori!
Thanks SOOO Much for doing this!
everything tasted awesome,i havent had a brunch this good forever!
:*
(this is me, Julia) hehe
I will try to make some of the great things you did, and will let you know how they turned out! =)
Tks so much for doing the bfast =)
Wow, it all looks great! You’d never know you didn’t have a full gourmet kitchen and an American supermarket nearby. What a wonderful way to share cultures!
Julia – Thanks. I’m glad you were able to make it. Definitely let me know.
delightfully – Sometimes I feel like cooking is a miracle around here. Ha, ha! It has taken me forever to get used to the kitchen and the new measurments. 🙂
Lori, this looks delish! Chile is also not huge on breakfast, so I feel you. I don’t usually have a huge breakfast at home, but I miss being able to go out to breakfast on special days. There is a New Zealand-run cafe that does breakfast/brunch here, but their eggs benedict wasn’t that great (my mom made the world’s best hollandaise sauce – objectively, not just my opinion! – so I’ve been spoiled for all others). I’ll have to go back and try something else now that you’ve got me in the mood for a big US breakfast!
emily – We are the same way. I like smaller breakfast most days, but we miss the opportunity to go out for a big morning meal from time to time.
Is an English breakfast as big and good as an Irish one? Hopefully you’ll get your fill of some things over the holidays. 🙂
fantastic!! I think a big hearty breakfast is something I would miss for sure if I ever moved 🙂
Hi steph – Thanks for your comment. Loved your ice cream event!