Recipes of the day: The inspiration for Chatelaine's latest brunch recipes

The most common question I am asked about my job is "Where do the recipes come from". The answer? Everywhere. Everywhere from, when we (in the Test Kitchen) cook at home, eat out, read magazines and cookbooks, shop at the market, to when friends and family cook for us. Two of the lovely recipes in our May issue Brunch menu were inspired by dishes made by friends of mine. You may have heard me mention Brunch Club in previous posts. If not, Brunch Club is a group of my friends who get together about once a month for brunch. We rotate houses and enjoy a delicious brunch made by the host that month. I thought I'd take this opportunity to do a shout out to the gals who's recipes inspired Chatelaine's DIY Eggs Benedict and French Toast Sandwiches with Raspberry Cream. Maureen made an incredible spread for Do-it-yourself Eggs Benedict. After I had the pleasure of enjoying this delicious breakfast I proposed it as an idea for our Chatelaine's May issue — guests assemble their own bases for Eggs Benny and the host makes up the poached eggs and hollandaise. The talented Chatelaine Test Kitchen staff ran with the idea and made their own version with poached eggs and blender hollandaise. And here's a pic of Maureen's original brunch spread that inspired these recipes: I'm still locating pictures of the French toast inspiration and will add them soon. The French toast was made on a camping trip excursion where Jenn (Brunch Club member) made a raspberry and ricotta stuffed French toast. They were cooked in frying pans on the campfire. Yum!