Where do I begin with bagels? Bagels and I have been having a torrid love affair ever since I was a little kid. My dad used to take me to this great little Jewish deli near our house where on special occasion we would go to buy Bagels, Lox and “Schmear” (aka cream cheese). I say we went there only on special occasions because the Lox (or smoked salmon) was so expensive, you’d have to take a mortgage out on your house to buy it (this is a direct quote from my mom).

Bagels are honestly God’s gift to breakfast, lunch and dinner. I love my bagel with a decent amount of cream cheese, and a ton of Lox/Nova Salmon/Smoked Salmon on top….but there are also so many other great garnishes you can add on top, which is why I decided to take my love for Cheese and Charcuterie Boards to breakfast and make a Bagel Board.

What I love about this idea is that you can add all sorts of fun breakfast items to your board, which can be great for a breakfast, brunch, lunch or any party.

While having kids, we only really ever got out to eat for the meal of brunch (this is pre-Covid obviously). Brunch is early in the day while the kids are still in a good mood (whereas we found dinners out to be during the witching hour of when kids are their absolute worst). Pre-kids, brunch in NYC was more of like an 11am boozefest with food on the side…but with kids it became “let’s find a place that has bagels on the menu for our very picky eater”. After much brunch research and bagel eating, we have found that most brunch places don’t actually have good bagels, instead we found a local Bagel place in New Jersey, Bagel Barn, which to me honestly has the BEST bagels outside of NYC and it’s become our place for all things bagel.

SO for today’s bagel board I am going to add all of my favorite things that I think of when I think “bagel”:

·      Various Cream Cheeses – regular and scallion

·      Various Smoked Salmons

·      Dill

·      Capers

·      Red Onion

·      Tomato

·      Avocado

·      Lemon

·      Gherkins

·      Cucumber

Other options: Fruit, Bacon, Soft Boiled eggs cut in half, lettuce, olives – get creative! This is a fun thing to do for the family on the weekend – pour yourself a homemade Mimosa and pretend you’re out at a fancy brunch spot (but still at home, comfy in your pj’s)!

Enjoy!