Eggs

Caprese Frittata and Friendship

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Happy Holidays! I can’t believe it’s December…and that I only have a 10 month old for one more week. That means I will have an 11 month old for only one month and then boom…my baby is a year old and not such a baby any longer. Insert all the crying emojis.

Amelia Christmas

10 months has been the most fun yet. Considering it has coincided with the winter holiday season it has also been the busiest yet. Amelia is now crawling and starting to pull up and clapping and pointing and doing some baby signs and eating EVERYTHING…all in the last month. I am equal parts proud of all the new developments, excited for the things to come and nostalgic for the days that we first brought her home from the hospital and I didn’t quite know what to do with her. Those days sure don’t seem like almost 11 months ago. And back then I couldn’t imagine being where I am now. Time is funny like that.

A few weeks ago Amelia and I had a visit from my two best friends from college, Anna and Michelle. They are also some of my favorite traveling companions as you’ll remember from Maine, Canada and even as far back as China!

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The three of us lived together our last two years of college and they are some of my very favorite people who hold some of my very favorite memories. Lots has changed since those days, but when we are all together its just the same as it always was. This visit was extra special because not only was it the first time the three of us have all been together again since we went to Maine, but they also got to meet and spend more time with Amelia! Seeing your best friends loving your children is pretty incredible.

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Our visit was low key and just right. We went to dinner, lounged around the house, took Amelia shopping, ate chili and watched football and did lots of watching the baby in anticipation of her starting to crawl. Despite Anna and Michelle’s best efforts to teach her she still waited another week or two to start. A for effort guys!

I ended that weekend with a profound sense of appreciation for old friendships. I am always thankful for the wonderful people I get to call friends, but lately I have been overcome with the knowledge of just how precious my female friendships are. I exchanged Christmas presents last night with my two best friends here, Justice and Lindsay. I ended the evening with a profound sense of appreciation for new friendships too. Justice and Lindsay made Hilton Head finally feel like “home” and I cherish the time we spend together. Reuniting with Anna and Michelle also feels like coming home. I always say I would rather be with Robert than anyone else in the world, and I would, but the older I get, especially in this season of new motherhood, the more I realize that time with these girls is also necessary to my health and happiness. How lucky I am to have all four of them and a few other wonderful women who also fall into this category ❤

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Slow Saturday Breakfast: Creamed Eggs on Toast

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After a pretty heavy last post, let’s get back to something lighter…at least in tone, maybe not so much in calories. Most of my breakfasts tend to be on the healthier side, oatmeal, egg and veggie scrambles, protein pancakes, the occasional green smoothie, BUT balance is important and occasionally you have to indulge. Robert’s special breakfasts are usually of the french toast variety, but I tend towards the savory side of life to start my day. This recipe is a favorite, partly because it’s delicious and partly because it’s inextricably linked to two of my favorite people; my grandparents, otherwise known as Nana and Papa.

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My grandparents on their wedding day ❤

Grandparents are literally the best, especially mine. My childhood is full of wonderful memories of time and summers spent with them and even in my teen years, when we lived 9 hours away from them, they never hesitated to jump in the car and make the drive to be with us. They were always there for the big things; birthdays, graduations, surgeries and the seemingly insignificant, like seeing us get ready for high school prom. When we went through the miscarriage they drove 6 hours just to give me a hug and take me out to lunch ❤ Like I said, the best.

ingredients

When we go to visit my grandparents there is no shortage of good food for any meal, but my grandmother always makes creamed eggs on toast for breakfast at least once during our stay. She told me it was one of the very first things she learned how to make in Home Ec class when she was in high school. I remember exactly nothing that I learned in my high school Home Ec class other than never put dish soap in a dishwasher. One of my group members made that unfortunate error and we all had to come to Saturday school for flooding the classroom.

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Slow Saturday Breakfast – Acorn Squash Egg in the Hole

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Happy Friday! It’s ALMOST the weekend…hallelujah! I have really been dragging all week thanks to the time change, so I am more than ready for a few less scheduled days to get me back on track. Of course, true to form, Robert and I will be traveling this weekend so I’m not sure how much rest I’ll actually get.

After work today we are heading to Clemson for the Florida State game. This is the first game we have been able to attend all season and for once I may be just as excited as Robert! We are renting a big house with Robert’s parents, aunt & uncle and cousins and are planning a big tailgate with our friends! I am in charge of breakfast on Saturday and although I am planning on crowd friendly biscuits and breakfast casserole, I wanted to go ahead and share this yummy fall breakfast with you!

Plated Close Up

Growing up, my father’s mother, Grandma Mary used to make us ‘eggs on toast’ (also known as ‘egg in the hole’) for breakfast when we were visiting. She also made them for us whenever we had tummy aches in which case she would add a glass of coke to the side. She swore the carbonation calmed your stomach. I’m not sure if it was her grandmother magic or the fact that the bubbles made you burp, but it really did work! My grandmother passed away nearly 12 years ago but I still think of her fondly every time I see an ‘egg on toast’!

Fast forward to now, when I am not only older, but more into veggies and less into carbs. I’m still not at all into stomach aches, but that’s neither here nor there. I saw a variation of this recipe in an old issue of cooking light and decided to give it a try. The basics are essentially the same, but you swap out your slice of toast, for a slice of acorn squash…genius!

Acorn Squash

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Clean out the Fridge Frittata

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Breakfast foods for breakfast, breakfast foods for lunch, breakfast foods for dinner. These are a few of my favorite things.

Close Up

I have long waxed poetic on this blog about my love of all things breakfast. I could eat breakfast foods all day long, and some days I actually do. Like today. I had a spinach smoothie for breakfast (spinach means its basically a salad so this could technically be lunch..right?), oatmeal for lunch (Which exploded in the work microwave..bummer), and last but not least I’ll be dining on the rest of this delicious frittata for dinner tonight.

Ingredients

Oatmeal for lunch typically means I’m completely out of groceries and need to make a trip to the store. While I am currently out of groceries, I will not be making a trip to the store any time soon since we leave for Bermuda on Wednesday! I talked about this trip on the blog many posts ago when it was first planned and seemed forever away… well, it’s finally here! Between treadmill falls (which is almost totally healed, hooray!) and a few tough weeks at work, I am more than ready for a few days away with Robert (and the rest of my family too of course :). My aunt and sister-in-law chose the location and accommodations and have done the majority of the planning thus far. They are both fun and have great taste so instead of going into my typical “plan everything to the minute” vacation mode, I’m looking forward to just going along for the ride and seeing what they have up their sleeves! If they need any suggestions once we get there I did happen to find this fun helmet diving activity on TripAdvisor…

Helmet Diving

I’m not sure if her face is screaming “This is TERRIBLE!” or “This is AWESOME!” but either way, I’m in.

Ok, so back to the frittata. Wasting food is a personal pet peeve so when we are headed out of town I try to use up everything perishable in the fridge before we go. What better to do with random ingredients than make a frittata? I mean EVERYTHING goes with eggs, am I right or am I right?

 Crisped Potato slices saute

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Super Simple Side: Pan Roasted Parmesan Asparagus

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And just like that it’s almost August! Summer, where have you gone? Anyone have any tips for prolonging these next few weeks? If so I’m all ears. Besides being the first week of August, next week is also my last official week of summer break. True to style, we have packed a lot into it already. Robert has an end of the summer party with his tennis buddies on Sunday, my mother and sister are tentatively coming for a few days of girl time Tues-Thurs and then we leave for North Carolina to spend the weekend with my grandparents. On top of all of that (in just the first week!) we also celebrate my birthday and the anniversary of our engagement in August Smile  Robert and I got engaged in Las Vegas while on vacation with my family and it was hands down the best few days of my life. Our wedding was absolutely amazing, but getting engaged in Vegas was SO MUCH FUN! I’ll be sure to recap that fabulous trip next.

 

It probably isn’t traditional to celebrate the anniversary of your engagement, but Robert surprised me last year and I sure hope it becomes a yearly tradition (hint hint). He set his alarm to wake me up after he left for work and I found a sweet card by the bed telling me to get up and get ready because he was on his way home to pick me up for a breakfast date! There aren’t many things I love more than a breakfast date, and the fact that Robert took an hour away from a busy work morning meant the world.

 Anniversary

It was such a sweet surprise and a nice low key way to celebrate the best “yes” I’ve ever given.

 Olive Oil

As summer winds down, I hope everyone is taking advantage of all the yummy produce it has to offer. I guess technically asparagus is a Spring vegetable but whatever, we’re still enjoying it in this neck of the woods. Full disclosure, I used to dislike asparagus. It’s got a pretty distinct flavor, it definitely makes your trips to the bathroom more fragrant and getting a thick, not quite done stalk is quite unfortunate. Luckily, as my taste buds have matured and as I’ve been exposed to fresh, well prepared asparagus, I’ve developed a new appreciation for the pointy green little guys.

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