Better than a mouthful of sticks

So I may have mentioned that for Will & my anniversary we were running late for dinner so I threw together something from what we had on hand.  At the moment that was eggs and mozzarella cheese plus tomatoes and basil from my garden.  I think my inspiration came partially from this series of books I have been loving called the “Magical Baking Mystery Series”.  The protagonist frequently will grab random items from her kitchen and plants from her garden and throw together mouth watering dinners.  I wasn’t sure about my combo but everything was screaming that I throw it together into an omelette or scramble.  I prefer egg scrambles to omelettes (I like my eggs light and fluffy and perfectly cooked without the browned edges that so many omelettes have) and thus caprese eggs were born.  As proof of their deliciousness they have become a regular staple in our home.  You’ll have to try it yourself and let me know how it fares on your table.

I know, I know you all want to hear about this fabulous book series I just mentioned, right?  Well let me tell you, I have just finished listening to the seven book “Magical Baking Mystery” series by Bailey Cates and I really could not get enough of it!  It has endearing characters, a sassy amateur detective, a Wiccan coven, an adorable dog, mouth watering food descriptions AND MURDER!  It is almost like this series was written for me!  Weirdly I first stumbled across the seventh book in the series while randomly browsing audiobooks that were “available now”.  There were some spoilers in book seven but that didn’t stop me from plowing through the rest of the series afterwards!  I highly recommend it.

Julius has been getting much better at eating real food!  Lately he tends to enjoy eating if he can grab the food and feed himself.  Unfortunately those two bottom teeth don’t do much for his chewing abilities.  He’ll frequently gum the food a bit and then just suck on it until it dissolves.  This doesn’t apply just to food, he will try this with almost everything he comes across that will fit into his mouth.

For instance last weekend Will & I had to do some yard work.  We set up a tent for some shade and plopped Julius under the tent surrounded by toys, while Will sat nearby and weeded the garden.  Julius immediately decided what Daddy was doing was far more interesting than his toys and crawled over to him.  When I finished mowing the lawn, I saw Will weeding the garden and Julius plopped next to him seemingly also weeding.  When I approached and asked how the weeding was going, Will informed me that Julius was not so much weeding as filling his mouth full of sticks.  I thought this was a joke until Will explained that he had gardening gloves on and didn’t want to put his hand in Julius’ mouth to remove said sticks.  Still not quite sure if Will was joking, I gently inserted my finger into the side of Julius’ mouth and fished out a stick.  I was still debating if I should be amused or grumpy about the supervised stick eating when Will informed me there were more sticks in Julius’ mouth.  So much for daddy daycare?

Daddy and Julius weeding

Does it look like I’m eating sticks?

Only a couple.

I promise this meal will be much more nutritious and tastier than a mouth full of sticks!

Caprese Eggs

(Serves 2)

Ingredients

• 7 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp chopped basil
• 1/2 c shredded mozarella (packed)
• 3 or 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp butter or oil

1. Chop tomatoes and basil and beat eggs.
2. Heat oil or butter in a medium frypan over medium heat until melted.  Swirl to coat pan.  Pour eggs into the pan.
3. Top eggs with mozzarella, basil and tomatoes.
4. Stir gently, breaking up eggs and distributing the toppings.
5. Cook until eggs are firm and fluffy and have just become set and dry.  Serve immediately with garlic naan, a green salad and a dry red wine.