We hosted 4 of our friends over the weekend and I got to thinking about what I like... A nice variety of food. Fresh flowers. Possibly a festive summery punch. Fun glasses and plates. Those little nice details that Martha Stewart built an empire on!
I started my menu.
Made sure to get Hubs opinion.
Which I then ignored and made a menu of my own.
Well. Apparently The Hubs was more invested in his choices than I realized. And who am to not give the the man some French toast?
The Menu
Ham & Cheese Frittata
Thick-cut Brown Sugar Ham
Thick-cut Regular & Turkey Bacon
Strawberries
Blueberries
Paula Dean's personal issues aside, her casserole looked great & I threw it together the night before. I slightly cut down the eggy mix because that seemed like a LOT of half & half. If I were to make it again though, I'd probably follow the recipe as written. The toast soaked up all the liquid overnight. (I was a little worried about it being dry but the toast was moist to the touch and turned out just fine.)
I bought the chopped up pecan from the baking aisle so the praline mix was easy-peazy. For that topping, I only used half a stick of butter and with the small bag of pecans and skipped the corn syrup. So tasty and it made plenty of the topping. (Although I only used half in case our guests weren't nut fans.)
I looked up several frittata recipes and ended up winging my own blend. I made that the night before too so the only thing I had to do in the morning was heat things up and cook the bacon.
I should have taken a picture of the whole spread. It turned out really nice. And I got a Kroger Manager's Special on flowers. 2 big bunches of gladiolus for $6. Can't beat that!
At noon our guests arrived and we visited with some punch.
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| Lemonade & Sprite Zero punch. |
When we were almost ready to eat, I threw on the frittata. It was ready in a flash and it was time to flip it out of the pan and onto the plate.
Andrew looked scared when I announced it was time to flip the frittata. It's like he thinks I'm clumsy or something...
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| Hey! That looks pretty good! |
I would like to say it went perfect... But it was a little undercooked and I had to toss it back in the pan. Dang it! I thought it might have been a little under but was worried about it drying out.
–Note to self: Always go with the gut.
No big deal though. It was for-real-done in a few minutes and still in that pretty frittata shape.
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| Fantastical. If I do say so myself. |
The meal was everything I hoped for. A good mix of savory and sweet. I got it served in a timely fashion. And, most important, everything was tasty. And for once I did a good job estimating the amount of food we needed. (Usually I'm way over. But I figure better over than under, right?)
That noise you hear is me patting myself on the back.
After brunch we had some rousing rounds of Uno followed by Smarty Pants (Thanks again, Dad! We love that game!) and ending with a highly heated game of Jenga.
Such a lovely Summer afternoon. Good food. Good friends. Good fun!
Ham & Cheese Frittata
INGREDIENTS
- 10 eggs
- Caramelized onions
- Thick cut, cubed ham (I got it cut at Kroger, about 1" thick)
- Handful of cheddar cheese
- Handful of Swiss cheese
- Fresh, chopped parsley to taste
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Splash of half & half
- Splash of milk
DIRECTIONS
- The night before serving, caramelize the onions and set aside to cool completely.
- Whisk eggs together and slowly add all the other ingredients.
- When ready to eat, preheat pan over medium heat. Add egg mix and stir for the first few minutes to keep from sticking. Then let it set up. (That took me about 5 minutes.)
- Broil for 7 minutes.
~I've adjusted the heating/broiling time so that it should be perfectly done! No take backs.
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