"Famley" Breakfast, Part 1

This year I wanted to do something special for my mom for Mother's Day.

I mean, I try to do something special for her every year. She does deserve it for putting up with me. And I'm not just talking about when I was a child.

But she already has so much stuff: a beautiful house, a closet full of clothes, vacations galore, and time on her hands. She's getting to be hard to shop for these days, and besides, I'm trying to get away from shopping and stuff in general. As I get older (and my kids get bigger and my house gets smaller) I find myself striving to become a minimalist. Do you ever feel like that, too?

Quality time together and good food shared amongst friends, however, always make great gifts in my book. So for Mother's Day, I gave my mom a gift certificate for brunch at Pocket Square Farm. Because May and June were busy months for us, she redeemed her coupon later in the summer.

When I give the gift of a Pocket Square Farm meal, I always try to grow a lot of the ingredients myself. I can't say that I produced all of the ingredients, but I did center the menu around what I had growing seasonally right outside my door: eggs, zucchini, strawberries, and blueberries.

Mason did the decorating while I did the cooking while Camille rummaged around in the dress-up basket while my husband set up the backyard. This production was truly a "famley" affair.

Mason decorated our chalkboard to welcome guests.

My husband set the table with fresh strawberries from the garden.

I got busy in the kitchen whipping up a brunch strata.

I found a recipe online for this Brunch Strata at allrecipes.com. It was perfect for me because it called for 3 cups of zucchini and 12 eggs, which I happened to have on hand. I love to serve stratas for brunch when I know I will have a busy morning; stratas are so easy to make ahead (even the night before) so you can just pop it into the oven and appear to be casually sipping a mimosa when guests arrive. It gives the illusion that you weren't just running around the house ten minutes prior like a crazy person, shouting out orders and stuffing errant toys into every available nook and cranny of your tiny house. Ah, the art of harried hostess pretense.

The Brunch Strata recipe requires that you saute, drain, and pat dry the veggies...

...before adding the eggs and wet ingredients.

The finished strata comes out golden brown.

This recipe makes two full 11 x 7 x 2 inch casserole dishes, so you can serve a big crowd with little effort. We were eating strata for days afterward, and no one was complaining about having leftovers again... and again... and again!

While we dined in the backyard beneath the towering Mercurial Milkweeds, we suddenly [and unexpectedly] were visited by none other than... the underwear fairy!

None of us expected live entertainment during this Belated Mother's Day Brunch!

My mother may have enjoyed her time with the underwear fairy as much as she liked the strata. Regardless, as I'm not one to suggest flitting around with panties on your head, I will say that this strata is one worth trying!