Brunch

Brunch is such a wonderful meal. I seriously contemplated having a morning wedding so that we could get married in the early morning light and have brunch food at the reception. I love mornings and brunch! In the end, the desire to dance a lot and to have it be convenient for our out of town guests won out and we had a late afternoon/evening wedding in a garden in east Texas.

I made the two recipes below on recent Saturdays. When we have free Saturday mornings, it is always our favorite time of the week. Both recipes have been altered by me from the original recipes found at http://www.realsimple.com/ .

Greek Frittata

• 2 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
• 9 large eggs (we now get ours from the new Waco farmer's market!)
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 5 ounce bag of baby spinach
• 1 pint of grape tomatoes
• 1 bunch of scallions (green onions) chopped
• 6 ounces of crumbled feta cheese

This is all of the ingredients together before I baked the frittata.

1. Heat oven to 350° F.
2. Add the oil to a 2-quart casserole dish and transfer to oven for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt, and pepper. Add the spinach, tomatoes, and scallions and combine. Gently stir in the feta.
4. Remove dish from oven. Pour the egg mixture into casserole. Bake until the frittata is browned around the edges and slightly puffed and a knife comes out clean, about 45 minutes Check it once it gets closer to time to make sure it is not too jiggly in the middle. I used 10 eggs the first time I made it and it took 50-55 minutes.

Okay I dont know how to turn that picture so that it is not sideways but there is the finished product! Slater has been raving about this frittata ever since. It is like a quiche but healthier because it doesnt have that flaky crust. The ingredients are simple and healthy and delicious.

Oven Pear Pancake

• 2 pears
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of 2% milk
• 2 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tbsp of melted unsalted butter
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 2 tbsp of sugar

1. Heat oven to 400º F.
2. Lightly coat a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Peel, core and cut into eighths (I used an apple corer) and arrange them in the pie plate.
3. Combine 1/2 cup sugar, flour, eggs, milk, vanilla, unsalted butter, and a pinch of salt in a food processor. Pulse until smooth, about 30 seconds.
4. Pour over the pears. Place in the oven and bake until springy to the touch, 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven. Heat broiler. Sprinkle the pancake with ground cinnamon and the 2 tablespoons sugar. Broil until browned, about 1 minute. Serve warm.

Yum! The pear juice plus the sugar makes this a very sweet treat. It doesn't need syrup, but you can definitely add it to this oven pancake.

Enjoy a lovely brunch soon!