Before we had children, going out to brunch was an every-weekend-essential date with Brian. Even when we had Sophie, we continued the routine of taking a walk to get a fabulous brunch every weekend. I mean, the choices at brunch! ... if I wanted huevos rancheros, he could still have a salad.. if he wanted pancakes? I could eat a sandwich. It's the best of both worlds, mid-morning on the most relaxing day of the week.
Then we had Maggie. Brunch with one child is still relatively chill. Brunch with two? Not ideal. We'd be trying to feed them, attempting to salvage the last bit of orange juice before our children downed theirs and ours, and doing our best to keep the avocados on our plate from being snatched by toddler hands... We had to come to grips with the fact that our overpriced eggs and waffles would no longer be our weekend routine.
Wait, there's good news!
I still craved the big brunches or breakfasts that were a step above the every day. Just because you stop doing something the way you once did doesn't mean you have to totally stop doing it altogether. Enter: culinary efforts! Who knew I could do this?
Creating onion/tomato/avocado/cheese scrambles is SIMPLE. Waffles are SIMPLE. Huevos rancheros, the easiest! Mexican breakfast with "papas y chorizo" (I use soyrizo, actually) is just not as difficult to make as I once thought. Bread pudding- laughably easy. And it's all delicious!! I've discovered that making fancy brunches is the easiest meal of the day.
The best part? I feel so thoroughly accomplished when I've fed a beautiful brunch to my grateful family. We are in our own home, relaxing, chatting, and orange juice refills are aplenty, and a full bowl of fresh strawberries doesn't cost us $8.
Happy Friday, friends. I totally recommend a grand feast of a breakfast or brunch this weekend... I have a feeling this weekend is going to be a great one.
(it HAS to be good... it's Brian's birthday weekend!)
ps. Links up next, later this weekend. xo