The Answer To (Nearly) Everything In Life

Most of life is quite complicated, but every once in a great while, there lies an answer so incredibly obvious, you will: A) wonder why on earth you didn't think of it sooner, and: B) how in the world you ever got on without it. One fine example is how I taught my dear brother the many-splendored virtues of vinegar as a cleaning, disinfecting, and deodorizing agent. Like many poor souls before him, he gave me a weird-eyeballed look that said,"Okey dokey, you goofy little hippie", and went on his muscular way. I pleaded with him most fervently to try it (okay, I shoved the spray bottle at him, and growled,"TRY IT"), and once he did, he couldn't stop singing the praises of the good old 50/50 mix of vinegar and water. Cheapness, er, frugality prevails!! That is just one example of something so simple, yet so life-changing. The other life-changer, well, I just don't know if I can muster up the courage to share it with you. I've come this far. I must press on and tell you The Answer To (Nearly) Everything In Life: 

Put an egg on it. 

That's right. You heard me. Put an egg on it. 

You may be saying,"Well, DUH, Mary; I've been throwing poached or fried eggs on my veggies/potatoes/children/cereal/pizza/oatmeal/second cousin's sister's nephew for YEARS. What took you so long?" I may be quite late to the egg party, but hey man, I'm here now, and have no plans to take off anytime soon. It all started with grilled asparagus. I had read in A Homemade Life about putting a fried egg on top of leftover Ratatouille, and I was quite smitten with the idea. When I was left with a generous amount of leftover asparagus, I knew exactly what to do. And then there was sauteed zucchini.

And many, many others. It has become my mantra- "Put an egg on it." It's far from original, but it will solve just about every culinary dilemma you are presented with. Even the boys have fallen hard for veggies with poached eggs on top, and before you give me the whole "My child wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole yadda yadda yadda" let me ask you: HAVE YOU TRIED?? Well, if not, try this:

Steamed Broccoli with Parmesan and Poached Eggs

By Mary Johnson, Extreme Egg Enthusiast.

This is perfect for when you have nothing in the fridge except half a dozen eggs, a head or two of broccoli, and 1/4 wedge of Parmesan cheese. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...AHEM. 

First, chop two heads of broccoli into small-ish florets. Steam (in a saucepan on the stovetop in just enough water to cover the broccoli or a countertop steamer) the broccoli for 10 minutes. NOT A MINUTE MORE OR LESS. Just kidding. In the meantime...

 Fill a frying pan slightly less than halfway with water, place over medium heat, and bring to a slightly aggressive simmer. While the water is heating up, crack an egg into a ramekin to ensure a perfect transfer to the pan, like so: (easy does it!)

 Repeat the egg process three more times, for a lovely even number of four eggs. I hate prime numbers. Just thought I'd share. WARNING: At this point, the eggs are going to look like a heinous, horrendous, disgusting, grotesque mess. DO. NOT. PANIC. That's an order! See my revolting poached eggs? It's okay! It really is! Hang in there!

  

Fight that panicky feeling inside and give those eggers a good 3-4 minutes of simmering, occasionally "basting" the top of the eggs with a little water. I just use a large spoon and scoop a little bit of the hot water on the tops of the eggs. I find it helps "seal" in a perfect poach.

While the eggs finish poaching, drain the broccoli, and toss with a little bit of olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, and a heaping tablespoon of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Divide the broccoli among 4 bowls (fourth bowl not pictured here- sorry), and gently nestle the egg amongst the broccoli. FORGIVE ME FOR THE UPSIDE-DOWN PICTURE. I CAN BARELY STAND IT MYSELF. But for some reason, iPhoto is being weird right now, and I am quite irked. Anyway, season with salt and pepper, and eat it with a most ferocious passion. 

Yes. The verdict is Yes. The boys regularly request "bloccoli with eggs", and I am more than happy to oblige. 

So there you have it. You heard from me. Put an egg on it. When you find yourself in a culinary dilemma, Put an egg on it. When you find yourself questioning the meaning of life, Put an egg on it. When life hands you lemons, throw an egg in its face, I mean, Put an egg on it. 

And that's all I really have to say about that. 

Stay tuned for more egg-related adventures soon!! 

Nursery "Before" Pictures!

As all of my readers are (painfully) aware of, we are awaiting the arrival of our sweet baby girl in April. Now that I have officially entered my last trimester, nesting (another way of describing COMPLETE AND UTTER PANIC) has commenced full bore, and we've got some fun changes heading our way in the area of...*trumpet fanfare* NURSERY DECOR!!! Today I shall be sharing our "before" pictures of the nursery, and before I do that, let me warn you I have not touched our nursery in 5 years. Well, besides cleaning it, of course!! Goodness. Anyway, we chose a very gender-neutral theme for the nursery the first time around, because we chose not to find out what we were having (we assumed it was a baby). And since then, either finances or sheer lack of motivation precluded us from making any other changes...until NOW. :-) Thanks to Pinterest, I now have enough inspiration and ideas to last me 10 more babies. NOT THAT 10 MORE BABIES ARE IN THE PLAN. Just clarifying.

So here we go.

This is the view as you enter the room. I apologize for the blurry picture. One thing we are NOT changing is the paint color. I love this yellow. I'm taking it with me forever. It will also be a fun contrast to the quilt that my friend Rachel is making for the baby as a gift. Rachel is an amazing quilter. If I could acquire 1/10 the sewing skills that she possesses in my lifetime, I will count myself most blessed among women.

The window. Obviously. Worn-out roller shades and slightly fraying white cotton drapes. Big changes happening here, believe me!

A comfy chair for nursing, a very cute green nightstand (neither of which are going anywhere), a few toys, and some sparse and simple decor. This is what you would call a "low budget nursery". Significant changes on the decor front coming soon.

Another view of the room. I love that little dresser- it's always been the perfect size for this room.

Some very sweet wall hangings above the changing table. A lady in our church, who is a very accomplished seamstress, made these for our firstborn son. If you flip the little fabric squares, it spells out "DAVID" on the back. So cute! And I always appreciated that she made these double-sided so we could use them with subsequent babies, which, I may point out, we have! I will be putting these away *sniff sniff*, but I've got some new ideas for this little area that I've just got to try.

There you have it! I've actually already completed a couple of craft projects for the new-and-improved nursery, so now it's just a matter of waiting to move little Lucas out into the big boys' room (scared to death for this event) and finishing up a few other projects. Stay tuned! It's such a thrill to be able to share this with ya'll. Have a great weekend!

A Word on French Toast

It's Saturday, and I couldn't be happier. After a rather trying week, I am all ready to settle in to the stomach flu this weekend, since my two younger boys kept us up all night with a stomach bug of their own. No signs of it yet, but I'm waiting. Just waiting. My guess is that it will hit me at about 10:25 am on Sunday morning, simply because I am supposed to play piano for church this week. That is my prediction, and I'm going to stand by my prediction. On that lovely, comforting note...

Let's talk about French Toast!!!

Yayyyyyy.

On Tuesday night, I was preparing one of my favorite brunch dishes of all time: Peach French Toast. I was preparing said dish for my local MOPS group meeting (where, incidentally; I believe we picked up the aforementioned stomach flu, go figure), when I realized something:

I love this dish.

I love it for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because:

1) It has to prepped the night before.

2) It is so ridiculously easy.

3) It is so ridiculously delicious. Beyond delicious. Delectable, sweet, and rich beyond all of your wildest breakfast dreams. Decadent.

Are you dying for the recipe yet? Fear not; all in due time. But first, I must speak earnestly with you about french toast. Friend to friend. Complete honesty. Here we go:

I have never been a big fan of french toast.

As a child, I didn't loathe it. But I certainly didn't love it. My mom had all of the basics needed to produce a yummy french toast. Milk, eggs, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and maybe a little vanilla. She used our sandwich bread, which was a good, respectable bread. But it just never sent me to the moon. Ditto for restaurants. I never had a french toast at a restaurant that thrilled my soul. But things were about to change. Oh, were they ever.

About a year ago, while studiously perusing through one of my favorite cookbooks, I stumbled across a most intriguing recipe for French toast that called for...wait for it...prepare yourself...using FRENCH BREAD for FRENCH TOAST!!!!

It was a revelation that was practically beyond the processing abilities of my mind. French bread for French toast? Why had I never thought of this before? I mean, REALLY? It just made sense! Besides the fact that the entire recipe was incredibly simple, I was so fascinated and intrigued that I simply had to try it as soon as humanly possible. I dashed off to the store for a French baguette. I followed the recipe exactly except one little thing...Molly Wizenberg swears by cooking the French toast in hot oil. Alas; I simply cannot bring myself to try that just yet. It has something to do with three small boys under the age of five running around the kitchen in circles, yelling,"I'm hungry? What are we eating? I'm hungry! What are we eating?" I find the idea of cooking batter-infused slices of bread in a sizzling cast-iron skillet a bit too terrifying at this point in my life. One day...one day. In lieu of the hot oil, I fired up my faithful electric griddle, slathered it with embarrassing amounts of butter, and went to it. Wow. What can truly be said of making French toast the way it was meant to be made?

You. Will. Never. Go. Back.

Never.

I mean it! To this day, I have never made French toast with anything but French bread. And that goes for the illustrious, most glorious, most beguiling Peach French Toast. Here's a handy tip: French bread freezes incredibly well. Toss a loaf into your freezer here and there, and you'll never be without the ammunition for a most effective French Toast. And so, without further ado, here is the recipe for Peach French Toast.

Peach French Toast from Danielle Cooper (thanks, Danielle!!)

-Start the night before!

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

1 can (29 oz.) sliced peaches in light syrup, drained

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk (at least 2%. Don't you DARE use skim!!)

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

12 slices of day-old French bread (the soft, inexpensive grocery store brand kind)

Ground cinnamon

-Bring brown sugar, butter, and water to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, and please, whatever you do, don't be an idiot like me and stick your finger in the pan for "just a little taste". Burning. Much burning. Stir the sugar and butter mixture often while simmering. Pour into a 9x13 pan; top with peaches. Arrange the slices of bread over the peaches. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk, and vanilla; slowly pour over the bread. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake for another 25-30 minutes or until bread is golden brown. Serve with a big spoon.

See? Easy peasy. I promise this will be an absolute hit at your next brunch/luncheon. Enjoy, my friends, and remember: French Toast made with French Bread= The way it was meant to be!

My Top Three Favorite Cookbooks

*WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM OF REGULARLY SCHEDULED "FAB FIVE FRIDAY FOTO(S) TO BRING YOU AN INSTALLMENT FROM "RANDOM DOMESTICITIES". "FFFF" WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK AS SCHEDULED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND COOPERATION.*

This has been a particularly odd week, for a couple of reasons:

1) I have been staying up until midnight (AT LEAST) every single night thus far. Why, oh why, oh WHY, OH WHY do I continue to make such idiotic decisions concerning my sleep?? Now, because I have been staying up so late, I am just sorta drifting through each day in a bit of a domestic trance. Wow. DOMESTIC TRANCE. I bet those are two words you never, ever would have associated together. During the day, I can make it to about 3:00 pm; then suddenly, I am dyin'. Just dyin' here, folks. BUT THEN...we have dinner, we put the blessed babes to bed, and then ZING!!! I am sailing the adrenaline seas with a fury, and then I lose my mind, try to conquer the world in 2.5 hours flat, fail as usual, and then kick myself all the way up the stairs to bed at a most grotesque hour. It's quite a sight!

2) See reason #1.

And so, my dear friends; because I am lacking the simplest of comprehension skills at this moment, I shall keep this fairly simple and share three life-changing cookbooks with you. My absolute, all-time favorite, TOP THREE FAVORITE COOKBOOKS, to be excruciatingly precise!!!!

Ahem.

Feast your eyes upon...THIS!

The Motherlode.

Favorite #1: "A Homemade Life: stories and recipes from my kitchen table", by Molly Wizenberg. If you have read more than two entries of my blog, you know by now that this book has a very, very prominent place in my kitchen, in my heart, and in my LIFE. Well, I might be getting a little carried away. Nevertheless!! I reach for this often, whether I'm in the mood for Ms. Wizenberg's scones or banana bread, and I never fail to get lost in one of the wonderful chapters whilst the aforementioned goodies are baking. Go buy this. NOW. That is all I can say.

Note on the scones: I use dried currants and orange zest in lieu of the candied ginger and chopped pistachios. Sometimes you just can't mess with tradition! Note on the banana bread: I do not use the chopped candied ginger. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm not a huge fan of candied ginger. The texture...it's just...it's like...just...WEIRD. Now after that incredibly deep and descriptive confession...

Favorite #2: "MAD Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys", by Lucinda Scala Quinn.

I like sub-titles. Just so you know.

Wow. Where do I even begin with this glorious, marvelous tome? This...this...MASTERPIECE is indispensable. If I had to pick a winner out of my top three, it is quite possible Mad Hungry would win by a nose. Now, look here. I have three boys. The author has three boys. I can relate to her tremendously. Not only is this book chock-full of outstanding recipes, but there are pages and pages of sage advice concerning issues such as: what constitutes a boy-friendly pantry, the importance of teaching your boys to cook for themselves (and actually cook, not just heating up a hotdog in the microwave), a list of simple skills and recipes to teach your guys before they leave the nest, the importance of establishing the comforts of home for your guys, and much, much more. It's extraordinarily practical, and I reach for it time and time again. I love cookbooks that double as excellent reading material! I will even go so far as to say that even a family full of girls would benefit from the sheer practicality of all of the delightful recipes. And...(just one more thing)...this book is ADORABLE. The graphics make me smile- and often. :-)

And now..

This...this formidable volume. Such voluminousness in this volume. "The Whole Foods Market Cookbook: A Guide To Natural Foods with 350 Recipes", by Steve Petusevsky and Whole Foods Market Team Members. Once again, we have a most sensible combination of education and deliciousness. This is one of those cookbooks that will take you a lifetime to cook through, and you might never actually cook through the entire beast. But no matter. Preparing ANY of these recipes is an eye-opening experience in that it makes you realize how simple great food really can be. I turn to this volume when I feel like we need to "clean up" our diet a bit, and stick to some seriously fresh and simple recipes. The kids and Steve have loved everything I've tried so far, which just goes to show you that healthy doesn't mean yuck. I have really enjoyed learning more about the world of whole foods, grains, and legumes through this cookbook, and while I realize that this confession makes me sound like a completely hopeless nerd, I am quite okay with that, and I shall continue to expand my culinary horizons. Note: The Chicken Piccata a la Florentine is to DIE FOR!! Unfortunately, I am having serious trouble finding the link for this glorious concoction, but I promise I will post the recipe at a later juncture.

So there you have it. Deliciousness abounding!! You can try to find these at your local library (although Mad Hungry is fairly new; I'm not exactly sure how that works), or just take the plunge and *gasp* buy them! Now it's your turn, dear readers! You tell me: What is your favorite cookbook(s), and why? I'm listening! :)

Note: As the Pioneer Woman says,"This ain't no paid advertisement!!" The above authors have in no way, shape, or form contacted me to promote their cookbooks, and LISTEN UP, BLOGGER. IF YOU DARE DELETE THIS POST BECAUSE YOU THINK I'M ADVERTISING, WE WILL HAVE WORDS BEYOND WORDS ABOUT IT. DON'T. EVEN. THINK. ABOUT. IT. This is not a paid advertisement, this is not a paid advertisement, this is not a paid advertisement, and OH YEAH, THIS IS NOT A PAID ADVERTISEMENT. Have I made myself clear? Okay.

On that cheery note, have a wonderful Fourth of July! Stay tuned for more adventures!