Also, we believe in a thing called "Saturday."

Good morning, friends and family!

Today, as most Saturdays, will be quite full. One must remember to eat a good breakfast, yes? Maybe twice...This afternoon we're helping my lovely in-laws move furniture, etc. into storage. We totally owe them some moving Karma, since they once helped us move up four flights of historic square spiral stairs in December. No joke. We owe everyone moving Karma, even people we've never met. So, I'm going to have a quick brunch (read: the best meal on Earth) with some friends first, but that's not until 11. 11?!? I get up with the sun! A pretty, throw-together First Breakfast (yeah, I said it) that I don't have to share with my golfing husband? Don't mind if I do. 

Dear One Life Fitness,

"First Breakfast" (and second...) is/are why we have to pay you for memberships every month, probably for the rest of our lives. 

Love and a bowl of cherries,

Sara

If you've been to our house for breakfast/brunch, I've probably made Baked Eggs and Strawberry Bread for you. I don't mean to be a bore, but it's one of my favorite easy breakfasts. Sometime, I'll whip up one of my (7) recipes for shrimp and grits or my mother's time-tested (and lightened up as of late) Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole for you. But today, with my cup of coffee and NPR Weekend Edition on the radio, it's Baked Eggs. 

I made Strawberry Bread for Stephanie C. for brunch yesterday, and there's one slice left. My precious. And yes, that is two brunches this week! And it's not even my birthday! Find this super-easy go-to recipe here. Darn Martha Stewart and her minions. I mean staff. Oops.

And if I haven't already given you the Baked Eggs recipe, click on this. When I'm feeling blah, The Food Network can ALWAYS bring me a smile. This recipe great because it's flexible. You can follow the recipe, or use anything you've got around. Yesterday I used garlic sauteed spinach. Today, It was chopped green pepper that I barely even showed the pan. I love the crunch, and you get a bonus burst of Vitamin C. I've thrown lots of veggies, breakfast meats and all sorts of cheeses in here. It's never been anything but good and hearty. I use lower fat breakfast meats - Canadian bacon, turkey bacon, chopped lean ham, crumbled turkey sausage - and it keeps the dish from becoming greasy.

By the way, have you had the cherries this year? They are on sale EVERYWHERE and couldn't be any better. We've eaten three large bags in two weeks around here. And they're such a festive garnet color. (Go Gamecocks!)

We believe in Fridays...

9 Grain Crostini with Italian cheeses toasted on top, White Bean Spinach Dip (again with the green stuff), and Watermelon Margaritas.

This is a recipe, not my creation. Want? Check it out here.  I heart Real Simple.

So the Watermelon Margaritas came from an independent post that made it onto the Cooking Light website. Thanks to my mom for discovering this recipe first. She's always on the look-out for stuff we might like around here. Here is the recipe if you feel like giving it a whirl. (Ha! Blender joke.) I found that it was a little light on the tequila and you could barely taste it. I would suggest upping that to 3/4 cup. Also, a little more than a quarter of a watermelon will be enough. I was about half a cup short on watermelon, so I substituted half a cup of strawberries that I'd chopped and frozen earlier this month. It added a light hint of berry sweetness. Also, who doesn't love frozen strawberries in their glass? Mmm. Don't drink? This would be just awesome minus the alcohol too.

Thanks to Leanna Criss for being my taste-tester (once again)!

Chocolate Coconut Meringues

...smeared with melted semi-sweet chocolate, dipped in fresh toasted coconut. Yes, the house smells like vacation.

Packaging options...

Using unused wedding materials. Still love the color and polka dots!

This is Steve's "Where's mine?" face.

Have a lovely day!

Sugar loves company...Happy Birthday to Me! Part II - So Entertaining!

I love my friends, therefore, I feed them. (Most of the men were in the back yard with Paul, being men.)

I love that this table has leaves. If only we had a bigger dining room.

The much-discussed meringues. Like the signs? That's leftover wedding invitation paper. Waste not want not!

This was a dessert party. The fruit was just to ease the guilt.

Flower from my amazing husband. (Before the cat started to snack on them.) As a matter of course, the adorable LED paper lanterns came from The Dollar Store. Yes, the were probably made in China, but I'm on a budget and could they be any cuter? My husband is lucky that I don't leave them up all the time!

Weight Watchers One-Point Cocoa Powder Brownies (Ha ha. I fed you W.W. and you didn't even know it!)

The also much-discussed cookie sandwiches. This? Was a great idea.

Strawberry (pink, duh) and lemon (yellow, also duh) sunshine cookies.

The few things that weren't sweet. White Bean Spinach Dip with crostini, chips and salsa, crackers and pub cheese. (Gasp! Holy processed dairy products, Batman!)

The guest of honor. Yes, we do wine about it.

The spread. Are you noticing a theme? The green was our wedding color and the pink is my signature color (insert "Steel Magnolias" reference here.) I swear, at some point you'll see something that's not pink and green!

A good time (and sugar shock) was had by all!

Sugar loves company...Happy Birthday to Me! Part I - Party Prep

Semi-sweet milk chocolate

Almond meringues as a base

Paint the bottom with chocolate, dip in almonds and...

"Almond Joy" meringues!

White beans, garlic, olive oil, sea salt...

Spinach and a food processor...

White bean spinach dip! To go with crostini. And it looks like the picture! Thank you, Real Simple!

Sugar cookies, evenly shaped

Remember the margarita and coconut frosting from Paul's party? It freezes beautifully.

ZipLock bag as a make-shift icing bag...

Grown up cookie sandwiches! (Yep! The green ones are still the best.)

Oh...and there was fruit too.

I'm not sure how we amassed this wine charm collection, but we have.