And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon: Tomato and Egg Bake

This was super yummy, and even Geoff liked it (and if you had asked him 5 years ago when we were first married he would have told you he disliked tomatoes and squash). So give this a try, even if you think you have picky eaters.

2 C red onion, chopped
1 1/2 C red bell pepper, diced
1 lb yellow squash, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1/2-1 C cooked quinoa
1/2 C thinly sliced fresh basil, divided
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 C milk
3/4 C Gruyere cheese, shredded
3 eggs, beaten
small chunk French bread baguette
2 beefsteak tomatos, sliced

Preheat oven to 375

Saute onion in a little oil over medium heat. Cook 3 minutes. Add bell pepper and cook 2 more minutes. Add squash and garlic and cook 4 more minutes. Combine vegetables with cooked quinoa, 1/4 C basil, thyme, 1/2 tsp salt, and the black pepper.

Combine remaining 1/2 tsp salt, milk, cheese, and eggs. Stir with a whisk. Add milk mixture to vegetable mixture, stirring until just combined. Spoon into a greased baking dish (11x7 or 9x13). Arrange tomato slices over quinoa mixture.

Place bread in a food processor and pulse into crumbs. Toast breadcrumbs on the stovetop in a little olive oil. Sprinkle bread crumbs over tomatoes. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until browned. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 C basil.

Baby Pumpkin

Today I saw pie pumpkins in the store. We rarely get the pie variety of pumpkins so I was tempted to buy one (or two) just because we may never see those pumpkins again. However, when I made baby pumpkin it was in the middle of the summer and there were certainly no pumpkins in the store, so I used canned pumpkin. Much to babies dismay, I was particular in making sure it was just canned pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie filling.

1 large can pumpkin
¾ cup milk
1 tsp. fresh ground cinnamon
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. The recipe I was following instructed that you heat the mixture to 160 degrees. I did so, but I don't know how necessary that step was. Cool. Freeze in ice cube trays.

And now, our final post with pictures from Maryland. On one of my last evening there, we went and picked 10 pounds of blackberries and 5 pounds of rasperries. It was a delicious evening. And I got the smashed blackberry stain, courtesy of one Little Boy I know and love, out of my shirt. The following morning we had banana pancakes with fresh berries on top. Delish!