country comfort

After a long week of jury duty, I'm writing from DC. I cam down Friday for the weekend which was highlighted by WMZQ's Fall Fest concert featuring Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Jerrod Niemann. I've had the tickets FOREVER and was excited to finally get some country love going on. As a New Jersey girl country music exposure was always pretty limited but in college I started to get into it. First country concert? Success.

Since the concert was an all afternoon/evening event Meaghan and I decided a solid brunch was necessary. Meaghan got to work on Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit muffins courtesy of the blog Cooking with My Kid. These were DELISH and super simple to make. Note from Chef Meaghan: flour your board when you roll out the biscuits for better results. They are great for a crowd and can be made with mix-ins.

Both Meaghan and I wanted to make another egg dish but realized anything we wanted to make would be too similar, so we decided a sweeter dish would probably be a better choice (even though we both prefer savory dishes over sweet). I'd seen a Blueberry Almond French Toast Bake by Ellie Krieger that I wanted to try a long time ago, and went looking. That recipe required an overnight prep, so I chose to make Baked French Toast with Blueberries by Giada DeLaurentis instead.  I read the reviews and used a lot more sourdough bread than recommended because the mixture apparently is otherwise too wet. I also omitted the lemon because I didn't think we had any. 

Extra bread? Good call. Even with the extra bread I had to cook the dish an extra No lemon? Bad call. The depth of flavor was lacking a bit, as was the spice factor. It was OK but needed something more. I don't think I'd make this dish again- good old fashioned pancakes or french toast are more my speed. The middle was too much of a mushy texture for my liking. Glad I satisfied my curiosity though!

To round out the brunch we just cut up some fruit... and made mimosas. Usually not a big mimosa fan, but who can say no at brunch?

After one mimosa I got my country on- Jack and Diet Coke- but in a classy wine glass (which may actually serve to only make it less classy?).

In DC one more night- totally by accident too. I booked my return bus trip for the same day I came down. Only realized it today, which meant the other buses were sold out. 7:45 am bus tomorrow it is! Totally not like e to screw that up, but transportation the trip has a been a bit of a mess seeing as I BARELY made my bus on Friday due to oversleeping. Wreck.

 Lazy day today but I did get a run in, it's always nice to run somewhere completely different.  I won't get home til about 12:30 tomorrow which means mad dash to gas up my car, grocery shop, make lunches, and nap then GOTR and work. Quite a Monday...