One Year!

Happy First Birthday, Sammy!

This weekend we had a party for Sammy's first birthday. It was a come and go brunch on Saturday morning. We scheduled it that way for a couple of reasons. First, the kid birthday party circuit can get to be a little much. It seems that once you have a couple of kids in this age range, there are birthday parties every weekend, sometimes more than one, and it can feel like it's taking over. So, while we wanted to celebrate, we wanted to make it easy on our friends too. Also, for a while now James has been wanting to have a of get-together that includes people from different aspects of our lives. This was a broad invitation list and we wanted to be able to manage the food and space. Finally, those are much better hours for Sammy than traditional party times.

We had just under forty people, but only two days before the count was just under sixty. So, we had a wee bit extra food (not to worry, it has a destination that is not the trash can!). I forced myself to keep the menu simple, so even with the large group it was one of the easiest menus I've done: we had pumpkin spice and 7-up cake, various fruit and quiche. The quiche was a modification from a recipe of my sister's. Everything was prepared the afternoon before with help with the kids and food from James' parents. The platters were arranged the morning of the party (and here I am doing it before I've got my makeup on!). Since nothing had to be cooked that morning or kept hot, it made for a low stress party morning.

The quiche was my favorite, so I'm sharing the recipe below. It's flexible and easy (don't let the length of the ingredient list fool you). We keep eating it and it's still good. A double recipe fed our just under forty (some adults, some children) at a come and go party. (Unfortunately, I made more than a double recipe, but as I said, it has a home to go to.) Sammy loves it too!

This was a fun party. It was nice to have revolving door of all sorts of friends. We were focused on Sammy's milestone, which makes sense of course. But it struck me that several people remarked that we had made it a full year. Or even that I had made it a full year. I hadn't thought of it that way, but it's true. There are lots of important moments in the first year, but some of the days are long. There haven't been as many evenings that I was waiting for James in the driveway, ready to hand off the baby, as there were with Zack... but there have been some. And some rough nights, and some moments of frustration that I just don't know what to do for him. One thing I've loved about Zack is that it just keeps getting better. Part of it is that I loooove for him to be able to feed himself, dress himself, take himself potty (hallelujah), but also that he's growing into a truly interesting person. And while I've been told that the trend doesn't necessarily continue indefinitely (really? Thirteen isn't a universal delight?), in the last few weeks we've started to see more movement, more discovery and more communication from Sammy. It's awakened a sense that he's really developing, learning and doing more and more. Now that is something to celebrate!

Finally, there were party favors, but that will have to be a separate post!

Sausage Quiche
Serves 8 for a meal or 20 for snacks

1/2 lb. breakfast sausage
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 roma tomato, chopped
1 1/2 c. sharp cheddar, shredded
1T flour
6 eggs, beaten
12 oz. evaporated milk
1-4 T parsley, minced
3/4 t seasoned salt
1/4 t garlic salt
1 t black pepper

crust: 1 1/3 c flour, 1/2 t salt, 1/2 c butter (cold), 4 T ice water

For the crust, mix the flour, salt and butter in the food processor until it looks like coarse crumbs. Pour in the ice water with the processor running until the dough comes together as a ball. Press* into a greased 10" pie pan or 7x11" dish (I line the dish with wax paper so I can pull the whole thing out for easy cutting).

Brown the sausage and remove from pan. Cook the vegetables in the same pan. Toss together the cheese and flour, then mix with the sausage and veggies. Spread over the crust.

Mix the eggs, evaporated milk and spices. Pour over sausage mix. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until the center is set. Serve warm or chill and cut, then serve at room temperature.

To reheat, place cut pieces on a cookie sheet in a 375 oven eight minutes or until they sizzle.

*No need to roll this out on a board and transfer. The texture is slightly better if you do, but I don't think it's worth the extra trouble (sorry you bakers who are shuddering). I just press it in the pan and it's fine!