Ladies Who Brunch

***REMINDER: If you haven't had a chance to yet, please hop on over to YouTube, log in/create an account (you have to have an account or your vote will not be registered), and "like" my video - I really want to win those cooking lessons! And of course, if you have already voted - thank you! I really appreciate the support.***

Wow, September 21st already. It's crazy how time flies.

I had another moment of the realization that time goes by while you are too busy to notice the other day when I had my friend Darlene over for brunch. Darlene is turning 30 this week. The fact that we are both turning 30 this year got me thinking about the fact that we have been friends since we were 10 years old. Which means (of course) that we have been friends for 20 years now. It's hard for me to wrap my head around all of the experiences we have shared in the 20 years that we have known one another, or how we suddenly got to this point without even realizing it. But most importantly, I feel so incredibly blessed to have a friend that I have shared 2/3 of my life with!

When I used to live in San Diego prior to graduate school, Darlene and I used to get together once a week and make dinner at one another's houses. Now that we are a older and have a bit more money, we tend to get together over drinks at happy hour or going out for dinner. But I thought it would be a nice change of pace to get together over a homemade meal and decided to switch it up by making brunch.

For our brunch, I decided to try making a frittata. I had never made one before, but it appealed to me because it's the type of dish where you can throw whatever you have on hand into it, pop it in the oven for 20 minutes, and come back to a complete meal. What's not to love about that? I kept my recipe very simple with only 4 ingredients, but as I say, the beauty of this recipe is that you can glam it up anyway you like by changing the type of cheese (a sharp cheddar or smoked gouda would be amazing) or adding more veggies (peppers or white onions come to mind).

I started my frittata by chopping up a bunch of green onions:


I added the chopped onions to 2 cups of hashbrowns in a skillet over medium-high heat:

Then I whisked together 8 eggs and seasoned them with salt and pepper:

After the hashrbown had crisped and started to brown (about 8 minutes later), I poured the eggs into the pan:

Then I crumbled a package of garlic and herb goat cheese:

And added it to the egg, potato, and green onion mixture:

And mixed everything together:

Then put it in the oven at 375 F for 20 minutes:

After 20 minutes, take the pan out of the oven, place a plate on top of it, and invert wearing oven mitts ON BOTH HANDS (this is key - I burnt the bejeezus out of myself when I held the plate without an oven mitt on). It came out looking like this (not perfect looking, but delicious tasting):


I served it with smoked salmon and Laughing Cow cheese on ciabatta toast.