Yesterday was a long day. Jeff and I had to be up at 6:30 am to get to a final planning meeting at our wedding venue at 8 am. We rolled out of bed, hopped in the car, and grabbed coffees on the way. The meeting lasted for about 2 hours -- we went over all those last wedding details -- and then we headed out to run errands. We stopped at Costco to grab the remaining components for our welcome bags. When we got home, we had a quick lunch and spent the afternoon stuffing welcome bags (we got them all done!). And then evening rolled around and Jeff went to his softball game, and I went to see my hairdresser to get my hair colored for the wedding. Needless to say, by the time we both got back around 7:30 pm, we were tired... and we needed a quick, effortless dinner.
Luckily, I had recently been sent some layered cream cheese biscuits by Robinhood Meetinghouse, which is a Maine-based company that uses real butter and fresh, simple ingredients in its products.
The biscuits come frozen and bake in just 25 to 30 minutes. I preheated the oven, laid them out on a pan, and set about figuring out the rest of dinner.
I also happened to have some Neese's Country Sausage in the freezer. My uncle lives in Virginia and pretty much knows better than to visit my mom without replenishing her supply of country sausage. Fortunately, she shares with me sometimes, and she had recently given me two packages of the delicious, sage-heavy sausage. I defrosted some of it.
Biscuits, sausage... I had eggs and some cheddar in the fridge, so egg sandwiches were definitely forming in my head. Then I remembered I had also been sent some samples of Stir It Up Cuisine's Sweet Heat Pepper Jelly. Done.
Stir It Up Cuisine is a Massachusetts-based Caribbean catering company, owned and operated by native Jamaican Patricia Kiernan. Her pepper jellies are available online and at various local retailers and farms, such as the Wine & Cheese Cask in Somerville and Wilson Farm in Lexington.
I baked biscuits, fried sausage and eggs, topped the eggs with some thinly sliced cheddar cheese, and assembled sandwiches, spreading a little of the pepper jelly on my biscuit.
The biscuits were moist and warm (not to mention buttery and light), the pepper jelly added a subtle kick but also a complementary sweet note, the sausage was salty and herby, and the runny eggs tied it all together. It was the perfect lazy dinner, just what we needed after a day of running around (or at this point several days of running around because we've been going nonstop, with the wedding less than two weeks away now!).
What do you make when you want a quick, effortless dinner?