Brunch is my favorite meal, hands down. You gotta love a meal that involves both savory and sweet. Plus an excuse to drink champagne before noon sounds good to me! So it comes to no surprise I jumped at the chance to join the Boston Brunchers for a special Mom brunch with cookbook author Katie Workman at Scollay Square.

Scollay Square is located in the shadows of the State House on Beacon Hill. Some quick online research revealed that the original Scollay Square was located where Government Center now stands. The Scollay Square on 21 Beacon Street pays tribute with old photographs and decor from that era.

Joining me for this Boston Brunchers mom blogger edition were some fabulous women: Jessica from Don't Mind the Mess, Melanie from The Coupon Goddess, Laura from Good Cook Doris, Leah from Boston Family Foodie, Marissa from A Boston Mom, Boston Brunchers host Renee and Katie Workman, author of The Mom 100 Cookbook: 100 Recipes Every Mom Needs in Her Back Pocket.

Three-course brunch menu - so hard to choose with many great options!

Scollay Square had prepared a three-course brunch menu showcasing some of their signature dishes. For the appetizer course, we had a choice of fresh berries with whipped cream or this:

Asparagus wrapped with prosciutto, grilled. Delicious!

No contest. This was my favorite dish. The asparagus was cooked to perfection and grilling the prosciutto was a nice touch. The fresh mozzarella and oven roasted tomato drizzled with a balsamic syrup rounded off this dish. Yum.

Next came the entree course. There was a choice of Flat Iron Steak with Grilled Asparagus, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Chimichurri Sauce, Butternut Squash Lasagna, Buttermilk Pancakes, or Monterey Jack and Portobello Omelette served with Has Browns and Lemon Dressed Greens. I'm a classic bruncher, so I had to go with the omelette.

Monterey Jack and Portobello Omelette

The omelette was light and fluffy and there was a good ratio of cheese to portobella mushroom. The has browns were okay (a bit on the greasy side) and the greens were kind of dull and overdressed.

As we dined and sipped our drinks, we had the opportunity to hear about what went behind Katie Workman's new cookbook. I'll be posting a review soon, but let's just say rigorous recipe testing, gorgeous photography and years of experience feeding her family and friends leads to a pretty cool cookbook.

The waitstaff was attentive and helpful. My guess is they don't see a lot of kids (dining room was a bit cramped and did not see many high chairs), but they were more than happy to accommodate our youngest Boston Brunchers (a couple of moms brought along their adorable and well-behaved babies).


For the finale, we were served Strawberry Shortcake with Vanilla Ice Cream. It was a nice ending to a great event. It's not often I get a chance to 1) brunch without my kids in tow 2) exchange tips on blogging and 3) commiserate with some talented women on trying to do it all.

Disclosure: Thanks to Scollay Square and Boston Brunchers for hosting brunch, which I received free of charge. As always, all opinions are my own.

I can always count on the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living for simple yet delicious recipes that my whole family will love. So when it comes to meal planning tools, I knew I had to try "Grocery Bag" meal plans by Everyday Food.

In each month of Everyday Food and online at www.marthastewart.com, there is a feature called Grocery Bag. Grocery Bag is a set of five weeknight menus with a ready to print or tear grocery list. The Grocery Bag meal plan promises one trip to the grocery store at the start of the week resulting in a week's worth of dinners. I've seen meal plans like this before, but never have I followed one so faithfully as I done had last week. I decided I would follow the meal plan exactly as it appeared, using the shopping list and recipes to help me "sail through dinner from Monday all the way to Friday with our editors' time-tested strategies for ease." So was it smooth sailing?