(Published a little early on Wednesday. Sue me.)

Even if you are a working-from-home mom, coming up with menus week after week that are easy, interesting and tasty is just damn challenging. I’ve never had the organizational skills to “cook ahead” or “shop for the week” (and I hate leftovers). I can create a project budget, sell a deal, strategize and argue… but remembering to buy the Italian parsley escapes me more often than not.

So when I stumbled upon Relish! by way of whoorl, I was THRILLED! Here was a very simple service for $7/mo that let you pick from a list of entrees and side dishes that rotates every Thursday, set it to how ever many servings you needed AND build the g-ddamned shopping list?! Sign. Me. Up.

I decided to sign up for a three month trial and actually commit to using it. So far the recipes have been good, the shopping list highly organized and this has really helped keep dinner time chaos to a low roar. (I should also note that they categorize the entrees by healthy, kid-friendly, slow-cooker, vegetarian, etc.)

Last night I decided to try a recipe that is a little out of the box of my current repertoire in rotation: Baked Eggs with Mushrooms. Very French bistro, no?

Here’s the recipe and some pictures as well as some notes regarding a few enhancements I made. This serves two.

Note: you’ll need 10-ounce ramekins, custard cups or small oven-proof bowls. Also I used all organic ingredients which is a major win for me.

Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes

2 tablespoons butter

1 garlic clove, minced *

1 slices white bread, cut into small cubes

coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1/2 white onion, thinly slicced

1/2 cup sliced button mushrooms

1/2 tablespoon Italian parsley, chopped

4 large eggs

1/8 cup heavy whipping cream

olive oil flavored cooking spray

*addition to original recipe

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Lightly spray the ramekins with cooking spray. Set a kettle or pot of water to boil.

2. Heat half of the butter in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and sautee briefly to flavor the butter. Add the bread and cook, tossing occasionally, about 4 minutes to make it toasty. Remove garlic before it starts to burn. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl.

3. Melt the rest of the butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper to taste and sautee until lightly carmelized*. Remove from pan and divide evenly between two ramekins/baking dishes.

*The original recipe calls for sautéing the onions, mushrooms and parsley together at once, but I preferred to caramelize the onions for an additional layer of flavor.

4. Add more butter if needed and sauté mushrooms and parsley and sauté for 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add on top of onions in baking dishes, dividing evenly.

5. Divide the croutons evenly on top of the mushrooms in each ramekin/baking dish. Gently break 2 eggs into each ramekin (keeping the yolks intact). Top each ramekin with 1 teaspoon cream and season with salt and pepper. Place the ramekins in a 13x 9-inch baking dish and pour enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the ramekins. Bake until whites are set, about 15 minutes.

Note: you want the whites to set, but still let the yolks be a little runny to make the dish creamy.

6. Carefully remove the ramekins from the water serve.

I served this with roasted lemon-parmesan asparagus and there was nothing left on the plate to speak of. A crisp white would go great with this.

I’d call that a hit. And I’d also tell you I’ve totally gotten my $7 worth this month so far. Other entrees I’m trying this week (all good):

Roasted Lemon-Garlic Chicken

Roasted Salmon with Snow Peas and Rice

Go check ‘em out!

Everyone needs a little inspiration to get through the end of a week. So each Thursday I’ll showcase something that brings me a little bit of joy. Welcome to the first installment of Favorite Thursday Things!

I was introduced to this wine about five years ago through a favorite work colleague, friend and, at the time, boss. We spent WAY too many hours after work (or sometimes during work, depending on the client issue du jour) at the fantastic hotel restaurant down the street from our office. Occasionally we decided to stop with the work talk and enjoy NOT work talk – and one late afternoon the conversation turned to wine on the walk over. He said I needed to try this one. I agreed at the time because on that day I needed a glass of wine more than I needed my next breath.

Through the years it has become a favorite, inexpensive merlot that I cook with and drink. I love it on crisp, cold fall or winter days and I recently found this one on sale at my local grocer for $7. I can’t drink this wine without remembering some very fun times. We worked hard and laughed harder and there are stories and lessons from that job and that team that I will carry with me always.