Green Eggs & Ham

March 2 is Dr. Seuss's birthday. Normally, I wouldn't pay any mind to it, but Nicky has been concerned about Dr. Seuss's birthday since last year's Cat in the Hat marathon on PBS. He has been asking regularly when Dr. Seuss's birthday is, so a few months ago I looked it up (no, it wasn't already cataloged in my brain) and was excited that it fell on a Saturday this year.

I decided to win my son's affections by having a Dr. Seuss birthday breakfast. We invited Grandma and Grandpa over, and they appropriately showed up in Cat in the Hat hats and gave Nicky and Daisy each a treasury of Dr. Seuss books.

(Three cheers for Grandma and Grandpa!)

The menu included Cat in the Hat-ish strawberry banana skewers and blue milk:

Green eggs and ham:

And oatmeal pancakes with purple buttermilk syrup:

We also had some colorful Jell-O and green marshmallows because a high sugar intake is totally appropriate on Dr. Seuss's birthday.

I bought a cheap white plastic table cloth from the store and traced some Dr. Seuss coloring pages onto it and then gave the kids some crayons so they could color during breakfast. I also added in some favorite Dr. Seuss quotes.

We had a lot of fun, and the kids (and Grandma and Grandpa) were very excited. 

I will have to deem this celebration a success.

If you'd like to make our version of green eggs and ham, here is the recipe (I got this from my friend, Diane, and as you may guess, put green food coloring in the egg mixture, then I filled it with... ham, of course!)

Omelet Roll

3/4 C milk

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 tbs. flour

12 eggs, lightly beaten

2 T dijon mustard

2 C shredded cheese

For inside: any combination of breakfast meats and/or sauteed veggies (pictured with ham, green peppers, mushrooms, and onions)

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper (let over-hang on every side by an inch or so). Combine milk and cream cheese. Add flour and eggs (it’s okay to have small chunks of cream cheese in the mixture – I usually run a slotted spoon through it to get the large chunks out). Pour egg mixture over parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes (until slightly brown and puffy). Remove from oven and spread with dijon mustard. Top with shredded cheese first then meats and veggies. Roll length-wise and let stand for five minutes before slicing. Serves 8-10.

The oatmeal pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast dishes, introduced to me by Mel. You might like them, too.

"Try them, try them and you may. Try them and you may I say!"

-Sam