My thyme is blossoming in my herb garden, just in time for creating a dish to celebrate Mother’s Day. Therefore, I designed this easy-to-make, easy-to-travel dish for Mother’s Day brunch, perfect for celebrating the day either in your house or your mom’s.

• 3 branches of fresh thyme, leaves only
• ½ branch of fresh rosemary, leaves only
• Salt and pepper
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 pound mild (unless your mama likes it hot) Italian pork sausage, cooked
• 1 tsp butter
• 6 slices of day-old bread crust, somewhat soft (I prefer whole-grain)
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated or cut into small pieces
• 1 cup of day-old bread, soft parts only, torn
• 5 to 6 branches of fresh thyme blossoms, flowers only

Combine thyme and rosemary and chop roughly. Transfer the chopped herb into a mortar. Add ½ teaspoonful each of salt and pepper and grind the herb and spices until fragrant. In a bowl, beat the eggs. Then add the half and half and ground herbs. Add another ½ teaspoonful salt and pepper to the final egg batter and set aside. Next, cook pork sausage and set aside.

Butter the inside of a 13×10-inch baking pan. To the bottom of the pan, lay down slices of day-old bread. You may need to re-size and arrange the bread to fill the gaps. Layer on cooked sausage. Add cheese. Cover the sausage and cheese completely with the egg batter. Then place torn bread between the sausage and cheese. Cover the pan and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the casserole for 25 to 30 minutes or until you see a golden crust on top. To check for doneness, insert a toothpick in the center of the dish and remove. If you do not see uncooked egg, the dish is done.

As the dish is resting, sprinkle the thyme blossoms on top and let the residual heat release the aroma of the blossoms. The resulting dish promises to be a joy for the senses of sight, smell and taste.

This dish travels well. Therefore, if you need to travel to your mom on mother’s day, you can simply cover the dish, take it to her house and enjoy.

There you have it.

Have a great Mother’s Day!

~Lunch on