Circa 1985 - I used to sit at the dinner table for HOURS because of baked beans.

HOURS!!!!! Yes, 60 minutes x 2...

Not metaphorical “ugh this is taking forever” hours when it's really only a few minutes.

Actual clock-ticking, sitcom-theme-song-changing, daylight-disappearing hours.

Because in our house, you finished everything on your plate before you left the table.

EVERYTHING!

And unfortunately for 11 year old me, my mother made baked beans approximately every eleven minutes.

Saturday night beans and weiners anyone?

I hated them with the fiery passion of an eleven-year-old.

By the time everyone else had left the table, watched TV, played outside and moved on with their lives…

I’d still be sitting there staring at this sad brown puddle of cold beans. (just writing that line brought me back to that table)

Did you know that after a certain amount of time, beans don't look or taste like food anymore? (you probably don't need any help here, so I'll leave you to your own imagination)

Brown hunks of gross-ness. (My highly technical 51-turned-eleven-year-old word)

I can still remember trying to swallow them while gagging through my tears.

(Was I being slightly theatrical? Probably.)

But I believe childhood food trauma explains a LOT about adulthood.

Because once I moved out?

I never touched baked beans again. Not once. Absolutely not.

#traumatized.

And then one day as an adult, I begrudgingly tried them again.

And surprisingly? I liked them.

Which honestly felt like the biggest lie after all the table suffering I endured in the 80's.

In my 50's, I absolutely have an adult version of baked beans…it's goat cheese. (and olives but that's a story for another time, oh and coffee which is 100% a story for another time)

I think goat cheese tastes and smells exactly like dirty socks would.

Not “slightly tangy.” Not “cheesy.”

Dirty socks.

And the worst part is I can detect it in ANYTHING.

“Oh this goat cheese dip is amazing.”

IS IT, Reader?

Because I can taste the goat cheese from over here and it tastes like gym socks.

SO.... when I was planning our Mother’s Day brunch menu for the café this year and stumbled across a Herbed Goat Cheese and Veggie Egg Bake…

.... you’d think I would’ve immediately scrolled away.

NOPE.

For reasons I still cannot explain, I thought:

“Huh. Everyone loves goat cheese.”

So I decided to test it.

I washed every gym sock in my house and made a smaller version first.

Delicious? Cafe worthy? Or melted gym socks crumbled over eggs?

The second it came out of the oven, I was suspicious.

Because it smelled incredible.

The roasted veggies on the bottom were caramelized to perfection.

There were herbs. Fluffy eggs. Golden edges.

And just enough goat cheese crumbled on top to make me nervous.

Then came the moment of truth.

THE BITE.

And listen carefully because I do not say this lightly: I LOVED IT.

The woman who can detect goat cheese like a drug sniffing dog.

Loved it.

I started with the teensiest bite and went back for another piece just to confirm I wasn’t having some kind of hallucination.

And this Mother's Day Goat Cheese dish got me thinking… (of course it did!)

How many foods, habits, routines, or even beliefs do we write off forever because of one bad experience?

One bite we didn't like 30 years ago.

One overcomplicated recipe that didn't turn out.

The trend that went wrong where someone convinced us cauliflower belongs in every crust we ever make.

And suddenly we decide:

“Nope. Not for me.”

But the problem isn’t the food. (well, sometimes it is but let's pretend for this segue please 🙏)

It’s the experience we had with it.

This egg bake? It isn’t fancy. It isn’t complicated.

But I could have bypassed it ONLY because of my dislike of goat cheese.

This dish is simple with real ingredients working together in a way that tastes more than good.

Which is exactly how eating well should feel - isn’t it?!

Not miserable. Not restrictive. Not forcing yourself to choke down your own metaphorical baked beans.

Just simple food you genuinely enjoy enough to make again. (even if that food is taking you out of your comfort zone)

And if a lifelong goat cheese hater can be converted…

... there may still be hope for you.

Here's the best part -

I've been sitting on this #weirdandwitty story for weeks and knew I had to share it, along with the Herbed Goat Cheese + Veggie Egg Bake Recipe​

We did end up serving it at the café for Mother’s Day — and it was a massive hit. People loved it.

It’s protein-packed, veggie-loaded, while also managing to feel a little fancy while still being ridiculously simple.

(Which is basically the dream and the goal)

A few highlights:

• Thinly sliced roasted veggies on the bottom instead of crust
• Creamy eggs with herbs and caramelized edges
• Goat cheese that somehow DOESN'T taste like dirty socks
• Excellent for brunch, meal prep, or standing at the counter eating leftovers straight from the fridge while pretending you’re “just having one bite”.

WARNING: While it does tastes good cold, it is slightly more gym sock-y than when it's eaten warm. 🧦

If you're a goat cheese lover or hater, you can grab the full recipe here:

[HERBED GOAT CHEESE VEGGIE EGG BAKE]

This week, go try that food you hated as a kid!

Nat - your goat cheese convert liker tolerator

P.S. Do you have a food you hated as a kid but then loved as an adult? Tell me, tell me, tell me!

P.P.S If you make this recipe (which I really think you should), let me know how it turned out.