Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole

I come from a very southern family and in the south we feed you if there has been illness, birth, death, or just because. Many people tend to bring dinners and cakes. I have found that not too many people think about the first meal of the day. Breakfast is lauded as the most important meal of the day. While a cold bowl of cereal to break our fast is more practical for hurried school mornings, on the weekends and special occasions I like to put a bit more effort into it. This is a great casserole for any occasion. It is both hearty and delicious. Best of all, the most taxing part is browning your sausage.

This breakfast casserole is one I stole from Paula Dean. I simply am giving you a more detailed step by step instructional with pictures to really show you how easy it is and what to expect as you go along. The original recipe can be found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/breakfast-casserole-recipe.html

You will notice that this recipe calls for whole milk. My family drinks 1-2% milk but I often do bake with whole milk. There is a reason for that and it comes down to the science of baking. All liquids in baked goods help to bind things together, even if just water. But fat plays a more important role as a moisturizer and tenderizer. That means, cakes, muffins, and even quiches that have a higher fat content will come out with a finer crumb and not so dry. Dry muffins, yuk! Now you can use a lower fat content milk anyways but be careful not to over mix or else your product may come out a little tough.                      


This recipe yields 8-10 servings per casserole.

Ingredients

• 1 Jimmy Dean Ground Maple Pork Sausage 
• 8 Large Eggs
• 6 Slices White Bread
• 1 cup Mexican Cheese
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1/4 tsp Seasoned Salt
• 1 tsp Prepared Mustard
• 1/2 Pepper
• Non Stick Cooking Spray
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UTENSILS YOU NEED:

• 9x13 baking dish
• Cutting board
• Bread Knife
• Frying Pan
• Large Spoon
• Large Mixing Bowl 
• Colander
• Whisk
• Measuring Spoons/Cup

Directions 

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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Brown sausage on the stove top on medium heat. No oil is needed as the sausage has plenty of fat content to keep from sticking to the pan.
3. While the sausage is browning, go ahead and and spray your 9x13 baking dish with the nonstick cooking spray.                                                                      
4. Next cut the crust off of your white bread. Any knife will do the job but a bread knife is typically a longer knife wit ha serrated edge. It cuts through bread much easier with less tearing of the bread. You want to make a small stack with your bread, lining up the crust edges. Gently place your hand on top of the bread without really pressing down and squishing your bread.                         
5. Sliced bread in half and layer in your baking dish.
6. Once sausage is browned, drain well in colander to remove any excess grease. 
7. Spoon cooked sausage evenly on top of bread slices (promise no one ever guess there is bread on the bottom of this casserole).                                           
8. Top sausage with your pound of cheese.                                      
9. In large mixing bowl whisk together eggs, milk, salt, mustard, and pepper together until eggs are well scrambled.                                         
10. Carefully pour egg mixture on top of the sausage mix.          
11. Place on center rack in oven and bake until starting to brown, about 40 minutes. 
12. Enjoy!                                                                 
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Butter Poached Asparagus

If you like asparagus you will LOVE this stupid simple butter poached recipe. Poaching is basically boiling at a lower temperature (160-180 F).  Butter poaching is merely adding some butter to your cooking liquid for added flavoring. This is always so good and such a big hit that I rarely ever have any leftovers. Poor me :(



Asparagus is actually really easy to cook though if not prepped you will have these hard inedible ends. No bueno. Fortunately you don't need any special tools. You literally hold the asparagus towards the base and snap! The inedible ends pop right off at the exact spot needed. If for whatever reason you prefer to cut them off and have never prepped asparagus before, snap the ends off of one to get a better idea how much is actually waste verses yummy edible veggie. Once you have a better sense then you can absolutely line them all up and cut the same inch (give or take some) off the ends of your spears. 

Before and after pic

This is a side dish so how much asparagus you need is directly dependent on how much you love asparagus. My family of 5 will eat 2 pounds of asparagus with no problem. If you have a leftovers, this reheats well. 

Ingredients

• 2 pounds asparagus 
• 1 cup water
• 1 sticks of butter
• 3 tsp salt or to taste

 

UTENSILS YOU NEED:

• 9x13 baking dish
• Cutting board
• Knife

Directions 

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1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Prep your asparagus. I buy mine in these large packages from Sams Club. I do not toss the bags right away and instead keep it around for my trash. 
3. Once the ends are snapped, place in you baking dish and add 1 cup of water.
4. Cut your stick butter in about 1/2 inch increments and place on top of asparagus as shown and salt.                                          
5. Cover with tin foil.                                   
6. Place on center rack in oven for 30-45 minutes. If you have thin spears you really want to start checking doneness at 30 minutes. I get these larger spears that typically take closer to 45 minutes to cook.
7. When timer goes off, test doneness with a fork. You want them to be tender and easy to spear but not so cooked they are baby food tender. 
8. Serve up and enjoy!!                                                                                      *pictured is Mexican Meatballs over white rice with butter poached asparagus

Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins

I personally LOVE a good breakfast muffin. What I don't love is the calories, carbs and fat that go along with it. Plus I could easily eat 6 of those suckers without feeling full. By slightly altering a traditional Blueberry muffin recipe I have more than halved the fat, reduced the calories by over a 1/3, and lowered the carb count per muffin. Best yet these are filling! My husband was eating about 3 muffins for breakfast and the kids were eating 1-2 each. These also make for great post workout snacks or mid day snacks for kids.

This recipe is very versatile. You can easily substitute fresh or frozen cranberries, apples, blackberries, or whatever floats your boat. This simple recipe takes about 10-15 minutes to prep and 25-30 minutes to bake and makes 18 muffins!

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas (the riper the sweeter)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cup of oatmeal
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (not crushed)
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups blueberries 
• dash of cinnamon

UTENSILS YOU NEED:

• Mixing Bowl
• Whisk/Mixer
• Colander if Using Frozen Fruit
• Large Spoon or Silicone Spatula
• Cutting Board
• Knife for Chopping Walnuts
• Measuring Cup/Spoons
• Muffin Tin
• Muffin Tin Liners
• Ice Cream Scoop
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Directions 

FOR THE muffins:

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1. Preheat oven to 350 and line your muffin pan with liners.
2. If you are using frozen fruit You need to get it out now and start defrosting by either running under a light stream of warm (not hot) water or microwaving for 30 seconds and drain well. 
3. In a bowl with a wire whisk or a mixer, combine your bananas, milk, oil, sugar, and egg.                                                                   
4. Next add your dry ingredients. Flour, oats, cinnamon, and baking powder. Mix/whisk until well incorporated.                         
5. Gently fold in your blueberries or other fruit and walnuts.
6. With a medium ice cream or cookie scoop, fill each tin about 3/4 full.
7. Bake 25-30 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick or butter knife in the center and it comes out clean.                          
8. Remove muffins from the pan immediately and let cool on wire rack. 

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Amber's Cherry Peach Cobbler

I'm not a huge baker but I am known for a few deserts. My cobblers are among them. This cherry peach cobbler is the epitome of a southern summer desert. Though I've been known to make cobblers year round, something about summer time makes me start yearning for a good peach cobbler. My cherry peach cobbler has very traditional favors but a little different presentation than the cobblers I grew up eating.



This recipe fed a party of 6 adult appetites and 2 small children with 2-3 servings left over. Prep is about 15 minutes and about another 30-40 minutes to bake.

Ingredients

FOR THE Crust:

• 2 cups Bisquick 
• 2tsp sugar
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 6 Tbsp milk
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
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FOR THE Filling:

• 2 cans peaches, drained
• 1 can cherry pie filling
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
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FOR THE Topping:

• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon 

UTENSILS needed:

• 9x13 baking dish 
• Silicone spatula/stirring spoon
• Fork and butter knife
• Medium-large mixing bowl
• Ice cream scoop 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Mix Bisquick and and remaining cobbler crust ingredients until all moist. My kids finished off the milk this morning so I substituted some vanilla almond milk with great success. 
3. Set aside crust mix. 
4. Drain your peaches and pour into 9x13 baking dish.
5. Using your fork and butter knife cut peaches in half. 
6. Open your cherry pie filling and mix with peaches. 
7. Add lemon juice and cinnamon, mix well.         
8. Using ice cream scoop, scoop 3/4 full of Bisquick mixture onto cobbler. 
9. You want at least 6 scoops across your 9x13 baking dish. If the individual scoops are too "thick" then it will be more difficult to cook through.         
10. Top by sprinkling with cinnamon and sugar. 
11. Bake on center rack for 30 minutes. The crust may not brown so feel free to check doneness by sticking a butter knife through a center section of cobbler crust. If knife come away clean (like checking a cake) then you are good to go!        
12. Serve while warm and maybe with a side of vanilla ice cream. 
    
    
    

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