Wow.  Haven't been here in a while. Let me knock down a few of these cobwebs and see what I want to do here today. 

Like a billion other people, I spend an occasional minute or two on Facebook. Everyday.  Nothing obsessive or anything.  Really.    Lately people there have been posting a ton of recipes which reminded me that it's been a long time since I've posted here. So over the next few days I hope to get a few fresh ones up and maybe tweak a few of the older ones. 

This recipe is for a Breakfast Casserole, but since this is a blog, I guess I should "blog" a bit first. So here's a little backstory.

Before August 29, 2005 and that thing called Katrina, I lived next to the same neighbors I'd live next to for years.  You know the kind--let's call them "hello neighbors."   You see them everyday, wave hello or goodbye, occasionally drop off a piece of mis-delivered mail, compare torpedo grass stories... but you don't exactly hang out.  After Katrina, a group of us at the end of the street all found ourselves in the same boat--messed up houses, FEMA trailers in our front yards and common war stories of insurance settlements, rebuilding, and life in a tin can (that we were all very grateful to have).

If anything good came from that storm is was that we started talking about each others progress and setbacks and the talks progressed to small scale gatherings...and we formed a bond.  Later, after everyone was rebuilt and in their homes again, we kept getting together.  We still gather every year on August 29th for the 'anniversary' and at least 4 times a year we also do a breakfast gathering.

It was at that first breakfast that my neighbor, Judy, served up a breakfast casserole that was to die for.  Eggs?  Love eggs.  Sausage?  Down with that.  Cheese?  Never met a cheese I didn't like. I had to see if I could recreate it.  She told me the general ingredients but I didn't write it down.   I have a great memory, right?    To use the colloquial:   Uh, not no more.

So I experiemented with what i knew:   eggs, cheese, sausage, bread....I think some green onion emerged from my brain fog. But how much?   Now, if you look up breakfast casserole on the internet and you will find 903 recipes.   So I scanned through a bunch and got a general idea of how much of what and I made a few of these over time.  This is the what I settled on:

Recipe for Breakfast Casserole

6 beaten eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard  (sounds weird but it works with the cheese)
1/2 cup of green onions (optional)
4 to 6 slices of bread (your choice: wheat, white, sour dough, whatever you wish)
1 pound of Jimmy Dean (or other brand) roll type breakfast sausage
1 cup of cheese of your choice.  (I like a blend of cheddar and asiago.)

If you're going to serve this for breakfast.  Do this the night before:

Crumble and brown sausage and drain well.

Grease an 11x13 casserole dish.

Line the bottom of the dish with slices of bread, or, you can use biscuit dough or crescent roll dough. If using crescent roll dough, unroll dough and place in bottom of dish, pressing on the perforations to seal them.  I've also substituted seasoned stuffing mix--like pepperidge farm, not StoveTop.  Just layer it on the bottom of the casserole dish.  If your slices of bread don't fit perfectly, it's no big deal. Tear the slices if you need to.  The goal is to get as close to a solid layer as possible.  If parts of the dish show through, it doesn't matter.  The egg mixture will fill it all in.

Spread the cooked sausage evenly over the bread/dough.

In a bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients except for the cheese.  Pour mixture into casserole dish.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.** 

**If you want to put the cheese in the mixture, you certainly may. I've done it that way, too. It just integrates the cheese more into the dish.  If you'd rather a cheese topping, don't mix it in.  You could also mix in half the cheese and save the other half for the top.  Cooking is about experimenting and having fun. You really cannot mess this dish up.

The next morning, remove the casserole from the fridge about 15 minutes before placing in a preheated 350 degree oven.  REMEMBER, you don't want to put an ice cold dish into the oven.  It may crack.  ...so YES, I suppose it is POSSIBLE to mess this dish up that way. 

If you saved the cheese or used half the cheese in the mixture, then bake for 20 minutes.  Remove and sprinkle cheese over the top. Return to oven for an additional 20 minutes.

If you used all the cheese in the mixture, just bake it straight through for 40 to 45 minutes.

It should look something like this when it's done:

Serve immediately.  Makes 8 generous servings.

Super Easy Potato Side

I seem to make alot of side dishes...   Guess I'm an undeclared 'near-vegetarian'. 

Went to the grocery last night and bought a 5 pound bag of potatoes.  When I do that, it's always a challenge to use them up before they start sprouting potato barnacles.  (I had a yam once that sprouted a tree out of the side.)   Ok....you can boil and mash, microwave them, fry them....  roast them! that's it!

You can do this with just potatoes OR with potatoes and yam and carrots.  Whatever you've got.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with a little vegetable spray.
Scrub 3 or 4 good sized potatoes and cut into chunks.  You can peel them if you prefer.
Do the same for yams and carrots if you're adding those in too. (peel the carrots).  Toss them into the casserole as you go to judge how many you need.
Spray the potatoes/yams/carrots with some vegetable spray and sprinkle generously with your favorite seasonings.  (I used Bad Byron's Butt Rub, Morton's Season-all, and some sea salt).
Cover the casserole with foil and put it in the oven for 1 hour.
That's it!

My version of Zea's Roasted Corn Grits

I was on facebook earlier this evening and someone mentioned Zea's.   Yum.  Love those grits.   I took a crack at them Thanksgiving of 2009 and they were BEYOND good.  NOT diet food, but holy moley they were good.   Tonight, I tried a lighter recipe that held up pretty well to my original full-fat version and has about 1/2 the calories.  It's really pretty easy too.  Here you go:

D's Roasted Corn Grits (full fat "holiday" version)

2 cups of water
2 cups of light cream
1 stick of butter
3 or 4 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon of salt (or less if you're watching your salt--but with all that butter & cream, what's a little salt?)
1 cup of yellow corn grits OR white quick cooking grits (NOT INSTANT)
1 ear of grilled ear of corn, kernels removed. 

You can roast corn directly on the rack of a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes OR you can microwave it for a couple of minutes and throw it on the grill for a few minutes til some of the kernels start to blacken. If you must, you can also substitute drained, canned corn in a pinch, but it won't be as good as fresh roasted.)

Bring all liquids and butter just up to a boil. Add green onions and grits. Lower heat to simmer.  Stir occasionally until thickened. About 10 minutes for quick grits and 20 minutes for 'slow' grits (if you can find them).

Just before serving, stir in the corn kernels and serve.  Makes 4 one cup servings. (About 840 calories per serving)



D's Roasted Corn Grits  - Light(er) Recipe

2 cups of water
1 cups of light cream
1 cup of whole milk
3 tablespoons of butter
3 or 4 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon of salt
1 cup of yellow corn grits OR white quick cooking grits (NOT INSTANT grits)
1 ear of grilled ear of corn, kernels removed

Same cooking directions as in the full fat verion above:

You can roast corn directly on the rack of a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes OR you can microwave it for a couple of minutes and throw it on the grill for a few minutes til some of the kernels start to blacken. If you must, you can also substitute drained, canned corn in a pinch, but it won't be as good as fresh roasted.)


Bring all liquids and butter just up to a boil. Add green onions and grits. Lower heat to simmer.  Stir occasionally until thickened. About 10 minutes for quick grits and 20 minutes for 'slow' grits (if you can find them).

Just before serving, stir in the corn kernels and serve.  Makes 4 one cup servings.  (About 430 calories per serving)

Something to do with broccoli

I hadn't planned on posting anything today as I ate leftover chicken (coated in Louisiana Shrimp Fry of course) and veggies today. Then I made a salad... basic stuff: iceberg, carrots, tomato, orange bell pepper, green onion, crasins, sunflower seeds and more carrots (I like carrots.)

When I put the salad in the fridge I spotted a bunch of broccoli I had almost forgotten about. I'm pretty sure I emitted an audible sigh... I'm tired of buying produce and then throwing it out a couple of weeks later because I didn't feel like fooling with it. So I toughed it out....and cut it up and steamed it. Took all of 10 minutes. Well since I was on a roll, I broke out some brown rice and pot of water. Might as well go healthy tomorrow, right?  Brown rice and broccoli... My body will probably go into shock, but I'll take the chance--because I'm like that.   Always walking the tightrope.

My 10 year old nephew LOVES broccoli. He happened to be over here when I cooked it and what was once a big pile of broccoli was reduced to a few meager stalks. I'm not complaining. How many 10 year olds opt for broccoli over Oreos?

So, now my problem was what to do with a lot of brown rice and a handful of broccoli?

The other day when I cooked the aforementioned chicken, I had it with carrots and some in-the-envelope broccoli rice mix. Yes, it had some rice in it. It also had spaghetti in it--like Rice-a-Roni. I didn't know that. That is one of the nastiest texture combinations ever conceived. And I had to break out the magnifier to see a hint of broccoli in there. I was thinking as I ate it, (yes, I did eat it) that SURELY I can do better than this.

so, I did. Here it is.

Real Broccoli and Cheese Rice (sans 'Roni')

1/2 cup of brown rice. (use white if you must. Brown is better)
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
pinch of black pepper
1 cup of milk
1 cup of grated cheddar
1/2 cup or more of chopped steamed broccoli

cook 1/2 cup of brown rice in salted water for 40 - 45 minutes. Drain. Don't rinse. Set aside.

(my mom always did rice 'pasta style' where you simmer it in a lot of water and drain after 40 minutes for brown rice and 20 for white rice. It's never sticky like it can be if you cook it like they say to on the package)

Steam broccoli florets til crisp-tender. About 5-6 minutes on the stovetop.
Drain and rinse under cold water. Dice.

In a sauce pan over low heat (or better yet, a double boiler over medium heat), melt butter.

Add salt, pepper and flour and stir til well mixed.

Add milk and cheese and stir til thickened. About 3-5 minutes.

Stir in rice and broccoli. Serve.

Makes about 4 servings.

I LOVE this stuff

Was craving Chinese food tonight, but I had some chicken tenders defrosted so I had to use them.  Dug around in the cabinets and pulled out the bag of Louisiana brand Shrimp Fry.  I LOVE this stuff!  If I fried a shoe dipped in it, it would be delicious.

You just mix 5 tablespoons with a half cup of water and dip your shrimp, chicken, fish, onion rings, okra--whatever you've got handy.   After dipping in the wet mix, I usually dredge it in a small amount of dry mix as well.   It's not necessary though.

I put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a teflon fry pan.  (I could probably get away with less oil using the teflon), heat it up to at least 350 degrees and put the chicken in a pan.   No need to add anything extra with this batter.  It's perfectly seasoned.

Louisiana Fish Fry is a Baton Rouge company that's been around for 18 years.  Here's their website.  Check 'em out:  Louisiana Fish Fry.

I'll eat the cabbage, but you can keep the black eyed peas...

Who started the pork, cabbage & black-eyed peas on New Year's thing? As a kid, it was never one of my favorite meals. You could have held a gun to my head, set me on fire and broken all of my new Christmas toys and I would NEVER have eaten that stuff. Yuck. It was many, many, many, .... many years later that I came to appreciate the taste of cabbage. Many. However....I have never had any problem whatsoever with bacon. I'd eat alot of things if they were wrapped in bacon. Alot. Of. Things.

Anyway, It's a little late, but here's a recipe for the New Year or any time of year: 

 

Cabbage w/ bacon, onion & apple

Ingredients:

6 thick strips of smoked bacon.
½ of large onion, sliced  (vidalias are best)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
1 peeled and sliced Fuji apple
4 cups of sliced cabbage              
1 – 12oz bottle of Abita Wheat (or any wheat beer or apple ale)
2 pinches of fresh thyme

Method:

In a heavy pot over medium heat, render bacon for about 3 minutes.  Add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt & pepper and bay leaf.  Cook until the onions soften but don’t color, about 5 minutes.

Add 1 peeled, sliced Fuji apple and cook until soft, about 2 minutes.

Add 4 cups of sliced cabbage and stir well to coat.

Add beer/ale, thyme and more salt & pepper.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, uncover the pot and cook til most of the liquid is evaporated.   Stir occasionally.   Serve.


January 4, 2011 - Super Easy Pasta Bake

So I was looking through my cabinets this morning and came across a jar of Ragu.  Yes, Ragu.   Don't make that face.   It's good in a pinch and cheap--2 of my favorite qualities in most things.   Anyway, I flashed back to something my mom used to make on the occasional Sunday afternoon, usually in the fall and winter. I decided to try to recreate it.  It's super simple:

1 cup dried pasta of your choice.
1- 26oz jar of any Ragu (or similar sauce)
1/2 jar of water.
1/2 cup of finely grated Asiago cheese (or whatever you prefer)
 
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Put uncooked pasta in a greased 11x7 casserole dish.  Cover with 1 jar of Ragu and 1/2 jar of water. Stir.

Place into oven and cook for 40 minutes.   After 40 minutes, carefully sprinkle grated Asiago cheese on top and return to oven for an additional 20 minutes or til pasta is tender. 

That's it.  It's easy, hot, edible and filling--which is why my mom made it.  She was quite a good cook, but sometimes you just gotta opt for 'easy, hot, edible & filling.'      It was exactly how I remembered it.  Thanks Mom.


I made some cornbread to go with it, but it was too salty.  I'm 2 for 2 in bad cornbread.  It may be good with some maple syrup.  Everything's good with some maple syrup.....