Maple, Sausage, Bacon, and Waffle Casserole (with a gluten free option)

Well, another Easter has come and gone.  Mr. E. Bunny was good to all this year.  Now, it is April 1 and spring may finally be starting to truly rear it's head.  Yesterday was misty/rainy and cool all day.  That meant the annual Grandma and Pawpaw egg hunt was indoors, but the grandsons still had a lot of fun.  Today, the sky is cerulean blue and the sun is shining, birds are singing, and trees are blooming.  It is going to be in the 70's by the weekend.  Yeeha!  Yes, I really said the 70's. Awesome.  That is why we can now be assured that spring is finally making it's way to mid-Tennessee.  All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you!  Oh, and little league games start Saturday.  Whew, just in time.

Because our grandsons are 9 and younger, we had the egg hunt in the morning followed by a family brunch.  If the wait is too long and the excitement builds to a fever pitch, there will be meltdowns in our future if you know what I mean.  So hunt eggs early, then eat.

The 3 youngest boys nap in the afternoon and moms and dads were looking forward to a respite after all the morning excitement.  (Grandma and Pawpaw were too)  The 2.5 and 3 year old were shoveling candy in their mouths at a record breaking rate which can possibly lead to a lot of hyperactivity in the near future.  Wow. How you forget.   None of them eat much candy normally and yesterday was an all out candy-thon on every front.    Therefore, brunch was an excellent idea because it offered them some good food with lots of protein in place of sweets.

For brunch, I made this maple, sausage, bacon and waffle casserole adapted from a recipe I found at Plainchicken.com.  You know that I use her recipes often and this one is another keeper.  It can be made the day before, refrigerated and then baked the morning of your event.  It would also be fabulous as a "breakfast for dinner" casserole.  The kids really loved it.  Why wouldn't they?  It has all their favorite things in one dish.

I made ours with Van's gluten free waffles so our son in love could enjoy it too.  Otherwise, the recipe calls for Eggo frozen homestyle waffles.  Here is the original recipe and then I will post my adaptation.

Original recipe for 8x8 casserole:

8 frozen Eggo homestyle waffles, cubed
2 pounds maple flavored breakfast sausage
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk (whole or low fat)
1/4 cup real maple syrup
salt and pepper

This is to be baked in an 8 x 8 baking dish, but layered together just the same as the larger casserole  I made.  Here is how I made mine.

Casserole for 9 x 13 baking dish.

12 Van's gluten free frozen waffles (or Eggo waffles if not making gluten free), cubed
1 pound breakfast sausage  (I used plain sausage, but you can use maple flavored if you wish)
1 pound bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
12 large eggs
1 8 ounce block cheddar cheese, grated
2.5 cups milk (whole or low fat)
1/2 cup real maple syrup
salt and pepper

Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.  I sprayed mine with Pam.

Cube all the waffles.

Cook sausage over medium heat, breaking apart until well browned.  Drain fat if needed.

Cook the pound of bacon until crisp, drain.  Break into good sized pieces.

Add 1/2 the cubed waffles to the bottom of the baking dish.  Top with half of the sausage and bacon and 1/2 of the cheese.  Layer the remaining waffles, sausage, bacon and cheese.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, maple syrup, salt, and pepper (about 1/2 tsp. each).  Pour the egg mixture evenly over the layers in the baking dish.

Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap for at least 1 hour before baking or up to one day if using the next day.  Store in the refrigerator.

Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 to 50 minutes.

As soon as eggs look set, remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

Mmmmmm, waffles, sausage, bacon, eggs, cheese, AND maple syrup in one dish.  This is soooooooo good and really easy to make.  (The gluten free waffles do give it a slightly different consistency than regular waffles, but it's still really good.)  If you prefer sausage over bacon, use 2 to 3 pounds of sausage for a big casserole.  If you only want bacon only, use 2 pounds of bacon.  We liked the mixture of the two, but it's up to you.

This is a wonderful make ahead dish anytime you need something for breakfast, especially if you are entertaining guests.  Don't forget about it for a "breakfast for dinner" meal also.  The grandsons LOVE bacon and sausage, and anything with syrup.  (Imagine)  You could even pour a little warmed maple syrup over the top for a little extra flavor. Yummmmo.

Mother's Day will be coming up in May and this would be a wonderful recipe to serve for a Mother's Day brunch - or any brunch or breakfast for that matter.  Graduation will be right around the corner too.  Lots of opportunities coming up where you can use another great breakfast casserole recipe.  Seems you can never have too many recipes.

Now, it's time to put away the bunnies and eggs, do a few spring crafts and enjoy the beautiful weather.  It's also time for some spring cleaning and yard work.  Looks like we are going to be busy.  Talk to you all soon.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. Hal Borland  (Thankfully!)

 

Hash Browns, Regular, Smothered, Covered, Chunked, and Diced

It's Friday.  Hooray!  It's dinner time.  Boo!  What should we have?  I didn't want to go to a lot of trouble, but we were hungry.  For what?  It's always my decision somehow.  If I ask Dan what he wants, he always says "What do you want?"  So, I just may as well make a decision.  What do I want?  Something easy, but tasty.  Hmmmmmm.

Do you know what was on my mind?  Waffle House fried potatoes!  Have you ever eaten at a Waffle House?  We stop there often when traveling because the food is consistent, inexpensive and you can be in and out in nothing flat - not lots of waiting like there is at so many sit down restaurants.  They cook the food right in front of you, and they serve breakfast 24/7.  Yum.

Now,  you know,  I have never met a potato I didn't like.  Seriously.  But, there is only one thing better than fried potatoes and that is fried potatoes with onions.  The Waffle House goes a little further with their hash brown potatoes.  This is how they list it on their menu.  You can get them: Regular, Large or Triple,  All the Way, or:

smothered - sauteed onions
covered - melted cheese
chunked - grilled hickory smoked ham
diced - grilled tomatoes
peppered - jalapeno peppers (or you could use bell peppers)
capped - grilled mushrooms
topped - Bert's chili
country - sausage gravy

When you place your order, they yell to the person on the grill:  "one order regular, smothered, covered, chunked and diced" if that's the way you order them.  That is the way I fixed them tonight!
Can I tell you how good they were?  Well, I will.  They were amazingly good - and easy to fix.  It took me a total of 20 minutes to have this wonderful dinner on the table.

You could put any toppings you like on hash brown potatoes.  Yes, anything your little heart desires.  Here is how I made these for our dinner tonight.

First, I chopped a medium onion, diced about 10 cherry tomatoes (they're hard to see in the red bowl), diced some deli ham, and grated about 1/3 block of cheddar cheese.  Whatever you are going to add, have it prepared beforehand, because the cooking part goes pretty quickly.

I used 1/2 a bag (about 15 ounces) of frozen hash brown potatoes.  I try to keep frozen hash browns in the freezer at all times.  They are great when you want a meal in a hurry.  No peeling and chopping, which is what I usually do.

Using a large skillet, put in a good amount of vegetable oil and let it get really hot, until it starts to ripple.  I would say 1/4 cup, depending on how many potatoes you are going to fry.  Start with 1/4 cup, you can always add more if needed.  Add the potatoes and spread out in the skillet.  Add the onions at this time because they take the longest to cook.  If you are going to use chopped bell pepper, add it also.  These two items take the longest to cook.

Let the potatoes brown on the bottom before you stir.  Once they start to brown, stir them so that you bring the brown potatoes to the top and the uncooked potatoes are on the bottom.  Stir as needed with a spatula so that you scrape all that brown goodness off the bottom of the pan.  You know that crispy, crunch part?  mmmmmm  When the onions become translucent and the potatoes are getting good and brown, add the ham and tomatoes.  Stir thoroughly so they will get good and hot.  Salt and pepper to taste.  The last think to add is the cheese.  Sprinkle it over the top and let it melt.  Remove the pan from the stove and you are ready to serve!

You now have Regular, smothered, covered, chunked and diced potatoes.  This is a complete meal and we have left overs for breakfast.  I simply added some fresh fruit and a nice piece of buttered toast.  Just like the Waffle House only better because we didn't have to leave the house.   If you don't want meat, don't add it.  Add any ingredients you think would be tasty.  I would use red bell pepper, but they don't agree with Dan.  Needless to say, we didn't miss them.

Anytime you need a quick and scrumptious meal, think about trying a meal like this.  You could add eggs on the side if you wanted and make a complete breakfast for dinner.  These potatoes would also be great for breakfast or brunch.  They are so easy to make and so good to eat.  Yum. Yum. Yum.

Next time you want a fast, easy, tasty meal, give these a try.  You will make them again.  Yes, you will.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

You can fix this meal faster than you can drive to a fast food restaurant and go through the drive through.  Fixing food at home does not have to be a chore.  It can be quick and delicious.

A Brunch Celebration

This weekend was graduation day for our youngest son's girlfriend.  She just finished her BS in nursing and we hosted a brunch in celebration.  Cortney is a wonderful person who does public health nursing and I wanted to honor her achievement.  She has worked very hard to accomplish her mission.

There is nothing like good company and good food to make a day memorable.   I had been stewing over the menu (no pun intended) for several days and finally made my decisions on Friday so that shopping could be done because we also had guests staying with us for the weekend. The menu served today was sausage, broccoli, hash brown casserole,  grits, Waldorf salad, roasted butternut squash with rosemary, fried green tomatoes with horse radish sauce, watermelon, bacon, ham, homemade pickled asparagus, pickled mixed vegetables with peppers, biscuits, homemade peach preserves and grape jelly, and pumpkin gooey butter bars.  Oh, and there were mimosas!  It was all so good!  The fried green tomatoes were done in Cortney's honor because they are one of her favorites, everything else was cook's choice (that would be me).  I will share some of the other recipes in future posts because they are definitely worth trying.

I was looking for recipes to make, searching for something different because I love trying new recipes.  This sausage casserole recipe came from the Jimmy Dean Sausage web site and it sounded so good so I decided to give it a try (with a few modifications).  Fortunately, it was quite a hit.  My son said he thought he could eat it every day!  

Here is the recipe:

1 lb regular sausage

1 medium onion, diced

 7-8 frozen hash brown patties, thawed

10 ounces frozen broccoli, thawed

1 large tomato, seeded and diced

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

10 eggs

3/4 cups milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Cook the sausage in a pan with the diced onions, breaking the sausage up with a spatula until sausage is brown.  Spray bottom of 9x13 casserole with cooking spray.  Place hash brown patties in bottom of casserole dish.  Spread sausage and onion mixture over hash browns.  Distribute broccoli and tomatoes over sausage.  Cover with shredded cheese.  Beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper with whisk until well mixed.  Pour over ingredients in casserole. (This does not cover the casserole like many egg type casseroles so don't be alarmed)   Bake at 350 degrees about 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

This is quick, easy and serves a lot of people.  We had 12 adults and 1 child in attendance today and one casserole served everyone with a little left over for later - yum!!  This is not just for breakfast, but would be a great main dish for an evening meal also.  You could even substitute Italian or hot sausage to spice it up a bit if you like things spicy.  Or, simply use the original recipe as is  -  delicious.  The good thing about it is you have a one dish meal  which is so nice for when you come home tired and don't feel like doing a lot of food preparation.  The only cooking on the stove top is browning the sausage and onions.  Otherwise, it is just building the casserole.  Add a green salad, some warm bread and you are good to go.  

With the holidays approaching, this would be a wonderful breakfast meal for a crowd or even an easy evening entree for your family.  Hopefully, you will give it a try and enjoy it as much as we did on this memorable day.  Let me know how you like it!  Congratulations Cortney!  You did it!!

Everyday Donna,

Things to Remember:

Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes up his mind to do. We are all capable of greater things than we realize. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Comfort Food

It's Sunday evening, you've had a long week and you are hungry, but you don't want to cook a huge meal.  You want comfort food, something that makes you feel good and doesn't take all evening to prepare.  What do I turn to?  Potato soup - my ultimate comfort food.  The soup mom always fixed for us when we were not feeling well.  She made hers quite a bit differently, but I always loved it.   I fix it when I'm tired and want an easy meal that's quick and tastes wonderful.  It's got potatoes, cheese and bacon.  What can I say?

Now I have to confess, I have never met a potato I didn't like.  Guess you could call me an addict.  I could eat potatoes every meal.  This soup is easy to prepare and tastes so good.  I actually took this soup up a notch by turning it into a corn and potato chowder.  Even better.  Here is what you do.

Ingredients:

8 cups diced potatoes, peeled

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 Tbsp. butter

1 box chicken stock (4 cups)

3 ears corn, scrape kernels from cob

1/2 cup sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:

2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill

1/2 pound bacon, fried extra crisp

grated cheddar cheese

To make soup, peel and dice potatoes until you have 8 cups.  Chop 1 large onion.

Take 5 qt dutch oven or large pan that you can cover, add 4 TBSP butter, melt over low heat.

Add chopped onions and minced garlic, sweat onions until softened, stirring so garlic does not burn.  Add potatoes and chicken stock.  If stock does not cover potatoes, add enough water to cover.  Place lid on pan and cook until potatoes are soft.  About 20 minutes.  While potatoes are cooking, cut corn from the cob.

Potatoes will take about 20 minutes or so to soften.  Just as they are fork tender, add corn.   Corn cooks quickly in the hot soup.  Add salt and pepper at this point.  Potatoes absorb a lot of salt.  It is better to add salt toward the end of cook time so as not to over salt.  Add fresh cracked pepper.  Let cook about 8-10 minutes and add 1/2 cup sour cream.  Stir to blend, turn off heat, add the chopped dill and replace lid.   Let sit a few minutes to allow the flavors to blend.    The starch from the corn will thicken the soup.  

While the soup is cooking, fry bacon extra crisp.  Drain on paper towels, crumble in a bowl.  Place grated cheddar cheese in bowl.   Serve the potato corn soup in individual bowls, allowing everyone to add as much bacon and cheese as they like.

You may want to serve a sandwich or salad with the soup.  We like to eat just the soup!  This is so good and it is not like wall paper paste which is something I do not like about the potato soup served in most restaurants.  There are actually potatoes in the soup which is another plus.  And, you can control the amount of cheese.  It melts quickly into the hot soup.  Many restaurant potato soups are too cheesy for my liking.  

For me, this is a quick and easy meal that is so comforting, filling, and super delicious.  Give it a try.  You are going to like it I know!  It is the ultimate comfort food.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

The quieter you become, the more you can hear. – Baba Ram Dass