Tag: recipe

My Mom’s Breakfast Casserole

~ emetroka ~ Leave a comment

Truly think that everyone should have an easy breakfast casserole recipe in their back pocket. It’s a crowdpleaser, everyone is always impressed, it takes no time at all, can be made ahead and you probably have all the ingredients on hand anyway. Bookmark this one for every brunch for basically the rest of your life. It can be made the night before and baked in the morning, or just bake it up and re-heat it in the morning. My mom made this for every holiday/special event for my entire life, and still does to this day. And now I am her copy cat because she really did know what she was doing.

If we’re having a crowd, I make the full batch, but if it’s just our family of five, I halve all ingredients and bake in a smaller baking dish. I do not deviate with extra veggies or greens thrown in, but you certainly could! Recipes are meant to be played with. We serve with salsa, hot sauce and ketchup for condiments, and always a big bowl of berries and breakfast bread on the side. Enjoy this family favorite!

Breakfast Casserole

1 doz eggs
8 oz shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 c milk
Sliced white bread-crust removed, butter on both sides
1 1b fried bacon or 1 lb fried sausage
¼ t salt
¼ t pepper

Preheat oven to 350°

Spray a 9×13 baking dish with pam and cover bottom with your buttered bread. Sprinkle with â…” cup of cheese, â…” cup of bacon or sausage.

Beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour in your baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining meat and cheese. Bake 50 minutes or until brown on sides. Serves 8-12

A List of Recipes For Your Cookie Box

~ emetroka ~ 1 Comment

A little late, but links for cookie ideas for your own cookie box this year!

Last year’s box:

  1. Peanut Butter Blossoms
  2. Buckeyes
  3. Chocolate Chunk Shortbread
  4. Roll Out Sugar Cookies
  5. Gingerbread
  6. Peppermint Brownie Cookies
  7. Salted Caramels
  8. Molasses Cookies Dipped in White Chocolate

New Cookies to Try

The Best Homemade Hot Chocolate.

~ emetroka ~ 1 Comment

We’ve been home waiting out hurricane Nicole the last few days. You might, if you’re not in Florida, or maybe even if you are! imagine that involves lots of stress and what if’s and property preparations. It does a bit, but it’s been a lovely few days together. Days like this are such a gift. They make me appreciate our home so much. The weather has been mild and the hurricane passed in the night just north of us leaving us sleeping in our beds right through the whole thing.

But it’s been rainy and cozy and windy here and we’ve been occupying ourselves with drying oranges (instructions coming soon), playing with play dough, watching the rain, lots of movies, drawing and most importantly, hot chocolate. Hot chocolate on the stove in our special pot with popcorn was just the ticket yesterday. Shared this on Instagram yesterday, but putting it here too for easier future reference. The only thing that would have made it better is if I had made marshmallows to go with. Next time, next time.

Best homemade hot chocolate:

2 T sugar
2 T Dutch process cocoa powder
2 1/2 c milk
I/2 c half and half
I/4 c chocolate chips
I/2 t vanilla

Combine ingredients and cook over medium heat stirring with a whisk until smooth and hot

Makes four cups but I often halve everything for a small batch!

For a small batch:

1 T sugar
1 T Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/4 c milk
I/4 c half and half
I/8 c chocolate chips
I/4 t vanilla

But between you and me – eyeballing it always works for me too!

Cozy and Bright Red Lentil Soup.

~ emetroka ~ Leave a comment

A soup that I crave year round, but crave in these quiet, cozy weeks between holidays most of all. It’s healthy, hearty, and bright. Basically it’s fall sunshine in a bowl.

Red lentil soup

Olive oil
1 white onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
5 cloves minced garlic
8 cups veggie or chicken stock
2 cups red lentils
1 cup corn
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder
zest and juice of 1 lemon
salt and freshly-cracked black pepper, to taste.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or other soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrots and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent. Add garlic and sauté for 1 more minute or so, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the stock, lentils, corn, cumin, curry powder. Continue cooking until the soup reaches a simmer. Then cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are completely tender.

At this point, you can either blend the soup or not. I always do using an immersion blender, but you could use a regular blender too. Or just eat it as is! All equally yum.

Next, stir in the lemon zest and juice until combined. Taste and season the soup with a generous pinch or two of salt (I prefer Kosher) and black pepper.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon, grind of pepper, sprinkling of shaved warm, and a couple slices of fresh sourdough.

Meal Plan This Week.

~ emetroka ~ Leave a comment

Well, it’s starting to seem like I don’t put anything but meal plans on here! But oh well, here it is! The week ahead. May it go smoothly for us all!!

Sunday – Chili. My husband makes a very classic version, and it’s so good. We pile on corn chips, cheese and onion. I’ll get him to type up his recipe someday.

Monday – Grilled Chicken, Cheesy Butternut Squash Casserole, & Kale Salad. The butternut squash recipe is from Feeding a Family by Sarah Waldman.

Tuesday – Burrito Casserole. Bit of a casserole theme going, huh? I saw a recipe on Diane Morrisey’s Instagram account that gave me an idea so I’m running with it! Will share the recipe if it’s any good.

Wednesday – Homemade Chicken Strips with Za’atar Ranch, and Mac & Cheese. One for the kids! The chicken strips and ranch recipe is from The Modern Proper cookbook which I highly recommend. If I have time, I’ll make the Mac and Cheese, but I have a box on hand just in case.

Thursday – Leftovers always!

Friday – Pizza night!

Saturday – Dinner in a Pumpkin. For Charlie’s birthday! Last year I made Ballerina Farm’s recipe, and this year I might switch it up a bit. You can really make any soup, and just transfer it to a pumpkin.

Bake – Charlie’s Birthday Cake. He’s gone from bat to witch to dinosaur, but the last week or two he’s seemed pretty set on dinosaur. I’ll probably make a layer cake. My favorite white cake recipe comes from Simple Cake by Odette Williams. Look for the Very Vanilla Cake.

Treat – Halloween Sugar Cookies. So excited for these.

Cocktail – Shrunken Apple Punch. We made this last year, and the apple carving was so fun.

That’s it! Can you believe we’re over halfway through October? I could cry!