I love a hearty breakfast from time to time and this casserole is a favorite. It combines all of the things I like…sausage, eggs, potatoes and, of course, cheese. The casserole is easy to make and can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking making easy work of brunch/breakfast preparation.
Serve with fresh fruit, perhaps a pastry and good cup of hot coffee!
FARMER’S BREAKFAST CASSEROLE
6 cups frozen shredded hash browns 1.5 cups shredded Jalapeno Monterey Jack cheese 2 cups cooked breakfast sausage (or ham) 1/2 cup green onions, sliced 8 eggs, beaten 3 cups milk 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 4 quart baking dish. Evenly arrange the potatoes in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle the cheese, sausage and green onions on top.
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the potato mixture.
Bake uncovered for 50-55 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Cranberry Coffee Cake is a new recipe that my sister-in-law, Donna, shared with me several weeks ago. The Mother’s Day weekend coffee/tea was a great time to try it. The cake is so moist and the extra treat of cranberry is so good. I chose to go without nuts this time but the glaze was a wonderful touch.
This coffee cake is wonderful anytime of year but could be a wonderful addition to your holiday go-to-recipes.
CRANBERRY COFFEE CAKE
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 can (16 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
GLAZE:
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
5 teaspoons warm water
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs; mix well.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Add extract.
Spoon a third of the batter into a tube or bundt pan. Top with a third of the cranberry sauce.
Repeat layers twice. Sprinkle with walnuts (optional).
Bake for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted hear the center comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool and transfer to serving plate.
Optional: Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over cake.
What was my favorite breakfast growing up? It was a great day when my Mom made a peanut butter bacon (PBB) sandwich paired with chilled Welch’s grape juice. It was breakfast for champions. This favorite comfort food has been on my mind and I HAD to have it, only this time for dinner.
After cooking the bacon in the oven (so much easier than on top the stove), I toasted two pieces of bread and generously spread peanut butter on the toast while warm. I topped with cooked bacon. Next, I poured a nice tall glass of cold Welch’s grape juice.
NOTE: My best Golden Retriever buddy, Joe, decided to eat 3/4 of the bacon while I stepped outside for a moment. He evidently prefers his bacon straight-up.
Yum…yum…yum. Memories of bacon & peanut butter moments dance in my head.
Apple Butter was a fall tradition in my Mother’s kitchen back on the Iowa farm with plenty of local apples to use. She would can several jars and store in our ‘fruit room’ in the basement. Neighbors and friends would share the fruits of their apple harvest with the offer to come pick what remained on their trees. That’s just how neighbors treat neighbors.
Years ago, a co-worker shared her crockpot apple butter recipe with me. It’s been in my recipe box ready to be used and this was the year. The process takes a while but you don’t have to stand over the stove watching it to assure it doesn’t stick and burn. I’m easily distracted so this is the ticket!
What to serve with the apple butter? I made a loaf of oatmeal quick bread (see post of October 23) and served a slice of the bread with fresh apple butter on top for an autumn dessert to die for.
12 to 14 apples
2 cups apple juice
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Wash, core and quarter apples (do not peel).
Combine apples and apple juice in lightly oiled Crock pot.
Cover and cook on Low setting for 10-18 hours (or on High setting for 2-4 hours).
When fruit is tender, put through a food mill to remove peel. Measure cooked fruit and return to Crockpot. For each pint of sieved cooked fruit, add sugar, cinnamon, allspice and loves; stir well. Cover and cook on High setting for 6-8 hours, stirring every 2 hours. Remove cover after 3 hours to allow fruit and juice to cook down.
You can can the apple butter by spooning into hot sterilized jars and processing according to standard cooking methods. I chose to refrigerate and share with family for immediate (and I do mean immediate consumption). It’s too wonderful to last long!
Hearty breads are a favorite of mine and before I try to go gluten-free again (for health reasons), I wanted to try a hearty bread with the apple butter I was making (see my Crockpot Apple Butter recipe on Friday, October 26). I discovered this recipe on the Good Housekeeping website and it reminded me of an oatmeal bread my Mother used to make.
This is a simple quick bread that would be great for breakfast, with a hearty soup, or, as you’ll see on Friday, a dessert.
OATMEAL QUICK BREAD
1 cup milk
1 cup quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1 tablespoon quick-cooking oats, uncooked
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 8 1/2″ by 4 1/2″ or 9″ by 5″ loaf pan. In large bowl, combine milk and 1 cup oats; let stand 5 minutes.
To oat mixture, add eggs, margarine or butter, and brown sugar; mix well, making sure there are no lumps of brown sugar. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt just until blended.
Spoon batter into loaf pan. Sprinkle top with remaining oats. Bake 55 to 60 minutes in 8 1/2″ by 4 1/2″ pan (bake 35 to 40 minutes in 9″ by 5″ pan) until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pan on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
Recipe from Good Housekeeping, Oatmeal-Quick-Bread
Peach season has come to an end but there is time (and peaches) for one more fresh Peach Crisp. Pal, Maribeth gave me a ‘colorado classique’ cookbook a while back and we both have enjoyed the terrific recipes. She made the peach cobbler from the cookbook for my birthday last month and it was delicious. Today I made it and had the same wonderful results. Since it has peaches and oatmeal…it is also the breakfast of this champion!
Fresh Peach Crisp
4 pounds ripe peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oats
1 cup unsalted butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place peach slices in a greased 13x9x2″ baking pan. Sprinkle with salt.
Mix the flour, cinnamon, sugar and oats together. Add softened butter and mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over peaches and pat down.
Bake 50-60 minutes.
Serve plain or with rich vanilla ice cream.
Recipe from ‘colorado classique a collection of fresh recipes from the rockies’.
Fresh blueberries are coming into season and a wonderful time for a warm, Blueberry Coffee Cake. I served this yummy cake for my annual Mother’s Day Coffee.
It’s easy to make and I LOVE the crumb topping. Great with a hot cup of coffee or tea with family and friends.
I typically double this recipe for a larger coffee cake.
BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE
CAKE BATTER:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 1/4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
CRUMB TOPPING:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup soft butter
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse and drain the blueberries.
Combine 3/4 cup sugar, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl and mix well. Add 1/4 cup soft butter, egg and mix. Add 1/2 cups milk and mix well. Stir in 2 cups of flour. The batter will resemble thick pancake batter. You may have to finish mixing by hand. Add the blueberries and gently mix in.
Blueberry Cake Batter
Grease and flour pans (9″ square pan or two loaf pans). Pour batter into pans, about 1/2 full.
Mix topping. Crumble evenly on top of batter.
Blueberry Coffee Cake ready for the oven
Bake for 45 minutes. If not brown on the top, bake a bit longer, checking every 3 to 4 minutes. Set the coffee cake on a rack to cool and enjoy.
My first full day in Nicaragua and I was almost bright-eyed and bushy-tailed…but could I use a cup of coffee! Not only was I going to have coffee but I was having organic coffee raised and roasted at Finca Esperanza Verde (FEV), made with certified mountain spring water. You haven’t had coffee like this at your local coffee shop! My coffee adventure was only beginning.
Path to Tucan Lodge
Tucan Lodge
As I walked down the path from our lodge, which I shared with five other wonderful women, I marveled at the views and the foliage, pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
The covered, open-air, dining room at FEV overlooks a beautiful tropical forest allowing the diners to take in the view yet enjoy the fresh air. Our tables were set, as they were the night before, with our name on a clothes pin attached to the napkin. The staff moved our napkin and clothes pin at each meal, giving us a chance to get to sit with everyone in the group. Genius!
We were served fresh, local fruit from the farm including watermelon, pineapple, papaya in addition to fresh local maracuya (passion fruit) juice.
Passion Fruit
Fresh Fruit, Coffee and Juice at FEV
Next we were served Gallo Pinto, fresh tortillas made by the staff over a wood stove, and scrambled eggs topped with crumbled cuajada cheese and pico de gallo. The farm-fresh eggs are from the FEV chickens! (Reminded me of home and the fresh eggs on our Iowa farm.)
Breakfast at FEV Day One
What a wonderful experience to eat local, eat fresh in the splendor of the tropics.
GALLO PINTO
3 cups of cooked rice
2 cups of cooked black beans
1 onion, finely chopped
1 chopped red pepper, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons oil
¼ cup chopped cilantro
4 tablespoons Salsa Lizano (or Worcestershire Sauce)
salt and pepper to taste
Fry onion, red pepper, and garlic in the vegetable oil, about 3 minutes.
Pour in the beans and sauce, black pepper and seasoning. Let it cook for a few minutes, but keep it moist.
Pour in the cooked rice and mix with the beans. Sprinkle with crumbled cuajada cheese. Optional: sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro.
After breakfast, we were scheduled for a nature hike to begin to explore the gorgeous plants and flowers of the tropical forest and our first introduction to how coffee is grown. Our guide took care to highlight local birds and foliage.
Coming from the high desert of Colorado, I was amazed at the plant life. How can so many plants live on one tree? This is the trunk of the Ceiba tree, which was a mystical tree in pre-Columbian cultures. This photo captures the mystical experience of the tropical forest hike.
FEV Blue Trail photo
After a wonderful morning out, it was time to return to the lodge and lunch…what wonderful treat would be awaiting us?
My brother and his wife told me about this dish 20+ years ago and I collected the recipe but never made it…until…this summer. I had the great fortune of attending a yoga retreat in Copper Mountain Colorado this summer with wonderful gal pals. Our friend, Sue, made this dish for dinner one evening served with a salad and fruit and VOILA…it was a hit.
This dish is so easy and so tasty….my mouth is watering. My grown daughters and significant others are also in love with this dish that can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Only three ingredients. Can you believe it? You won’t be disappointed!
GREEN CHILE PIE
7 ounce can of green chiles
3/4 pound shredded, Monterey Jack Cheese
4 eggs
Grease a pie plate. Spread chiles in bottom of pie plate. Shred cheese and spread over the chiles. Beat 4 eggs and pour evenly over the cheese.
Green Chile Pie ready for the oven
Bake at 275 degrees for 1 hour. Cut into wedges or squares and serve with any of the following: salsa, sour cream, fresh cilantro, guacamole.
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Fork Lore 