Food = fond memories

This, of course, is our first Christmas without Mom and it's been an interesting time. We're dealing with the ups and downs of grief and figuring out communication and responsibility distribution along with the extra hullabaloo that Christmas brings. We've still had fun with the holiday, but it does bring up memories and it's been difficult with such a huge, obvious vacancy in the family and preparations.

Anyways, while trying to plan some of our plans.... :-) I thought it might be nice to make the breakfast casserole that she would often cook for Christmas breakfast. I'm sure there's a million other recipes out there like it and it's not that uncommon of a dish (it's pretty much a glorified egg bake), but this casserole was delicious and pretty much a Christmas tradition. So, after checking to see that there weren't any other breakfast plans that I would be disturbing if I made this, I determined to find the recipe and have it for tomorrow's breakfast! Well... I didn't realize exactly how well loved the cookbook that contained the recipe was until I finally located it and had to pull it out of the cupboard in sections. It had once been a very nice spiral-bound book, but after much use the binding had broken, reducing it into a bunch of loose pages of which now some were missing. Including most of the index. :-p Well, I was determined. So I spread the pages across the table, sorted them into numerical order, and started flipping through them one by one by one...... Hmmmhmmmhmmmm.......... And eventually found it!!! I was so happy I had to share it. :-) Well, I also put it in a document for easier access in the future, so it was easy to put up on my blog.

So, with no further ado, here is the breakfast casserole made famous by Jeanne Hazleton (and submitted to the cookbook by a Martha from Muskogee, Oklahoma) :-)

1 lb sausage
8 slices bread, cubed
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (we occasionally omitted these)
3/4 cup half and half
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard
5 eggs, slightly beaten
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown sausage in skillet, stirring until crumbly; drain. Sprinkle bread cubes in an oiled 9x13-inch baking pan. Layer sausage, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, and mushrooms over bread. Combine half and half, milk, eggs, salt and pepper in bowl; mix well. Pour over layers. Chill overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 45 minutes or until set.
Yeild: 15 servings

Works very well to prepare Christmas Eve then throw in the oven before stockings on Christmas morning (we usually do stockings, breakfast and cleanup, the presants). It makes an easy, filling, warm breakfast with practically no prep on the actual day.

My latest "new thing"

Popcorn Cake!
It sounds bizarre, but after watching it being made by Emeril himself on Good Morning America (who knew it would get such recognition), I realized it was really just a popcorn version of my one of my favorite treats, Rice Crispy Treats. Yum!
Of course, it's probably one of those things that I happen to stumble upon and think is great, novel, and exciting, only to discover everybody knows about it and I must have been in a cave for the last 80 years to not know about it. :-) Either way, I thought it was fun, it's super easy to make, and gets a 9 for display/looks in my book.

Popcorn Cake
Ingredients
2 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup vegetable oil
12 cups popped popcorn (plain, unsalted and unbuttered)
2 cups M & M candies *I used Christmas M&M's to make it more festive. It looked really cute with the white, red, and green*
1 cup lightly salted cocktail peanuts
1 stick unsalted butter
1 pound marshmallows

Directions
Grease a large tube or bundt cake pan with 2 teaspoons of the oil, and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the popped corn with the M & M candies and the peanuts. *Actually, don't mix in the M&M's yet, first mix the popcorn and the marshallow mixture most of the way, then add the M&Ms and finish combining. Otherwise the chocolate will get soft and they'll break and smear throughout the cake*
In a small saucepan, melt the butter, remaining 1/4 cup of oil, and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When melted, pour over the popcorn mixture, and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared cake pan, pressing down to fit. Cover with aluminum foil to keep moist and let rest until firm, 3 to 4 hours.
To serve, invert the cake pan onto a large cake plate or platter. Shake gently to release. Serve at room temperature.

A Martha Stewart Thanksgiving

A little ways back, I put in my facebook status that I was finding inspiration for my Thanksgiving brunch from marthastewart.com. It became a bit of a joke between me and a few of my friends. While I do not support everything Martha does, I do (unfortunately) think she has some good ideas and I did get just what I wanted from her site.

Thanksgiving was a bit interesting (and we were very apprehensive about how it would go over) this year. It took awhile to figure out what we wanted to do and even longer to actually plan on what we would do. We ended up settling on a brunch with Nicole and Christopher (as they were invited to their "other" family's for dinner), hang out at home, then do a family dinner. I took charge of the brunch and Dad handled the dinner (as it involved the turkey which is a more manly dish he's always enjoyed preparing). I honestly didn't have the slightest idea what to expect from myself (or any of us) emotionally or physically. Even though she did a very good job training us kids in the ways of the kitchen and even very much involved us in cooking holiday meals, Mom always headed up and planned everything. We would lend creativity, ideas, and help where needed or directed. Because we now had to figure out who was doing what and what we wanted to do all over again, we all pretty much set our expectations to zero so that whatever we did, there would be no disappointment. We also allowed ourselves lots of leeway and flexibility to do whatever activities we wanted (a.k.a. we didn't plan anything) so if someone needed to crash, they could crash, and if someone wanted to party like it was their birthday, they could crash. ;-) Just kidding.

Anyways, I think we all ended up pleasantly surprised with how well the day went. Instead of becoming a basket case every time I went into the kitchen, like I was expecting, I had a very convenient and long burst of enthusiasm and energy and was able to turn out a really nice brunch (with help!!!! Dad was an angel in the kitchen and did all my dishes!) It was so fun. The menu I had chosen was filled with all kinds of fancy sounding dishes, but it ended up coming together very quickly and easily, and, with the additions that Nicole and Christopher assisted with -hot cider, grapes, and fruit salad- we were blessed with a very large, very delicious spread!

*Quick note: The point of all this is in no way to brag or show off! I was very encouraged by the fact that we were able to have such an enjoyable Thanksgiving and I just wanted to share that with you. If I'm coming across as a show off, give me a good smack next time you see me. ;-)

Sarah took some photos of the day, and while most are goofy ones of tired looking people relaxing in their home which I'm not going to share with you, she got some good ones of spread in the morning which I put below. We didn't end up with much to show for the dinner as we were all tired and very full at that point and didn't have the energy to pull out the camera for more shots.
The dinner menu (which, again, was all Dad) consisted of:
The essential (and very tasty) Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce (which Nicole actually made for us)
Green Beans
Sparkling Cider (always a must)
Pumpkin Pie and whipped cream
Pumpkin Souffle

It was quite tasty.

(Those were some flowers I found at Fred's to help with the decor. I really liked them. :-))

The brunch menu was a bit more complex sounding:
Hot Cider (compliments of Nicole)
Coffee (mostly drunk by me)
Pomegranate-Orange Juice
Popovers - mini and regular (for fun and variation)
Cranberry Butter
Grapes
Fruit Salad (both also thanks to Nicole)
Broccoli Cheddar Quiches
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Sausage

The highlight of the menu, personally, was the pumpkin bread pudding. The pudding itself had absolutely nothing to do with pumpkin, but you actually hollowed out a pumpkin to bake the pudding in, so you end up with a really fun presentation! You can kind of see it in the picture below:


The individual set up:

The mini popovers. :-) They were as tasty as they were cute.

The bubbly.
It turned out to be a really fun, relaxing day. Maybe our Thanksgiving was a bit more Martha Stewart this year (which I really don't think it was), but who knows, maybe next year we'll go for a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feel.
:-)