Hearty Breakfast Casserole

I love serving lots of delicate, light things for breakfast, but sometimes you need something heartier, something heavier, something that's easy to prepare, tastes fabulous, and will stay hot while serving a crowd.

This simple casserole fits the bill.

It's a wonderful brunch item.  I've served it for Christmas brunch, en masse at church breakfasts, and for all sorts of company.  You can even prepare most of it the night before, which is a great advantage to this morning-challenged girl.

The flavors are easily adjusted, making it possible to appear to be a completely different dish with no fuss, so you can tailor it to your family's personal preferences or to whatever you happen to have on hand.

Here's how to make your own Hearty Breakfast Casserole:

Ingredients:

• 32 oz. frozen shredded potatoes (Southwest for a spicy version, plain for a milder one)
• 1 lb. of your favorite breakfast meat, sausage, ham, or bacon
• 1 onion and 1 bell pepper, chopped (optional)
• 12 eggs
• about 1/2 c. milk
• 1-2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Prepping this dish is easy:

1. Prepare your dish(es).  You can make this dish in either a 9x13" pan or two smaller casserole dishes.  Choose your style and then spray with non-stick spray for easy clean-up.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the potatoes.  You may need to add a small amount of olive oil or butter to prevent sticking.
3. When potatoes are cooked through and beginning to get crispy, remove from heat and spread them evenly into the bottom of your dish(es).
4. Return the pan to the stovetop and add your meat (if necessary).  If using sausage or bacon, cook and crumble that now.  When cooked through, drain off grease and sprinkle on top of potatoes.
5. If using veggies, add those to the pan and cook now.  Spread those atop the meat.
6. If preparing the night before, you can cover the dish and fridge it now to be finished in the morning.
7. Crack eggs (6 for two smaller dishes, all 12 for a 13x9" pan.  Whisk together and add milk as you would to make scrambled eggs.  
8. Pour egg mixture gently over potato/meat mixture in your baking dish.
9. Top with shredded cheddar. 
10. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until edges are beginning to brown and the middle is set.
11. Let stand for 3-4 minutes before cutting.

*This is great served with fruit and muffins!

What's your favorite company/holiday breakfast dish?

GratiTuesday - An Unexpected Guest

I don't have any pictures to show you this week, but that's a good thing, I think.

Last week while having school time and preparing for story hour at the library, My Little Man suddenly spoke up from his writing.  "Mommy, there's a black bug over there."

Looking up from the bag I was packing full of books, I expected to see a beetle or some other equally yucky but harmless creature scurrying across a corner of the playroom.  The playroom door does lead outside and has a small crack under it if we leave the inner door open, which we had because it was a beautifully warm, sunshine-y spring day.

I didn't see a beetle, though.


Instead, there was a smallish, fuzzy black mouse meandering past the TV and headed for the door into the kitchen.

I screamed, and so then my son screamed, too, confused about what was happening.


We took turns standing on chairs and screaming, watching the confused rodent wander around the far end of the playroom.

When it moved away from the kitchen doorway, I bolted for the kitchen and the phones that were inside.

Upon reaching a human at my husband's office, I was informed that he was with a client.  As I tried to leave a message, the mouse scurried past the doorway again, and I screamed right into someone's ear.


I really am sorry about that.  Give me a bear or cow anyday, but skip the small things that leave irritating messes and get into everything, please.


It must've worked, though, because my husband has never returned a call so fast - ever.  He came home immediately, too, and scooted the mouse out the back door, where said mouse received a death sentence.

It took a few days to be fully convinced that the mouse was gone and that there weren't any more - but there aren't.  Phew.


So today, I'm REALLY HAPPY for unexpected guests that leave quickly.  That are clueless and don't know how to find the hidey holes that their older, more experienced relatives find.  That my husband left work so quickly and 'took care' of that mouse without delay.  That the mouse had no friends and we are, once again, rodent free.

A ten-minute visit from this furry visitor reminded me of just how happy I am to live without rodents.  Please, let me never need to be reminded again.


For more GratiTuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

Menu Plan Monday - April 2, 2012

Whoo-hoo!  Easter is almost here!  Holy Week is upon us, and with church services every night, we'll be having foods that are quick and easy to prepare.  Fortunately, we have lots of leftovers from our Johnsonville House Party this past Saturday.

So here's our plan for the week:

Breakfasts:

- Fruit Salad with Yogurt Honey Dressing and Cinnamon Almond Granola
- Baked Doughnut Muffins

- Perfectly Pumpkin Pancakes
- Resurrection Rolls, fruit

Lunches will be leftover pizza from our party and sandwiches with cheese or yogurt and sliced fruits or veggies.

Dinners:

- Lasagna with green beans and applesauce
- Hamburgers, roasted carrots, Italian baked beans, chips

- Rigatoni with Easy Bolognese Sauce, lima beans, applesauce

- Pizza, salad
- Fish sandwiches, carrot sticks, ice cream
- Lunch at church for an Easter egg event

- Easter Dinner!  Sliced ham, S'mashed Italian Potatoes, Guilty Good Green Beans, Baked Corn, Bunny Cake

So what are YOU eating this week?


For more Menu Plan Mondays, visit OrgJunkie.

“When the Soul Mends” by Cindy Woodsmall

When Hannah Lapp left Owl’s Perch, she made a new life for herself in Ohio.  Between dating the wealthy Martin Palmer, caring for his niece and nephew, taking nursing classes, and working at a midwifery clinic, Hannah is finally at peace with her Englischer life; at least, she is until her Amish sister calls, insisting that she return home.  After being reunited with family and friends, circumstances prevent another clean break – and this time Hannah must work with her former fiancé to find help for her sister.  As Hannah begins to find closure for the heartbreaking events that led to her leaving, she must make a choice:  will she find the peace that she craves in Ohio with Martin, or in Pennsylvania with Paul?

I loved this book.  In fact, I loved the whole series.  I read the first book, When the Heart Cries, some time ago, and I immediately tracked down the second two to read.  Another reading of this one confirmed my initial impression – it is just as riveting, just as dramatic, just as real as it was the first time through.

Some of the Amish fiction stories that I’ve read make everything in the Amish world appear peaceful and serene, as if the biggest problem an Amish person ever faces is which field to plow and whether to marry English or Amish; but you’ll never get that false impression from one of Woodsmall’s books.  Woodsmall applies real life, contemporary issues to Amish characters and then digs deep to see how they might find resolution.  Each detail, each nuance, each character is intertwined, and the depth of the relationship and the soul-searching that must be done before these major decisions are made is well explored. 

These dramatic problems create charasmatic, real characters who appear to be people you might just meet walking down the street.  In fact, having grown up in the region of this book’s setting, I was tempted to get out a map to ascertain exactly which towns were real, because who wouldn’t want to visit City Island in Harrisburg and run into Hannah?

If you like Amish fiction, hurry to your nearest retailer and read When the Soul Mends.  If you’ve tried Amish fiction before and weren’t impressed, give it another shot – Woodsmall is sure to change your mind.

I received a free copy of When the Soul Mends from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for an honest review.

A Fun Tablescape

Decorating is SO not my thing - ask anybody - but this is a fun tablescape that even decorating dummies like me can handle.

When my husband and I got married, I was teaching first grade during my second year of living here in North Carolina.  Our wedding was back in Pennsylvania, in the small country church where my family had been attending for nearly a hundred years, and we decided to use all of these parts of our lives in our reception.

We covered the reception tables - the long, rectangular kind - with white paper; you know, the kind that comes off of a big roll.  We put a few crayons at each end of the table, and in the middle a single goblet filled with water.  We floated a flower-shaped candle in the middle of it and sprinkled some glitter around the candle.

(I think maybe my mom had this idea?  Not sure - but I loved it!)

This made for very simple tables with fun lights, which suits me to a T.  Better yet, it gave our guests something to do while they waited for the picture-taking session to end.

As we meandered throughout the room during the reception, talking with guests, many showed off their artwork to us.  Some people signed them and told us to cut them out and put into our wedding album - and these drawings definitely would have made great mementos.

I don't ever plan to use this idea in quite the same way again (I'm not a wedding planner) but I think it would be a fun idea to use for kids' holiday tables or for fun multi-family get-togethers.  The paper is easy to pull off when the event is over and makes clean-up simple, and the canvas for artistic possibilities is huge.

Who doesn't want to fill a huge white space with color?

My Journey from a Potato to a Nut

I wrote back here about my desire to become  more physically fit.  Of course, in order for that to happen, one must exercise.

And there's the rub:  I'm not a huge fan of exercise, but it is getting easier, and there are a few things really egging me on.

First of all, I've lost a few pounds.  Seeing smaller numbers on the scale is always a motivator, isn't it? ;-)  I haven't lost that much, but I'm halfway to my goal; and best of all, my husband has started calling me 'Skinny' again.  Trust me, I'm not, but it's nice to have my effort recognized, and it helps to keep me focused on my goal.

Secondly, a few of us have formed an e-accountability group.  Actually, we've got two groups going now, and so if you want in, I'll see what I can do.  Here's how it works:  we each choose our exercise and commit to doing that Monday through Friday.  Then, each day after exercising, we email the other women in our group.  So far, the thought of having to admit to not exercising has gotten me up and moving several times.  Thanks, ladies!

I've also downloaded a free app for my Nook called LoseIt.com (it's also a website that's free, so you don't need an e-reader).  I'm having fun with this!  Basically, it's a calorie calculator.  You can set your own goals and then update each day with what you've eaten and how much you've moved.  You don't have to count anything, but just click a few times, and it figures out everything.  While I'm not really trying to go by the numbers, seeing the wide variety of activities that LoseIt counts as exercise has been informative - and it's fun to enter how long I did yardwork or cleaned the house and see those calories get added back to how many I can eat that day.  You can have friends through this site, too, so if you're on there, I'd love to get to know you!

So while I'm definitely not an exercise nut yet, maybe I've lost a bit of my starch and am on my way there.  

"The Good Wife's Guide" by Darlene Schacht

We seem to have forgotten how to care for our homes.  We struggle to keep up with the basics, all the while wondering how our grandmothers managed to iron, cook, bake, polish, and wax - and look good while doing it.

The Good Wife's Guide provides the motivation, the encouragement, and the practical how-to that many of us need.  Schacht shares why it is vitally important that our homes be well-cared for and the impact that doing so has on our families today.

The second half of the book is all about the nitty-gritty basics.  Schacht gives cleaning routines, tips, and how-to's to keep us all on our toes.  These are so detailed that she lists more than 50 steps for how to clean your bathroom!  Following these tips will certainly keep your house spotless and a clutter-free sanctuary for your family.

The book ended rather abruptly at the end of a chapter of cleaning tips, but The Good Wife's Guide is being re-released next month as a print version with four additional chapters.  Perhaps that one has a smoother ending.  I would love to read those additional chapters because this shorter e-edition is chock-full of good information.

The focus of this book was on being a good wife, not a good mother, and yet that is one thing I would have loved to see that wasn't in this book.  How do I teach these skills to my children?  How do I include them in this plan?  Many of us want our children to begin having chores at young ages, and with such detailed plans, this would have made a fantastic practical addition to this book.

Nevertheless, if you struggle with the how's and why's of your role as a wife, this is a must-read book.

I received a free e-copy of The Good Wife's Guide in exchange for an honest review.