Sausage and Waffle Breakfast Bake

For Christmas morning breakfast I was looking for a something I could make the night before and bake while opening gifts.  I've made this breakfast bake before but if I recall we had guests and I didn't take the time for pictures.  This is hearty and delicious breakfast casserole has just a hint of sweet from the maple syrup and sauce.  Preparing this the night before is not only convenient but allows the sauce soak to into the waffles and create a wonderful bread pudding like texture.

Maple Sausage and Waffle Casserole
serves 6


8 frozen Eggo homestyle waffles, cubed
16 ounces maple breakfast sausage, crumbled

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 large eggs

1-1/4 cups whole or low-fat milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
salt
pepper

Cook the sausage in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until well browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain fat.

Grease an 8-inch square baking dish. Add half of the cubed waffles in a single layer. Top with half of the sausage and 1/2 cup of the cheese. Layer the remaining waffles and sausage and 1/2 cup more cheese. Whisk together the eggs, milk, maple syrup, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl until combined. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the casserole.

Wrap the baking dish with plastic wrap and place refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day.

Bake at 325 degrees 45 to 50 minutes.

New Year's Eve Dessert Table

For the NYE dessert table, I made brownie bites, cake balls, dressed up fortune cookies and boozy pudding shots.

 A few weeks ago, I made these for Tim's office.  Using that recipe as inspiration, I  used a white cake mix, along with a little vanilla extract for the base, dipping them in almond bark and sprinkling them with glitter.

The brownie bites, no secrets here.  They were a boxed mix with a few mini chocolate chips tossed in.

Who doesn't want to break open a fortune cookie to see what their fortune is?  And if you don't like the one you chose, try another one!  I bought these at World Market and dressed them up with white chocolate and edible glitter.

And to top the evening off, I made some boozy pudding shots.  Using store bought chocolate cups, I made french vanilla pudding using milk and RumChata, topped off with a squirt of whipping cream.  Delicious!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve!!

We're had two couples for a NYE dinner and celebration.  I wanted something to dress up the appetizer and dessert table in the bar.  Where did I turn for inspiration?  Pinterest, of course.

The 2016 bottles were easy to put together, just be sure to allow plenty of time for the bottles to dry between steps.

Here's what you need:

Beer or Wine Bottles
Spray Paint of your choice
Scrapbook Paper of your choice
Floral Wire
Curly Ribbon

1. Remove the labels from your bottles.  I used Oxi Clean laundry powder.  Soak for a couple of hours and the labels come off easily.  A word of caution, the oxi can cause staining in ceramic sinks.  I do this process in a dish tub or large bowl.
2.  If desired, prime the bottles with white paint or primer.  Less glitter is required if you prime the bottles.
3. Dry overnight, spray with your desired color of glitter.
4. Trace numbers on the scrapbook paper.  Cut out numbers.
5. Attach numbers to floral wire with tape.
6. I used pieces of popcorn packing materials to hold the wire in place.
7. Cut desired length of curly ribbon to place in bottles.

I have enough scrapbook paper leftover, I can change the number for the next few years.  A fun and easy reusable New Year's Eve decoration.

Green Bean Casserole with Goat Cheese, Almonds and Paprika

For the past two weeks,  I've been using some creative techniques when cooking.  Two weeks ago, my stove top stopped working.  No parts anywhere, they had to be shipped in from overseas.  They arrived just in time for Christmas and the repairman was scheduled to install them on Christmas Eve.  Also, arriving in time for Christmas was eight inches of snow,  because of the heavy snow, the repairman couldn't  get to our house to do install the parts. 

Over the past couple of weeks, I've relied on the  microwave and the slow cooker for things I would have cooked on the stove top.  I've hard boiled eggs and made cranberry sauce in the slow cooker.  Tim and I were planning on having green bean casserole for Christmas dinner.  If you're from the Midwest, you know the one, mushroom soup and french fried onion topping.  Tim found this recipe, with a Spanish spin on the traditional green bean casserole. 

This recipes calls for a white sauce with goat cheese.  I made the white sauce in the microwave.  It was easier and turned out much better than I expected.  It was a little thick not sure if that was from cooking in the microwave or the sauce itself.  I will make this again and thin it out with a little more milk next time. 

We enjoyed this recipe, the goat cheese adds a delicious tang and the Spanish paprika a wonderful kick! 

Green Bean Casserole with Goat Cheese, Almonds and Smoked Paprika

Recipe Courtesy of Food and Wine

• Active: 25 MIN
• Total Time: 50 MIN
• Servings: 8 to 10

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
• 2 1/2 pounds green beans
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 5 ounces fresh goat cheese
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon pimentón de la Vera (smoked Spanish paprika)
• 3/4 cup almonds, coarsely chopped

How to make this recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and butter a shallow 9-by-13-inch ceramic baking dish. In a large pot of boiling salted water, blanch the green beans until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and cool under running water. Pat dry and thinly slice on the diagonal. Pat dry again.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter. Add the flour and whisk over moderate heat until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk and garlic and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderately low and simmer, whisking constantly, until thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the goat cheese. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of the pimentón.
3. In a large bowl, toss the green beans with the sauce. Spread the mixture into the prepared casserole and sprinkle the almonds and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of pimentón over the top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until bubbling and the almonds are lightly browned. Let the casserole stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Merry Christmas Magic Bars

If you celebrate, are you all ready for Christmas?  We're ready at our house.  After weeks .... months of shopping, baking and wrapping, Christmas always seems to come and go so quickly.  We need to keep the spirit all year long.

I love Magic Bars!  Okay truth be known, I love most things sweet.  Magic Bars are one of those desserts that eating one makes me want another and another!  Like most desserts I make, these didn't stay at our house.  I made a large enough batch to use half for holiday BUNCO,  half for a holiday lunch at work, leaving just a couple at home for Tim and I!

I love how this recipe takes the traditional Magic Bar recipe and dresses it up for Christmas!  The original baker also used holiday chips, sprinkles and M&M's.  I used regular chocolate chips but they still shine with holiday color.  Bet you can't eat just one!!

Christmas Magic Cookie Bars

Yield: 12 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
• One 14 oz Can Of Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 & 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup Holiday or regular chocolate chips (divided into 1/2 cup portions)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I prefer walnuts)
• 1 cup Holiday or regular M&M's (divided into 1/2 cup portions)
• 1 & 1/2 cups flaked coconut

Directions:

1. Unwrap butter and place in 13" x 9" pan. Place pan, with butter, in the oven and turn the oven on to 350*F. Butter can melt in pan while preheating. Keep an eye on it, checking every few minutes and pulling out of the oven when butter is melted. Please be careful while preparing recipe as pan will be very hot.
2. Crush graham crackers in a food processor to create graham cracker crumbs (or buy crumbs).
3. When butter is melted, remove pan from oven and carefully sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over the melted butter. Press in lightly with fork or back of spoon.
4. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the crumb layer.
5. Sprinkle 1/2 of the chocolate chips, 1/2 of the M&M's & the nuts over the sweetened condensed milk layer. Sprinkle coconut on top, followed by remaining chocolate chips & M&M's.
6. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven. Allow bars to cool completely. Slice, give and enjoy!

Birthday Cake Truffles

Am I the only one who is finding it hard to believe it's mid December?  Crazy, where did this year go?  Besides being close to the end of the year and the holidays, the second week of December is Secret Recipe Club time! I'm excited to be rejoining Secret Recipe Club Group B!!, Thanks to Group C for a fun 2016!

For December Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Amy's Cooking Adventures, Amy says she loves to cook and bake, decorate cakes and cookies. She also says she despises housecleaning and calls her look "organized chaos". Amy, that is my kind of housecleaning. Amy's blog features a wonderful assortment of sweet and savory recipes, stop by and check it out.

For me, SRC posts are usually sweets. Tim has a food day at work every few weeks, so I'm always looking for recipes. Since, food days are usually to celebrate his coworkers birthday's, these Birthday Cake Truffles were the perfect treat. These truffles are easy to put together, even forming the balls didn't take too long. Dipping them in chocolate is a bit time consuming but I find using a fork to rest them on, helps with the process. I also added a bit of shortening to thin the chocolate just a bit, making the dipping process a little easier.These could easily be dipped in milk or dark chocolate, sprinkled with red and green sugar for holiday parties or gifting.

Birthday Cake Truffles
Recipe Courtesy of Amy's Cooking Adventures

1 Box of FunFetti Cake Mix
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz Milk, Dark or White Chocolate or Almond Bark

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake mix and sweetened condensed milk. Mix on low speed until combined. The batter will be very thick.Prepare a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Roll the batter into 1-inch balls and place on the waxed paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Dip each cake ball into the chocolate and place on a second cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Decorate with sprinkles. Refrigerate the candies until the chocolate is hardened. Move to desired containers and refrigerate leftovers.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pausing to Remember

Thinking of my Father today, he was a Pearl Harbor survivor.  Thank you to him and all veterans for their service to our country.