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Holiday Breakfast Casserole

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Can y’all believe that Christmas is next week?  Where did the time go?

 

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I just want to take a minute to say a huge thank you to all of you, my friends, for your kindness and support while we are in this crisis with Chris’ dad.  It’s an ongoing challenge and we’re hopeful because we’re seeing improvement.  He’s such a big teddy bear sweetheart and it’s been so heartbreaking to see him in this condition.  Chris and I are working on things every single day to get him the help he needs. It’s an exhausting process, but totally worth it because things are improving. We so appreciate all of you, your positive thoughts, and your kind words. We’re hopeful for a Christmas miracle and the positive steps we are seeing right now is enough to bring me to tears.

 

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Moving onward.  Happy Holidays!  We were invited to our friends’ Hanukkah celebration last weekend and it was so much fun!  The food was awesome and I had matzo ball soup for the first time ever and loved it!  There were delicious latkes too!  And did I mention that my friends are chefs?  Lucky us!  It was a really nice evening spent with some really terrific friends. The laughs we had were both needed and priceless.

 

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Now we’re moving on to Christmas.  Chris’ mom always made this delicious breakfast casserole for Christmas morning.  Neither of us ever thought to get the recipe from her so the other day we talking about it and the kids and Christmases of the past when the kids were little and we were younger….

 

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And sleigh bells were ringing outside, presents were wrapped (for the most part), and cookies were set out for Santa.

 

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Jeeze!  Can somebody stop me?  Or bring me some wine?  Beer?  Bourbon?  This trip down memory lane is too much!

 

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Let’s talk breakfast casserole.  You can’t go wrong with shredded potatoes, cheese, and sausage.  I confess.  There’s cream of mushroom soup from a can in here.

 

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We’re feeling nostalgic and cream of mushroom soup in a can casserole is totally retro.  Don’t judge me.

 

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Happy Holidays, y’all!

 

P.S. I totally thought I had this scheduled to publish yesterday as my regular Thursday post, but here we are a day late and I’ve been so busy I didn’t even notice.  It’s happened before and I’m fairly certain it will happen again.  Happy Friday!

 

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Holiday Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

  • 1 pound bag frozen hash brown shredded potatoes thawed
  • 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 onion diced very small
  • 12 sausage links cooked and broken into pieces
  • 8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Add potatoes, soup, sour cream, onion, sausage and 3/4 of the cheese in a mixing bowl and stir until combined
  3. Transfer to a casserole dish coated with cooking spray
  4. Top with remaining cheddar cheese
  5. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until top is golden brown and bubbly
  6. Let cool for 10 - 15 minutes before serving

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Hearty Holiday Breakfast Frittata

by 30 Comments

 

Good Morning, Sunshine!

 

 

No joke.  I mean that in the most literal way.  While I adore each and every one of you and y’all are totally my sunshine, it got pretty dang gloomy around here. I don’t know what in tarnation happened, but thank goodness the sun has been returned after another two weeks of rain, darkness, and really bad hair days.

 

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The sun is back and has been in full force for a solid 4 days now and believe you me we are happy here in NC.

 

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Those dark days were a buzzkill to my motivation, but since I’m a glass half full kind of girl I’ve been busy focusing on the the bright side of my laziness.

 

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You are no doubt relieved to know that I am once again up to date on General Hospital and DWTS. And oh my are things heating up and getting interesting in Port Charles!  Oh – and that last elimination (no spoilers) was a total disappointment to me.  I didn’t see that one coming.

 

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Even though I sometimes need indulgent GH binge marathons when work is stressful or the weather is the pits, there is no rest for the wicked these days.  We’re full on in holiday mode over here!

 

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We’ve had some sides and desserts lately, but what about breakfast?  I don’t know how you do things, but in our family we never have Thanksgiving dinner before 2:00 and it’s usually closer too 3:00 or 4;00 before we sit down at the table. We need a heavy breakfast or brunch then some appetizers in the early afternoon to hold us for the big event or we are all just going to pass out from starvation and intoxication anticipation.

 

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A frittata is a perfect solution.  You can clean out your fridge, throw anything in, and make it ahead of time for an easy to reheat holiday morning breakfast or brunch.  After all, we don’t want to have Aunt Gloria passing out from too many cocktails falling out from lack of sustenance while waiting for her Turkey Day dinner!

 

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to enter the giveaway! (CLOSED)

 

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Hearty Frittata

Ingredients

  • 2 pieces thick cut applewood smoked bacon
  • 2 small red potatoes sliced thinly
  • 5 small precooked sausage links crumbled (thawed if packaged frozen)
  • 1 cup mushrooms sliced
  • 1 cup kale roughly chopped
  • 1 cup rainbow chard
  • 8 eggs
  • 1 cup plus 1/4 coup shredded extra sharp cheddar
  • 1 jalapeno sliced - optional

Instructions

  1. Cook bacon in cast iron or nonstick skillet until crispy, drain on paper towel lined plate, crumble
  2. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings and discard the rest
  3. Heat reserved bacon drippings over medium, add potato slices in a medium layer, cook about 2 minutes or until browned on one side, the flip to brown the other side
  4. Add mushrooms and cook about another 2 minutes
  5. Stir potatoes and mushrooms
  6. Add kale and rainbow chard
  7. Stir and cook until greens are mostly wilted, 3-4 minutes
  8. While greens are wilting, whisk eggs together in a bowl
  9. Add 1 cup of the cheddar to the eggs and whisk to combine
  10. Stir the vegetables to be sure they are evenly distributed
  11. Pour eggs over the vegetables, add bacon and sausage, stir to combine
  12. Layer jalapeno (if using) over the top
  13. Cook 7-9 minutes or until sides are set
  14. Turn on oven broiler
  15. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheddar cheese over the top
  16. Transfer skillet to oven and broil until top is set and fluffy and cheese is melted and bubbly, about 4-6 minutes
  17. Remove from oven and let sit for 3-4 minutes
  18. Cut and serve

Note: We all know that I do not like the jalapeno, but Chris loves them, so I only added them to half of the frittata.

Note:  Because of the bacon and sausage going on in here, I chose not to add any salt, but feel free to add salt and pepper to your taste.

Belgian Tripel Beer Marinated Stuffed Pork Loin with Plum Sauce

by 22 Comments

Yep.  Beer everywhere.

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Since the home improvements continue, my bed is in the dining room, and my dresser is in the living room, it seemed appropriate to drown my problems in beer.

 

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Who is with me?

 

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Come on ride this train.

 

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I marinated a pork loin in beer.  I put beer in the stuffing.

 

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I even made a plum sauce with…

 

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You guessed it.  Beer.  A Belgian Tripel actually – one of our home brews.  Chris made this one the same day I brewed an Irish Red that we later infused with Jameson’s.  Because that’s the way we roll.

 

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I may have even poured some in a glass for personal consumption.  Because that’s the way I roll.

 

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Hey wait!  Who drank my beer?

 

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Phew…that’s better.

Home improvement without home brew is unacceptable.

 

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So I put it everywhere.

 

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And stuffed a pork loin.

 

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While my tile floors are being installed.

 

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And I’m doing my best to hang on to my sanity.

 

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Could you kindly pass me a beer?

 

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Belgian Tripel Beer Marinated Stuffed Pork Loin with Plum Sauce

Ingredients

For the Pork Loin

  • 1.5 pound pork loin
  • 1 1/2 cups Belgian Tripel Beer I used my own home brew, but any craft Belgian would be fine - see notes
  • salt and pepper

For the Sausage Stuffing

  • 1 stick of butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 pound mild sausage
  • 1 onion diced
  • 7-9 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 celery stalks diced
  • 4 mushrooms diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon sage
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup Belgian Tripel Beer
  • 4 cups bread crumbs I used Pepperidge Farm white bread seasoned
  • 1/2 cup parsley chopped

For the Belgian Tripel Plum Sauce

  • 4 plums quartered and pits removed
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3 clementines zest and juice
  • 1 cup Belgian Tripel Beer

Other

  • Plastic Wrap
  • Kitchen Twine
  • Meat Hammer

Instructions

  1. Combine the pork loin and 1 1/2 cups of Belgian Tripel beer in a zip top bag or other container to marinate at least 2 hours or overnight
  2. Preheat oven to 350
  3. In a nonstick or cast iron skillet melt the butter with olive oil
  4. Add sausage and break into pieces with a wooden spoon
  5. Add mushrooms, onions, celery, and garlic, cardamom, cinnamon, sage, salt and pepper. Cook until sausage is brown and vegetables are translucent - about 10 minutes
  6. Add 1 cup of Belgian Tripel Beer, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook about 5 minutes, let cool slightly
  7. Pour breadcrumbs into a large mixing bowl, pour cooled sausage mixture into breadcrumbs, add parsley, and stir until combined and all the breadcrumbs are wet
  8. Lay overlapping pieces of plastic wrap on counter, remove pork loin RESERVING BEER MARINADE and lay the pork on the plastic, butterfly by slicing longways without cutting all the way through, lay flat, cover with another 2 pieces of overlapping plastic wrap, and pound with a meat hammer until it's about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick
  9. Remove plastic, generously salt and pepper the pork loin, spoon on about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of stuffing and press it into the pork across the long side
  10. Roll up the pork jelly roll style with the stuffing inside and tie with a few pieces of kitchen twine
  11. Place on a meat rack in a roasting pan and roast for about 45 minutes or until the internal temperature is 155 - 160
  12. Let pork rest after removing from oven for at least 15 minutes
  13. While the pork is roasting make sauce.
  14. Combine reserved Belgian Tripel Beer marinade (1 1/2 cups), plums, and brown sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, add clementine juice and zest, and simmer until thick (about 30 minutes)
  15. Add to a food processor or blender and puree until fairly smooth
  16. To serve, spoon sauce onto a platter, slice pork loin, and arrange on top of the sauce. Serve additional sauce on the side