A fabulous egg casserole

I made a wonderful egg casserole this weekend. The recipe was in an ad for Hilshire Farms smoked sausage. Since there was also a coupon for the sausage I thought I'd try it. We were so impressed. What made it great is how fluffy the eggs are. The casserole itself was light and probably my favorite egg casserole. It would have been just fine without the sausage. So if you don't eat sausage I think you could substitute any other meat or vegetable or just do eggs and cheese. I plan to try several variations.

Crustless Quiche
Category: Eggs and Cheese
Sub Category:
Source:

1 package smoked sausage
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ c heavy whipping cream
1 ½ t dry mustard
¼ t salt
1/8 t pepper
1 ½ c shredded cheddar, divided
½ c chopped green bell pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Cut sausage into ½” cubes, set aside. Place eggs, cream, dry mustard, salt and pepper in a large bowl, whisk until smooth.

3. Stir in sausage, 1 c cheese and green pepper. Pour into greased 9x13 pan.

4. Bake 40-45 minutes or until eggs are set. Sprinkle with remaining ½ c cheese. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Notes: 1. I did not include the bell pepper.

2. Instead of a 9x13 pan I made this in two smaller pans and froze one.

Easter Dishes

Here are a couple of things I made for Easter. This is Carrot Souffle, though no one who has ever tried it believes there are carrots in it. I know for a fact that I make desserts that are healthier than this 'vegetable' side dish, but it sure is good! Carrot Souffle
Category: Sides
Sub Category:
Source: Ann

3 lbs carrots
3 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1 T vanilla
¾ c flour
1 ½ sticks butter
6 eggs

1. Boil carrots, drain.

2. Mix carrots with all other ingredients with mixer until smooth.

3. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan.

4. Bake 1 hour at 350.

Note: I boil the carrots a REALLY long time so they are mushy by the time I put them in the stand mixer. It makes mixing them until smooth easier.

These are what I call embarrassingly easy biscuits. I was skeptical the first time I made them because good biscuits should be much harder than these to make. They take about five minutes to whip up and Jory loves them.



Drop Biscuits
Category: Baked Goods
Sub Category:
Source: Real Simple

2 c flour, leveled
Stick cold unsalted butter in small pieces
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 c whole milk

1. Heat oven to 400. In a food processor, combine everything except milk and pulse until pea-size clumps form. Add the milk and pulse just until moistened.


2. Drop six large mounds of the dough (about ½ c each) onto a baking sheet. Bake until golden, 18-20 min


Note: I don't add the milk to the food processor. I put the flour mixture in a large bowl and stir in the milk.

Desserts

Over the past two months, I have not needed to make dinner. For a full month after Abby was born we had meals brought to us! After that, I had one month's worth of dinners frozen that I had made while I was pregnant with Abby. So my recipe trying has been limited to desserts - and I found some good ones! This is Key Lime Pound Cake from Southern Living. The picture is obviously from Southern Living's website and not from my kitchen, but the pound cake was excellent. It was VERY moist and both Jory (who likes his key lime stuff tart) and I (who doesn't) liked it very much.

Key Lime Pound Cake
Category: Desserts
Sub Category: Cake
Source: Southern Living

1 c butter, softened
½ c shortening
3 c sugar
6 eggs
3 c flour
½ t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1 c milk
1 t vanilla
1 t lime zest
¼ c key lime juice

Key Lime Glaze

1 c powdered sugar
2 T key lime juice
1/2 t vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325. Beat butter and shortening at med until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy. Add eggs beating just until blended after each.

2. Stir together flour, powder and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with milk. Beat at low just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla, lime zest and lime juice. Pour into greased/floured 10-inch tube pan.

3. Bake 75-80 min or until pick comes out clean. Cool 10-15 min then remove from pan.

4. Whisk glaze ingredients. Brush over top and sides of cake. Then allow to cool completely.

These are the orange flavored cupcakes I wrote about on my blog.

Orange Cupcakes
Category: Desserts
Sub Category: Cupcakes
Source:

2 ½ c flour
1 t baking soda
¼ t salt
½ c buttermilk
½ c sour cream
1 c unsalted butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 eggs
1 T orange extract

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line tins for 24 cupcakes.

2. In large bowl, whisk 1st 3 ingredients. In small bowl, combine next 2 ingredients.

3. Beat butter until smooth. Add sugar, beat until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time. Add extract; mix well.

4. Add flour mixture alternating w/milk mixture until well combined.

5. Pour into baking cups to ¾ full. Bake 30-40 minutes.

Orange Buttercream Frosting

1 c unsalted butter, softened
2 c powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
1-2 T water
½ t orange extract

1. Combine all ingredients and then mix at high speed 5 min.

Note: One time when I made this I substituted almond extract for the orange extract in the frosting. I liked it very much.

These are black bottoms and I pulled the picture from a Google search. Mine don't look that pretty and even, but they sure tasted good!

Black Bottoms
Category: Desserts
Sub Category: Cupcakes
Source: Woman’s Day

8 oz cream cheese
1 egg
1 1/3 c sugar, divided
¾ t salt, divided
1 c mini chocolate chips
1 ½ c flour
¼ c unsweetened cocoa
1 t baking soda
½ c canola oil
1 t white vinegar
1 t vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350. Line mini muffin tins with paper liners. Beat the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 c sugar and ¼ t salt until creamy. Stir in the chocolate chips.

2. In a second large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, 1 c sugar and ½ t salt. Add the oil, vinegar, vanilla and 1 c water. Mix well.

3. Spoon chocolate batter into each cup to fill halfway. Gently spread cream cheese evenly over chocolate to bring each cup to ¾ full. Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and barely golden, 15-20 min.

Notes: 1. I used regular muffin tins, not mini. So I used regular-sized chocolate chips and I baked them for 25-30 minutes until they were puffed and barely golden.

2. I was in poor shape on the ingredient list for this one. I ran out of chocolate chips so I used a half cup of regular chocolate chips and a half cup of white chocolate chips - very good! I also used vegetable oil and white balsamic vinegar and they tasted fine.