Breakfast Sausage Casserole

Living on the farm and having fresh eggs readily available is such a blessing.  We recently had a cow butchered and one of my friends had a hog butchered, so we made a trade...10 pounds of hamburger for 10 pounds of sausage. 

Since I had fresh sausage and eggs, I decided to make a casserole that we recently had at church for our Easter breakfast.  It's simple to make and will last for several days.  I like to put mine in small containers to take to work and eat there in the mornings.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 lb sausage
10 eggs, beaten
2 and 1/4 c milk
1 and 1/2 t dry mustard
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 and 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
(save the 1/2 cup of cheese until 5 minutes before the casserole is done)
6 slices bread - torn up
1/4 t Tabasco sauce

 

Directions:

Brown sausage and drain. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until they are thick and frothy. Add all of the ingredients to the egg mixture except the sausage and the 1/2 cup of cheese.  Pour the egg mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Drop the sausage on top of the mixture evenly until the casserole is covered on top with the sausage.  Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.  Take the casserole out 5 minutes before it's done and add the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes. 

Breakfast Egg Cups

When I was in high school, I would rather sleep in then eat breakfast.  Although I haven't changed much on the sleep part, I have found that I do need to eat breakfast every morning because I just need that extra boost (besides the one my coffee gives me).

Living on a farm and raising chickens, we naturally have a lot of eggs.  I've seen recipes for what's called "Bird's Nest" and this recipe is very similar.  You can adapt it as much as you want.

Breakfast Egg Cups

Ingredients:
Hash Browns, 24 oz bag, thawed
1/2 cup Shredded Cheese + extra
Eggs
Bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 t salt
2 t pepper
1/2 cup of diced onions

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees/
In a mixing bowl, combine the hash browns, olive oil, cheese, onion, salt and pepper (if you don't like onion, try red and green pepper).  Stir until well mixed.  In a muffin pan, grease each spot, or use muffin liners and grease them, and divide your hash brown mixture evenly among the muffin spots (a 12 count muffin pan works perfect).  Bake the hash browns in the oven for 20 minutes.  Take the hash brown mixture out of the oven and turn the oven down to 325 degrees.  Crack an egg in each muffin spot over the hash browns.  I like over easy eggs and my husband likes hard eggs.  Therefore, I punctured the yolk in half of them and left the other half with the yolk in tact.  Sprinkle crumbled bacon and cheese over the eggs.  Cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked through and the cheese has melted. 

I ate mine with some hot sauce and loved them.  For a family on the go, this would be a quick fix the night before for breakfast in the morning.

Start Seedlings Now

I enjoy summer, but I don't enjoy the humidity.  One thing that I am looking forward to is my garden.  I don't grow more than we need, but I grow enough to eat on during the summer and to can for the winter.

Even though the weather still isn't as cooperative as we like, it's a great time to start seedlings in doors.  I like to buy the little kits that has 48 or so peat pellets in it and start my seeds.

 Here are some of the seeds that have started

and are ready to transplant to a larger container.

 Keep those 2 liter bottles and milk jugs!

Clean them and cut them and half and they make

excellent containers for starting plants.  I roll up

a couple of balls of aluminum foil and put in the

bottoms of each one to help with watering and

drainage.  Plus it gives the roots a chance to breathe.

 I use every available window that has good sunlight

and put the plants there.  I also label each container

with what is growing inside of it.

On the far left, I have Boston Pickling Cucumbers,

in the middle I have Mini Sweet Peppers, and on

the right, I have Heirloom Cucumbers.

Here is a close up of a container of Mini

Sweet Peppers.  I usually plant 2 plants

per container.

 

 



Here, I have cut milk jugs in half and put the

aluminium foil balls in the bottom and planted

2 containers of Roma Tomatoes and more peppers

and cucumbers.

 

 

When the weather turns nice for good, I'll start introducing these plants to the outdoors and sunshine for a few hours each day, gradually increasing the hours until they are ready to be outside permanently and ready to be put in the garden. 

 

By starting your plants indoors from seeds, you're able to save a huge amount of money.  A packet of seeds costs between $1 and $2 and a single plant can cost between $2 and $5.  What are you waiting for?  Give it a try!

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

Things have been a bit hectic lately.  We had our 7 and 9 year old niece and nephew for a week during their Spring Break last week, and I didn't get much done.  We had fun though.  We went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum (I highly recommend going if you've never been), Chuck E Cheese, a cowboy store and so much more!

This week I am back on track.  I have vegetables started and they are coming along wonderfully and I just ordered a pasta attachment for my Kitchen Aid!

My husband, who does not like chicken, had three piecesof this recipe last night.

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

Ingredients:
4-5 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (mine were partially thawed because I put them in the fridge the night before, but you could use frozen as well.  Be sure to cook the chicken longer if you use frozen).
1 bottle of BBQ sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:
Insert your slow cooker liner into the slow cooker.  Place the chicken in the slow cooker.  In a medium bowl, mix the BBQ sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic powder and red pepper flakes.  Mix well and pour over the chicken.  Turn on low and bake for 4 hours.