Thursdays Are For Cooking!
Baby red potatoes
Ah! Good morning! This is something to fix ahead and cook on New Year’s morning, after you’re done partying… or, really, for any time you need a hearty winter breakfast dish that your offspring and/or grandkids will likely gobble down before they go out to start the New Year’s Annual Snowball Fight. If you still have that sausage-biscuits w/gravy recipe, you might want to include that on the table, too.
Ingredients
1 lb bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped (3/4 cup)
1 package (8 oz) sliced fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup milk
12 eggs
1 package (2 lb) frozen hash browns, thawed
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (16 oz)
- In 12-inch skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Using slotted spoon. Remove from pan to small bowl. Cover and refrigerate. Drain drippings, reserving 1 tablespoon in pan. Add onion, bell pepper and mushrooms; cook 4 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in mustard, salt and pepper. In large bowl, beat milk and eggs with wire whisk.
- Spray 13×9-inch (3-quart) baking dish with cooking spray. Spread half of hash browns in baking dish. Spread onion mixture evenly on top. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese. Spread remaining hash browns over top. Pour egg mixture on top. Cover; refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
- Heat oven to 325°F. Uncover; bake 50 to 60 minutes or until thermometer inserted in center reads 160°F. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese and the bacon. Bake 3 to 5 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean, top is puffed and cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes.
Use Monterey Jack, Colby or Swiss for the Cheddar cheese.
Serve with assorted breads and fresh fruit.
I’d hurt myself. Thanks, Ex!
You will only hurt yourself if you do not approach it slowly, holding out a warm plate. 🙂
Happy New Year!!!
For New Year’s Day….
SEA DRAGON’S HOPPIN’ JOHN
1 lb dried black-eyed peas
3 ham hocks
1 quart water
1 Tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
3 celery ribs, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (1/2 green, 1/2 red is good)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs Cajun seasoning
2 tsp dried thyme
4 bay leaves
1 can diced tomatoes with green chile
10 oz package frozen chopped spinach (optional)
pepper to taste
Soak peas 8 hours in enough cold water to cover by two inches. Drain and rinse.
In a 6 quart pot, simmer ham hocks in one quart water for 60-90 minutes. Remove ham to cool, reserve cooking water. When ham is cool, shred or dice, discarding bones and fat.
In the pot, sauté onions, celery and bell peppers in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic, seasoning, and thyme, and cook an additional 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add black-eyed peas, ham, tomatoes, spinach (if using), reserved cooking water, bay leaves and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Add additional water or broth if it gets too thick. Serve in bowls over cooked white rice.
Oh, Hoppin’ John!!! I wondered if I was the only one who knows about that! Thanks!!
I’d eat that! Albeit, I am particular about rice.
Num Num, Mum…you either know me too well, Mi’Lady…or you’re just teasing me. Taters, bacon, eggs, cheese, ‘shrooms (and YES, I do still have that sausage, gravy and biscuits recipe). Be still, my heart. And, NO, I don’t care if multiple servings of this would still my beating heart. I would die with a full, happy tummy and a great big smile on my face. I think I have all of this in inventory and was wondering what New Year’s Breakfast would be. Was considering your basic cat heads with ham, being as Imma gonna smoke a ham Friday to go along with the SOUTHERN Tradition of ham hocks, blackeye peas, rice (hoppin’ john), turnip greens, SOUTHERN Buttered Milk Cornbread (sans sugar), and a skillet of dressing (NOT stuffing). There is also some of my gifted homemade cookies and assorted ice cream for dessert.
Do Bloody Marys still count as fresh fruit?
Tanks Matey…Let’s eat!
I expect the BEST biscuits of you, KoB!
I will endeavor to do my BEST for you Mi’Lady…and persevere. Light, fluffy, flakey, and golden browned.
I am going way off subject here as are into the nineth hour of ongoing tragedy here in state. 2,000 acres burned, earlier report was 600 homes burned, 30,000 people evacuated from the towns and area of Louisiville and Superior Colorado, parts of Westminister and Aurora also evacuated and is still ongoing. Winds during the day were 80-100 MPH but have slowed down consideribly this evening. Fire was grass fire that started around 12:30 pm and expanded from there. cbsDenver was live streeming it so far this evening.
A friend of mine lives southwest of Denver, while most of this is going on northwest of the city.
What a horrible way to end and start a new year.
When I looked at how far my friend is from Superior on Googlemaps, the pikeway out of Superior was one way.
What a mess.
For those who like to cook under pressure….
Since we are talking about “New Year’s food,” I present what is typical in the mid east coast states.
Yes, we are talking about sauerkraut.
It’s easy.
1 head cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon salt
Directions
Step 1
Place cabbage in the pot of a multi-functional electric pressure cooker. Add vinegar, water, and salt. Stir and cover.
Step 2
Lock the lid, close the vent, and select Chicken/Meat setting according to manufacturer’s instructions. Set timer for 15 minutes. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for pressure to build.
Step 3
Release pressure using the natural-release method according to manufacturer’s instructions, 10 to 40 minutes.
You can substitute apple vinegar for white. A pinch of onion powder and a little red pepper flakes give it a nice flavor.
The tradition in places like Pennsylvania is to eat sauerkraut, and when guests show up, the male enters the home before the female.
This is one those “luck for the new year” things.
Happy New Year!