Avocado & Tomato Breakfast Casserole

My family loves avocados.  We always have a few of them on the counter waiting to ripen. I still haven't learned what to look for to know when they are ready to be eaten.  Half the time I get it right and they are perfect (not too hard and not too brown).  The other half of the time they are either hard as a rock and too green or brown and mushy. This was a very easy casserole to make and only took about 10 minutes to put together.  We all enjoyed it on Easter morning.  This recipe is adapted from Dish and Dine.

Ingredients:
2 pkgs Pillsbury crescent roll dough sheets
1 20 oz. pkg Simply Potatoes O'Brien Hash Browns
10 slices thick smoked bacon, precooked and cut into pieces
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes sliced in thirds
1 ripe avocado
6 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 pan with PAM.  Roll out the two containers of Pillsbury crescent roll dough sheets and position in the pan with dough along the sides of the dish. Sprinkle the cut up precooked bacon all over the dough.  Cover with the package of hash browns.  Add cut up tomatoes and slices of avocado.

Mix eggs and milk together and pour over tomatoes and avocados.  Sprinkle shredded cheese over everything.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until egg is cooked through.  Let sit a minute then cut into servings.

Enjoy!!



Linked at: http://www.thecountrycook.net/

Leek and Mushroom Quiche Cups

It's time for Secret Recipe Club again!! This month we were assigned Learning Patience. Corey is a Texas native who now lives in Trinidad with her husband. She blogs recipes that cater to her Type 1 diabetes but she also posts about all the traveling they do as well as fitness and her running regimen. We had gotten leeks in our fresh box recently and I wanted to make something with them other than Potato & Leek soup. Conveniently she had a recipe for Cheesy Mushroom & Leek Quiche Cups that were for perfect for me to try.

Quiche is such a versatile dish. You can have it on the weekend for a fancy brunch or breakfast with some home-fries and bacon, you can serve them as appetizers at a party or you can even have it for lunch with a nice mixed green salad. These single serving quiche cups make quiche even easier to enjoy because they can be picked up and eaten by hand or taken with you on the go.

Ingredients:

1 Box Puff Pastry (2 sheets)

2 Leeks - Sliced, Soaked and Diced

10 oz White Mushrooms - Sliced

6 Pieces of Bacon - Crumbled

1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

8 Eggs

1/3 Cup Skim Milk

4 Tbsp I Can't Believe it's Not Butter

Pam Spray

Sprinkle of Flour

S&P

Makes 18 quiche cups

Start by defrosting your puff pastry sheets on the counter top, this will take about 30-40 minutes. Wash and slice your mushrooms, then slice and soak your leeks in a large bowl of cool water. When all the sand and dirt has come out dice them up.

In a large pan melt your margarine, add the mushrooms and leek. S&P them and allow them to cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Both of these vegetables give off a lot of water as they cook down, don't be alarmed. Just keep cooking them until most of the water is gone, the mushrooms are brown and the leeks are soft and wilted.

While the vegetables are cooking you can prepare the quiche crust. Spray the muffin tins with a lot of Pam Spray, in fact I did this thoroughly and the quiche cups still stuck to the pan so maybe grease them with a little bit of margarine or butter as to alleviate the problem I encountered. Preheat your oven to 400. On a lightly floured surface gently roll out each defrosted puff pastry sheet. Using a pizza cutter slice each sheet into 9 squares.

Place each square into a greased muffin tin, some of the smaller ones you can stretch a bit so it covers most of the muffin tin. Fill the bottom with a heaping TBSP of the leek and mushroom mixture. Cook the bacon, blot it on a paper towel and place a few crumbles into each quiche cup. Sprinkle a little bit of cheese on top of each one as well.

Whisk the eggs with a little bit of milk and add S&P. I did this in a measuring cup that has a spout which I thought this was very smart of me because it allowed me to pour the egg mixture into each quiche cup without a problem. Bake about 12 minutes until the puff pastry has risen, gotten crisp and light brown, the cheese will be melted and the egg hard. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around each quiche cup to loosen them up and pull them out of the pan. Serve immediately or keep in the fridge. These also can be frozen to be reheated at a later date.

Enjoy!!

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Spinach & Cheese Strata

It's the time of year that I hate the most - the cold, gray days of January and February.  Luckily we are having a baby shower this weekend for Nicole and my Mom is coming up from Florida this week so there will be a lot to keep us busy and we won't be thinking about the winter weather in New Jersey.  We have a casserole like this every Christmas morning after we open our gifts.  We have tried many recipes but my family likes this one the best so we have had this one for a few years now.  I like it because it is prepared the day before and on Christmas morning I just wake up and put it in the oven and it cooks while we are opening gifts.   This recipe is adapted from www.annies-eats.com, originally from Gourmet, February 2003. 

Ingredients:
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
2 10 oz packages of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
8 cups cubed french or italian bread, cut into cubes
12 oz. shredded cheddar jack or cheese of your choice
10 large eggs
2-3/4 cups milk

Directions:
Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic to the pan and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Continue cooking for 1 more minute.  Stir in the drained spinach.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Butter the inside of a 2-1/2 or 3 quart baking dish.  Layer the bottom of the dish with one third bread cubes. Top with one third spinach mixture and one third of the cheese.  Repeat these layers twice more with the bread, spinach and cheese.

In a medium bowl combine the eggs and milk. Whisk together until blended.  Pour the mixture evenly over the bread, spinach and cheese layered in the baking dish.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 8 hours or for up to a day.

Remove from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before baking.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake uncovered until puffed, golden brown and cooked through for about 45-50 minutes.  Let stand at least 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!   Susan

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Mexican Breakfast Braid

Since the weekend is upon us I thought it would be the perfect time to share with you a recipe that you can make with your family for breakfast. It's easy and a great all inclusive way to serve eggs and sausage that is different. This version has Mexican flavors with Chorizo sausage, Jalapeno peppers and a little bit of Cayenne. Breakfast braids are very versatile though so if you don't like the flavors I've used really you can make one with any other combination of meat, vegetables and cheese.

Ingredients:

1 Can of Pillsbury Crescent Seamless Dough Sheet

5 Large Eggs

1/4 Cup Skim Milk

2 Chorizo Sausage

2 Jalapeno Peppers - Sliced

1 Tbsp Butter or Margarine

1 1/2 Cup Shredded Mexican Blended Cheese 

1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

S&P

 Preheat the oven to 375 F. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper lay down your Pillsbury Crescent Seamless dough sheet, stretching and flattening it a little bit in all directions. If your food store does not carry this product then buy the regular Crescent container, ball up the dough using your hands to take away all of the seams and then roll it out with a little flour to make one large sheet. Making sure to leave 3-4 inches of dough in the middle make slits on both sides of the dough about a inch and a half apart. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs with the milk, cayenne, salt and pepper. In a medium sized skillet over medium heat melt the butter or margarine and then pour the eggs into the warm pan. You want to the eggs to remain fluffy and since they are going to finish cooking in the oven they don't need to be completely cooked now. Using a spatula keep mixing the eggs until they are finished. Set aside. 

Slit both of the Chorizo sausages down the center and remove the sausage from the casing. In a separate small pan over medium heat, cook the Chorizo breaking it up with your spatula as it browns. Again don't worry about it being completely cooked because it will finish in the oven. While your Chorizo is cooking, slice your Jalapeno peppers.

Sprinkle half of your cheese down in the middle of the dough, spoon your eggs over top of the cheese. The Mexican blend I use is Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Queso Quesadilla and Asadero but any combination will work just fine.

Then place your Chorizo sausage and Jalapeno peppers on top of the eggs making sure to try and keep everything in the middle as much as your can. On top of everything sprinkle the remaining cheese. Now it's time to close your breakfast braid. Start from one end, gently grab both of the slits that match up, stretch them ever so slightly to cover all of the food and bring them into the center on an angle and place one on top of the other. Do this to each and ever set of slits until the entire thing is close and the dough is somewhat overlapped.

 Bake your breakfast braid for about 15 minutes until the dough has a nice golden brown look to it and the top seems slightly crisp. Allow it to rest 2-3 minutes then using your sharpest knife, slice in between the slits to serve.

Enjoy!! - Nicole

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Vegetable Frittata

Sometimes when it's hot like it has been lately I like to make something that's light and quick.  My husband's garden has all of its vegetables ready for picking except tomatoes and this was a good recipe to use all the vegetables I had.  The purple peppers are something new this year instead of the usual green ones. Its adapted from Ina Garten's How Easy Is That.  

Ingredients:

1 small zucchini, diced

1 small yellow squash, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 purple pepper, diced (orange, yellow or red can be substituted)

1 onion, diced

1 small eggplant, diced

1/3 cup grape tomatoes cut in half

2 tsps garlic minced

3 tbsp olive oil

10 large eggs

3/4 cup 2% milk 

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.  Drizzle olive oil in a frying pan and add onion, eggplant, peppers, squash, zucchini and garlic. Saute until all veggies are tender.   Add grape tomatoes at the last minute. 

Meanwhile whisk together eggs, milk, parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

In a oven safe pie plate or other baking dish spray with PAM to prevent sticking.  Add vegetables and pour egg mixture over the vegetables.  Transfer to oven and bake the frittata for 25 to 35 minutes until puffed up and set in the middle.  Cut into wedges and serve hot. 

Enjoy!! Susan

Bacon and Broccoli Quiche

Happy Mother's Day!!

I've been very blessed to have a wonderful mother and three magnificent grandmas for my entire 29 years, without each and every one of them I do not know who I'd be today. So tomorrow I will be celebrating them. I remember bringing home a small plant for my mom when I was young because every year they'd have a sale in school right before mother's day, making a home made card and giving her a coupon book to cash in to me for various chores. I look forward to the day when my own child will bring me those small tokens of love!!

This recipe is perfect if you are making your wife breakfast in bed with the kids or if you are inviting your own mom or grandma over for Brunch!! I cheated by using refrigerated pie crust but you can make one from scratch if you have enough time and energy.

Adapted from http://www.tasteofhome.com/
Ingredients:
1 Sheet Refrigerated Pie Crust
2 Cups Monterey Jack Shredded Cheese
12 Strips of Bacon - Cooked and Crumbled
3 Cups Broccoli - Chopped
1/2 Cup Onion - Diced
3 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Skim Milk
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Butter - Melted
2 Tbsp Flour
1 Tsp Salt
Pam Cooking Spray

Start by preheating the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9 inch pie plate with Pam Spray and gently lie the pie crust on top. Carefully push the dough down into the middle of the pan pressing it into the creases and up on top to the edges. Set aside.

Melt the butter in the microwave on a low power setting for 30 seconds. Whisk together the flour, mayonnaise, butter, salt and eggs in a large bowl. I cook my bacon in a microwave safe dish using paper towels, so if you going to do it that way start heating it up now because it took about 8-10 minutes for all 12 pieces to be crunchy.

Stir the milk into the egg mixture, then add the broccoli and onion. Mix well to combine. At this point I realized I had chosen a bowl that was way to small so I transferred everything into a bigger bowl. Add the shredded cheese and finally the crumbled bacon. Give it a few good stirs so everything is coated with the egg/milk mixture.

Pour the entire bowl into the pie crust. Carefully place it in the oven and bake for 55-60 minutes or until the crust is brown and the quiche has set, a knife inserted into the middle should come out clean. Let the quiche stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!! - Nicole

Linked at: http://www.gooseberrypatch.typepad.com/blog/, http://eatathomecooks.com/

Broccoli-and-Bacon Egg Cups

I'm always looking for something to grab and go in the morning for breakfast since I'm typically running late to work.  On a normal day my breakfast consist of cereal or some toast which gets tiring after a while. With the snow day yesterday it was perfect timing to try them. They were super easy to make and taste just like a frittata but mini.

Adapted from weightwatchers.com

Ingredients:

6 slices of uncooked turkey bacon
2 cups of frozen broccoli, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
1 1/2 minced garlic
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tbs all-purpose flour
1 cup buttermilk
3 large eggs
3 large egg whites
4 tbs Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside. Spray a nonstick frying pan with cooking spray, place over medium heat. Add the bacon and saute until crispy. Transfer to plate.

Return the frying pan to heat and add the broccoli, onion, garlic and Italian seasoning, cook until vegetables are soft, about 5-7 minutes. While the vegetables are cooking slice bacon in 1/4 inch stripes crosswise.

Remove from heat, stir in flour and cooked bacon. Set aside to cool.

Whisk together buttermilk, eggs, egg whites, cheese, salt and pepper in a large bowl until well blended.

Stir in cooled vegetable mixture.

Spoon evenly into muffin cups. Bake until set in the center, about 20 minutes. To remove from muffin tin run a knife around the edge of each cup.

Enjoy!!! Kelly



linked at: http://eatathomecooks.com/