Sausage Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole

I found this one online, and to ensure I always have access to it, I'm including it here. That's just the way I do things! Click on the picture to go to the original post and print it out there.

Ingredients:
8 eggs
1 pound pork sausage Jimmy Dean
1 1/2 cups whole milk or heavy cream
1 package 30 oz bag frozen shredded hash browns thawed out
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 and spray 9 x 13 pan with non stick cooking spray.
Brown pork sausage (or cook your meat if you use a different kind) in skillet, over medium heat, breaking into small pieces. Drain grease and set aside.
Whisk eggs, heavy cream and all spices together. 
Layer ingredients in a casserole dish. Start with adding your thawed hash browns, precooked sausage, layer of cheese, and then pour on whisked egg mixture.
Cover with foil. 
Bake for 40 minutes, remove foil, and then bake for another 20.

Servings: 12 people

Serve with Franks Hot Sauce or Chunky Salsa

Substitutions common - see original post for ideas, including tater tots, meat variations, milk, etc.

OCS's Oven French toast

Cortney Schelin has made this for OCS faculty several times - it's a WINNER! Pair together with Buttermilk syrup, and the flavors cannot be beat! 

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup butter (3 cubes)
2 ¾ cups packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons corn syrup (you can substitute maple syrup)
1 pkg of French Country bread from Costco cut into 1inch cubes
12 eggs
3 ¾ cups of Half-and-Half(or milk)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt

Melt butter, sugar, and corn syrup over heat on the stove. Stir and let come to a boil. Pour into foil pan.

Rip up bread and put on top of sugar mix. Try to spread out even to allow sugar to get to all the bread.

Beat together eggs, milk, vanilla and salt. Pour over bread.

Cover and bake 55 min at 350. Watch and take off foil to give light toast brown to top. Maybe like 10 min.

Cortney added: "I have found it's best to cook this in a foil pan. Glass will carmelize too much on the bottom"

April Parker's "Wake the Dead Juice"

 My daughter-in-law shared her mother's recipe when I needed a clear throat...

Equal parts:
Minced garlic
Ginger Root
Horseradish
Apple cider vinegar
Lemon

Mix in the blender. Add a little cayenne pepper. Add a teaspoon of the mixture to a cup of hot water and a teaspoon of honey, and drink as tea. "It's very nasty but very effective."

Aunt Kathy's Creamy Chicken & Rice Casserole

At our July 2021 Merrill Family reunion in AF,  my aunt, Kathryne Whitford, served this family favorite to everyone, and others asked her for her recipe, and I have included it here in mostly her own words. She prepared it for the crowd in slow cookers and rice cookers, instead of the her standard one dish casserole recipe. It was fabulous. Find the slow cooker instructions below. Yum!!

1-2 boneless chicken breasts and/or boneless thighs, etc. Cut up chicken to desired size, typically 2” squares. 
2 cans of cream of chicken Campbell’s soup and 1 can of Cream of Celery soup
one packet of dried onion soup
seasoning for chicken as desired. 
1 1/2 cup of rice

( I often soak cut chicken in a kosher salt brine for an hour or 2 but no necessary)

Pour rice into greased 9x11” baking pan. ( I use Pam) 
Heat up soup of 3 cans n add about 2 can fulls of water to mixture. Stir while heating till almost bubbling. 

Pour 1/2 soup mixture over rice n stir in pan.  Place chicken pieces on top of soup. Add remaining soup to cover chicken. Sprinkle dry onion soup mixture over top of casserole. Cover tightly with foil etc. 

Bake at 375 for about 80-90 minutes till chicken is tender. The rice should be very moist.  Let sit for about 15-20 minutes. 

Enjoy n eat.

Slow cooker instructions- combine chicken breats with soup and dry onion soup mix, adding the cream cheese when mostly done. Serve OVER prepared rice. 

Green Tomato Enchilada Sauce

 

(adapted from a recipe by Our Best Bites)

2-3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, minced
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1-2 jalapenos, seeded and membranes removed, if desired
1 1/2 pounds green tomatoes, quartered
1/2 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
juice of 1 lime
4 cups chicken broth
2-3 Tablespoons sugar (to taste)

In large saucepan or stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic until softened and fragrant.

Meanwhile, place tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, cilantro, salt, pepper, cumin and lime juice in blender or food processor container. Process until smooth. Add a little of the chicken broth if you need it to get things blending.

Pour tomato mixture and chicken broth in pan with onions.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, until it’s as thick as you like it.
I simmered mine for about an hour and ended up with about 5 cups of enchilada sauce.
(Once I knew that the adaptation was a success, I made double batches and netted 10 cups each time. There’s no such thing as too much green enchilada sauce at our house!)
Now give it a taste. If you think it’s too tart, add a little sugar at a time till it tastes just right to you. I didn’t add any sugar to mine. But you might like it slightly sweet.
Return the sauce to the blender and process until completely smooth.
You’re done!

(I got this recipe from a friend who worked with me at the library, Jill.)

Marinara Spaghetti Sauce - for preserving

This recipe is for bottled spaghetti sauce, from our cousin, Amy Whitford

12 C blended tomatoes (cored, blended in the blender; save some out to make more chunky)

Bring to a boil, let simmer for one hour, then add:

5 6oz cans tomato paste
3 yellow onions, chopped or pureed
3 bay leaves
3 tsp oregano
1 tsp fennel seed
1 T basil
2 1/2 T salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder or fresh equivalent (be generous w/garlic!)
1/2 C olive oil
1/4 C sugar

Let simmer two more hours, then place in clean prepared bottles, leaving one-inch headspace. To each bottle, add 1 tsp lemon juice per quart or 1/2 tsp per pint. Place canning lids and rings on top.

Place hot bottles of sauce in a canning pan of boiling hot water (so the bottles don't crack,) with water covering the lids and process: 

Pints - 30 minutes
Quarts - 40 minutes

Hawaiian Haystacks - A major family FAVORITE!

Click on this image for another blogger's recipe

I'm a dump cook, I'll completely admit. Hawaiian Haystacks is a very flexible recipe, very forgiving even. I make it so many different ways that I didn't realize I wasn't following a recipe. But since it's been the birthday request of my oldest son for most of his life, I should have it documented! So here's my attempt.

Hawaiian Haystacks Gravy

1-2 pcs chicken (breast, thigh, whatever, you'll be removing the bones if there are any)

Boil the chicken in (3-4 cups?) salted water (maybe 3/4 tsp salt?) until cooked through.

Remove the chicken and let it cool so you can chop/shred it up. SAVE the broth!!!

Bring the broth to a boil, and add:

• 1/2-3/4 c cornstarch or flour with 1 1/2-2 C water, mixed well

Allow this to thicken. After it's thickened, you may add any or none of the following - 

• The pineapple juice from the can of tidbits you plan on serving with the Hawaiian Haystacks
• A brick of cream cheese OR some sour cream OR neither
• A can of coconut cream...mmmmm, I love it when I add this!
• The diced or shredded chicken you just cooked - okay, I ALWAYS add this

(Instead of adding the thickener-flour & water-you may add a couple of cans of cream of chicken soup. But I like the freshly made stuff instead. If it needs more flavor, I add extra chicken bullion.)

Serve over hot rice (white or brown or mixed) with:

• Grated cheese
• Pineapple tidbits or mandarin oranges or both
• Chinese noodles
• Anything else you want, like:

• diced tomatoes
• diced peppers
• sliced green onion
• chopped celery
• sliced olives
• raisins/craisins
• chopped nuts
• shredded coconut (esp without added sugar)
• anything else you like

Mmmm! My WHOLE family totally loves this because you eat what you like. They're all salivating as I'm finishing this recipe! Coming up in a couple of days...too bad they all live away from home now!