Paula Deen’s Hash Brown Casserole

Wow, I went for two days without posting a new blog article - we had a busy weekend. Our son and his wife came to stay with us for two days because they were attending a wedding. Saturday, my wife’s family had a gathering so we attended that and I took Bonnie’s Baked Beans and Sunshine Cake, both were a huge success. On Sunday, I decided to make the Paula Deen Hash Brown Casserole. I watched her TV program when she made it and I thought it looked good, so I printed the recipe and waiting until we had some company to make it.

I made the casserole and about the time I took it out of the oven, I noticed a pain in my left lower back that was getting worse. I remembered the downside to potluck family dinners, is you never quite know how someone else handles their food. I let our family eat while I went a laid down to see if the pain would subside. No such luck, I had several bouts of nausea, but none of the other effects of food poisoning. A quick check of the internet showed the appendix on the right side, so that’s not the problem. After suffering with this for 12 hours, my wife convinced me to go to the ER at 9:30 pm to see if I had a kidney stone. After three hours and pokes, prods, and a CT scan, the results came back that outside of a slightly inflamed kidney, all the tests were normal. The doctor thought I might have a pulled muscle, but to take Tylenol, which has eliminated the pain. However, I lost a full day while lying in bed trying to get comfortable and sleeping.

I confirmed my decision to make this recipe for breakfast when I got up Sunday morning and everyone else was asleep (they had a late night). I had already thawed my one pound of Jimmy Dean Maple Sausage and rummaged around in the freezer to find a loaf of buttermilk bread.

I started by melting the butter in a large skillet while I chopped one-half a white onion. I sautéed the onion while I trimmed the crusts off the slices of bread, this was very easy because the slices were still frozen. Into another skillet, I browned the bulk sausage, realizing after I put the sausage in the pan, the skillet was almost too small so I had to be careful while turning the sausage to keep if from flying out.

Once the onions were cooked, I added the half package of frozen hash browns to the skillet with the onions and cooked the hash browns for about five minutes. I had to switch from a rubber spatula to one made of metal so I could loosen the browning potatoes from the bottom of the stainless steel skillet. Once the potatoes were cooked, I spread them in the bottom of my prepared 9x13 inch glass-baking pan.

On top of the potatoes, I spread the bread cubes over the potatoes and the sausage over the bread cubes. I quickly mixed the egg and 2% milk with the salt, pepper, nutmeg, and mustard. I poured the egg mixture over the top of the three layers in the baking pan trying to coat all the bread cubes. I shredded the parmesan and cheddar cheeses and spread them over the casserole then put in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

By now everyone else in the house was up and ready to eat. When the casserole finished cooking, I took removed it from the oven, set it on top of the stove, and told everyone to dig in, and then I left to deal with my back pain.

I still have not tasted the casserole because the thought of it makes me feel a little nauseous. Everyone who ate the casserole really like the flavors, taste and texture, though it is very rich. Fortunately, my wife has agreed to freeze the remainder because I am not sure I could look at it right now. I do look forward to tasting it in the future, and it seems to be a hit when you have a group people for breakfast.

Find the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paulas-home-cooking/hash-brown-casserole-recipe/index.html

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Cinnamon French Toast

What do you do with leftover whipped cream and a loaf of cinnamon twist bread?  Why make French toast of course!

While visiting our friends in Bend, I decided to make French toast with the loaf of cinnamon bread that we had picked up at a bakery during our trip.  When I went to the refrigerator to get the eggs, I saw the 1 1/2-cups of whipped cream that was left over from making the Lake Bled Cream Cake, and thought it would make a nice dairy medium for the eggs.

I grabbed the container of whipped cream, four eggs and set to work whisking them all together in a large bowl.  I would normally add a little vanilla extract into the batter (a lesson I learned from my friend David), but the whipped cream already had vanilla and sugar added from when it was whipped.  The next step I performed was to cut the cinnamon bread into 1/2-inch slices.

I found a large Teflon griddle and prepared to cook.  The first piece of bread that I dipped into the batter came out with a very frothy coating of egg/whipped cream mixture, it cooked just fine, but looked a little strange.  When I dipped the remainder of the pieces, they looked more traditional in their coating and the way they cooked.

This French toast cooked like any other French toast.  It had a creamer texture in the coating and the cinnamon from the bread mixed with the vanilla in the whipped cream provided a nice blend of flavors.

It was very easy to mix and cook and went well with the small pork sausages that our friend Dinah prepared.  The six of us enjoyed a wonderful breakfast.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Hazelnut Pancakes

This morning my wife flashed her big blue eyes at me and asked if I would make pancakes.  She didn’t mean just any old pancakes from a box, these are Hazelnut Banana Blueberry pancakes made with a hazelnut breakfast mix from Hazelnut Hills in Oregon.

We first learned about Hazelnut Hills products when our friends Marcia and David sent our family a gift pack of various items for Christmas.  The pancakes and waffles that we make from the mix are so good, that we continue to visit their store or purchase by mail order several packages of the mix at a time so that we don’t run out.

This recipe is very easy, 2-cups of hazelnut breakfast mix, 1 1 /2-cups milk, 1 egg, a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil and stir until all the ingredients are broken up and wet.  To this basic recipe, I add a few drops of vanilla extract, a crushed banana and about two cups of room temperature blue berries.

In the summer, we always purchase pre-picked or go to a u-pick farm to get several pounds of blueberries.  We rinse the blueberries, remove any lingering stems, and then freeze the blueberries, keeping them frozen until we need them in a recipe.

On our large non-stick Toastmaster griddle, I usually cook 4 to 8 pancakes at a time.  Topped with a little margarine and syrup, pancakes are one of our favorite breakfast foods.

Now don’t tell my wife, but when it is time to make the last pancake, usually all the blueberries are already cooked, so I will grab about 10 chocolate chips and sprinkle them into the batter once it is on the griddle.  This special pancake is always mine!

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell