Egg and Sausage Casserole

Two weeks ago we had an exciting weekend as my daughter, Olivia was married in our backyard. It was a beautiful ceremony with just her siblings and her now husband's siblings and parents. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful and my precious grandson walked his mother down the stairs to our lovely garden patio with over hanging Bosc Elm trees and lovely blooming Camelia Shrubs. My son arrived safely from California with his wife and my precious granddaughter. How fun to have everyone home for this glorious celebration!

When I have a family gathering, I am move into my active cooking mode... I planned a fun Sunday brunch for everyone with all their favorites. My mother's coffee cake, fresh fruit, homemade cinnamon rolls, egg and sausage casserole (great for making the day before). How I looked forward to a recap with everyone about the wedding and dinner at Husk. Best laid plans often go awry...our second Southwest flight debacle occurred so the lovely breakfast chat became a fast-food event and off to the airport to make an altered flight!

My husband and I have had the wonderful treat of keeping our grandson while the happy couple have a wonderful honeymoon. I have posted a few fun photos...as the mother of the bride, I had no camera with me...I hope to see the wedding photos soon! Enjoy the recipe below.

Getting Started:

Servings: 8

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Oven Temp: 350º

Ingredients:

8 eggs

6 slices of bread cubed

2 1/2 cups milk

1# sausage (mild or hot)

8 oz. of fresh sliced mushrooms

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

8 oz. of cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Cube the bread and place in an 8x11 greased pan.

Two weeks ago we had an exciting weekend as my daughter, Olivia was married in our backyard. It was a beautiful ceremony with just her siblings and her now husband's siblings and parents. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful and my precious grandson walked his mother down the stairs to our lovely garden patio with over hanging Bosc Elm trees and lovely blooming Camellia Shrubs. My son arrived safely from California with his wife and my precious granddaughter. How fun to have everyone home for this glorious celebration!

3. Whisk together the eggs, milk, dry mustard, and salt.

4. Add the crumbled sausage and sliced mushrooms into the greased pan with bread cubes. 5. Pour the egg mixture over the top of the bread, sausage and mushrooms. Cover and refrigerate over night.

The next morning take the pan out of the refrigerator 1 hr before baking. Sprinkle the package of cheese over the casserole.

Preheat oven to 350º

Cook 45 minutes . Let the casserole rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Egg and Sausage Casserole

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Who doesn't love the smell and taste of homemade bread?

When my kids were little, I used Bisquick Mix or a can of Hungry Jack Biscuits for an easy breakfast or dinner bread. Having three children twenty months apart meant that I needed to get things done expeditiously. I figured that if it is made from Bisquick, its homemade! Once they were teenagers, I began to do more bread baking from scratch. I would try to find the easy-no fail recipes as using yeast made me nervous. The more I baked the better I got. Today, there are so many young cooks with videos on YouTube that really take the stress out of doing a recipe the first time which should encourage us to try something new. After all isn't that what life is about trying...failing...succeeding!

Another reason, I began to make bread is that I really loved knowing what ingredients were in my breads. We all know how preservatives are added so rolls, breads, and muffins have a longer shelf life and when you look on the Ingredient label it's hard to know what some the ingredients are in the bread you happen to be buying.

When the children were little, my mother-in-law taught me how to make Parker House rolls. You know... they are the ones that are folded in half with lots of tasty butter...they almost look like lips! I think that she wanted to be able to ask me to make the rolls for our holiday dinners so she could focus on the main meal. Once I had mastered these yummy rolls, I got into making Farm Bread, and Focaccia Bread and then the decadent cinnamon rolls.

I love biscuits...but sometimes they can get tough (if you roll them too much!) I have tried many recipes, but this one is my favorite because it only makes 6-7 biscuits which means I won't eat as many and it is all done using your hands and not a rolling pin, which helps prevent tough biscuits!

There are several things that are really important to follow in the recipe for the best results.

1. FREEZE the butter for 20 minutes before using

2. Use a Box Grater to cut the butter. It is way easier than slicing frozen butter and it makes it easier to mix the butter into the flour.

3. I use a pastry mat for easy clean up

The gallery of images give you a visual step by step

Homemade Biscuits from Sugar Spun Run

Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g) 1 Tablespoon baking powder 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar 1 teaspoon salt 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter very cold (85g), unsalted European butter is ideal, but not required ¾ cup whole milk¹ (177ml) buttermilk or 2% milk will also work

Recommended Equipment: Box grater (a box cutter makes it so easy) and Biscuit cutter

Instructions:

Tip: For best results, chill your butter in the freezer for 20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It's ideal that the butter is very cold for light, flaky, buttery biscuits.

Preheat oven to 425º

Line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper or a baking mat is you have one. Set aside.

• Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.

• Remove your butter from the freezer. Grate or cut the frozen butter

• Combine the grated butter until the flour mixture and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs.

• Add milk, use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until combined (don't over-work the dough).

• Transfer your biscuit dough to a well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable.

• Once the dough is cohesive, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5-6 times but taking care to not overwork the dough.

• Use your hands (do not use a rolling pin) to flatten the dough to 1" thick and lightly dust a 2 ¾" round biscuit cutter with flour.

• Making close cuts, press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet.

• Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible and place less than ½" apart on baking sheet.

Once you have gotten as many biscuits as possible out of the dough, gently re-work the dough to get out another biscuit or two until you have at least 6 biscuits.

Bake on 425º for 12 minutes or until tops are beginning to just turn lightly golden brown.

If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from oven. Serve warm and enjoy.

Note:

The recipe calls for whole milk, but I have used buttermilk or 2% milk with success.

Biscuits from Scratch

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