Thanksgiving 2012

We're at my brother Pete's house for Thanksgiving. Dale, Mom, and I left this morning very early to fly to Memphis. In Memphis we rented a car to drive to Jacksonville, Arkansas which is just outside Little Rock and is where Pete and his family live. Pete and his wife, Stepanie, made green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, turkey, ham and sausages. What a feast! I sat next to my nephew, Xander. He would only eat turkey and I helped cut it up for him. We had pumpkin pie made with cream cheese made by Stephanie for dessert. Abby, Xander, and Emma were all very well behaved.

Holiday Brunch 2011/2012 Season

Today was Epiphany Sunday. This past Thursday was the actual day of Ephipany so the Christmas season has pretty wound down. We had meant to have this year's brunch much closer to Christmas but schedule-wise today is what worked best. Our guests included some folks from church. Cyndi and her partner Maggie, Andrew and his partner Muricio, along with Reverend Aron. Dale made an egg bake from a new recipe, hash browns and sausages. I made a maple pecan bundt cake from a Nigella Lawson recipe. We also served fruit (pineapple, mango, strawberries). For appetizers we served brie and fig jelly on crackers. To drink we offered a lot of options but everyone chose mimosas. It was all very delicious and the company was fantastic. I'm finding more and more that I like hosting Sunday brunch. It's such a nice way to wind down the weekend.

Holiday Brunch 2010

On December 23, Dale and I hosted a holiday brunch. We invited our friends Chris and Alyn who brought along with their very mobile and delightful toddler son Ellis. We also invited our friend Eric who brought along his delightful boyfriend Erich. The menu included champagne, mimosas, an egg bake, sausages, hash browns, mixed fresh fruit, and a maple pecan bundt cake. Everything turned out quite well but I was particularly excited about the bundt cake as it was the first one I ever made.

The recipe for the bundt cake is from Nigella Lawson's book Nigella Kitchen and can be found on page 239. Use of the fleur de lis bundt pan that I bought a few months ago made this particularly fun.

The recipe for the egg bake is from one of those Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks (you know, the kind you get at the grocery store check-out lane) and is dated from May of 1993. The recipe is found on page 21 of that publication and is as follows:

Confetti Egg Bake

Ingredients:

Half cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 (9 oz.) pakage of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain

Half pound bulk turkey Italian sausage, cooked

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

Half cup chopped green onion

1 (2 oz. jar sliced pimiento, drained [I used a 4 ounce jar]

6 eggs

1 cup half-and-half

Half cup shredded Swiss cheese

Half teaspoon paprika [I forgot to add this]

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8-inch square (1 1/2 quart) baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Layer Cheddar cheese, spinach, Italian sausage, mushrooms, green onions, and pimiento in spray coated dish. In medium bowl, combine eggs and half-and-half; blend well. Pour egg mixture evenly over layered mixture. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese and paprika.*

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Let stand 5 minutes before serving. 6 servings.

*Note: This can be assembled a day in advance. Cover and refridgerate. Bake at 350 F. but increase the cooking time to 40-50 minutes.