Catchin' Up - Three Breakfasts

I can't believe how busy I've been while I've been on Thanksgiving Break! You'd think that there'd be lots of time to get lots of posting done. Well, not this year. On Sunday, we bought a brand new travel trailer! We've been camping for the past 10 years or so in a tent trailer, which, while it was definitely better than tent camping, didn't offer the amenities I'm looking forward to now. I've decided to start a separate blog about the trailer and our camping experiences; I'll do the first entry soon. We plan to take it out next weekend for a two-night "shakedown," then on a longer trip over the winter break.

I HAVE done some cooking, though. With my DS son here, I've made some decent breakfasts. In addition to my wonderful bisuits and gravy, I used the Jimmy Dean sausage in a bread-based casserole. It was easy to throw together, and I didn't keep it in the refrigerator overnight like most recipes call for. (However, I think if I did, it would be a bit softer and probably even better!)

Easy Breakfast Casserole

½ lb. Jimmy Dean sausage
1 tablespoon mustard
6 slices bread , torn into bite-size pieces
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
6 eggs or equivalent in Eggbeaters, beaten
1 4-ounce can evaporated milk or 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350?. In a skillet, crumble and brown the sausage. Stir in the mustard. Combine bread, cheese, and sausage, and put in a 9" baking pan. Mix eggs and mik, and pour evenly over bread-meat mixture, and bake about 30 minutes until puffed, golden, and set. Serves 2-3.


Have you ever eaten at Mimi's Cafe? They make a dish for breakfast they call Pain Perdu - which is basically French toast with cream cheese and marmalade inside. I've taken that concept and added almonds - and it was soooooo good.

Orange-Almond Pain Perdu

6 slices white or whole wheat sandwich bread
3 Tbsp. softened cream cheese, divided
6 teaspoons orange marmalade
2 eggs or equivalent in Eggbeaters
2-3 Tbsp. milk
3 Tbsp. sliced almonds, toasted
nonstick cooking spray

Spread 3 slices of bread with 1 tablespoon each cream cheese and 2 teaspoons each orange marmalade. Form three sandwiches with the other three slices. Combine eggs/Eggbeaters and milk in a shallow dish. Heat a griddle sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle space where you're going to place a sandwich with 1 tablespoon of the almonds. Dip both sides of sandwich in egg mixture and place on top of almonds. Grill until brown on bottom side, flip and grill until both sides are browned. Serve with maple syrup. Makes 3.

This morning's breafast made use of some refrigerated biscuits, and is one of DS's favorites. I'm sure I could change this a bit to make it lower carb, but he doesn't need fewer carbs so I made it this way.

Apple Breakfast Stacks

1/3 c packed brown sugar
2 T all-purpose flour
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 10-oz can refrigerated biscuits
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 large apple, cored and cut into rings
1 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl; set aside. Separate biscuits, and press each into a 3-inch circle. Place on lightly greased baking sheets; sprinkle with cheese, and top each with an apple ring. Sprinkle with reserved sugar mixture, and drizzle with melted butter. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until crust is golden. Serve immediately. Makes 10.


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