Breakfast of Champions

Hey y'all! I needed some recipes to impress, so it was time to pull out no other cookbook than . . . my Paula Deen Cookbook!

The YWCA hosted a breakfast for the state legislators. Again, we planned on ordering some food and I spoke up and said- I can make that for so much cheaper.

Sometimes- I don't know what I'm thinking!!! But I do have so much fun. If I could pay someone to clean the kitchen- I would volunteer for things like this so much more! On the menu: sausage and mushroom quiche, breakfast pizza, and zucchini bread. The great thing is that each of these items can be prepared the evening before and heated just before serving. I really recommend the quiche if you have out of town guests- they will love it!

Mushroom and Sausage Quiche

One 9 inch refrigerated pie crust, fitted into a 9-inch glass pie plate
1 1-lb. package ground sausage
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 large Vidalia (or other mild) onion, chopped
4 eggs.
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese, 2 or 4 percent milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1-eight-ounce package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crimp the edges of the crust.

2. Cook and drain the sausage; set aside. Wipe out the pan and in the same pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onion and saute for five minutes or til tender.

3. Place the eggs, sour cream, cottage cream, flour, Parm. cheese, and hot sauce in a food processor or blender and process til smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary.

4. Stir together the crumbled cooked sausage, mushroom mixture, egg mixture, and Cheddar cheese, and spoon into the pie crust. Cover the edges with foil to prevent the crust form burning (I had to take it off about half way through, so it could get a little brown.)

5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, til golden brown and set in the center. Cool for 20 minutes.

Someone at my old office gave me this breakfast pizza recipe and it's delicious. To serve- I took it out of the 9x13 and cut it into little squares. Sometimes the middle is a little gooey, so I didn't serve that part.

Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:
1 can Crescent Roll Dough
1 roll of Breakfast Sausage
6 eggs beaten
½ cup bell pepper – chopped
½ cup onion – chopped
2+ cups of shredded cheese – Monterrey/Colby/mild cheddar (your preference)

Seasoning – I used a little garlic powder & Italian seasoning while cooking the sausage, onion and bell pepper.

Directions:

1. Cook sausage, onions, bell pepper and seasonings together in skillet. (this time I substituted bacon- really use your favorite breakfast ingredients)

2. Roll out crescent roll dough in a 9 x 13 baking pan (kind of press into pan).

3. Spread sausage mixture on dough.

4. Pout in eggs and top with cheese.

5. Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes. (might need to bake a little longer- check middle)

I managed to not get any pictures of the zucchini bread. But it's not too exciting anyway. This is one of my all-time favorite breads. Here's the recipe:

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini (took 2 small zucchinis)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I omitted nuts)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.


In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in.


Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!

A Couple of Years

We've been a married couple for a couple of years. Jeremy and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! I can hardly believe it's been 2 years since our wedding day! So much has happened over the past few years- moving to TN, leaving jobs, getting new jobs, moving to OKC, losing our grandparents, passing a bar exam (or two), almost completing an MBA, a trip to Vegas, two little puppies, a few tears and lots of celebrations! Above all, I know that there is no one else that I would rather have by my side. God has truly blessed me with an amazing partner in life.

April 21, 2007

April 21, 2008

April 21, 2009

Jeremy planned a fabulous date for us. We had a delicious dinner at Red Prime and then, we stopped by the Art Festival. It was a great night- talking about all our memories from the past few years. Jeremy really outdid himself on the gift (it's going to be a hard one to top)- we're going on a CRUISE! I can hardly wait!

I LOVE YOU, JTW!

Precious Times

Time for another shower! Sarah had a shower in Corsicana. I drove down to the big D and spent some quality time with my BFF- Amy. It was a rainy yucky day, which explains the bad hair in all the pics, but I had a fun time.

We also had lunch with Ethan, Sarah, my mom and my aunts- Tina and Lisa. It was nice catching up and hanging out!

After the shower, I was off to see my favorite little Dallas baby, Amelia. She is an absolute doll. I love her! She is happy and smiley and just precious. I can't get enough of her. Of course, I was only there for a few hours. I'm sure Michelle has few different stories.

I also got to spend some time with Melissa- it was a great weekend with lots of good friends and family!

All Play and No Work

I've had lots of events at work lately. This week, we celebrate my work friend, Sarah's baby shower. We planned on ordering cupcakes from this cute little bakery. But of course, I started thinking- I could make those for way cheaper.

They don't look exactly like the cute little bakery cupcakes, but I had lots of fun making them! It took forever and I don't want to see any baby bottle sugar cookies for a while, but I think it was worth the effort.

I made vanilla mini-cupcakes and sugar cookies. The cookies were surprisingly delicious! They do spread just a little bit, so beware with some cookie cutters. They are soft and not too sweet- the way they are meant to be!

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
Powdered Sugar Icing (optional)
Decorative sprinkles and/or small candies (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Divide dough in half. If necessary, cover and chill about 30 minutes or until dough is easy to handle.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time until 1/4 inch thick. Using a 4-1/2- to 6-inch cookie cutter, cut dough into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack; cool.

4. If desired, prepare Powdered Sugar Icing. Spread and/or pipe the icing (if using) onto cookies. If desired, top iced cookies with sprinkles and/or candies.

Me with the mom-to-be

Later that night, we celebrated all the success of the 2 Minute 5K. As much fun as we had planning and getting ready, I think we were really glad to put it all behind us. At least until next year! 2 Minute 5K 2010- are you in?!!?

Me and Karla

For the record, I think blogs are a little "fake." They paint these perfect pictures of perfect families in perfect houses where the recipes always turn out perfect. I've had more than my fair share of kitchen mishaps and I usually blog about them. What you don't ever see- my kitchen!!! When I finish a project like the baby shower cupcakes- my kitchen is an absolute disaster!

Maybe through my pictures, you've been given the impression that I am neat and tidy- ha! Far from the truth. So here you go: a look at my kitchen . . .

Happy Easter!!!!

After heading to church to celebrate Easter Sunday, we came home to get our Easter lunch ready. It was quite a feast for just two people. We both really missed seeing our families this holiday, but luckily, we are seeing our families in the next few weeks.


Jeremy grilled steaks and I made a salad and warm bacon potato salad. It was all delicious. We finished off our meal with my absolute favorite Easter treat, a Cadbury egg!!!


It's a pretty yucky day here- cold, wet, rainy, etc. Ivy and Winnie have been exhausted all day. I think it's just the weather- it's the kind of day that you should curl up in bed with a good book!

Warm Bacon Potato Salad

Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon coarse-grained mustard
1 tablespoon sugar

Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds red potatoes, diced into 1-inch cubes
Salt
6 bacon slices, chopped
1 medium sized red onion, diced
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup freshly chopped dill leaves, plus more for garnish

For the vinaigrette:

Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Directions:
Add potatoes to pot of salted cold water. Bring to a boil, over high heat, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes until tender. Drain and place in a large bowl. Cover with foil to keep warm, if necessary.

Add bacon to large saute pan and cook until crisp over medium heat. Remove to a paper towel-lined sheet tray and reserve. Add onion, dash of pepper and garlic to bacon grease and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add vinaigrette to vegetables. Let cook until reduced and thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add potatoes, dill and bacon to the pan and toss to coat with dressing. Allow to cook for 3 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Transfer potato salad to a serving platter and sprinkle with chopped fresh dill.

Happy Easter from Jeremy, Erin, Ivy and Winnie!

Cupcake Day

I didn't have much planned for Saturday, so I thought it would be a great day to make some Easter egg cupcakes. I got the idea for them from my Hello, Cupcake recipe book that I got for Christmas. I think they turned out pretty well.

First, I made egg shaped sugar cookies and then, I made cupcakes. Next, decorate the sugar cookies and put a little green icing on top of the cupcake to hold the cookie in place. Then, add the green grass.

Of course, along the way, I learned a few lessons and I'll pass those along in case you want to make something like this.

Tips:

• Don't use sandwich bags for piping icing- they will bust every time (took me a couple times to get this one!). Use quart freezer bags.
• The book says that you can make all kinds of fancy designs, just by snipping the corner of a baggie- this just isn't true. I used an icing tip!
• You need to use a serrated knife to level out the dome of the cupcake, otherwise, the cookie on top looks weird and sloped.
• It works best to decorate the sugar cookie and then, put it on top of the cupcake.
• This would be a great activity for kids!
  

The Last of the Thunder

Someone donated some tickets to the YWCA for the last home game of Oklahoma City's NBA team, the Thunder. A few people from our new small group were already planning on attending, so we all went together.

We had a wonderful meal at Zio's before the game started and although our seats were not the best in the house, we had fun cheering them to a victory! It was pretty close towards the end of the game.

There were also a few people from my office at the game. That was only my 2nd time to see them play and Jeremy's first. I can't say I am a huge NBA fan, but it's nice to go every once in a while.

Sarah's daughter- Madison

Sarah and Me

Our view of the court

The section we were sitting in is called Loud City

Matt & Jennifer

Go Thunder!