Showing posts with label brunch menu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brunch menu. Show all posts

Friday, April 15, 2011

Cheesy Potato Casserole

The promise of recipes from the brunch I hosted about a month ago needs to be checked off my list, so here's the last one, I believe. I've already shared the Strata and the Pound Cake.

Once you make this recipe, you'll find that you really don't need a recipe! Just dump a bunch of ingredients together! If you have a little less cheese, or a little more onion, no big deal. It always disappears.

The only warning I will give is to be sure not to overbake, especially if you might be short on moisture-providing ingredients (butter or sour cream). If you do end up with a casserole that is on the dry side, my family compensates by topping with more sour cream. Whatever works! :-)

I serve this as a side dish with dinner, or with a big hearty breakfast! It can be prepared the night before, and baked in the morning, for convenience.



Cheesy Potato Casserole

Yield: 12-15 servings
Ingredients

1 package (26 oz.) frozen hash brown potatoes, slightly thawed

1 lg. container (2 lb.) sour cream

1 stick butter

2-3 c. shredded cheddar, plus a bit extra to sprinkle on top

1 small onion, chopped finely

Salt, pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 11x13-inch loaf pan with shortening.

2. Melt butter in very large mixing bowl. Stir in sour cream. Add cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, and onion.

3. Fold in hash browns. Mix well.

4. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake approximately 40-45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Brunch for Frienzies

Today was the big reveal! Finally! My dear, dear friend Sharon retired at the end of February, but our celebration of the occasion was this morning at brunch here at my house.

Here is Sharon, wearing a tiara, for retiring is cause for royal treatment, as she opens her quilt.

Notice that Sharon is wearing red and white, and that she matches her quilt??? Uncanny. When a retirement is approaching, the group decides on the color scheme for the retiree based on colors that are "her." Everyone knows that Sharon loves red -- she has red walls in her bedroom, a red sofa and chair in her living room, and has made at least one red and white quilt. So we dug out our red scraps to make the stars, found some fabulous red/white and white/red fabric on the sale table at Ben Franklin, and constructed this over the past year or so. (Sharon considered retiring at the end of last school year, so we began this quilt last Feb!)  Anyway, back to what Sharon is wearing. She told us she actually had a purple top on this moring, but changed into red and white, because "I'm red!"

Do we know each other, or what??

Well, she loves her retirement quilt, and now we have 6 retirees in our little group of 8 - all using the same  pattern. You may see that quilt folded up on the floor in that last pic . . .

We had a retirement quilt reunion! Everyone who has a retirement quilt brought theirs today.



In the foreground is Lyn's, whose colors are earth tones - browns, greens, blues and tan. It has a very calm look to it.

Next is Pam's Ohio State quilt - it's Scarlet and Gray.

Next is Kay's blue and white quilt. Her quilt is our first, as Kay was the first of the Frienzies to retire.

Last is Sherrie's burgundy and beige quilt.

Where is mine?? I don't know! It's lost!! I could do a whole post on my missing retirement quilt, and I suppose I will when I find it. Can you believe that I have lost a quilt?!?!? Good grief. My first thought is to interrogate my three kids... I suspect someone has committed quiltnapping!

So, the idea to have a retirement quilt reunion was a good one, until the hostess of the reunion couldn't find her own. *grumble, grumble*

Okay, for the brunch portion of our morning, here are some shots of the table and food.


I found the table linens at Kohl's. They look very much like the French General lines of fabric. So I bought them. Of course.


The spinach and egg strata. I took a risk with this, as I'd never made it before. It turned out great. Very cheesy - gruyere and parmesan. It made the house smell yummy.

Cheesy potato casserole is a huge favorite with my family; I made a huge pan so there'd be plenty of leftovers.

Scones. I have had scones before that were moist and smooth. These tasted dry, so maybe a bit long in the oven.


Kay brought a fruit bowl - this is what is left of the chocolate covered strawberries. There was also pineapple, but I didn't get a pic of that.

I also did not get a pic of the pound cake and topping, but suffice it to say it was both pretty and delicious. We were scheduled to have bellinis, but a couple of the girls had to rush, so we didn't get to linger over pretty drinks. Darn. Just iced tea this time.

It was a fun morning.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Birthday Surprise

Tomorrow morning I will be hostessing a brunch for a group of very close friends to celebrate the recent retirement of one of our number. She is the one who will receive the quilt I've teased you about for a month or so.

My menu:
Spinach and egg strata
Cheesy potato casserole
Fresh fruit
Scones
Pound Cake with whipped topping
Bellinis

The strata, casserole and pound cake will be made tonight, leaving just prep work for in the morning.

In addition to celebrating the retirement, another of our group has a birthday this month, so I stopped at Creations Sew Clever in Chillicothe earlier today for a little birthday gift.

A pattern for making little quilts with fat quarters, 3 fat quartersin  red, white and blue for Sherrie, the birthday girl, who does a lot of quilts in patriotic colors, and a tiny pair of scissors. I have a pair of these little snipperstand they are really nice. So I think Sherrie will like them, too.

I hadn't been to Creations for quite awhile. I worked in Chillicothe for 30 years, however I surely don'g get over that way nearly as often as I did then. While at Creations,  saw several quilts on display that I liked, and a few pieces of fabric tried to get me to buy them. But I remained strong in my resolve to focus on using the stash.

Okay, so that's sort of a little white lie, because if you go back through this blog you'll learn that I'm not a real strong person when it comes to resisting the urge to buy fabric, but I did today, so good for me. In a few weeks, I know that I will be going to a big quilt shindig in Cincinnati. You don't think I'm going to be resisting fabric purchases there, do you???  *grinning!!*

Happy Quilting, Friends!