Recently, I received a little note of thanks from Natchez-extraordinaire Kathleen Bond for a recipe I shared with readers a few months back. Here it is:

Kudos to Jennie Guido for sharing her fabulous family recipe for
breakfast casserole. Its flexibility made it so easy to customize to
my personal taste (sautéed spinach and mushrooms on the first try). I
made two lasagna pans of it for our annual Christmas brunch – and
greedily portioned out the little bit that was left over to enjoy all
by myself over the next few days. I’m now contemplating what variation
I’ll try next – and I guarantee it won’t wait for a party – it will
get divvied up and frozen in single meal-sized bits for me to pull out
whenever I want a special breakfast treat in the new year. Maybe with
some awesome Louisiana strawberries on the side!

It’s definitely a popular recipe that we have used during a couple of different functions and luckily are left with plenty of left overs to enjoy for days to come. Mom found the original in Flavors of Natchez and tweaked it to meet our needs. Whether veggies or meats, this breakfast casserole should be first on your list of recipes to try in 2018. Give it a go with your favorite ingredients, and let me know how it turns out. We are always looking for new variations to try.

Breakfast Sausage Casserole

1 pound medium or hot sausage, browned and drained
Fresh vegetables of choice, chopped and sautéed
8 eggs, well beaten
1 large onion, chopped (We used green onions.)
12 slices white bread, quartered
10 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
4 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Cook sausage until browned or vegetables and onions until tender. Drain the drippings from the sausage except for about 2 tablespoons for the onions. Sauté the onions, if using sausage, until tender. In a greased 9-by-13-inch casserole dish, layer the ingredients. Begin with half of the bread, then half of the sausage, half of the onion, and half of the cheese; repeat layers. Beat together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and dry mustard; then pour over layers. Cover and refrigerate overnight before cooking. When ready to bake, bring to room temperature. Bake at 350 degrees for fifty minutes. This recipe serves 10 to 12.

I’m not much of a baker, but I love to bake this particular pie. It’s simple, yummy, and comes out perfect 90% of the time. This week, I was determined to have one baked up and delivered for a friend’s birthday happy; however, I did encounter the worst one I’ve ever put into the oven. It cracked completely around the edge of the pie; and usually I’m used to a single crack in the middle, which no one ever seems to mind. But, out of this continual crack, the insides started bubbling out like an active volcano. So, that one went to the testers (also know as the parentals). But I will say that my second attempt came out perfectly without a crack, which has never happened before. So, Happy Birthday, Chelsea! It was quite the pie to complete this week.

Chocolate Chess Pie

1 graham cracker crust

1 stick unsalted butter

1 ounce square semi-sweetened chocolate

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Melt the butter and chocolate together. Pour into a bowl and whisk together with the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Pour the filling into the crust, and bake in a 325-degree oven for about 40 minutes or until the top is set. (It’s best served warm!)

Fact. I’m not the biggest fan of turkey (whether baked, roasted, smoked, or otherwise) on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I find that it is just a waste of space and time when all of those other yummy creations need to be on the plate. However, this year was quite the game changer on the turkey front.

During our annual family Christmas Eve shopping excursion in downtown Natchez, we stopped in Sissy Blackwood’s Consign & Design to see what new treasure we couldn’t like without. (Mind you, I found a fabulous mink cape/coat at an unbelievable price. Merry Christmas to ME!) While we were visiting, Sissy shared a bombshell with us: put your turkey in the crock pot. Well, duh! Why had we (the lovers of crock pot everything) thought to try this before? So, on Christmas Eve night, my parents placed a 9-pound turkey breast into the crock pot and let it go. Now, that’s how to cook a turkey. Moist. Tender. Falls off the bone. Here’s how they did it:

Crock Pot Turkey

1 9-pound turkey breast

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Salt and pepper to taste

Place the turkey into the crock pot with the can of soup poured over the top after adding salt and pepper to the bird. Cook on high for 8 hours (overnight). The meat will fall from the bone in the crock pot. Enjoy!

Now, we are a family of 4; and like I mentioned, I usually don’t eat turkey during the holiday meals. Crock pot or not, we have spaghetti and homemade meatballs that rank higher on my to-do list that day. So, we usually have quite the left over turkey for the rest of the week. This year, Dad had a craving for a turkey soup. Mom (the Betty Crocker that she is) whipped up the perfect recipe that you have to try with any and all of your left over turkey. I mean, it would be worth crock potting a turkey anytime during the year just to make this soup.

Turkey and Rice Soup

2 to 3 cups cooked turkey, chopped

2 cups frozen English peas

2 cups Minute rice

1 medium onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 16-ounce can chicken broth

1 chicken bouillon cube

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh parsley for garnish

Sauté onion and celery. Salt and pepper the mixture to taste. Add chicken bouillon, cans of soups, and broth to the sautéed veggies. Add in turkey and peas. Simmer until the peas are done. Prepare the rice separately to 4 cups of boiling water.  Add in the cooked rice to the soup and stir together. Add fresh parsley for garnish, and serve.