Hashbrown Egg Casserole

It has been snowing here (a lot) and it has been cold. This combination has made my desire to go grocery shopping almost nonexistant. I have been trying to stretch the distance between shopping trips as much as I can, as all I want to do after work is to come home, curl up with a warm blanket and a good book while trying to stay warm. This recipe came up as a result of an almost empty fridge and a refusal to go out into the cold for more ingredients. It is a variation and mix of an old recipe I only half remembered and one found on allrecipes.com.


Hashbrown Egg Casserole
Ingredients
1 (32 ounce) package frozen cubed hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/2 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 eggs
1/2 cup water
1 can evaporated milk
½ onion chopped, cooked until soft


Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine hash browns, bacon, 1/2 cup cheese and salt. Spoon into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.
2. In a bowl, beat eggs, water, salt, pepper and evaporated milk milk until smooth.
3. Pour the egg and milk mixture over hash brown mixture. Sprinkle with paprika.
4. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes until golden.
5. Top with the remaining cheese.


Reviews:
Oh, I love this for a change for supper. I rarely have the time or the desire to cook hashbrowns and bacon in the morning despite my love of them. This recipe is so simple and has endless changes that can be made to make it fit my mood for the day - adding vegetables such as chopped peppers, or switching the cheese. I do love a little jalapano montery jack in this - gives it a little kick. The egg taste is very mild to not really there (unless you are looking for it), which is a bonus for me.

Velvet Cupcakes

I have always loved red velvet cupcakes, but never tried making them myself. When I saw the recipe for velvet cupcakes in Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook I thought I would give it a try. After a few batches and a couple of changes (due to the horribly dry climate I live in mostly) and a couple of “ooops” moments, here is what I ended up with.

Makes 12 cupcakes
¼ cup butter (rt)
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 lg egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp red food colour (optional)
2 heaping tbsp cocoa powder
1 ¼ cup flour
½ cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp white vinegar
3 tbsp oil


Directions:
Heat oven to 350F

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. , Gently beat in egg, vanilla and food coloring.

2. Whisk together cocoa and four. Fold half into the butter mix, followed by buttermilk. Repeat for remaining flour and milk.

3. In a bowl mix the baking soda and vinegar, stir into cake mix.

4. Divide into 12 liners in muffin tins, bake for 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in the pan then transfer to a wire rack.

Let cool before frosting.

Reviews:
Even after playing with the recipe, the cupcakes were denser than I would have liked. However I seem to be the only one that had an issue with the cupcakes - everyone else loved them (even when I had an oops moment and used apple cider vinegar!). This is a good cupcake, but won’t be my go to recipe.

Favorite Chicken Sandwich

I love roasting chicken when it is cold out, the house smells amazing for the day and it is just a comforting meal when it looks miserable outside. The other thing I love about roasting a chicken - it usually lasts us no less than 4 complete meals and multiple lunches! The number of meals I am left with at the end usually depends on the number of people who are coming over for th initial roast chicken dinner and how big of a chicken we have.

Anyways, I had a chicken thawing for roasting when i went to the grocery store and disscovered on of my new favourite foods - peppercorn crusted bacon! How could I pass that up - it would be amazing on burgers right? Well since it is not grilling season, I did roast chicken sandwiches with leftover roast chicken. The peppercorn bacon was perfect and these are definatly my favourite sandwich!

Peppercorn Bacon Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients:
2 large soft kaiser buns (or your favourite bun)
Leftover roast chicken
6 to 8 slices peppercorn crusted bacon, cooked
Pickles, sliced
Mayo
Cheese (I used Swiss, but cheddar is equally good)

Direction:
Assemble the chicken, bacon, pickles, mayo and cheese in a bun with mayo. Enjoy!

Reviews:
Oh this so so good! I don’t usually make sandwiches for supper, or even eat leftover chicken sandwiches that much, but these babies make my mouth water! If I had another chicken in the freezer, I would be planning on cooking it soon just so I could have these again!

O liked the sandwiches as well - he said they would have been perfect with a slice of tomato (sadly we had none in the house).

Sorry for the Delay

Oh wow has it been a long time since I put a post up! Sorry about that. I have a good reason - I swear. Since the last time I posted, my husband and I have bought a house, moved, tiled a bathroom, painted and put in a kitchen island. On top of that we went to the in law's for Christmas. So busy! Hopefully the posts will become more frequent now that the house is unpacked and I am settling into the new routine. Enjoy some picks of the house for now.

The living room before painting:


After painting (sorry about the bad lighting)