Planting turnips and winter radishes, got butterflys!!

Relaxing!!

Upsey Daisy!!

About 6-6:30PM  last evening Brian and I went outside to do a bit of scratching around in the dirt!!  We had planned to toss out some turnip seed and a few winter radish seeds.  Who knows if they will make anything......given our weird weather of late.  We set about it and saw the most beautiful butterfly hovering by the birdbath on the butterfly bush shrub.

He is HUGE!!

The hungry mosquitoes nearly ate us up but before we ran for the front door I managed to take these pictures of the giant swallow tail butterfly visiting as well as some smaller butterflies that were hanging out!

Two of a kind.

There were also probably a dozen of these smaller butterflies playing amongst the branches and blooms .

Old Fashioned Snickerdoodles

It is seldom that I am too lazy to cook for the two of us but last week after my misadventures as a school cafeteria worker I was.  So instead of baking cookies or a cake or pie for the weekend I just made a fruit salad and bought a couple of packages of cookies.   YUCK!!!! I now know exactly what the phrase,  "tasted like cardboard,"  means.  They did.

We did have a nice dinner Sunday and I forgot to photograph the beautiful French cut loin roast we cooked outside on the grill.  Mike loved it and took some home with him.  I will do better.

Brian really likes Snickerdoodles so I made them today for him.  He deserves more than a crappy cookie out of me and he really likes these.  I have made this recipe for the better part of my life and believe they came from an old Betty Crocker cookbook no longer in print as I have looked for it unsuccessfully.

You will need to preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and assemble these ingredients.

1/2 C. soft butter
1/2 C. shortening
1 1/2 C. sugar
2 eggs

2 3/4 C. flour
2 t. cream of tarter
1 t. soda
1/4 t. salt

Cookie rolling mixture:
3 T. sugar
3 t. cinnamon

Mix thoroughly butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs.  Blend in the flour, cream of tarter, soda, and salt.  Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls.  Mix the remaining amount of sugar and cinnamon and roll the balls until liberally coated.  Place 2" apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake 10 minutes and remove from oven to cool.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

My reward!!

Sunday Brunch, "Paula's Hashbrown Casserole"

I am not generally a viewer or follower of Oprah, although I think she is sincere, generous, and a good person in general.  I do have a couple of Paula Deen's cookbooks and generally like her but don't watch her on TV very often.  I think she has gotten way over exposed of late.  All this being said my interest peeked one day last week when I was channel surfing and saw Paula cooking on Oprah.

TO BE PERFECTLY HONEST...........

I was looking for an excuse, any excuse to just sit after I had worked my second of two days in the local school systems lunch room!  To be clear.  My sister Linda had interviewed for a position in her local schools lunch room program and gotten the idea they thought it was real hard physical labor and she was probably too old to do it.  WELL they didn't tell me!!!  OR  I was too dumb to figure it out initially!! Plus my sister is 5, yes 5 years YOUNGER than I am!!!!!

I AM HERE TO TELL YOU I AM TOO OLD TO WANT TO DO IT.  WAY TOO OLD TO WANT TO DO IT. (NOTICE I DIDN'T SAY I CAN'T DO IT.  WOULD NOT CONSIDER THAT ADMISSION.)

Anyway......I watched Paula Deen make this casserole on Oprah and tried it so here is my version.  We liked it but when I make it again will use more salt and pepper on the potato layer and add a bit of hot sauce to the custard mixture.   Probably a good tablespoon or so to take it up a notch.  Might also add mushrooms....ummmm that does sound good.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a deep 9" x 13" deep, or larger if it isn't deep casserole with cooking spray. 





Assemble these ingredients:

3 T. butter
1 onion chopped
4 C. frozen hash brown potatoes
1 pound bulk pork sausage of your likeing
2 1/4 C. whole milk
8 large eggs
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
2 T. Dijon mustard
8 C. cubed french bread, crusts removed
2 C. grated cheddar cheese
2 C. grated Parmesan cheese
Diced Green onions for garnish

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and saute the onions over medium heat for about 5 minutes until softened.  Add the hash browns, breaking them apart, and saute another 5 minutes seasoning them with 1/2 t. of the salt and 1/4 t. of the pepper.

Place the potato mixture evenly across the bottom of the prepared casserole dish.  Break apart the sausage into the empty potato skillet and brown the sausage over medium heat.  While this is browning spread the bread cubes over the potato layer.  When the sausage is done use a slotted spoon and layer it over the bread cubes.  

Using a batter bowl or other larger bowl, combine the milk, eggs, remaining salt and pepper, nutmeg, and mustard stirring briskly to blend well.  Pour the egg mixture over the casserole evenly.  Add the Parmesan as the next layer and lastly add 2/3 of the cheddar reserving the last third to add the last 10 minutes of baking.

Bake the casserole 45-50 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.  Garnish with fresh green onions.

I want to add that I had been trying to come up with something different for Brian's breakfast before he goes to work.  There are several casseroles like this I have made in the past and they are great microwaved a few seconds and reheat very well.

I wrapped single portions in parchment paper and slid them into zip lock bags to store in the refrigerator for next week.