An epic brunch.

Hello all. Sorry I have not been able to update this as often as I had hoped. I have been so busy making gift exchange projects, cleaning, chasing around a toddler, you name it! It seems like the hours just fly by & before I know it it's the evening & I am too tired to do anything but sit & enjoy one of my shows but I finally decided I needed to just sit down & get my next blog done. =)

A friend of mine who rarely cooks is going to try her hand at it these next coming weeks in hopes to curb their ready made meals habit. She asked me for my California Casserole recipe which got me thinking that I should just make up a mini recipe book of some of my favorite easy casseroles, crock pot meals & one dish items. I've included this next recipe which is one of my new favorites. It's called Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole & I found it online when I was on the hunt for a great side that would go with a french toast recipe I acquired. The one I found I am very excited about since it tastes just like the version from the Cracker Barrel which is my favorite restaurant back east.

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

2 lbs frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/2 Cup margarine or butter, melted
1 can Cream Of Chicken Soup
1/2 Cup onion, chopped
2 Cups cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Combine soup, onion, melted butter, and seasonings, stir well. Stir in cheese and frozen hash browns. Place in 9×13 dish and bake at 350 for thirty-five minutes, or until bubbly.

Here's what it looked like before being baked: 

Now we added an extra 3/4c of cheese the last time I made it since we were almost out anyway & figured why not. I also added a 1/2c of milk too to make it a little bit creamier & it was SO good. We barely had any leftovers which is just how I like it. =)

The main dish we had with this meal was Paula Dean's French Toast Casserole. I love me some Paula Dean. That woman can COOK & it's always great comfort food. Joe had made me a similar french toast but this definitely takes the cake.

Baked French Toast Casserole with Maple Syrup


1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
8 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash salt
Praline Topping, recipe follows
Maple syrup

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Makes enough for Baked French Toast Casserole.

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. 

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

 I just love the after photo. You can really see how much the french toast baked up. Now, I know upon looking at the recipe it looks really heavy. You can use fat free milk & fat free half & half & also skip the topping. I actually made it once without the pecans & just used the rest of the topping recipe & I liked it better without the nuts. I will say soaking it overnight or making it up in the AM really made no difference, taste-wise, to me. One thing I do not like about this recipe is how soggy some of the middle pieces come out. That can be solved by lightly frying each slice & putting it back into the pan before baking it in the oven. I think it tastes better that way.

Serve these two recipes with some sausage or turkey bacon & you have a wonderful Sunday brunch that will "wow" all who taste it.

Food & Fun on the 4th!

Hello all.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. Mine was busy, busy, busy! My best friend & her husband & their two kids came over to celebrate with us. I was in the kitchen pretty much all day. I definitely made WAY too much food this year but luckily majority of the main dishes were gobbled up. All I have left is a ton of dessert! 

On Sunday I decorated cookies with my best friend & her kids. We gave them 10 cookies to split up & decorate while Jess & I decorated the rest. They turned out soo cute!

These are just the cookies that Jess & I decorated. I don't have a picture of the ones the kids decorated but they were adorable too. It's fun to see kids explore their own creative side & see what they come up with. They were both a little heavy on the sprinkles & edible gel but that's what kids are good at. :)

On Monday I started prepping some of the items on our menu for the day. First up was the All-American Flag Mold. While grocery shopping one day they had these Jello flag molds that you could get for free if you bought three packets of Jello & I figured why not. Here's the recipe!

All-American Flag Mold by Kraft Foods

1 qt. (4 cups) boiling water, divived

3 cups cold water, divided

2 pkg. (3 oz. each) Jello Berry Blue Flavor Gelatin

2 pkg. (3 oz. each) Jello Gelatin, any red flavor (we used strawberry)

1 pkg (3 oz.) Jello Lemon Flavor Gelatin

1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip Whipped topping, thawed

***Quick Note: I just realized while making this for the 4th I used a large package of the lemon gelatin which is 6 oz instead of 3. It still turned out fine but I'd recommend using only 3 oz unless you like the extra lemon flavor.***

Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water to the blue gelatin mix in a medium bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Repeat in separate bowl with red gelatin. Stir 1 1/2 cups cold water into gelatin in each bowl.

Spray 10-cup flag mold with cooking spray; place on baking sheet. Pour red gelatin into mold. Refrigerate 45 min. until set but not firm. Meanwhile, refrigerate blue gelatin 45 min. After 20 min., dissolve lemon gelatin in one cup boiling water in separate bowl. Refrigerate 25 min. or until slightly thickened.

Whisk Cool Whip into lemon gelatin; spread over red gelatin layer in mold. Refrigerate 10 min. or until set but not firm. Cover with blue gelatin. Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm. Unmold. Use fresh fruit & additional Cool Whip to decorate mold to resemble a flag.

How to Unmold:

Dip mold in warm water for 15 sec. Gently pull gelatin from around the edges with moist fingers. Place moistened serving plate on top of mold. Invert mold & plate. Holding mold & plate together, shake slightly to loosen. Gently remove mold and center gelatin on plate.

I know it's not the best picture but you get the idea. 

I have a few tips for this one. First off it definitely helps to spray the mold with Pam first. It was so easy to get this this out of the mold. Second, I'd recommend taking on no more than five more minutes to each of the above times. Especially for the red jello. Ours was not as set up as it could have been when we put the middle layer on & when we took it out of the mold. Finally, if you choose to decorate the mold once it is finished smaller blueberries work best & I just shoved some Cool Whip into a piping tool & it made it a lot easier to decorate.

Next up were the Revolutionary Berries. I was given a gift subscription to Disney Family Fun magazine which is where I got this great recipe. If you have kids it's definitely a great magazine to subscribe to.

Revolutionary Berries (Recipe by Sharon Cindrich & Judith Fertig)

12 oz white chocolate chips

Blue sugar

35-45 strawberries

These are really easy to make & it's a great recipe that even kids can do. Melt 12 oz of white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on 50% power for one minute. Stir & put back in for 30 second intervals until smooth. Make sure you set your microwave to 50% power so it does not burn the chocolate. Make sure the berries are dry as any sort of moisture or water will mess with the texture of the chocolate. Dip the strawberries in white chocolate about half way up the strawberry. Then dip the strawberry in blue sugar about half way up the white chocolate. Set on a tray with wax paper to harden & you're all set. Here's how ours turned out!

Hard to see majority of the them fully decorated but you get the idea. 

Next up on the menu was Rocket Dogs which is another recipe I got out of the Disney Family Fun magazine. These were SO tasty & a lot of fun to make. While the kids didn't help out with these or any of the other recipes these are also great for little ones to help with.

Rocket Dogs (Original Recipe by Sharon Cindrich & Judith Fertig)

I switched this recipe up a bit.

16 turkey hot dogs

One can pillsbury pizza dough or plain breadstick dough 

Cheese

Skewers

Aluminum foil

Ketchup & mustard

Take the skewers & insert into a hot dog letting the skewer protrude at the top. Cut the pizza dough in strips & wrap around each hot dog. Bake in the oven according to the pizza dough directions (about 20 minutes) & remove from oven. Top with a triangle wedge of cheese, tie on a tail made from aluminum foil & squirt on stripes of ketchup & mustard.

I did not add aluminum foil tails to mine as I completely spaced but these were a total hit. The kids liked them as did the adults. I will definitely be making these again next year.

Our final recipe on our menu was the Nation's B-day Nachos. These were a pain since I made them all individually but well worth the time as they were delicious. They are pretty much just regular nachos just on red, white & blue chips.

Nation's B-day Nachos (Original Recipe by Sharon Cindrich & Judith Fertig)

Blue tortilla chips

Shredded cheese

Salsa

Sour cream

Lay out chips on a foil-covered baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 5-7 minutes. Take out of oven & top with salsa & sour cream.

And here's a great picture of everything together!

Jess also brought amazing cupcakes that were perfectly decorated for the 4th of July. All in all it was a great holiday. Great food & great company.

Hope you all had a safe & fun holiday!

Welcome to One Crafty Broad.

Hello all.

Welcome to the first post for One Crafty Broad. I don't know how often I will get around to updating this thing but I will certainly be trying to do it often. I will be posting photos & the recipe for one of my favorite dishes called California Casserole. It comes from my grandmother on my Father's side & is a great dish for any day of the week. If you decide to try it out please let me know how you like it!

California Casserole

1lb ground beef or turkey
1tsp sugar
1tsp salt
1 6oz can tomato paste
1c sour cream

1/2 c sliced black olives

1 8oz pckg egg noodles

1tbls butter or margarine

1 garlic clove, minced

3 8oz cans tomato sauce

1/2tsp black pepper

1 8oz pckg cream cheese, softened

3/4c chopped green onions

2c shredded cheese

In large skillet combine ground beef, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar, tomato sauce & tomato paste.  Bring to a boil-stirring to break up meat. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes; stirring occasionally. In bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream, onions and olives. Cook noodles in boiling , salted water according to package directions. Drain in a collander & toss with butter. Spoon about one cup of meat-tomato mixture in the bottom of a greased, shallow (13x8x2 inches) 2qt casserole dish. Spread noodles evenly on top. Cover noodles completely with meat-tomato mixture first & then the cream cheese mixture. Top all with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake in a preheated 350 oven 15-20 minutes or until bubbly.

If you take out the cream cheese a few hours before you start making this dish it softens it up enough to mix well with the sour cream or you can cube the cream cheese & microwave for 10 seconds at a time until softened. I personally use low fat or fat free ingredients & ground turkey when making this. I have made the dish both ways & have had no complaints. Enjoy!