Posted on 04/16/2011 8:07:04 AM PDT by libertarian27
Welcome to the 19th installment of the FR Weekly Cooking Thread.
Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or two - or all of them:)! for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' recipe stack of Family favorites?
Here's the place to share and explore your next favorite recipe.
I probably could come up with lots of different spice combinations, but I probably won’t on this recipe since all 5 people in my family loved it just the way I fixed it. Any time I try a recipe and they all agree they love it, I usually don’t make changes to it for my family cooking, since it is rare that all 5 family members like the same dish.
I think next time I will make two batches of the Pilaf, One with the curry and one using Mrs Dash seasoning. Then the two of us in the family that love curry can try it that way too. Now that I know everyone in the family loved the pilaf, I will probably be making it at least once a month and perhaps a couple of times in a month.
Come to think of it, I think I may make the cauliflower gratin once a month when I make the pilaf, since my family liked the combination so well. Any time I can get everyone in the family to all eat the same vegetable it is a real plus for me!
We like to have breakfast for dinner about once a week. I made this family favorite last night as our main dish. I have used the basic recipe for years and have come up with lots of variations to serve for brunches and luncheons. I tried to include most of the variations as options when I typed up the recipe. I have yet to make a combination that I didn’t like using this recipe.
Breakfast Casserole
½ to ¾ lb. raw or cooked sausage, hamburger, sliced kielbasa, cubed ham, or even shredded chicken or turkey (great for using up leftovers)
½ cup chopped onions
½ cup chopped peppers, broccoli, spinach, or any other vegetable that would compliment your meat choice (optional)
8 oz. cream cheese, cut into small cubes (optional)
9 large eggs, beaten
½ cup milk or cream and ½ cup sour cream or ¾ cup milk or cream if you leave out the sour cream)
Salt and pepper
Other seasonings that would work well with your meat and vegetable choices (optional)
24 oz. of hash browns, O’Brien style potatoes, or other small diced potatoes or any combination of potatoes(I have even used up leftover augratin or scalloped potatoes here)
8 - 16 oz. of your favorite cheese or combination of cheeses, shredded
Bread Crumbs drizzeled with a little butter (optional)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Break up your sausage or ground beef if you are using raw and sprinkle it on the bottom of a large casserole dish. (I use a large oval 2 ½ qt casserole dish). If you are using a meat that is already cooked, just spread it out in an even layer on the bottom of the dish.
Sprinkle the chopped onions on top of the meat, and then any vegetables you choose to add to the casserole.
If I am using the cream cheese option I sprinkle the cubes on top of the vegetable. If I am not using cream cheese, I sprinkle one layer of the shredded cheese here.
Mix the eggs and milk (and sour cream of you are using it) together with your spices and pour it over everything in the casserole dish.
Add the hash browns or other potatoes to the casserole and top with the remaining shredded cheese. If you decide to put breadcrumbs on top, then do so now.
Bake covered in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 15 minutes or until the top is nicely browned.
Serves 6-10 people depending on the portion sizes.
That recipe sounds delicious and, just yesterday, I was trying to think of something new to prepare for our church breakfast that will follow sunrise services Easter Sunday. Thanks for posting!
I can understand that. I have a hard enough time finding something the three of us like. :)
Which of the Mrs. Dash seasoning do you like the best? I always double the batch of 3 grain. I was trying to think if I’ve ever tried it with beef broth instead of the chicken and I just can’t recall.
Glad I posted it then. I actually first made this many years ago to take to our pot luck style family Easter Brunch and I have been making it ever since in some form or another.
It always goes over well at potluck style events. I sometimes make several different variations of it to a brunch for a large crowd by using different meats, vegetables, cheeses, and different kinds of potatoes, and even spices in them.
I used the Original blend in your recipe for the Three Grain Pilaf for my family a few days ago.
I actually use several of the Mrs. Dash blends. My mother and mother in law were supposed to watch their salt intake, so I started making a lot more things using Mrs. Dash and reducing or eliminating the salt in the dish.
The two I use most often and always have in my spice cabinet are the Original flavor and the Spicy blend, but I also have used other Mrs. Dash blends. I haven’t found one yet that I didn’t like. I try to pick it up when it is on sale (which isn’t very often) and stock up a bit when it is on sale.
I also have mixed up my own spice blends similar to Mrs. Dash, so I could save a few pennies. When I find a spice blend I like I sometimes try to mimic it myself. It is sometimes a great way to use up spices that have been sitting in your cupboard a while that you want to use up more quickly.
I believe it would be just as good made with the beef broth, but you might want to add a little more spice (but not the salt) to it since beef broth generally has a little stronger flavor. I frequently increase the spices just a little when I switch out beef broth for chicken broth.
For example if I would normally use a teaspoon of a spice blend, I would probably increase it by 1/4 teaspoon if I use beef broth, so the flavors of my spices aren’t overpowered by the stronger flavor of the beef broth.
I have several of the Mrs Dash’s too and always have the Original and Spicy as well. Think I also have the Garlic and Herb and a Lemon one.
How much do you usually have to pay for it?
Good points on upping the seasoning when using beef broth.
I usually get my Original blend Mrs Dash at a restaurant supplier.
I just checked Amazon
I think the above is more than I pay from the restaurant supplier, but it may be cheaper than what you are paying.
I don’t know why, but when buying the larger container there seems to be a bit more black pepper taste so of a recipe calls for black pepper and I use the Mrs Dash, then sometimes I don’t add the additional black pepper.
I finished off a Lemon Pepper blend and the Herb and Garlic blend several months ago. I was going to buy more, but the best price I could find at the time was really expensive, but I don’t remember what it was at this point in time. I am sure it was at least over $3.00 for a small 2-3 oz. container of it and it could have been more.
I have just been using the other ones since or using a combination of some of the other dried herbs I have since and kind of experimenting.
Instead of Lemon pepper, I have been using grated lemon rind and/or lemon juice and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Instead of the Herb and garlic blend I have just been using garlic and herbs I thought would go well in the dish. So far the dishes I have cooked have turned out just as good.
I do buy a lot of spices at Asian, Indian, and other ethnic grocery stores or a store that sells spices and blends in bulk. I am fortunate that I have a Korean grocery store, an Indian grocery store, and several Mexican grocery stores all within a mile or two of where I live, so I sometimes stop in to brouse and see what they offer.
I find that Saffron is far cheaper at Indian grocery stores and I usually buy it in a 1 oz. box there (which is a huge amount of saffron. I would guess it was at least a cup of saffron threads.) I don’t remember what I paid for it the last time, but I do remember that I paid less for the 1 oz. box than a tiny vial of it was priced at my regular grocery store. They are also cheaper for curry powder, corriander seed, lemon grass, cumin seed, tumeric, and several other spices. Just about anything found in most curry powders is far cheaper at an Indian grocery store. They are sometimes cheaper on whole or crushed chili pepper, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves, but I try to check the dollar store or my grocery outlet stores too because sometimes those spices I can find cheaper there.
Asian Markets are cheaper for spices used in Asian cooking. I recently bought a 4 oz. package of Star Anise for $1.59 at an Asian grocery store that is close by where I live. They had larger packages that would bring the price per ounce down even more if you use a lot of it. I also buy a lot of Korean BBQ sauce there to use in my stir fry’s. The last time I bought it was in August of last year. I got a 32 oz. jar for $3.99, which is far cheaper than the price of a similar product in the regular grocery store and it makes wonderful stir frys. I doubt I could make from scratch for that price. They do make different ones for different types of meat and we have tried them all. We have decided we like the one for pork the best, but we use it on beef, pork, and chicken now.
I am sure that is cheaper than what I found for it when I looked around a few months ago. I will have to find out if they carry it at the restaurant supply store in my area, because I know I wouldn’t pay the price I saw for it a few months ago. Over $1 per ounce is enough for me to start experimenting and making my own blends.
I wish now that I hadn’t thrown out the old containers as I probably could have come close to theirs just by looking at their list of ingredients and rummaging around in my spice cabinet to make my own similar blend.
Another place to look for spices is your local health food stores. I have one store I go to for certain spies and other stores for others. lol I usually look around for the best price, especially on seasonings that I use a lot of.
I have a few that I make my own of to eliminate the salt and or sugars, like taco, cajun, burrito and rubs.
Maybe you can post some of your blends on this thread if you kept the recipes. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to do that when I mixed some up a few months ago, but I will do that the next time around.
I will send you a list of what I have been paying for various spices. I don’t know how to format it to be easily read here on the thread.
Amish stores are surprizingly more common than you may first think, many are in areas that contain no Amish community. And some have webpages where you can shop from home, of course shipping and handling come into play here. Some Amish stores are actually Menenite or neither, as in the case of the first one that I visited, they are just connected to Amish/Menenite producers.
Just my take on buying herbs and spices.
Thanks for that idea. I am not aware of any Amish/Menenite stores around here, but our Saturday Market should be starting up soon and we often get Menenite farmers there, so I will ask them about a store. They do frequently have both fresh and dried herbs there, but they are usually limited to things like basil, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, parsley and others that grow well here in Oregon. I haven’t noticed that their prices were much different than that of the other farmers at the market, but I wasn’t really paying that close attention either. Herbs that can be grown locally are usually pretty cheap to buy here in the summer months.
These are two places that I have bought stuff from. I couldn’t remember the names when I posted earlier, fortunatly I had them in favorites, I just had to find them. I have not viewed either site in a while, so I dont know just what is there presently.
My wife has bought a lot of spices from weavers when we were in the area. And everytime that I ever went to Yoders, I spent mega $$$ on spices, pickeled veggies of all sorts (like pickeled brussle sprouts) cheeses, various mixes. Just all kinds of goodies. Yoders is not Amish or Menenite. He bought the store from Yoder, an Amish gentleman, and continues selling Amish goods. Current owner is a conservative Christian homeschooler of 8 kids, retired military, Marines I think, Just fine people.
http://www.yodersmart.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index
http://www.weaverscountrymarket.com/1.html
Thanks for posting the links. I glanced just briefly at both of them and they are far cheaper than the prices in my regular grocery stores. They were higher than what I actually paid for them here in Oregon at the Asian, Indian, Mexican, and Bulk grocery stores in my area. The Dollar Store here also sometimes has some pretty good deals on spices. Almost all of the spices, herbs, and seasonings I have purchased recently were under $1.00 per ounce, but I haven’t had to buy any more expensive ones lately.
I will need to get some saffron threads again in the next few months as we make a special arroz con pollo about once a month and that recipe absolutely has to have saffron in it or it doesn’t taste right. For that I will have to stop in at the Indian grocery store in my area, since they are the only place I have been able to find that really cheap when compared to other stores.
The saffron I buy there is actually grown in Spain. I don’t remember exactly what I paid for it the last time but I was able to buy a 1 oz.(28.35 gram)box filled with what must have easily been more than a cup worth of saffron threads. I know it was less than $20 for it since I didn’t realize that they didn’t take debit cards and I only had a $20 bill with me that day. Still I was able to buy the saffron, a couple of jars of mango pickle, and some other spices for less than $20, so it must have been a little less than $15 for the saffron I think.
That was probably a couple of years ago, as I had to make a lot of arroz con pollo to use up that much saffron, even after I gave half of it to my sister for her use. I was just thinking that I had better go get some soon, before inflation causes their prices to go up so much that I can’t afford to buy it even there. Next time I am out near there I will swing by and pick some up if the price is still reasonable and affordable.
The saffron at Yoders was $9.95 for .05 grams and I couldn’t readily find it listed on Weavers’ website.
Being from the south originally, We cook mostly southern favorites, we don't have any recipes for asian or indian, or european, but we do some simple mexican stuff since moving to Texas last year. My family and my wife's have been in America so long(since colonial days) that neither of us have any any ethnic recipes brought from the "old country" Some of the dishes posted here we have never heard or and some have ingrediants that we have never heard of. Like the 3 grain rice pilaf, we looked all through the grocery to find pearl barley and bulger wheat to try that recipe. After about 20 minutes of searching every possible isle, we gave it up. We had to search online just to find out what they were.
We are are always looking to try new things, but sometimes get tripped up on what to try or where to get things. Life is an adventure.
Barley should be near the split peas or lentils or bags of beans/legumes. Bulghur, I get mine at the health food store, its cheaper than the grocery store but that should be in the baking aisle. Look for Bob’s Red Mill. Little bags, usually by the fancy flours like spelt, potato starch, potato flour, gluten etc.
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