Brunch for a Crowd

This is a great 'do the night before' breakfast recipe - perfect for Christmas morning. Clean up the mess the day before, pop it in the oven as kids are opening their stockings and by the time you're ready for your first mimosa...breakfast is ready! Mexican food is my all time favorite and this is a great way to add a little feliz navidad to your morning.
Merry Christmas,
Cam

Brunch for a Crowd
Ingredients:

• 8 slices of bread, trimmed and cubed
• 1 1/2 # ground sausage, cooked and drained (you can use breakfast, Italian or chorizo)
• 2 C milk
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t dry mustard
• 6 eggs
• 1 - 1 1/2 # shredded, sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 can diced green chilies
• 1 can sliced olives (optional)
• Optional toppings: Sour cream, cilantro, tomatoes, avocados, salsa, etc.

Directions:

• Grease casserole dish
• Place cubed bread in dish (cover the bottom of the dish)
• Add cooked, drained sausage (2nd layer)
• Add half the shredded cheese
• In bowl, beat the eggs with milk, salt mustard and green chilies.
• Pour egg mixture over the sausage, bread and cheese layers.
• Top with remaining cheese. Use as much or little as you like.
• Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours
• Remove foil and bake another 15-30 minutes or until eggs are fully cooked.
• Cool for 10 min and serve~
• Great to top with your favorite salsa, sour cream, cilantro, chopped tomatoes and guacamole.

Luscious, Creamy, Cheesecake

Guess this week is 'all things mom'. While the coffee cake says Christmas morning, cheesecake says everything else! I have a good-sized crew that will echo... my mom's cheesecake seriously ROCKS. If you're into the thick, lighter New York-style cheesecake...this IS NOT your recipe. BUT, if you're into luscious, creamy, rich and OH MY GOSH decadent cheesecake...look no more.

This is the number one requested item at all family functions - especially Auntie Linda's Thanksgiving feast! However, I will note, DO NOT attempt to replace any of the below ingredients with 'light' or 'low fat' products...as my step-sister Krisi learned painfully(sorry, Krisi, had to share to save others). Hey, moderation can totally start in a few weeks.

From my table and my mom's to yours...

Cheesecake

Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients:

• 6 T butter
• 24 graham crackers
• 1/4 C sugar

Layer 1 - Cheesecake Ingredients:

• 2 -8 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 3/4 C Sugar
• 2 t. Vanilla
• 1 t. Lemon juice

Layer 2 - Topping Ingredients:

• 1 C Sour cream
• 1 t Vanilla
• 3 1/2 t Sugar

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Graham Cracker Crust:

• In small saucepan, melt butter.
• Place graham crackers in a zip lock bag and press with a rolling pin until finely crushed - you need about 1 1/2 cups of crushed crackers. (I think they sell crushed graham crackers in a box now too) This is best done in small batches.
• In a medium-sized bowl, add the graham crackers and sugar - mix.
• Add the melted butter.
• Mix with your hands until moist (sorry, Sarah, had to use that word).
• Press into 9-inch pie pan

Layer 1 of the cake:

• Combine layer 1 ingredients, beat until fluffy.
• Pour batter into graham cracker crust.
• Bake 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes.

Topping:

• Combine topping ingredients, pour into pie, back another 10 minutes.

Cool and refrigerate overnight.

Enjoy!

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

My mom makes a few items that not only represent taste, but Christmas morning tradition to our family. In fact, she's been known to set-up quite the assembly line baking up to a dozen of her mom's legendary Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Coffee Cakes. She now invites the grandkids to help and ships the goods to Colorado, Palm Springs and sometimes even Nevada! My mom lost both her parents in a tragic plane crash when she was in her early 3o's. .. so cooking and baking some of Grandma Sylvia's favorite dishes is not only a treat, but also our way of keeping her memory alive.

Of course each of the kids and grandkids like little twists - some with raisins, some without, some with nuts, some without. But what is unanimous...all of us LOVE and look forward to Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake....in fact, I know this is now an added tradition for many of my friend's families...like the Greenhaw's, Redfern's and Elliott's.

From my kitchen, my mom's kitchen and my grandma Sylvia's kitchen,
Enjoy

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

• 1C Butter
• 1 1/2 C Sugar
• 2 Eggs, beaten well
• 1 t Vanilla
• 1 C Sour Cream
• 2 C. Cake Flour (Swanson's boxed cake flour - NOT normal flour)
• 1 t. Baking Powder
• 1/2 t Baking Soda
• 1/2 t Salt

Topping:

• 4 T Sugar
• 1/2 C Nuts, finely chopped (Almonds, pecans, or nothing)
• 1 t Cinnamon
• 1/2-3/4 C Mini chocolate chips
• 1/2 C Golden Raisins (only in the center layer, NOT on top and can be totally optional. Bryson always prefers NONE)

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl, beat eggs well.
• Add butter, sugar, vanilla and sour cream - beat very well.
• In a second bowl, add sifted cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• In a third, smaller bowl, combine the topping ingredients: sugar, nuts, cinnamon and mini chocolate chips.
• Grease a tube pan (NOT A BUNDT PAN)
• Pour half of the batter into the tube pan.
• Sprinkle half of the topping and all of the raisins (if you're using them)
• Pour the remaining batter and then top with the remaining topping mixture.
• Bake for 50 minutes.
• Completely cool before removing from pan.

Rum Cake: For Grown-Ups

Pumpkin pie, apple pie, cheesecake...all lovely and very traditional. If you're looking to change it up, but don't want to stray too far from tradition, add this to your dessert buffet. I am not a huge baker, so I love bundt cakes - no need for perfection! This cake isn't too sweet and has the perfect kick after you mack down all that turkey.
From my table to yours...

Rum Cake
Ingredients:

• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 1 package (3 3/4 oz) vanilla instant pudding
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 c cold water
• 1/2 C dark rum
• 1/2 C salad oil
• Rum Glaze (recipe follows)
• Chocolate Glaze (recipe follows)
• 2 T chopped nuts

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325. Spray a 10 inch tube pan with Pam and flour.
• Mix cake mix, pudding, eggs, water, rum and oil until smooth.
• Pour into prepared pan and bake for an hour. Cool 25 minutes.
• Invert on cake platter (or dish that has ample space for dripping the glaze around bottom of cake).
• Using a toothpick, make small stabs on the top of the cake (so the glaze will absorb slightly).
• Spoon and brush Rum Glaze evenly over the cake.
• When cake is fully cooled, drizzle with Chocolate Glaze topping and sprinkle with nuts.

Rum Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 1/4 C water
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 1/2 C dark Rum

Directions:

• Melt butter in saucepan.
• Stir in water and sugar - boil for 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in rum.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
• 1 t butter

Directions:

• Melt chocolate and butter on very low heat in saucepan until melted.

Dutch Babies

Saturday mornings...different for every person or family. Is your perfect Saturday the newspaper, coffee and a run? The smell of bacon frying in a hot pan? The joy of not having to set the alarm? Sticky fingers of little ones as they dig into the next bite of heaven? Whatever your pleasure, these Dutch Babies are a lovely Saturday addition.
From my table to yours...

Dutch Babies
Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 C flour
• 2T melted butter
• 1/2 t salt

Garnish:

• Lemon wedges
• Confectioners' sugar
• Maple syrup
• Fresh, sliced strawberries

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 F
• In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until blended
• Add flour to eggs (slowly), beat until smooth
• Add milk (slowly), beat until smooth
• Lightly beat in 2 T melted butter and salt.
• Thickly butter two 9-inch pie pans (yes, cooking spray works too).
• Pour half the batter into each
• Bake 10 minutes. reduce heat to 350 F and bake for 5 min longer
• Serve immediately with melted butter, lemon wedges, confectioners' sugar, strawberries and syrup for toppings! Lovely Saturday morning in the making...

Tuna with Horseradish, Lemon and Mustard

This was published in the Washington Post a few weeks ago. I finally got around to whipping this bad boy up ...and it was pretty dang fab. Sweet, sour and spicy - the perfect combination in my book!
From my table to yours...

Tuna with Horseradish, Lemon and Mustard
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 T prepared horseradish
• 7 ounces plain low-fat Greek-style yogurt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 lemon
• 1 t hot English mustard
• 1 t red wine vinegar
• Leaves from 3 sprigs of flat leave parsley (save some for garnish too)
• 1 1/2 # piece of tuna
• Kosher salt

Directions

• Move the oven rack to 5 inches from the broiler; preheat broiler.
• Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
• Combine the horseradish and yogurt. Add pepper to taste.
• Using a grater, zest the lemon (2t) then squeeze the juice (3-4T) into a small bowl. Stir in the mustard and vinegar.
• Add to the lemon-mustard mixture to the horseradish mixture to form a sauce.
• Coarsely chop the parsley to yield 1 1/2 T, then add to the horseradish mixture.
• Taste; the sauce should be hot, sour and salty. Some of the horseradish heat will mellow as the fish cooks.
• Cut the tuna into 4 steaks of equal size. Season lightly with S&P and arrange on baking sheet.
• Use all of the sauce to cover the top of each piece of fish.
• Broil for 5 or 6 min (if you like your tuna on the rare side)
• The sauce should be slightly caramelized on the top.

Serve smoking hot!

Rioja Steamed Mussels with Chorizo

A few months ago an old friend, turned sommelier and mixologist, sent me a bottle of Rioja. He told me to serve it a tad chilled on a warm day. You don't have to tell me that more than once - Done!

I don't consider myself a vino connoisseur (seem to be a bit of a creature of habit) but the flavor of summer fruits with a touch of toasted spiciness just begged to be accompanied by an evening of tapas. With tapas and Rioja, you've set the stage for a casual, light-hearted, full-flavored evening. Here is a simple, tasty tapa to add to your spread.

From my table to yours...

Rioja Steamed Mussels with Chorizo

Ingredients:

• 1 # Chorizo, casings removed, crumbled
• 1 large Spanish onion
• 2 # black mussels, cleaned
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper
• 1 bottle Rioja or dry red wine (Don't worry, I didn't use the bottle he sent me)
• 1/2 C flat leaf parsley, chopped

Directions:

• Put the chorizo in a large, heavy pot with lid. Cook over medium/high heat until meat is browned and the fat starts to escape.
• Remove chorizo with a slotted spoon and reserve.
• Add chopped onion, pinch of salt and pepper and cook for 5-8 min, or until softened.
• Add mussels
• Pour entire bottle of rioja into the pot, bring to a boil and cover. Cook for 5 min or until mussels open.
• Remove the lid and ditch any mussels that didn't open. Stir the mussels so they are coated in the wine, sausage and onions.
• Transfer to a serving platter, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve immediately.