Hash Brown Casserole

Good Tuesday morning!

As much as I wish my life was getting a little more "exciting" photo-wise, it is not. But it is A Simple Life, isn't it? In today's Gallery, I am proud to present my brand new garage doors. My old garage doors were in bad, bad shape. I love these. They are white. They have no holes. They go up and down on command. And you'll notice they have no windows. My kids are known for knocking out garage door windows. (Roxie holds the record. Go figure?)

And speaking of Roxie, she's been "fiddling" with her pics, so I added a black and white to the Gallery "just because."

RANDOMNESS #1 - My friend, Jonella, gave me an idea concerning the hard-to-find rhubarb. She said she had seen it in a CAN at her local Publix. I don't have a local Publix (yet), but it had never occurred to me to look in the Canned Vegetable Section of our local Wal-Mart. Never! So off I went...

And guess what? Our local Wal-Mart doesn't sell canned rhubarb. Well, they might, but they have changed almost every aisle of our store in order to make it "easier" to find things, and I couldn't locate canned rhubarb. (I didn't check the new Electronics aisle. I'll go back and make sure it isn't there today.)

The search for rhubarb continues. I was actually excited about it being in a can. I had been worried I might accidentally chop a little of the poisonous leaf off and include it in my cake/pie and someone might actually get sick from my cooking. (Like that's never happened before!)

RANDOMNESS #2 - While I AM having trouble finding rhubarb, I have noticed parsnips are everywhere now. I guess posting about them on A Simple Life twice a week has made them more popular this past year. Parsnip farmers everywhere are thanking me, I am sure.

RANDOMNESS #3 - While we're on the subject of odd things in our local grocery stores, I have found that fresh Bok Choy is everywhere. What on earth is Bok Choy? I'll be googling it later today and I'll let you know. (I can assure you, if I had a recipe which required Bok Choy, it would not be on any store shelf within a 100 mile radius from my house.)

Special Guest Hint - Our Special Guest for May will be arriving on Monday, but until then, here are a couple of hints to help with the guessing part of this major event on A Simple Life.

1. May's Special Guest is happily married and the parent of at least one son.

2. This Guest is loved by children (and parents) of all ages!

I just wanted to share a couple of very vague hints to get you started... and these are just about as vague as you can get!

Hash Brown Casserole

This recipe was taken directly from the Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday. I watched a segment featuring Paula Deen and she made this dish. It looked WONDERFUL! I have copied from Ms. Deen before, but as always, I give her ALL the credit.

You will need:

3 tablespoons butter
1 small yellow onion, chopped
4 cups frozen shredded hash browns
1 pound sausage, mild, hot or sage
2 1/4 cups whole milk
8 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
8 cups cubed French or Italian bread, crusts removed
2 cups (1/2 pound) grated cheddar cheese
2 cups (1/2 pound) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. Spray a deep 13" x 9" casserole dish with cooking spray.

3. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onion and sauté over medium-low heat until soft (about 5 minutes). Add the hash browns and break apart. Sauté until soft (about 5 minutes).

4. In a second frying pan, sauté the sausage, breaking apart large clumps. When the sausage is cooked through, remove it from pan.

5. In a large mixing bowl, combine the milk, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg and mustard, and briskly stir to blend.

6. To assemble, spread the onions and hash browns evenly at the bottom of the greased dish. Place the bread cubes evenly on top of hash browns. With a slotted spoon, distribute sausage as the third layer. Pour the milk and egg mixture over these layers. Add Parmesan cheese as the next layer, and then adding the cheddar.

7. Bake the casserole uncovered for 45 to 50 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.

Note - Save a few tablespoons of cheddar for the last 10 minutes of baking, when you can add a fresh topping of melted cheddar.

I know. This recipe has a lot of cheese and eggs and bread. And potatoes and sausage and milk. Doesn't it sound great! It looked beautiful on the show. If I don't find rhubarb soon, I'm going to be making this. I KNOW I can find hash browns and milk at my local Wal-Mart. (I've done it before!)

Have an uneventful Tuesday! That's what we're going for in the Faulkner household. As always, Wednesday will be full with Wednesday Wisdom, a Seasonal Tradition, more hints about our upcoming Special Guest, Randomness and much, much more. I'm not sure why, but Wednesday is always one of the busiest days on the blog.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda