Athena's Heaping Recipes

Meaty Breakfast Eggs

I made this for breakfast this morning with some left overs out of my fridge. I'm going to list some suggestions to dress it up for the holidays after I give the basic recipe.

8 eggs
2 slices of cooked thick sliced bacon
1 Cheddar braut thinly sliced
1/4 c. milk
1/2c. cheddar cheese
1 t. bacon fat*

*You can use oil of your choice if you don't like using fat. However, no excuses here, I love the stuff.

DIRECTIONS: Allow bacon fat* to melt on warmed frying pan. Add bacon and braut, and let crisp up a bit, then add wisked eggs, milk, and cheddar. Scramble over medium heat.

ADVICE: The braut in this brings a little bit of a change from the traditional breakfast sausage.  Now, if you want to impress the relatives make this into a breakfast casserole. You could also try a little Cajun seasoning instead of salt.

 NEEDS:
4 more eggs
1/4 c. more cheddar cheese
2 to 3 more slices of bacon
1 more cheddar braut
2 rolls of crescent rolls


 DIRECTIONS: Crisp meat as above. Place crescent rolls on bottom and egg mixture on top. Cook at 350 for about 25 minutes or until eggs cooked throughout. If you like the lighter yellow look of your eggs cover for the first 15-20 minutes and then uncover for the remaining time.

Thanksgiving Ideas

Classic Green Bean Casserole

3 pkg. (9 oz. each) frozen French cut green beans, thawed, drained
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup CHEEZ WHIZ Cheese Dip

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1 can (2.8 oz.) French fried onions, divided


DIRECTIONS: Mix all ingredients except 1/2 can onions in 1-1/2-quart casserole and then bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Top with remaining 1/2 can onions. Bake 5 minutes.

TO Make Ahead: Prepare as directed except for baking; cover. Refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 45 to 50 minutes or until thoroughly heated, topping with remaining onions during last 5 minutes of cooking time.




Athena's Heaping Advice
The classic recipe was made with Cheez Whiz.  My family loves the older recipe. It is just a dump and heat kind of recipe. If you prefer canned green beans you will need to get three cans of low sodium green beans. If you don't,  it will taste too salty. Make sure you drain before adding. Hope you enjoy this old kickback to days when mystery food was still okay.

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 c melted butter
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup milk

Topping
 1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
*optional-1 cup chopped pecans
               1 1/2 mini-marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350. Combine potatoes, sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and milk. Mix well. Spread into buttered 9x13 baking dish.
Topping- combine 1/3 cup melted butter with remaining ingredients.  Sprinkle over potatoes and bake for 25 minutes.
* If using the pecans sprinkle after topping from above.
   If using the marshmallows, sprinkle over the top during the last 5 minutes of baking.



Amy's Tidbits

Sweet potatoes is one of my favorite side dishes during the holidays. If you would like to try sweet potato pie use the pumpkin pie recipe from the previous blog and substitute mashed sweet potatoes for the pumpkin. I would love to see any other recipes with sweet potatoes.  Please share some of your favorite recipes or suggestions to any of the listed recipes.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Appetizers (The Prefood Food)

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Vegetable Pizza
2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated crescent rolls
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (1 ounce) package dry Ranch-style dressing mix
1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese  


DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Roll out the crescent roll dough onto a 9x13 inch baking sheet, and pinch together edges to form the pizza crust.  Bake crust for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Once finished cooking, remove crust from oven and let cool 15 minutes without removing it from the baking sheet.  In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and dry Ranch dressing. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust. Sprinkle broccoli, green bell pepper, cauliflower, shredded carrots, and Cheddar cheese over the cream cheese layer. Chill for one hour, slice and serve. 

 Whipped Cream
 1 cup heavy cream
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS: In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like. It works well when the bowl and whisk are chilled a bit before using.

Athena's Heaping Advice
What's a peak? A peak is when you have beat your cream until it becomes firm enough to form little curls or a "peak".

Next week is Thanksgiving week. Do yourself a favor a make a menu that plans for leftovers. This allows for more time to ready yourself for next week.  So.....now go clean that closet your relatives need to shove their coats in.

Spinach Dip

1  small pkg. chopped spinach
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayo or Miracle Whip
1 pkg veg or leek soup mix
3-4 chopped green onions
1 can chopped water chest nuts

DIRECTIONS: Mix all ingredients. Hollow out 1 loaf round french bread and put dip in the bread or serve dip in  bowl.  Can be warmed or serve as is.


Amy's Tidbits

Thanksgiving is coming and a lot of the focus, whether we want to admit it or not, is on the food. I want to encourage you to make Thanksgiving a family activity and get the kids involved in the kitchen. I encourage our kids to help with simple things now but my hope is that as they grow they will help with more difficult recipes. I have them help with is simple appetizers like stuffed celery and making trays of cheese and crackers.  This allows them to learn the family recipes and establish memorable traditions. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and hope you are too!

Please let us know ways that you get your kids involved during the holidays.

Pumpkins and Pecans, It Must Be Fall

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Pumpkin French Toast
5 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 t. cinnamon
1t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
8-10 slices of bread

DIRECTIONS: Mix all ingredients (except bread) until eggs and pumpkin blended well.  Dip bread and in mixture until soaked through. Place into buttered pan and cook on each side. Don't forget the whipped topping and honey!





Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
1 box Betty Crocker yellow cake mix
2 eggs
2/3 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. butter
1 t. cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and then pour into buttered muffin tin. Cook 15-18 minutes or until knife comes out clean from middle. Happy eating!  





Athena's Heaping Advice
Pumpkin pies are tasty, and it wouldn't be a holiday meal without one. Don't be afraid to expand your horizons and see what else you can do with this seasonal delight.  I tried this new recipe this week and it was a big hit with my gang. The fun part of cooking is creating. So, create something new for your family today.



Pumpkin Pie
2 unbaked 9 in pie crust shell
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. salt
1t. vanilla
3 eggs
1 16oz. can pumpkin
1 12oz. can milnot or evaporated milk

Combine  sugar, spices and salt in bowl and set aside. Blend eggs ,pumpkin, vanilla, and milnot. Gradually add spices to  pumpkin mixture.  Pour into pie shells. Bake in a preheated 425 for 15 minutes. Reduce teperature to 325 and bake 25-35 minutes or until knife  inserted near the middle comes out clean.



Pecan Pie
1 unbaked  9 in. pie crust
3 eggs
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1t. vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 t. salt

Beat together eggs, corn,syrup, butter, salt, and vanilla.  Pour in pecans and lightly stir.  Pour into pie shell. Put into 350 degree preheated oven.  Bake for 1 hour or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.


Amy's Tidbits

When I make pies, especially pecan, I always wrap the crust in foil so that the edges don't burn. When I work so hard on a pie there is nothing worse than a pie with black crust. There are pie crust shields that many stores sell that can be  placed over the crust as well.  I shield the crust and then the last 5-10 minutes remove it so the crust is golden colored.

Also, I know many people like to shake up their pecan pie recipes to make it more non-traditional. If you are one of those people you might think of adding 1/2 cup chocolate chips for a chocolate pecan pie or 1/2 cup coconut for coconut pecan pie.  Add either when adding the pecans for a little change to the holiday traditional. 
As always if you try any of the recipes or have a different spin to the recipes we would love to know!