French Toast Casserole

Looking for a quick, easy, and good breakfast casserole? I have just the recipe...it's a new twist on an old favorite breakfast dish! It’s for French Toast Casserole. A friend shared this recipe with me several years ago…


French Toast Casserole

12 slices of Kings Hawaiian Bread
8 ounces cream cheese
9 eggs
½ cup syrup
2 cups milk
Cinnamon
Sugar

Layer in a greased 9x13 casserole dish six slices of bread, cream cheese melted and spread on bread, and six more slices of bread. Mix together eggs, syrup, and milk. Pour over top of bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes or until egg mixture appears cooked in center. Drizzle more syrup over top and then serve.


This can even be assembled the night before and refrigerated until you’re ready to bake it the next morning. Add berries or other fruit, powdered sugar, nuts, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and more as a topping to this tasty breakfast treat!


**Weekly Tip: Avocados…I’ve got two tips for you:
#1: Place unripe avocadoes in a brown paper sack to speed the ripening process.
#2: When making guacamole or anything else with fresh avocadoes, always keep an avocado seed in the mixture to keep it from turning brown.

Captain George LaBonte’s Baked Snapper

Whew! We just returned today from a trip to Jupiter, Florida to visit our friends George and Tracey LaBonte. The high winds prevented us from fishing off-shore; however, we were able to snook fish a little in the inlet. And the guys wade-fished for trout a couple of mornings with some luck.

Even though the fishing was less than desirable, the cuisine in Florida, specifically at the LaBonte house, was delicious! George is the master cook of saltwater fish. He has the ability to pair most any type of saltwater fish with just the right ingredients to create exquisite flavors!

The evening we arrived in Florida, George and Tracey prepared the dish you see pictured above. Baked snapper served with rice, asparagus and bread. I asked for the recipe and below is what George sent:


Captain George LaBonte’s Baked Snapper

Coat snapper filets in olive oil. Add minced Garlic to taste, Salt, Pepper, Dill, and Capers, and a good squirt of Lemon Juice. Let stand for about an hour in fridge. Arrange in baking dish and cover top with Panko crumbs or Italian seasoned bread crumbs and grated cheese. Spray top of crumbs with cooking spray (olive oil). Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes and finish off under broiler to brown and crisp up the crumbs. Squirt some more lemon juice on fish before serving.


If you don’t have access to snapper, this recipe would probably work for any white fish…freshwater or saltwater. I hope you all enjoy. Thanks so much George and Tracey for your hospitality!


**Weekly Tip: When freezing fish, chicken, deer, or any other solid (non-ground) meat, I usually place meat in a ziplock freezer bag, fill with water (ensuring that all portions of the meat are submersed), and then freeze. Your meat will keep longer and will likely not freezer burn.

Baked Cheese Grits

By popular demand, I am sharing the recipe for Baked Cheese Grits. My brother-in-law is actually the one that turned me on to this recipe. They can be served any time of day…breakfast, lunch or dinner. Baked Cheese Grits make an excellent side dish for most any meal. Besides, they're a staple here in the South!


Baked Cheese Grits

1 qt. (4 cups) water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup quick-cooking grits
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, divided
1/4 lb. (4 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut up
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)
2 eggs

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Bring water and salt to boil in medium saucepan on medium-high heat. Gradually add grits, stirring constantly until well blended. Reduce heat to low. Cook 5 min., stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

ADD 1/2 cup of the Cheddar cheese, the VELVEETA, butter, garlic powder and red pepper; stir until cheese and VELVEETA are completely melted. Set aside. Beat eggs lightly in small bowl. Add small amount of hot grits mixture to eggs; mix well. Gradually add egg mixture to remaining hot grits mixture, stirring constantly until well blended. Pour into greased 8-inch square baking dish.

BAKE 30 min; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake an additional 10 min. Let stand 10 min. before serving.


**Weekly Tip: …And speaking of Southern, the secret ingredients to most any flavorful dish are butter and/or sugar. Two items to ALWAYS have on hand in your kitchen!

Chicken Pot Pie

I am always on the look-out for quick, easy, and good recipes. One that I always seem to come back to is Chicken Pot Pie. I am including recipes for two versions of this dish. The first, I found on the side of a Bisquick box some years ago. The second recipe is from Paula Deen’s “The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook.”


Bisquick’s Easy Chicken Pot Pie

1 2/3 cups frozen, mixed vegetables, thawed
1 cup cut-up, cooked chicken
1 10 ¾ ounce can condense cream of chicken soup
1 cup Original Bisquick mix
½ cup milk
1 egg

Heat oven to 400°F. In ungreased 9-inch pie plate, stir vegetables, chicken, and soup. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients until blended. Pour into pie plate on top of chicken, vegetable and soup mixture. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until crust golden brown.


The Lady & Sons Chicken Pot Pie

One 10¾-ounce can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
One 10¾-ounce can condensed cream of celery soup
½ cup milk
1 chicken, skinned, cooked, boned, and cubed
1 medium onion, diced
One 10-ounce package frozen green peas (or one 8-ounce can, drained)
3 carrots, sliced, cooked, and drained
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pastry for top and bottom (see recipe below)
Butter to dot pastry

In a large saucepan, heat soups and milk. Stir in chicken, onion, peas, carrots, and salt and pepper. Cook until mixture boils. Remove from heat. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour mixture into a pastry-lined 13x9x2-inch pan. Cut pastry for top into strips. Lay over pie filling in a lattice style. Dot with butter. Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown.

Pastry:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup shortening
Ice water

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Cut in shortening with pastry blender until pieces are the size of small peas. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of ice water over part of mixture. Gently toss with fork; push to side of bowl. Repeat until all is moistened. Form into two balls. Flatten each on a lightly floured surface by pressing with edge of hand three times across in both directions. With a floured rolling pin, roll out on floured surface. Roll from center to edge until 1/8 inch thick.


Just a couple of shortcuts I’d like to mention. When preparing dishes that call for de-boned or cut-up chicken, I often purchase a rotisserie chicken rather than going to all the trouble of cooking one. I also typically purchase the ready-made pie crusts rather than making my own pastry. I hope you enjoy!


**Weekly Tip: I despise cutting up vegetables when preparing meals. More and more I am seeing already chopped onions, celery, bell peppers, etc. available in the grocery stores in the produce department. You can also find many chopped veggies with the frozen foods. I am a sucker for pre-chopped vegetables! I keep at least one bag of frozen, chopped onions in my freezer at all times.