Saturday Night Church and Breakfast In the Afternoon……New Easter Traditions

For the last 15 Easters we’ve attended church on Sunday morning and then had lunch together. This year we did something a little different. My oldest daughter is a worship leader at her church, Grace Church, in St. Louis County. She was singing and they have a Saturday night service, so we decided this year to attend her church. It was a beautiful service and as always, my heart swells with joy when I’m blessed to hear her sing.

When I was growing up, we didn’t really have a traditional anything. About the most consistent thing we did for a holiday was Christmas Eve. That’s the one time of year we had people over and there was tons of laughter and fun and it didn’t matter much that the kitchen was a mess. Sometimes, but not often, we would go to church on Easter. But if you are from the South, and I am, you always had to have new Easter clothes. I never really understood it because I had a new dress and shoes, but only got to wear it maybe 30 minutes and then had to change because I might get it dirty. My granny always hosted Easter and with a table full of food! And we always had the traditional Easter lunch with ham, potato salad, fresh corn, butter beans and on and on. There would be at least 3 different pound cakes and a wonderful fruit salad she made and usually a strawberry shortcake and always a banana pudding.

Well my Granny, although I know she would be very proud of the cook I have become, would NEVER and I mean NEVER do a brunch for Easter. Not only would she not do a brunch, she certainly wouldn’t do brunch with Mimosas. But granny, I’m breaking tradition this year! And, I have ham on the menu. Just not the traditional ham. Since I had kind of decided to do brunch, I decided I needed another opinion, so I asked my youngest daughter: she gave it 2 thumbs up.

Here’s the menu I decided on: French Toast Casserole, Hashbrown Casserole, Grits, Bacon, Ham and Mimosas (for the adults).

If you’ve never made a French Toast Casserole, then please put it on your to-do list. If you have overnight guests, this is the perfect go-to for breakfast and believe me you will be loved for it! I try different recipes all the time, but I always end up coming back to my friend Paula Deen’s recipe and I tweak it a little to make it my own. I have such a hard time following a recipe to the letter! I used french bread this time, but I have used all types of bread. Sometimes I use Texas toast. But a loaf of french bread at Walmart is a dollar! Can’t beat that.

Go ahead and spray a casserole dish with Pam and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice your french bread. It really doesn’t matter how thin or thick you want to slice it. I like mine a little on the thicker side. In a large bowl, mix together 8 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of half and half, 1/3 cup of maple syrup, (I don’t care for maple syrup, so I use regular syrup),1/3 cup of light brown sugar.

                     

Pour the egg mixture over the bread. You might have to get your hands a little dirty to get the bread completely covered in the egg mixture. Once I have the egg mixture poured on, I like to sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and sugar. I like the flavor it adds and let’s face it, it pretty much never wrong to be just a little sweeter!

And the topping is what will make everyone smile and could potentially put them in to a sugar coma! In saucepan on top of the stove melt a 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), add a 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, 2/3 cup of syrup and 2 cups of pecans. I didn’t add the pecans, since I have a non-nut-lover in the family. But I have used them before and I love it! Bring to a boil until sugar is dissolved. Take that yummy sweet goodness and pour over the french bread. Isn’t it the most beautiful sight? If you would like to add a bit of a twist, try topping with some bananas. I have done that before and it really is delicious. Go ahead and pop into the oven and bake for about 45 to 55 minutes. You don’t want to over bake. You really want the bread to have that french toast texture. When I pull mine out of the oven I like to sprinkle with powdered sugar, because, again, you know it just needs to be a little sweeter.

                   

And here’s the finished product. Let it sit for about 10 minutes and serve it up with some warm syrup. You could even add some fresh strawberries to top it off, and some whipped cream. I’ve never made this casserole that I’m not asked for the recipe.

Because we were having the French toast casserole, I knew I needed to have something to balance out the sweetness, so I chose the hash brown casserole. This hash brown casserole is a bit different in that it has eggs and french bread in it and also parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese. The flavor is unbelievable and it’s also a great recipe if you are entertaining overnight guests. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13 x 9 inch casserole with Pam. On top of the stove you are going to melt 3 tablespoons of butter and add 1 small onion diced. Cook until translucent. FYI….I didn’t add the onion because some in my family aren’t fans. Add the hash browns. Recipe calls for 4 cups. You can use the shredded kind that are frozen or you can make your own from baked potatoes. I used the southern style cubed ones this time; but just go with your preference. Cook the hash browns with the onions until they become soft. In a second frying pan you’re going to sauté a pound of bulk sausage. You can use mild or spicy. If I have some on hand I use Conecuh sausage. This is sausage that is made in South Alabama in a little town called Evergreen. It’s about a half hour from my hometown in Brewton. It is the BEST sausage there is! You can order online at conecuhsausage.com. Give it a try, you will not be disappointed! Ok, back to the recipe.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups of milk, 8 large eggs, 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. black pepper, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg and 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard. Mix all of these ingredients well. You will need to dice up or tear your French bread into cubes. You will need about eight cups. There is no rhyme or reason to size. To assemble the casserole, spread the onion and hash brown mixture on the bottom of your greased casserole.Place the bread evenly on top of the hash browns. With a slotted spoon, you’re now going to add your sausage as your third layer. Pour the milk and egg mixture over these layers.

                               

Next you’re going to add 2 cups of freshly grated parmesan cheese and then as the last layer 2 cups of grated cheddar cheese.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes uncovered until golden brown. Yummy, yummy, yummy! This truly was a wonderful meal. I’m not going to share the grits and mimosa recipes here, but I will share them on my Facebook page. (Click on the hyperlink and it will take you there.) If you haven’t already, go ahead and like my page as I’m sharing recipes at least every other day. And please feel free to share!

Yes, we certainly broke tradition this year. It was a wonderful day. The weather was spectacular and we decided to take advantage and lunch under the “Willow Tree”. I could certainly feel the love as my sweet husband stood in the kitchen and fried bacon for me and my sweet daughters were getting the table set just right in order to take the perfect picture. Their Dad even got the ladder out in for the picture to be just right. Actually, I guess you could say we didn’t break tradition. My husband prayed the most beautiful blessing over our food. We had a delicious meal and we ate it under my most favorite place, on a table my husband repurposed from the girls old play set. We shared laughs and eye rolls and jokes and talked about selfie sticks. You see, we love each other. We love to spend time together. And we understand what Easter is about and for that we are thankful! I guess you could say it’s not a new Easter tradition at all!

Happy Easter Everyone!

He Is Risen!

Much love,

Sandi