Smoked Sausage and Texas Toast Breakfast Bake

 Smoked Sausage and Texas Toast Breakfast Bake

This recipe was a result of my cleaning out my freezer. My Sunday school class gave it a thumbs up!

  

Smoked Sausage and Texas Toast Breakfast Bake

1 (13.5 oz.) box frozen Texas toast with cheese, thawed (I used New York Brand's Five Cheese Texas Toast)
1 pound smoked sausage, chopped
1 chopped onion
1 cup chopped green peppers
4 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese, divided
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cook spray.
Sauté chopped smoked sausage, onions and peppers, until sausage is lightly browned and veggies are tender.
Cut thawed bread slices into cubes. Layer half of cubes into prepared dish.
Top bread cubes with half of sausage mixture.
Sprinkle two cup of the cheese over the sausage.
Repeat layers.
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, mustard and salt; pour over layers.
Cover with foil and refrigerate for several hours, or overnight.
Place covered casserole dish in oven.
Turn temperature to 350.
Bake for about 45 minutes.
Uncover and bake a few minutes more, until top is golden brown.

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

Straightening my freezer and fridge, I found a few items that need using: a pie crust left from the holidays, a box of frozen spinach and half a package of bacon. This quiche was a great way to use all of them! 

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

6 - 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 (10-ounce) frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
4 chopped green onions, sautéed in bacon drippings
2 - 3 tablespoons chopped pimentos or roasted red peppers
5 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup cream, half-and-half or milk
1 cup cheese of your choice, shredded
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
dash of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine ingredients.
Spoon into unbaked pie crust.
Bake for 35 minutes or until middle is set. Tent quiche with foil if crust becomes too brown before quiche is fully cooked,

Overnight Buttery Baby Buttermilk Biscuits

 Overnight Buttery Baby Buttermilk Biscuits

“The hot biscuit runs a poor second to cornbread, but is considered of higher social caste. We abrogate and deprecate cornbread when we have guests, but we should consider ourselves deficient in hospitality if we served a company meal without hot biscuits.”
~Majorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek (1942)

These little biscuits are great for brunches, morning receptions and teas, and Sunday school!

Kids think they are fun anytime!

Of course, you can cut this dough into "regular-sized" biscuits, too.

Preparing this dough the night before makes baking hot, fresh homemade biscuits a snap the next morning! 
These are heap more tasty than the frozen variety - and a lot cheaper, too!

Overnight Buttery Baby Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour (I use White Lily. If you prefer Martha White, go for it! Do use a brand of soft, Southern flour.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons Butter-flavored Crisco
¾ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoon sweet milk
2 tablespoons melted butter

Spoon flour and baking powder into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse several times to evenly distribute baking powder.
Add Crisco. Pulse until mixture resembles course crumbs.
(You may combine the flour and baking powder and cut the Crisco in by hand, if you prefer.)
Dump flour mixture into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center.
Add buttermilk and mix just until a soft dough is formed. Don’t over mix.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. (Use all-purpose flour for this. The leavening agents in self-rising flour can leave an undesirable bitter, chalky film on the outside of your biscuits.)
Handling dough very gently, knead a few times.
On a cookies sheet, pat dough into an ½-inch-thick rectangle. Wrap securely in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate until morning.
When ready to bake, remove dough from the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Cut the dough into three rectangle, widthwise.
Cut the dough into half, lengthwise. This will form 6 small squares.
Cut each of the small squares into four smaller squares. You can leave these as little squares, or you can gently use your hands to round the edges.
Place biscuits on baking sheet. You can allow the sides to touch, or place them an inch apart. It’s up to you!
Brush tops with sweet milk.
Bake biscuits until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
Brush tops with melted butter.

Yield: 24 baby biscuits

For more great recipes, visit: Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

Sausage Bundt Bread

 Sausage Bundt Bread 

I made this for Sunday school. I just kind of combined several recipes that the class has liked, threw it all in a Bundt pan, and this was the result. It got very good reviews! 

I used 3/4 cup of milk, but I adjusted it to 1/2 cup in the recipe. It batter seems a bit too thick after adding sausage and cheese, just add a little more milk at that point. I've noted this in the recipe, too! 

If you try this, let me know. Also, if you can think of a better name for it, let me know that, too!

Sausage Bundt Bread

1 pound sausage
2 cups grated Swiss cheese
¼ cup Asiago cheese (Parmesan would be good, too!)
½ cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon sage
2 ½ cups Bisquick mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a Bundt pan with cooking spray.
Brown sausage; drain.
Whisk together milk, eggs, mayonnaise, parsley flakes, onion powder and sage.
Combine Bisquick and milk mixture.
Gently stir in sausage and cheese.
If batter seems too thick, add a little more milk.
Spoon into prepared pan.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake 40 - 50 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes.
Invert onto serving platter.

Baked Bacon and Cheese Frittata

Baked Bacon and Cheese Frittata

As I was thinking through my meal plan for the week, I had a couple of  things to come up that really affected the plan. First, I found out (unexpectedly) that we’d not be eating at home a couple of nights this week. Then, I knocked the eggs out of the refrigerator as I opened the fridge door. Not sure how I did that, but I was happy that there were only 6 eggs left in the carton. Although they all cracked a bit, they remained inside the carton and were still usable. I decided to try this frittata recipe for our supper. We all liked it, and it proved to be a good lesson not to cry over spilled milk - or cracked eggs, as the case may be!

Baked Bacon and Cheese Frittata

6 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
salt and pepper to taste
3 - 4 chopped green onions
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 8x8-inch pan with cooking spray.
Whisk together eggs, milk, butter, salt and pepper.
Pour into prepared baking dish.
Sprinkle with green onions, bacon and cheese.
Bake, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Buttermilk Breakfast Pound Cake

 Buttermilk Breakfast Pound Cake

 
Buttermilk Breakfast Pound Cake

I made this for Sunday School this morning, and everyone seemed to like it. It's a Southern Living recipe that I tweaked a bit. Be sure to coat your Bundt pan well with cooking spray. Mine stuck a bit, but I globbed the glaze over the worst of it, and we ate it just the same! A bit of glaze or frosting can cover a multitude of mistakes! This cake would work great as a dessert, too!

 Cake ingredients:
1  tablespoon granulated sugar
1 box white cake mix
1  cup buttermilk
½  cup butter, melted
5  large eggs
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup finely chopped pecans

Glaze ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 - 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Cake Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat Bundt pan well with cooking spray and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Using the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat cake mix, buttermilk and butter at medium speed until thoroughly blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans.
Spoon one-third of batter into prepared pan; sprinkle brown sugar mixture evenly over batter. Top with remaining batter.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack. Cool 20 minutes and drizzle with glaze.

Glaze Directions:
Whisk together powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and one tablespoon of buttermilk until smooth, adding additional tablespoon of buttermilk, if needed. Drizzle over slightly warm cake.

Strawberry Crepes

 

Strawberry Crepes

Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, 

and let him make her sorry to see him leave.  
~ Martin Luther

Since I've been a bit stretched the past few weeks, Larry has graciously thrown in and done more of the cooking. 
(Have I mentioned lately how much I love this man?!) 
He played around with some "kicked-up" versions of his regular pancakes, and then he moved on to crepes. My lips have enjoyed every moment of his experimenting! 

But, my waistline isn't fairing nearly as well!!

He volunteered to make crepes for Sunday school yesterday. We all thought they turned out great!!

He's still perfecting his crepe batter. I'll post the basic Bisquick recipe. 

If any of you are crepe makers and have tips you'd share with him, please pass them along! 

Strawberry Crepes

Crepes:

2 eggs
1 cup Bisquick
3/4 cup milk

Beat eggs slightly; add remaining ingredients and beat just until smooth. If time allows, let batter rest for about an hour.
When ready to cook, pour 2 - 3 tablespoons into hot skillet, tilting to spread evenly. Brown lightly on both sides.

Filling:

1 cup strawberries -- washed and sliced
8 ounces softened cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar                     

Blend powdered sugar and cream cheese until smooth. This will be fairly thick.

Fold in berries.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons onto each crepe, roll up.

Serve with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar, if you like.

Larry made his crepes on Saturday night and stacked them on a tray with wax paper between layers. Then he wrapped the tray with plastic wrap. It worked perfectly!

Sweet and Savory Sausage Muffins

We had a great worship service and Sunday school lesson today! 
I made these muffins for our fellowship time. They received several compliments! 

  

Sweet and Savory Sausage Muffins

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, 
because it is not there. There is no such thing.
~C. S. Lewis

Sweet and Savory Sausage Muffins

These muffins have an interesting, complex taste. The brown sugar adds a bit of sweetness, the cayenne a touch of heat and the onion a nice savoriness.

1 pound pork sausage
1 bunch green onions
3 tablespoons butter
3 cups baking mix
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
1 cup buttermilk*
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Coat muffin tins with cooking spray.
Brown and drain sausage. While sausage is cooking, sauté onions in butter.
In a large mixing bowl, combine baking mix, brown sugar, dry mustard, cayenne, cheese, sausage and sautéed onions. Make a well in the center. Add eggs and milk. Stir gently.
Spoon into prepared  muffin cups and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

*Buttermilk Substitute
Place a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup.
Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line
Allow to stand for five minute.

Sausage and Cheese Biscuit Cups

We had a wonderful time of fellowship, prayer and discussion in Sunday school this morning. One of the topics reminded me of two quotes, which often come to my mind:

“I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
~ Maya Angelou

"Three things in human life are important.
The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind.
And the third is to be kind."
~ Henry James

The Bible sums it up this way:

Treat others as you want them to treat you.

Matthew 7:12

Would that I would keep these thoughts in the forefront of my mind at all times!
I can possibly help others have a nicer day, and
I always feel better myself when I show kindness to others.

Sausage and Cheese Biscuit Cups

Sausage and Cheese Biscuit Cups

What to make for Sunday school this morning? Since I procrastinated about going to the grocery store all week-end, I was limited on my choices. I was out of baking mix, butter, and milk. I did find 2 cans of refrigerated biscuits, some cheeses and eggs. I pulled a package of my pre-cooked sausage from the freezer and made these little biscuit cups. Since I only have two standard size muffin pans, I made a combination of mini and standard size muffins.

2 (10-count) tubes refrigerated flaky biscuits
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound ground sausage, browned and drained
4  tablespoons Asiago or Parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat muffin tins with cooking spray.
Divide each biscuit into 2 layers.
Press each layer into a muffin cup.
Combine remaining ingredients.
Spoon a tablespoon of sausage mixture into biscuit-lined muffin cups.
Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

If using mini muffin tins, separate biscuit dough into three layers. Fill with 1 teaspoon of sausage mixture. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Bacon Quiche Tarts

 

Bacon Quiche Tarts

Bacon Quiche Tarts

My sweet friend, Donna, treated our Sunday school class to these yummy treats this morning! They were delicious and received lots of compliments!  Thank you, Donna!!

5 slices bacon

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated flaky biscuit dough

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups.
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until crisp and evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
Place the cream cheese, milk, and eggs in a medium bowl, and beat until smooth with an electric mixer set on Low. Stir in Swiss cheese and green onion, and set aside.
Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Press into the bottom and sides of each muffin cup, forming 1/4 inch rims. Sprinkle half of the bacon into the bottoms of the dough-lined muffin cups. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture into each cup.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until filling is set and rims of the tarts are golden brown. Sprinkle with the remaining bacon, and lightly press into the filling. Remove from pan, and serve warm.

This recipe is from Allrecipes.com.

Sausage and Egg Squares

Sausage and Egg Squares

Sausage and Egg Squares
 
This is a quick and easy dish, especially if you have pre-cooked your sausage and frozen it in the freezer. They were a hit in Sunday school.

1 pound pork sausage, browned and drained
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup Bisquick
1 8-ounce package shredded Colby or Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

In bowl, whisk together 6 eggs, 2 cups of milk and 1 cup of Bisquick; add sausage and cheese. Pour into prepared dish.

Bake until golden brown and done, about 50 - 60 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes; cut into squares.

Find more great recipes at Tempt My Tummy Tueday!!!

Cheesy Scones

 
Larry treated us to his yummy omelets for supper.
I made these simple scones, which went perfectly with the omelets.

Cheesy Scones

 Cheesy Scones

The baking powder makes these really light and fluffy. The kids love these!

3 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 egg beaten with enough milk to measure ½ cup
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup self-rising flour
1 tablespoon melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a baking tray with cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, combine margarine, egg and milk mixture, cheese and baking powder until well blended. Add self-rising flour a little at a time, mixing well. On a well-floured surface, gently knead dough and pat into a square. Cut the square into 4 equal-sized smaller squares. Cut each of these smaller squares in half on the diagonal, making triangles.
Place triangles on prepared baking sheet and brush with the tablespoon of melted butter.
Bake until golden brown, about 12 - 15 minutes.

Banana Bread Cobbler

Hello to all! I have missed sharing recipe with you guys for the past couple of weeks. My dad got sick and ended up being hospitalized for a week. He is home now, but still has a bit of recuperating to do. I sincerely appreciate your concerns and prayers for us. It really means a lot!

I have say, that as much as I enjoy cooking, I am so grateful for restaurants at times like this! We all managed to eat well during Dad’s ordeal, thanks to Pontotoc’s and Oxford’s eating establishments and our dear friends. Our Sunday school class and Aunt Jean’s Sunday School class so kindly sent us money for eating out! What a blessing! God’s people are so, so good!!! I’ll take this opportunity to give a little shout out to Sunday school. As Brother Ken says repeatedly, Sunday school is the most important hour of worship at our church each week. It is there that we find Christian fellowship, friendship and love. We laugh together. Cry together. Celebrate and rejoice together, and grieve together. Most of all, it provides the opportunity for us to study God’s word together and interact with others about what God is saying to us through the Bible. If you’re not a part of an active Sunday school class, I encourage you to find one. You’ll be blessed!

Banana Bread Cobbler

Banana Bread Cobbler

At some point last week, I did manage to make this yummy dish. The recipe is in the current issue of Southern Living magazine. It was really, really good! Many thanks to my sweet husband for taking a quick photo of it for me!
I only used half of the butter called for in the batter and half of the butter called for in the topping. Larry and I both thought the amount I used was plenty. 
Even cutting it in half, it still had a full stick of butter!!

1  cup  self-rising flour
1  cup  sugar
1  cup  milk
1/2  cup  butter, melted (I used ¼ cup.)
4  medium-size ripe bananas, sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat an 11x7-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Whisk together flour and next 2 ingredients just until blended; whisk in melted butter. Pour batter into prepared baking dish. Top with banana slices, and sprinkle with streusel topping - recipe below.
Place dish in oven and bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Serve with ice cream. (Since we were eating this for breakfast, I drizzled mine with glaze - recipe below.)

Streusel Topping

I omitted the oats and cut the butter in half.

3/4  cup  firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2  cup  self-rising flour
1/2  cup  butter, softened (I use ¼ cup.)
1  cup  uncooked regular oats (I omitted these, but I think they would be good!)
1/2  cup  chopped pecans

Stir together brown sugar, flour, and butter until crumbly, using a fork. Stir in oats and pecans.

Glaze:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon milk

Whisk together all glaze ingredients until smooth.  Drizzle over cobbler.

Ham, Egg and Biscuit Breakfast Casserole

 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Psalm 100:2

I managed to use a bit more of the ham yesterday! I made this casserole for Sunday school, and everyone seemed to like it. I used 6 eggs, but thought I could have used a couple more. Others thought the 6 eggs were fine. I may try it with 8 next time - just to see...

Best wishes for a great week to all!

Ham, Egg and Biscuit Casserole

Ham, Egg and Biscuit Breakfast Casserole

7 frozen biscuits, baked according to package directions
2 cups chopped ham
2 cups shredded cheese
6 - 8 large eggs
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons dried mustard
Dash or two of hot sauce
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x13 dish with cooking spray.
Split the biscuits and line the baking dish with the biscuit halves, cut side up.
Sprinkle ham evenly over the biscuit layer. Top with the cheese.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, mustard, hot sauce, salt and pepper.
Pour over the cheese layer. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes.

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Pizza

Thank you all for the great ideas for using up the ham! They all sound wonderful!
I had found this recipe last and added it to our menu plan, substituting ham for some of the bacon. Although we had it for supper, it would work really well for breakfast, too!

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Pizza

1 refrigerated pizza crust
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used 1 cup of chopped ham and 4 slices of bacon.)
8 ounces shredded cheese, your choice
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
Pat dough into prepared baking dish.
Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven; sprinkle bacon and cheese evenly over crust.
In a bowl, beat eggs, salt, and sour cream until smooth; pour over bacon and cheese.
Return to pan to oven and bake until pizza is done and crust is golden brown.

Sausage Cheese Biscuits

We had a wonderful time of worship today!

Brother Ken began a really great sermon series with the new year,

and our Sunday school lessons have been very thought provoking, too!

To gather with God's people in united adoration of the Father 
is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.
~Martin Luther

I made these for Sunday School this morning, but I thought they were a bit dry. No one at Sunday school complained, because they’re all much too kind! But, as my kids were scarfing down the leftovers, they had absolutely no problem letting me know that they thought they were too  dry. I do think this recipe has potential. I am going to increase the milk to ¾ cup next time, or perhaps use sour cream in place of the milk.

Or, I may use Bisquick, just to see if it works better.

If any of you have ideas for making these less dry, please share them!

 Sausage Cheese Biscuits

Sausage Cheese Biscuits

2 ½ cups self-rising flour
4 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded or cut into tiny cubes
1 cup cooked crumbled sausage
2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Combine flour and butter in food processor. Add cheese and cooked sausage; pulse just a bit. Dump into mixing bowl. Make a small well; add milk. Mix just until all ingredients are moist. Using a very gentle touch, pat out dough on a flour board, kneading just a tiny bit - 3 or 4 times. Cut with round metal cookie cutter. Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes about a dozen full-sized biscuits or 24 tea biscuits.

Bacon and Cheddar Scones

 Our snow-frosted magnolia tree

Another “snow day” in our portion of
the “Magnolia State!”

We understand that we are laughed at for the big hoopla we make over teeny, tiny bits of snow. But, snow is such a novelty for us, we don’t really care for having a bit of fun poked at us! As a matter of fact, we even laugh at ourselves and how at the mere mention of that four-letter-word, "snow," by the local t.v. weatherman instantaneously causes our grocery stores' shelves to be emptied of milk, bread, peanut butter, crackers, "tater" chips and Little Debbie Cakes - the major components of the average Southern family's "snowed-in" diet. In all fairness, we usually only get ice down here, not snow, which often causes us to loose electrical power.
So, we're just being prepared! ;)
Larry, the kids and I enjoyed a fun snowball fight yesterday afternoon. One never gets too old for a good snowball fight! Our fun didn’t last long, because, well, we ran out of snow. But, it was fun while it lasted!

We had no co-op classes today, so I had time to make a batch of scones for our breakfast. Since I made sweet scones yesterday, I decided to make savory today. We’ve pretty much been trying to eat from the pantry and fridge this week. Any Southern kitchen "worth its salt" always has plenty of flour on hand. I also had part of a package of pre-cooked bacon that needed to be used and plenty of cheese, so I made Bacon and Cheddar Scones. I pretty much created the recipe by combining several aspects from other scone recipes. If you can think of a way to improve the recipe, please let me know. I cut the cheese into small cubes, so there would be pockets of cheese throughout. This did make the use of parchment paper a must, as the cheese oozed onto the baking pan. (This was no low-fat cheese! It was hoop cheese that my daddy gave us for Christmas. It is oh, so good! But, oh, so NOT diet friendly!) If you don’t have parchment paper, line your baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat it really well with cooking spray.

Be forewarned! We found these little scones are very addictive!

Bacon and Cheddar Scones

Bacon and Cheddar Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour*  
4 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 cup cheddar cheese cut into small cubes
8 slices bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
3/4 cup sour cream
1 egg
milk or cream for brushing tops of scones


Preheat oven to 375 - 400 degrees. (All ovens vary. I have better results at 375 degrees.)

Pulse flour and cubed butter with food processor until a coarse meal forms; dump into mixing bowl. Add cheese cubes and crumbled bacon, tossing with flour mixture to coat cheese and bacon well.
In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream and eggs. Stir into flour mixture until just combined.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough comes together into a ball. Working with a light touch, pat the dough down into a square about ¾” thick. Coat the blade a large, sharp knife with flour. Cut dough square into 4 smaller squares. Cut each smaller square 4 small triangles, using an “X” cutting pattern. It will be helpful to re-coat the knife blade with flour several times while cutting the scones. You can also use a round biscuit cutter, if you prefer circles to triangles! 
Transfer the 16 triangles onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the tops of each scone with milk or cream.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until the bottoms are light brown.

*Since I’m a lazy cook, I often use self-rising flour. Here’s the ingredients for using all-purpose flour. Place all these ingredients into the food processor and pulse to combine well before adding butter cubes.

2 cups all-purpose flour 
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Easy Lemon Scones

We awoke to a snow-frosted lawn, a rarity here in Mississippi.

As a treat, I made Easy Lemon Scones for breakfast..

They were a hit with everyone!

The kids and Larry thought they were tasty, and I thought they were an easy, convenient recipe to make. They went together really quickly and all needed ingredients were in my pantry/fridge!

No fresh lemons on hand? Substitute a teaspoon of lemon flavoring for the lemon rind in the batter.

For the topping, mix sugar with 2 tablespoons milk and use as directed.

Easy Lemon Scones

Easy Lemon Scones

2 2/3 c. biscuit mix
5 tbsp. sugar
1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)
grated rind of one lemon
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. milk or buttermilk

Topping:
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.

Combine first 4 ingredients. Mix egg with milk. Add to dry ingredients. Mix into soft ball.
Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Gently roll or pat dough to about ½ inch thickness, lightly flouring as necessary to prevent sticking. Cut out rounds using 2-inch floured biscuit cutter. Set 1/2 inch apart on prepared baking sheets.

In a small bowl combine topping ingredients. Brush tops of scones with about half of lemon and sugar mixture before baking. Bake 15 to 18 minutes. Brush with remaining topping.

Texas Toast Breakfast Bread Pudding

I made this for Sunday school this morning, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
While it was very similar to most breakfast casseroles, the Texas toast and Monterrey Jack and Colby cheese blend provided just a bit of twist on taste.
Let me know if you try it and have suggestions for changes!

  Texas Toast Breakfast Bread Pudding

Texas Toast Breakfast Bread Pudding

1 (13.5 oz.) box frozen Texas toast with cheese, thawed (I used New York Brand's Five Cheese Texas Toast)

1 pound ground sausage, browned and drained

2 cups Monterrey Jack and Colby cheese blend, divided

8 eggs

2 cups of milk

1 -2 teaspoon dry mustard

3/4 - 1 teaspoon salt

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cook spray.

Cut thawed bread slices into cubes. Layer half of cubes into prepared dish.

Top bread cubes with half of browned sausage.

Sprinkle one cup of the cheese over the sausage.

Repeat layers.

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, mustard and salt; pour over layers.

Cover with foil and refrigerate for several hours, or overnight.

Place covered casserole dish in oven. Turn temp to 325. Bake for about 45 minutes. Uncover and bake a few minutes more, until top is golden brown.

Cheese Grits and Cornbread Casserole

We have been out-of-town for a few days celebrating our anniversary. 
I did want to touch on a couple of comments from last week. 

I appreciate my friend, Wayne, sharing his thoughts on the Sausage Squares recipe. I usually use mild-flavored sausage, because that's what Larry and the kids like. I encourage you to experiment with using different varieties of sausage - mild, hot, sage or a combination.  If "hot" is too hot for your taste, but you want more of a kick than you get with "mild," use half mild and half hot. Freeze any leftover browned sausage for the next use.
Also, Wayne mentioned halving the recipe and baking it in an 8x8 pan. I, too, generally have great results halving a recipe designed for a 9x13 dish and using an 8x8 pan.  Thanks for the great tips, Wayne!

Also, there were a couple of questions about the Sausage Bread recipe, which is an all-time favorite of our Sunday school class.  
For clarification, I brown and drain the sausage really, really well. For our family to just eat it at home, I even put it in a colander and rinse it with very hot water. I read on another site of a lady who pours boiling water over hers. You'd be surprised how much fat this removes! If you have sensitive kitchen pipes, don't do this!

I do just use the regular Pillsbury pizza crust - not the thin variety. I have used the frozen pizza dough balls you can buy at Sam's. It's funny that some people prefer the Sam's dough, and others prefer the Pillsbury! They are fairly similar to me, but you can experiment with both to see which one your family likes best. You could try a loaf of frozen bread dough, too. I hope this helps. The next time I make this recipe, I will try to make step-by-step photos. 

I appreciate all your comments! I love hearing how you guys tweak the recipes for your families!  
God bless ~ Connie

I made this for Sunday school this morning. My friend Donna also brought a great grits and sausage casserole that I look forward to sharing the recipe for soon.  Bless her heart, she has given this recipe to me several times over the years, and I keep losing it.  She's graciously agreed to share it once more!

Cheese Grits and Cornbread Casserole

Cheese Grits and Cornbread Casserole

Grits and cornbread in one dish! It doesn’t get any more Southern than this! The Jiffy mix gives this a subtle sweetness that's a bit different, but nice! This dish would work well for supper, too!


4 cups water
1 cup quick grits
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, cut into pats
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 pound sausage, browned and drained
1 box Jiffy cornbread Mix
2 cups shredded cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

Bring water to a boil.  Add grits and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, whisking occasionally. Add butter. Whisk until smooth.
Beat eggs with milk.
Stir together cooked grits, cooked sausage, egg mixture, Jiffy cornbread mix and 1 cup of the shredded cheese.
Spoon mixture into prepared pan and top with remaining cheese.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.