Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Yesterday I was enjoying broccoli cheese soup for lunch, and it made me crave the fabulous combination in the form of a casserole. I rarely get to have the Cheddar's version of broccoli cheese casserole, but I didn't want to go through the process of adding rice, so I found this recipe on the site Simply Recipes:

Ingredients

• 2 pounds broccoli, stems removed (can use vegetable peeler to peel, then slice and eat like celery), large florets cut, yielding about 8 cups of broccoli florets
• Salt for blanching water
• 2 strips of thick-cut bacon (about 2 ounces), cut crosswise into 1/4-inch wide strips
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 5 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 to 3 teaspoons of freshly cracked black pepper (1 to 2 teaspoons if using fine ground black pepper)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (1 Tbsp salt for 2 quarts of water). Add the broccoli florets and boil for 3-5 minutes or until just tender enough so that a fork can easily pierce the floret, but still firm. Strain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

2 While the water in step one is coming to a boil, cook the bacon pieces on medium heat in a frying pan until lightly browned, but not crisp. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess fat. Set aside.

3 Preheat oven to 425°F. Butter a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. In a bowl, whisk the eggs into the flour, then whisk in the cream and milk. Add the black pepper (more or less to taste), salt, and mustard. Mix in about a third of the cheese.

4 Place the parboiled broccoli florets in the casserole dish, sprinkling about a third of the cheese over the broccoli florets as you lay them down. Sprinkle the bacon pieces over the broccoli. Pour the egg, cream, milk, cheese mixture over the broccoli, moving the broccoli pieces a bit so that the mixture gets into all the nooks and crannies. Sprinkle the casserole with the remaining cheese.

5 Bake for 25-40 minutes, or until set. Once the top has browned, you may want to tent with aluminum foil to keep from burning.

Serves 5 as a main course, 10 as a side.

*****

I did a few things differently, mostly because I'm poor and can't afford to spend a lot of money on specific ingredients for one freakin' dish.

I used 1 1/2 cups milk instead of the 1/2 cup heavy cream. I'm sure it would have made it creamier, but oh well.

Though it may have been cheaper to get fresh broccoli, (I didn't bother looking,) I went with 8 cups of frozen broccoli for the convenience factor.

Added more bacon. Also added crushed crackers on the top.

Verdict? I liked it! I think I should've added more salt and pepper, esp fresh cracked pepper, and also, I think butter would have been good. Maybe next time I'll melt some and stir it into the cheese mixture before it's poured. Annnnd, I think cream cheese would be awesome somewhere in there, maybe dropped in softened dollops. Mmmm, cheese.

Blueberry Bread Pudding

I tried out a yummy recipe last week! It took a while, (you have to chill it over night,) but it was well worth the wait.

Ingredients

• 1 (16-ounce) French bread loaf, cubed
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cut into pieces
• 3 cups fresh blueberries, divided
• 6 large eggs
• 4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 (10-ounce) jar blueberry preserves
• Garnishes: fresh mint leaves, edible pansies

Preparation

Arrange half of bread cubes in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch pan. Sprinkle evenly with cream cheese and 1 cup blueberries; top with remaining bread cubes.

Whisk together eggs, 4 cups milk, sugar, butter, and maple syrup; pour over bread mixture, pressing bread cubes to absorb egg mixture. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Bake, covered, at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 more minutes or until lightly browned and set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Stir together remaining 2 cups blueberries and blueberry preserves in a saucepan over low heat until warm. Serve blueberry mixture over bread pudding. Garnish, if desired.

*****

After bringing half of it to the office, a fellow co-worker asked for the recipe and tried it out with strawberries. Yum! It would be really tasty with peaches or apricots as well.

See more recipes at Southern Living.

Banana Sour Cream Cake

I was in baking mode last night, so I decided to try out a new recipe:

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3)
1 cup Sour Cream
1/4 cup oil
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar
1 cup finely chopped Walnuts


Directions:

HEAT oven to 350°F.

BEAT first 5 ingredients with mixer on low speed just until moistened, stopping frequently to scrape bottom and side of bowl. Beat on medium speed 2 min. Pour into greased and floured 13x9-inch pan.

BAKE 35 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese and butter with mixer until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition.

REMOVE cake from pan. Carefully cut cake crosswise in half using serrated knife. Place 1 cake half, top-side down, on plate; spread with some of the cream cheese frosting. Top with remaining cake half, top-side up. Spread top and sides with remaining frosting. Press nuts into sides. Keep refrigerated.

*****
I'm not a big fan of walnuts, so I decided to crush up some graham crackers for the cake sides. It came out pretty tasty! Also, I wasn't confident enough in my baking abilities to attempt halfing it, so I frosted it as it was. Next time I'm going to bake it in two round pans, then mix some strawberries into the frosting for the middle section. Yum!

For more quick and easy recipes, check out Kraft's website.