Friday 23 July 2010

CIJ day 23




Christmas Breakfast Casserole

Make-ahead casserole. 6-8 ServingsPrep: 10 min. + chilling Bake: 50 min. + standing
Ingredients
7 slices white bread, crusts removed and cubed
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
6 eggs
3 cups milk
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
Directions
In a greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking dish, combine the bread cubes and
cheese. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, mustard, salt and
pepper; pour over bread and cheese. Top with bacon. Cover and
refrigerate overnight.
Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake,
uncovered, at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a knife inserted
near the center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before
serving. Yield: 6-8 servings.
(Source: taste of home)

Christmas craft - Edible popcorn balls


Like decorations stolen from Willy Wonka's Christmas party, these ornaments are meant to be eaten. For a fun party activity, have children decorate their own. For homemade popcorn balls, try this recipe.

After sugar reaches the hard ball stage, it requires some speed in handling so the candy doesn't set. You may want to halve the recipes using cooked sugar the first few times you make them. If you make these balls to use as tree ornaments, be sure to pop some extra corn for munching.
Ingredients
6 cups popped popcorn (1/3 cup unpopped)
2 cups toasted oat cereal such as Quaker Toasted Oatmeal
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. vinegar
Instructions
In a large bowl mix the popped popcorn with the toasted oat cereal and set aside. In a heavy, medium-sized saucepan mix the sugar, syrup, water and vinegar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 260 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until a bit of the mixture dropped into iced water forms into a hard ball.
Pour syrup over popcorn. Stir gently with an oiled wooden spoon until the popcorn is well coated. Allow to cool slightly, and when it is cool enough to handle, with buttered fingers press into balls.

To use as ornaments, wrap them in red and green ribbons. Makes around 18 three-inch balls.
Ingredients
Small popcorn ball (one for each guest)
Mini candy canes
Colored sugar
Frosting
Mini M&Ms
Instructions
You'll need a small popcorn ball for each person (ours are store-bought and about 3 inches wide). Use a wooden skewer to poke a small hole in the top, snap the end off of a mini candy cane to create a point, and gently press the sharp end of the cane into the popcorn ball far enough to make a loop, as shown.
For the sugar dots and lines, pour colored sugar onto a flexible paper plate (the flexibility makes it easy to pour the extra sugar back into the container when you're done). Fill a pastry bag with frosting, or scoop frosting into a quart-size plastic bag and cut off one corner. Working on one dot or line at a time, pipe frosting thickly onto the ball, then press the ball gently into the sugar so that only the frosting touches it. Use frosting to glue mini M&Ms to the ball.

Joke of the day:

2 comments:

  1. Oh, the popcorn balls are adorable and the recipe will added to my file, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lucie,
    This recipe is exactly what I have been looking for to make for Christmas morning.
    Thanks for sharing it!!

    ReplyDelete