Baptism Brunch Ideas

Here's a broccoli casserole that's easy (but it takes several dishes). You can put it together the night before, then bake it when you're ready.

1 bag frozen chopped broccoli
4 servings rice (I use boil-in-bag)
8 oz Cheez Whiz
1 can each cream of chicken and mushroom

Prepare rice and steam broccoli (either on the stove or in the microwave). Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, cook Cheez Whiz and soups over med-low heat, stirring occasionally, until blended and heated through. Drain rice and broccoli, and combine all ingredients, mix completely. Spread in 9x13 pan until ready to bake. Bake at 350 at least 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

*You can use 6 servings of rice to make it go farther

*To make this a whole meal, add 3 cooked chicken breasts, chopped or cut into bite-sized pieces.

I am a huge lover of Mexican food. I would suggest pre-cooking some scrambled eggs with sausage/ham and bell peppers and serving some tortillas and having salsa, guac, sour cream, etc. Breakfast burritos. After our daughter's baptism we had a fantastic fruit tray and served some of the fruit dip in a large margarita or martini class that added some height and color. I also know that the small sausages in a biscuit (pigs in a blanket) can be good, or we have made some mini-calzones. I know you probably know this, but I love allrecipes.com for stuff like this. Seems like a great source. Good luck and congrats on planting the seed of faith in your son.

My family loves this breakfast casserole recipe. You can make it the night before and pop it in the oven in the morning.
6 slices of bread buttered on both sides
1 to 1 1/2 lbs ground sausage
2 cups of Cheese (cheddar or colbyjack)
1 pt of half and half
6 eggs - beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: *diced onions, *bellpeppers, *black olives, tomatoeos, or anything else you like

In a 9x13 dish place buttered brad on bottom of pan. Brown sausage and spread evenly over bread. Add any optional items at this time. Sprinkle cheese evenly over mixture. Mix eggs with half and half and salt and pepper. Pour over cheese and refrigerate overnight. Take out of fridge 15 minutes be fore baking. Bake in the morning at 350 degrees uncovered for 45 minutes.
*we put these in ours

We've brought this to church also and it never lasts. Good luck and God Bless.

Potato Casserole:
2lbs Southern Style frozen hashbrowns
1 can Cream of Celery soup
1 can Cream of Potato soup
8oz Sour Cream
1C. milk
1/4C. diced onion
1 Tbl. Pimento
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix soups, milk, sour cream and hashbrowns. Add onions, pimento, salt and pepper to taste. Bake uncovered for one and a half hours at 300 degrees.

You can always cook veggies in a crock pot... Godd ones are green bans and potatoes together or even a crock full of baked beans. You can do a southern style cream corn in there too. This is basically corn and cream cheese with a little bit of milk to the consistancy you want and salt & pepper to taste.

PS - You can even put the mac-n-cheese in the crock pot to keep warm too....

Hi A.-
This is D. B in St. Peters. I did a similar brunch a few years ago. Here's some ideas for you. I do an ilatian beef which is a brisket cooked slowly for 24-36 hours with galic and onion soup mix and beef broth... it is fabulous served on french bread and swiss cheese. Do a seven layer salad and a veggie tray and a fruit bowl. Lasagna by stouffers is great and easy. Buy the big family size for about $11 each... Hope this helps.

Hi A., I have a couple ideas for you. I was going to give you a link, but I don't know if my Microsoft Word is the same as yours would be, so here they are. There are 4. I hope they help.----Melanie in Swansea, IL

Cheddar Apple Pie Dip

Mix the following and spread on the bottom of a 9” pie plate:

½ C Sour cream
1 ½ C Sheredded Cheddar cheese
8 oz. Cream cheese

Combine the following and then put on top of the cream chs mix:

½ C Walnuts
1 red apple and 1 green apple diced to make about 2 C
½ t cinnamon
¼ C firmly packed brown sugar

Bake for 20 min in a preheated 375 degree oven. Let sit for about 15 -20 min. before eating with Triscuits or Wheat Thins.

Melanie Jones

Melanie’s 7 Layer Mexican Dip

Layer 1: About 28 oz refried beans mixed with ½-1 C salsa

Layer 2: Guacamole (avocados, lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic)

Layer 3: Sour Cream mix (1 C sr crm, ½ C mayo and 1 taco seas. packet)

Layer 4: 1 C chopped green onions

Layer 5: About 2 C diced tomatoes drained well

Layer 6: 1 large can of sliced olives

Layer 7: Shredded Cheddar or Mexican cheese.

Enjoy warm or cold with sturdy tortilla or corn chips!

Melanie’s Breakfast Muffins

12 eggs

½ pound Bob Evans Original sausage cooked, drained and crumbled

¾ c vegetables of your choice like mushrooms, onions, green peppers, broccoli, black olives…….but not to total more than ¾ c or it will give off too much moisture.

¼ t salt

1 t minced garlic

¼ t black pepper

1-8oz bag shredded cheddar cheese

Beat the eggs in a large bowl and then add the other ingredients. Mix well. If making regular sized muffins, spray tins and measure out 1/3 c into tins and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 min, otherwise use about 1 heaping T in mini muffin tins and check them at about 15 minutes (or until a knife inserted comes out clean). They will puff up.

Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Enjoy!

Melanie’s Cornbread Squash Casserole

1 box cornbread mix like Jiffy

1 large egg

¼ c milk (I use skim)

8 oz Italian shredded cheese

¾ c chopped onion (I use white)

4 T bacon bits

2 small shredded yellow squash

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and then pour in a sprayed 13 x 9 x 2 in pan and bake for 30 -40 minutes at 400 degrees until edges are golden brown and a knife in the middle comes out clean.

***You can substitute (1 ½ -2 c)broccoli for squash but then use about 1/3-1/2 c milk and switch cheese to cheddar. Also cook only 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Hi A., Man I have a lot of great recipes saved to my files today :)
I have a salad recipe that is made the day before.

Spinach Salad
6 bx of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squished lol no liquid)
5 hard boiled eggs chopped
2 stocks celery chopped
1 med onion chopped
1 med can of chopped bk olives
1 or 2 cups of Colby, Cheddar, or Monterrey jack cheese

Dressing
2 cups Mayo. Real Stuff
2-3 tsp on creamy horseradish
2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Mix all together (taste for seasoning of horsey sauce)
Pour over Spinach and mix up.
Cover and place in Frig until served.

We love this one anytime but it is very good for the Holidays

God Bless your Family at this Blessed time of year
K. Nana of 5
Have a wonderful Merry Christmas, Happist of the New year ahead. Great way to start it btw

What about the egg stratdas that are made with chunks of bread, milk and eggs? I usually make one sausage and one bacon. They cook for about an hour so they would be a perfect last thing to pop in the oven and be ready to come out when you get home.

A great crock pot dish is mushroom and rice casserole...just dump all the stuff in and let it cook...not much else to do.

Instead of a salad, why not just go a veggie tray? Leftovers of that are a lot easier and at least you can use the veggies in cooking where a salad would just go bad if you didn't eat it in time. But if you want a salad...my family is really keen on the ramen noodle one...not one of my favs as it gives me horrid indigestion but everyone else seems to like it. You might also want to get some of the dollar rolls from a local bakery...that way, people can turn the ham/roast into sandwiches if they like (probably a bigger hit with the kids).

I'd also like to suggest something that I did for my own daughter's baptism...get someone (or a few someone's) who aren't going to be in the pictures afterwards to head directly to your house to start laying the food and stuff out (have them over beforehand to let them know how you want it laid out)...then by the time you get home people are already milling about with drinks and almost ready to sit down for the meal. It was a HUGE help and a nice relief to know I didn't have to rush through our pictures and that my guests were taken care of.

Hi A....

You are a woman after my own heart, I love it! I must admit that you are very ambitious to do all that in one day, but I am often found in the same position hosting for a house full and cooking everything...so here are my tips!

I didn't want to type out all my fav recipes (sorry) but I will tell you where to find some! The best brunch casserole recipe I have is French Toast Casserole by Paula Dean. You can find it on foodnetwork.com, just search for the title plus Paula's name and it should pop up. I make two for every brunch I do and have few or no leftovers at all. It's easy and delish!!! My other favorite casserole recipes come from the Pampered Chef cookbooks, so I would try and get your hands on some of these. I've never looked at their website so they may have some there, but one of the best is the Eggs Florentine casserole...it is way yummy! Once you settle on your menu if you'd like to try that one I'll send it to you, just message me! It's basically scrambled eggs, cheese, spinach, onions, etc. in a casserole dish with bread. I made it the night before and just warmed it right before serving.

Sounds like you need homemade macaroni, Its so good and the kids love it too. I always have to make it for stuff like that because my child wont eat anything else! Let me know if you want the recipe, its easy! Also I dont know if you have a good cake place, but costco (if you live by one) has great sheet cakes and they are $15, they are SO good!

corn casserole is easy and very yummy!
1 can corn (drained)
1 can creamed corn
1 cup sour cream
1 stick of butter melted
1 large egg
1 pkg jiffy corn bread mix

Heat oven to 350
Mix all the ingredients together until well blended
place in a cake pan (clear glass works best!)
bake for 45 min to an hour until starting to brown around the edges.
P.S. My husband is very picky and will not eat anything that sour cream even brushed up against and he loves this!