Breakfast for a Crowd

Are you preparing your recipes to feed a large group?

Cooking breakfast for a crowd? With the Easter holiday coming up you may be entertaining guests or helping out on a committee at your church or another group. If you need a breakfast that you can throw together for a crowd, this one is for you. Double... triple... quadruple the recipe if you need to! (And if you have enough pans!!)

Breakfast Bake for a Crowd


8 pieces of buttered bread (cubed)
3 cups cubed ham or turkey
4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
6 eggs
3 cups milk
2 tsp. Dry mustard
Salt and pepper

Arrange bread, cheese and ham in buttered 9 x 13 pan. In separate bowl beat eggs, dry mustard, salt, pepper and milk. Pour slowly into pan. Bake at 350º one hour. Eggs will start to pull away from edges of dish when ready. Let set 5 minutes or so, cut into squares.

Pickled Shrimp

A question often asked to start random conversation's is, "What is your favorite food?" I have a hard time answering that one. I am not sure I have a favorite. Instead I always ask if I could name off my top three as that is more realistic. Another answer I give is to lump them together. I sometimes say, "Seafood". Although the little critters of the sea might not like being lumped together like that when they are so very different from each other, it works as a great answer when I'm pressed to give just one. Mussels, shrimp, crab, lobster, scallops, salmon, oysters... I love them all.

Here is a recipe I have in my files but haven't made. It's one way that I haven't made shrimp yet; pickled. This is from my favorite magazine, Southern Living and they offered this age old classic in their summer edition back in 2008.

Pickled Shrimp

7 1/2 cups water
3 pounds unpeeled, large fresh shrimp
2 small purple onions, sliced
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white wine Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
2 garlic cloves, pressed

Bring water to a boil; add shrimp, and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Drain and rinse with cold water. Peel shrimp; devein, if desired. Layer shrimp and onion slices in an airtight container. Whisk together oil and next 10 ingredients; pour over shrimp mixture. Cover and chill 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

Celebrate Pie Day! Errr... I Mean Pi Day - This Sunday!

I'm the Mom of three teens. My 17 year old son can be a handful sometimes (my one and only complaint... he's terrible at getting his homework done on time!), yet tonight he was all over the assignment to celebrate "PI DAY" this week.

It actually falls on Sunday - (March 14th.... get it?) Pi = 3.14 so it's celebrated on 3/14. Tonight he painstakingly worked on a "pi-cake" for class. I figured it was a great idea for my readers who are a little geeky like me, and want to celebrate in a fun way!

He wanted to make the cake from scratch but considering he told me this at 6:pm and we would have to make it, bake it, cool it, cut it, frost it and then decorate it... I suggested we run to the store and buy a cake to cut our time by almost two-thirds.

Cutting the cake into the shape of Pi


Frost the edges and then use frosting to start placing the numbers of pi
to the farthest degree that fits on the cake.

Raspberry Dessert

Throw it together using Nilla Wafers (or any vanilla wafer), some raspaberries and whipped cream and then put it in the refrigerator and forget about it. Tomorrow night you can bring it out and have a dessert ready to go. Like many of our Grandmother's recipes it does use raw eggs. Obviously if this freaks you out, don't make this recipe or try making it without them.


Raspberry Dessert

1 pound vanilla wafers
½ pound butter
1 pound powdered sugar
4 eggs
3 or 4 packages fresh raspberries
1 pint heavy cream, whipped

Crush wafers; put half the crumbs in bottom of 9x13 pan. Beat butter till creamy and add powdered sugar till blended. Add eggs one at a time. Spread on top of crumbs. Cover with drained berries. Top with whipped cream and cover with remaining crumbs. Refrigerate overnight.

Broken Glass Dessert with Ladyfingers

Looking forward to Easter and Spring.  I am thinking of Easter dinner and pastel, pretty desserts. I remembered one that I don't think I've seen or ate since I was about four years old. It's one that our Grandmother's made but unless it's a family tradition in your household, it's one that fell out of favor to the general public. I think perhaps this is due in part to the time it takes to make it. In our busy, hectic world, no one wants to wait for gelatin to 'set up' which you have to do for this broken glass dessert. I'm not a fan of jello mixed with whipped cream (I know, I know... I'm weird). But this is a favorite of many people and one you might want to add to your Easter dinner this year.


Broken Glass Dessert

1 small package each, orange, strawberry, lime and lemon Jello (orange, red, yellow, green)
1 tub Cool Whip (large)
1/2 cup pineapple juice
2 T sugar
2 packages ladyfingers cookies

In separate little bowls, dissolve the red, orange and green Jello in 1/2 cup boiling water each. Then add 1/2 cup cold water and pour in small pans to set in thin, shallow pans fridge.

Heat the pineapple juice to boiling, remove from heat and add the lemon Jello. Stir till dissolved, add the sugar and let cool till the consistency of syrup. Lightly butter (or use cooking spray) a mold or a bowl and line with ladyfingers.

Photo from a search engine
to show how to line a pan with Ladyfinger Cookies

With a sharp knife, cut the colored gelatin into small cubes and diamonds. Whisk the lemon gelatin mixture into the Cool Whip and fold in the cut gelatin. Pour into the mold and chill 4-6 hours.