Weekend Round-Up

Week's Best Brunch Recipes
Overnight Breakfast Pie

Cook's notes: This savory, flavorful dish can be made the day before, refrigerated overnight and baked the next day for easy entertaining. The following recipe makes one 9 inch pie but can easily be doubled to make two pies. 
Recipe adapted from BHG Brunch and Breakfast 2015 
Ingredients:

• 8 slices of bacon
• 1/2 cup panko seasoned bread crumbs
• 5 large eggs
• 1-1/2 cup grated Swiss or Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup diced green onions
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. herbes de Provence
• 1 tsp. parsley flakes
• optional 2 drops Sriracha sauce
• 3 cups frozen shredded hash browns potatoes, thawed

Directions:

• Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan.
• In a skillet fry bacon until crisp. Drain on a paper towel, crumble and set aside.
• Drain grease reserving 1 TB. bacon drippings. Stir in bread crumbs and brown. If using unseasoned breadcrumbs add in 1/4 tsp. herbes de Provence. Set aside in a small bowl, cover and chill until needed for baking.
• In a medium bowl whisk eggs until foamy. Stir in crumbled bacon, Swiss or Cheddar cheese,cottage cheese, milk, onion, spices, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine ingredients. Fold in potatoes. Pour into prepared pie pan. Cover and chill 2 to 24 hours.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Let pie sit for 20 minutes before baking. Sprinkle pie with bread crumb mixture. Bake, uncovered about 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cut in wedges to serves. Makes 6 servings.    
  

Wild Rice Salad with Cinnamon Pecan Butternut Squash and Cranberries

Cook's notes: This recipe serves 4 but can easily be doubled. As a time saver cook wild rice the day before. Serve salad at room temperature.  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked wild rice  
• 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes or 1-20 oz. container of precut butternut squash (found in produce section)
• 2 TB. olive oil or Blood Orange Olive Oil 
• 2 TB. maple syrup
• 2 TB. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. apple pie or pumpkin pie spice mix
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped 
• optional red onion wedges
• 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce 
• garnish with a sprig of rosemary

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a bowl add oil, syrup, sugar and spices. Add in cubed butternut squash and toss to coat.
• Spread squash cubes out on a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes. Arrange red onion wedges among the squash cubes. Stir once or twice during baking time. The last 5 minutes of baking time add in cranberries and pecans. 
• In a salad bowl toss together squash cubes, cranberries, pecans, wild rice and romaine. Drizzle with vinaigrette dressing. There may be extra dessing left. 

Maple Cider Vinaigrette
Recipe adapted from Byerly and Lund's Cookbook
Ingredients:

• 3 TB. cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. apple pie spice 
• 1/8 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil or Blood Orange Olive Oil

Directions:

• Whisk together cider vinegar and next 5 ingredients. Gradually whisk in oil until well blended or use blender.
• Vinaigrette may be made up to 2 days ahead. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Great List-Times Notable Books of 2015  

The best in picture books, middle grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction, selected by the children’s books editor of The New York Times Book Review.http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/books/review/notable-childrens-books-
of-2015.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=0
Two YA novels I can recommend as being intriguing reads should not be overlooked by the adult readers.
"The Hired Girl" by Laura Amy Schlitz. Set in 1911, this transcendent novel features a literature-loving teenage narrator, raised poor and Catholic, who flees an abusive home and gains acceptance and worldly knowledge working as a servant for a Jewish family.

"Symphony for the City of the Dead:Dmitri Shoskovoch and the Siege of Leningrad" by M. T. Anderson. A gripping, thoroughly researched biography of the Russian composer that illuminates the horrors of World War II along with the eternal hope music can provide.