Hash Brown and Egg Casserole

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?RecipeID=87013&origin=detail&&Servings=6

Substituted ham for sausage and used 8 eggs rather than 5.  It was really potatoe heavy.  I would only use one pound of hashbrowns next time.

Artichokes

This is the second time I've used these instructions from simplyrecipes.com to cook artichokes whole.  Last time we had three baby artichokes from Abundant Harvest.  They were so tender and yummy, but there wasn't much of a heart.  Lydia thought they were absolutely delicious.  She could have eaten all 3 of them herself.  It was so hilarious to see her so intense excitement about pulling off her artichoke leaves and dipping them in butter.  Rachel Farnsworth suggested cooking them like this and freezing for later use, but I soon realized their weren't going to be any left-overs for later use.  Nathan had some (on Lydia and I's prompting.)  I don't think Anna or Sam even tried them.  It's very easy to fix them this way.  Takes time eating them.  All worth it just for Lydia to get all those veggie serving in.

This time I bought 2 large artichokes at the grocery store.  They were tasty too, more tough, but maybe a bit less bitter.  (I think the first ones were getting a little old by the time I finally figured out what to do with them.)  Today I used the pressure cooker for somewhere between 15-20 minutes.  I think they were a bit overdone.  I'd probably prefer using  a regular pot next time so I can test for doneness. 


I also used the Sloppy Joe recipe from Betty Crocker cookbook for our shredded beef sandwiches.  Pressure cooked beef last night (was afraid the meat would be too old if I left it in the fridge any longer.)  The sandwiches were good, a hit for all the kids (even Lydia who won't touch barbecue beef any more.)  A little dry--could have used a larger sauce recipe for the 2 lbs of beef. 

Rice pudding

Tonight I used Aneesa's recipe. But I've never done the double pan thing and I didn't want to wait for it to cook so long.  So I found the recipe that I used last month (in the church recipes for cooking with food storage items-blue binder) and used those cooking instructions.  I cooked at 325 instead of 350.  Stirred after 25 minutes, then cooked 15 minutes more.  I liked it.  Would put in 1/3 cup raisens instead of 1/2 next time.  May also add 1/2 tsp. nutmeg as suggested in church recipe.  I would also stir at 20 minutes and then cook 15-20 more.

Baked Rice Pudding (from Carol's Cooks blog)

We eat this for breakfast when we need to use up leftover rice! I usually cook with short grain brown rice, but any kind of cooked rice would work fine for this recipe, as long as you didn't cook it in chicken broth :-) I usually multiply the recipe by three, but I'll put it down single so you can figure it out based on how much leftover rice you have.

1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup raisins (these are optional, Mary)

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix ingredients together well in a medium to large bowl.
3. Pour into a baking dish (a x3 recipe fits into a 9x13 pan) that can nest into another dish (I use a broiler pan to next the 9x13 pan in--but you could use a 9x13 pan to nest a 8x8 etc.). Sprinkle with more cinnamon if desired.
4. Place pan in oven, pour enough HOT or boiling water into the outside pan to reach the pudding level as closely as you can without overflowing.
5. Bake 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, until slightly set in center.
6. Eat warm or cold, with or without milk. Enjoy!
We cook it at night often, and put it in the fridge for morning.