The Obama Campaign Family Cookbook
BREAKFAST/BRUNCH
Table of Contents
EGG CASSEROLE
Submitted by Kris K from Geneseo, Illinois
I love to make brunch recipes. Two of my favorites are this Egg Casserole and Cherry Coffee Cake. My family (all Obama supporters of course!) will expect me to make these two recipes for any special morning or weekend.
I will definitely plan to serve both recipes on November 5th to celebrate the election of Barack Obama as The President Of The United States! (I will certainly have a happy birthday that day as I celebrate our country's bright future! :) I'm thinking a Champagne Punch will go well with this, or perhaps Mimosas!
The entire special brunch menu will be repeated on January 20th - Inauguration Day!
1 lb. pork sausage (Weber's is the only kind I use :) - browned & drained
8 slices of wheat bread, torn in small pieces
1 (16 oz.) pkg. shredded cheddar cheese
9 - 12 eggs, beaten
3 - 4 cups milk
1/2 t. salt
1 T. minced onion or 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 t. dry mustard
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 - 1 cup of minced green pepper if you wish.
1. Brown sausage & drain.
2. Grease the bottom & sides of a 9x13 pan (or 11 x 15) with shortening. (a glass casserole dish seems to clean up easier for some reason! : )
3. Tear slices of bread and place in pan.
4. Toss the bread, browned sausage, and cheese together in the pan.
5. Sprinkle the green pepper over mixture if desired.
6. In a bowl (or I use my glass Pyrex pitcher) beat the eggs, then add the milk and seasonings.
7. Pour over the top of the sausage, bread & cheese mixture.
8. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
9. Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees (uncovered) or at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
10. Top with some additional cheese the final 10 minutes if desired.
CHERRY COFFEE CAKE
Submitted by Kris K from Geneseo, Illinois
I make this coffee cake often for a brunch or to make a weekend breakfast more special. My mother always used to make a wonderful yeast bread-coffee cake at Christmas time. My children loved the tradition and called it 'Jesus' Birthday Cake'. I wasn't able to replicate my mother's recipe, so this Cherry Coffee Cake is what I serve on Christmas morning. And on that day, of course, we call it 'Jesus' Birthday Cake'.
Ingredients:
1 C. butter
4 eggs
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 and 3/4 C. sugar
3 C. flour
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 cans cherry pie filling
Melt butter in a large mixing bowl in microwave (45 sec. on high).
Mix in sugar.
Add eggs and mix well.
Stir in almond and vanilla extracts.
Add the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix well.
Spread most of the batter in a greased pan (11x7; 13x9; 10 1/2 x 15 1/2).
(Reserve at least 1 cup batter to put on top.)
Drop the cherry pie filling on top and spread around.
Spoon small bits of the remaining batter over the top of the pie filling.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 min. until the edges turn light brown. Time will vary based on size of pan. Cool and spread powdered sugar glaze on top.
Powdered Sugar Glaze
1 - 2 T. butter or marg.
1 and 1/2 -2 Cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
2 - 4 T. hot water
Melt margarine or butter in microwave for about 45 sec. on high. Stir in vanilla and
powdered sugar. Add hot water, 1 T. at a time and stir. Keep adding hot water until
glaze is thin enough to spoon/drizzle over coffee cake.
DUTCH BABIES (no idea where that name came from)
Submitted by Nancy M from Walla Walla, Washington
Here's a family favorite of ours. I raised 6 kids as a single mom (before I met the wonderful man I am now married to). My youngest son was especially popular. On weekend mornings, I would go to the basement and count the lumps on the floor to know how many extra teenager boys I was making breakfast for. One particular kid refused to go home on Mother's Day morning one year until he got his Dutch Babies!!
Set oven to 425
Put 3 tablespoons of butter (NOT margarine) in a 9" glass pie plate and place in the oven while it preheats. While butter is melting, put:
3 large or extra-large eggs
¾ cup milk
¾ cup flour
in blender and blend on high.
Pour into pan with melted butter and bake 22 minutes.
Serve fresh from the oven with jams, jellies or powdered sugar.
These are beautiful, cheap, easy and nutritious. If you have a big crowd, you can just multiply the recipe and use more pie pans. This is now a favorite of my grandchildren, too!
SCRAPPLE - GRANDMA MAC
Submitted by Meg R from Peoria, Illinois
Bet your friends have never heard of this!
This recipe came from my Grandma McNamara. It is supposed to have a Pennsylvania Dutch history. This is kind of strange for me to believe because our roots are from Ireland and my family came over during the Potato Famine. But whatever, we all love this. I have heard most people serve this for breakfast with syrup poured over. We always ate it with ketchup. I wonder if ketchup was cheaper than syrup, because my grandmother was a single mother of four children and I know they had a hard life.
A lot of times the pork used was left-over pork. Grandma always sliced it very thin and fried it very crisp. I can still see her sweating over the frying pan and all us "little ones" waiting for a fresh batch to be done!
½ pound of pork with a little fat
Cook in 3 C. water until can be shredded with fingers
Return shredded pork to remaining water in cooking pan.
Add a pinch of sage.
Bring to a boil
Mix:
1 C. white corn meal
1 C. cold water
Add corn meal mix to boiling pork and water with 1 t. salt.
Pour into greased loaf pan. Refrigerate until firm.
Slice and fry for breakfast. Serve with ketchup (or syrup).
"NEVER-FAIL EGG & CHEESE SOUFFLÉ
Submitted by Ed C from Bloomington, Indiana
We served these soufflés at the office opening here in Bloomington, Indiana. All of theoffice visitors loved this simple recipe and I definitely will be making it again.
Use a 9 x 13 pan for this recipe.
On the night before you plan to serve this soufflé, beat together 12 large eggs, 2 cups half and half, and a pinch of red pepper flakes in a large mixing bowl until well mixed.
Remove and discard crust from 1 loaf of white bread, then cut bread into 1" cubes.
Sprinkle about 1 cup of grated extra-sharp cheddar on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking pan.
Add a layer of bread, then a 1 1/2 cup layer of cheddar. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground white pepper.
Repeat layering.
Pour egg mixture evenly over bread and cheese, then drizzle with 6 tbs..melted butter.
Refrigerate overnight.
On the day you plan to serve, preheat oven to 350 F
Bake until puffed and golden, or about 45 mins.
If your oven runs cooler, cook additional 10-15 minutes.
Serves 8
Makes a great light dinner as well!
SKINNY PANCAKES
Submitted by Sue H from Livingston, Montana
This is a "grandma" recipe that she made for her 13 children during the 1930s and 40s to stretch the food further while providing a delicious, nutritious meal, but they weren't called skinny pancakes in grandma's house. My mom in turn fed them to us 8 kids back in the 60s and 70s for the same reasons and it was my brothers who coined the phrase-skinny pancakes. They are in fact, crepes. My mom spent entire mornings
frying these cakes and we gorged ourselves whenever she made them. They were a treat for us then just as they are for my three kids now who beg me to make them. Of course, I can't make them as well as my mom who is an excellent cook. She's got the knack, I don't, but I come pretty close. Unlike my mom, I use organic products, but like her, I serve them with hot syrup and butter.
6 to 8 eggs
2 to 4 cups white flour
about a 1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla
Add milk to thin
Batter should be thin almost as thin as milk itself.
Heat hot griddle, (best use two or else you'll be at the stove all morning long).
Using the back of a tablespoon, spread crisco onto the hot griddle.
Scoop large spoonful of batter onto hot griddle. Using the back of this spoon to spread the batter out thin to the outer parameters of the pan or take the handle of the griddle and tilt back and forth to spread the batter around the pan.
Fry long enough for bubbles to start to form on surface of the cake, or long enough so you can flip the cake without destroying it. Slide a metal spatula under the center of the cake and quickly flip over. Unfold any edges to flatten the cake back out. Let fry a few seconds longer then flip the cake onto a plate.
Keep going to you have a mound of flat crepes. I will roll each cake so it looks like a crepe or serve them flat.
BEAUMONT OMELETTE
Submitted by Chrystal H from Oak Cliff, Texas
From college days: :When you make an omelet, add a dash of Ramen noodle Oriental flavor packet and then fold the completed omelet over some cream cheese.
HEALTHY AND TASTY OATMEAL
Submitted by NY Woman for Obama
Quick breakfast recipe for my favorite oatmeal with dried raisins, cranberries, cinnamon,candied ginger and a pinch of salt. I make it in a rice cooker but you can do it any way you like. Put maple syrup on top when done.
P. S. - no one likes anything else I cook (:-)!
ENGLISH SCONES
Submitted by Chris B from San Jose, California
My family immigrated here from England when I was seven and my mom was always making scones for tea. She never measured anything and taught me how to make them by guessing on the amounts of the ingredients. I finally measured things out so that I could share the recipe.
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
currants
lemon or orange zest (optional)
Preheat oven to 415 degrees
Sift together the dry ingredients.
Cut in the butter until the pieces are small.
Add the milk a little at a time until a soft dough forms- do not overwork or they will be tough. Throw in the currants toward the end.
Roll out on a floured surface making a round form about an inch high.
Cut into wedges. Place on cookie sheet and bake.
Bake at 415 for about 12 minutes.
Enjoy with butter and jam.