30by30: 2.) New dinner dishes

This recipe I had been dying to try for several years. It always sounded great, but I never had an excuse to make it. I am attaching the recipe I used, which I reduced by half.

Better yet, it tasted very savory and left me with that great umami feeling in my mouth. The picture attached was after I served it to me and my husband.


COWBOY CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST
- Serves 6 (or 4 cowboys) Active time: 30 minutes. Start to finish: 1.5 hours

Ingredients:
1 pound bulk breakfast sausage (not links)
4 Texas Toast pieces - thawed
1 dozen eggs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (and more if you like cheese)
1/2 cup whole milk
scallions
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375*F. Generously butter a 9x9 baking dish. Cook sausage in a skillet until browned, drain off fat and set aside to cool. Place Texas Toast face down in the baking dish. Sprinkle sausage on top. Whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper until frothy. Whisk in scallions and half of cheese. Pour egg mixture over sausage (bread will float to the top) and push down on bread with a spatula to help it absorb liquid. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover with a large sheet of buttered foil (buttered side down) and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove foil and bake until top is slightly puffed and eggs are cooked through in center, about 20 minutes more. Let casserole cool for 10 minutes, then cut into pieces. Note: The dish can be assembled up to 12 hours ahead an refrigerated, covered with buttered foil. Bake as directed.

Adapted from:
Reichl, Ruth. Gourmet today: more than 1000 all-new recipes for the contemporary kitchen. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 657.

30by30: 12.) Driving a stick update

The manual driving went well. I felt brave enough to drive somewhere on my own, which happened to be the Goodwill. I shifted to reverse well and then instead of going to first, I went to third. Oops. But, I didn't kill the car and it all went fine. This picture is of the car perfectly parked :)

When I was growing up, I learned how to drive an automatic on a Volvo station wagon. It had grey-black sheepskin seat covers and hand-brakes. Now that I have a Volvo it makes me think of growing up and how I felt driving that adorable Volvo from my younger years. :)

30by30: 8.) Works of art, Hand-made B&W cards with husband's photo pics

We had a whole bunch of very attractive 4x6" images left over from my husband's black and white photography adventures in Europe and Japan. With these 75 images, I put one side using decorative scalloped scissors and then attached them to basic photography cards that I purchased from Michael's. Then I gave them away as Christmas presents in groups of 10 or 12. On the back of each card, we put the location of the picture. Only family received them, but everyone really loved them.