Shaker Gourmet

Whatcha been cooking up in your kitchen lately, Shakers?

Share your favorite recipes, solicit good recipes, share recipes you've recently tried, want to try, are trying to perfect, whatever! Whether they're your own creation, or something you found elsewhere, share away.

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Last weekend, I made a big ol' brunch for our visiting friends, which included popovers (the recipe for which I shared last time), bacon cooked in the oven (which was sooooo yummy and perfectly crispy), a cheesy hashbrown casserole, and a fresh veggie and cannellini bean salad. The recipes for the later two are below.

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole

Ingredients:

4 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 onion, chopped and sauteed (or substitute dry onion, which is what I did)
3 large eggs
1/3 cup half and half
2 tablespoons of sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
3 cups of frozen hash browns, thawed
1 and 1/2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare a 9x9 baking dish with nonstick spray or grease. (If you need to prepare your bacon and onion, do those steps here.) In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream, salt, black pepper, red pepper, smoked paprika. Mix in bacon, onion, hash browns, and cheese. Transfer mixture into baking dish and spread evenly. Pop it in the oven and bake until the edges are nice and crispy, about 30-35 minutes. Serve immediately.


Fresh Veggie and Cannellini Bean Salad

Ingredients:

1 can of cannellini beans, drained
1 small cucumber, quartered and diced
8-12 cherry, grape, or other small tomatoes, halved if necessary
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
a heavy sprinkling of fresh or dried parsley
3 generous squirts of lemon juice
just enough red wine vinegar to cover the base
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Throw everything in a big bowl. Mix it up. Taste it and adjust the lemon juice and vinegar to your preference. Serve immediately or chill. Keeps well. Eats good for days!