Not The Weekend I Hoped For

Wow! I really don't even know where to start with this post. I'm having a hard time getting over the huge Spartan loss on Saturday. How is it that a beautiful fall day that started out with sunshine, ended up being so gray and gloomy and it didn't even rain? I'll tell you... we Spartan fans headed into Spartan Stadium South with the same atmosphere as most of the past six wins there. The sun was shining, the fans were excited, the team was pumped, and the band was playing! Then the clouds rolled in and the thunder shook down from the sky and in a matter of three and a half hours, our hopes and dreams of another win in South Bend were over, crushed, finished, destroyed, kaput, not by the weather, but by the Notre Dame football team! It's definitely not the weekend I hoped for when we headed to Michiana, and speaking as a die hard Spartan football fan, it's going to take awhile to get over this one.

The Spartans didn't have a great start, but by half time they were up by one and our hopes were still alive. Then after four quarters of play and three minutes left, down by three, the Spartans moved the ball down the field. It was like some of the past wins at Notre Dame Stadium, and a come from behind win in the last seconds of the game was about to happen again! That's when the thunder shook down on the Spartans and after an interception, it just wasn't meant to be. No win for the Spartans, another loss in the books, and our six year winning streak in South Bend was over. I suppose when your teams travels with just the offense that's what the outcome is. MSU's defense was horrible, there were too many mistakes, and the offense just couldn't pull off a win by themselves. We need a full team to play in order to win so let's hope next week the whole team shows up for the game! I have to think it was time to be courteous and give the Irish back there Stadium. After all, it was beginning to look like the Spartans owned Notre Dame Stadium since they've won the past six times there. So as I try to move on from this horrible Spartan loss, I can only hope that things get better for the Spartans as the Big Ten season starts on Saturday. I'm trying to stay positive that my hopes for a great football season are not diminished yet, and we start to get some "W's" instead of more "L's."

The good news is that Greg and I got to enjoy some kid free time on Saturday at the game while the kids stayed with my sister and Kaite. Evan got to see his friend Mayci who lives next door to my sister. He was pretty excited about that, and he got to play the drums again at her house so that made his day! Em got to get spoiled by her Aunt Jen and cousin Kaite so she was happy. The kids got to go visit Nana while we were at the game too. Plus on Sunday before we headed home, we got a delicious brunch that my Step-Mom made. She made a Blueberry Stuffed French Toast that I've never had before, and it was yummy! I'm posting the recipe below because I think some of you may find it handy sometime. It's perfect for a brunch if you're having people over, or just for a weekend breakfast for the fam!

I'm going to leave you with a couple pictures from the game Saturday. I took some good pictures to share with you, but then after we walked out of there in low spirits, I lost the joy in sharing them. So instead, I'm posting a couple pictures of the Spartan Marching Band. I love to watch the band (It must be because of my high school days when I was a former band geek). They never seem to disappoint, unlike the football team!

This is what the drum major does at the beginning of every pregame show. I think it's quite impressive so that's why I'm posting it!

This is the band playing the oh so wonderful Michigan State Fight Song in the symbolic "S" formation!

Blueberry Cream French Toast

1 loaf Texas toast- cut into cubes (you can use a multi grain bread if you prefer & works fine)

1 8-ounce package cream cheese slightly softened

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries tossed lightly w/flour

Cinnamon

8 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cups maple syrup

6 tablespoons butter-melted

Coat a 13-9 -2 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray

Layer one half of bread cubes in baking dish

Cut cream cheese into cubes and scatter over bread.

Layer blueberries over cream cheese and cover blueberries w/remaining bread

Sprinkle generously w/cinnamon

Mix remaining ingredients and pour over bread, press bread w/spatula to help soak up mixture

Cover and refrigerate over night

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, serves 8

Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired/ serve with maple syrup if desired

* You can substitute other fruits such as peaches or strawberries or a combo or blueberries and strawberries. (We had blueberries and strawberries mixed together and it was very good!)

Quiche

Tonight for dinner I decided to do breakfast for dinner. I've been wanting to make a quiche so I thought I'd give it a whirl for dinner. Sometimes breakfast for dinner sounds good! I searched quiche recipes online and found one on cooks.com (I find some good recipes there) that sounded good and changed it a little to fit our likings. So here's my version of the recipe.

Sausage, Mushroom, & Cheddar Quiche

1 pie shell/quiche shell (I used a frozen pie crust)
1 lb. pork sausage (I used a roll of Bob Evan's sausage)
4oz. can of mushrooms
1 tsp. parsley
1 Tablespoon flour
1/8 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 cup cheddar cheese (more if you prefer & could use whatever kind- colby jack, sharp cheddar, etc.)
1 cup milk
2 eggs

(It also called for 1/2 cup chopped onion & 1/4 cup chopped green pepper which I didn't put in because Greg doesn't like onion, and I didn't have a green pepper otherwise I would've added the pepper.)

Cook sausage until browned. Drain grease. Combine with mushrooms, parsley, salt, pepper, and flour, mix well. Spoon into pie shell or quiche shell and top with cheese. Combine milk and eggs, beating just until foamy. Pour evenly over cheese & sausage mixture. Bake in 325 degree oven for 50 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned and quiche is set. Serves 6.


It turned out pretty good for my first quiche. However, the crust was slightly doughy in the middle, but still tasted pretty good. I think next time I would cook the crust a little before I filled it. For maybe like 5-10 minutes. The cheese was browning on top so I figured it was done and the quiche was set so didn't want to leave in longer. Evan was funny when we were eating dinner, he kept saying, "Is this breakfast or dinner, dinner or breakfast?"

A note to my fun fact a the bottom of my previous post; a new fact even better than that... today at 12:34 and 56 seconds it was 12:34:56 07/08/09. Pretty neat again, huh? My mom heard that on the nightly news. It only happens once a century they said on the news. I say twice a century if you count a.m. and p.m.

Weekend Breakfast

Some weekends we just have cereal for breakfast and other weekends we go all out and make a "special" breakfast! We used to go to this little local place for breakfast before we had kids called The Golden Harvest. We haven't been in a very long time because there is limited seating and the wait can be up to an hour. While we have gone with the kids, it has happened very often or like I said in a very long time because waiting with two kids for that long is not very fun. Besides it can get very smokey in there and it's not very pleasant. I can't stand a smokey place. When we used to go there though we'd often order breakfast burritos. They are super good if you ever do go there. So since we couldn't get there very much after having kids we decided to try making our own breakfast burritos. After trying to make them a few different ways, between Greg & I, we've mastered the breakfast burrito and it is now one of our "special" weekend breakfasts. We used to chop up green pepper and onion, but that took up a lot of extra time so now we just buy the hash browns with them in it. They do take a little time to prepare, but are definitely worth it! I've got my sister and mom hooked on them too. I'm including the recipe for your breakfast delight some morning. I recommend frying the sausage up ahead of time and shredding the cheese ahead of time (like the day before) and then it doesn't take as long to prepare the burritos in the morning.


Breakfast Burritos

1- 16oz. tube Bob Evan's Original Sausage
4 to 6 eggs scrambled
12 oz. bag of Western Style Hash Browns (half of a 24oz. bag)
Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese (or Hot Pepper Cheese)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Flour Tortillas

Fry sausage in frying pan and drain grease. Set aside. Saute hash browns in frying pan with a little oil. While hash browns are cooking, scramble eggs in separate frying pan ( I add little milk, salt, pepper, and shredded colby jack cheese to eggs) just like you would make normal scrambled eggs. Once hashbrowns & eggs are cooked combine together along with sausage. Sprinkle with pepper jack cheese and mix thoroughly. Heat tortilla (we use a tortilla pan), but you can just use a regular fry pan. Sometimes I put a little butter on both sides of tortilla and heat in frying pan to make it a little crispy, but it's good either way. Just depends on your preference. Sprinkle pepper jack cheese on tortilla to melt slightly. Fill tortilla with burrito mixture and sprinkle with more pepper jack cheese (amount depends on your liking). Roll into burrito and serve.

I usually use about 6 eggs so then we have some left over for breakfast the next couple days. You can really vary your amounts depending on how much you want to make. I've put in 8 or 10 eggs before to serve more people, and then adding a little more than half a bag of hashbrowns. If just want to make a little could just use 4 eggs, less hashbrowns and then don't use the whole tube of sausage. You get the idea. The amounts I listed in recipe does make a good amount and you will have leftovers. It actually tastes pretty good and sometimes better the second or third day for leftovers. We've even had leftovers for dinner the next day. You can also use whatever sausage you prefer- mild, hot, spicy and whatever brand. I usually by what's on sale- Bob Evan's, Meijer, Jimmy Dean's. I can no longer find shredded pepper jack cheese so I buy the block of pepper jack or hot pepper cheese and shred. This recipe does require dirtying a lot of pans so I try to wash as I go or cook the eggs in a larger pan that will fit the sausage and hash browns when combined. Enjoy!