We were out of town for Christmas, so we had it a little late. :)

A lovely brunch of mimosas, hashbrown casserole and Brunch Egg Casserole.

(I forgot to snap a picture before I started serving!)

I also got Twain’s Feast for Christmas!

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and a fantastic New Year.  In 2011, hopefully you’ll see more posts!

I was able to make perfectly sized pancakes that turned out wonderfully!  An excellent breakfast for dinner.  It comes apart easily for cleanup and does a great job controlling the amount of pancake batter hitting the griddle.  I love it.

If you want a pancake dispenser like this, Avon has it.  I am also an Avon rep, so if you want to order it from my site, that would be kinda awesome, too.  Just search on “pancake dispense” – and while you’re at it, browse the “Gifts for Home” section – they’re really rocking the cute kitchen stuff these days.

Even though it calls for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, you can make it up, put it in at 325 degrees then put together the Egg Casserole, pop that in the oven and let it all go for an hour with no problems.

Bacon:  I need to just give up mucking around with cooking it on the stovetop.  Microwave works just fine, is faster, and doesn’t burn.

And finally, champagne that has been in the fridge for 1+ year (unopened) will not turn to vinegar, but will lose some of it’s oomph.

I wish I had a photo – I took some quick shots, but when I pulled them off the memory card, they were blurry – and I’d already finished the grits by then.  (I’m quite certain I’ll be making this again, so there is hope that I can get a shot.)

Best Cheese Grits Ever:

1/4 c. old fashioned grits (NOT instant)
1 1/8 c. chicken stock or broth
2 ounces shredded chipotle cheddar cheese
salt & pepper

Bring the stock to a boil, add grits, stir well.  Set heat to LOW and cover.  After about 6 minutes I hit it with the salt & pepper.  Then at the 12 minute mark, I stir in the cheese.  I did notice that with the chicken stock, it was still a touch soupy at the 12 minute mark, so I let it go another minute or so.  (In the future I may just cut it back to 1 cup of stock.)

Once the cheese is stirred in, sit back and enjoy!

According to the grits package, 1/4 c of grits is 2 servings.  Maybe if you’re eating it with something else.  Otherwise, it’s one perfect serving on it’s own.

It is SO much better with the french bread than regular “white” bread – next time I think I’ll slice it a touch thicker, though.

Pardon the slight blur, I was attempting to photograph and defend my lunch from my cat at the same time.

Nothing special about the process – ~1 egg + splash of milk per piece of bread. Let soak ~1 minute per side. Fry up in hot butter.

I’d pretty much resigned myself to a lifetime of scrambled eggs and frittatas as my omelet skills had not proven themselves up to the task, but today I got a wild hair and decided I wanted an omelet for lunch.

I pulled out my “perfect” omelet pan (who knew the cheapo nonstick I bought years ago would be great for omelets? And the perfect size for 2 egg omelets.) and started with cooking up some bacon and reserved some of the grease for the omelet. (OK, I know butter is the norm, but IT’S BACON GREASE! I don’t have it that often! It’s yummy!)

Poured my two eggs into the pan and shook, swirled, and scraped appropriately. It actually was looking like it did on TV! Tossed a little bit of cheese in the middle. Couldn’t do a tri fold cause one side got a little messed up, but it worked fine for just folding it in half.

Had to help it out of the pan a little bit with the spatula, but no disastrous sticking at all.

Not only did it LOOK like an omelet, it TASTED like one, too!! (As opposed to the “scrambled eggs with cheese” I so often end up with.)

Only thing I think I did wrong was I had the heat a touch too high cause the outside was a little browned (but not burned) so I’ll remember to turn it down a touch next time.

Funny how the little things can put such a big freakin’ grin on your face.