Happy Halloween!

LIttle Mama's Sausage and Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole

Eight years ago I joined a group called MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) at my church.  I didn't know at the time the impact that decision would have on my life.  This group was a life saver for a young, first time mom like me!  I could go on all day about how much I love being a part of MOPS, but this post is about a recipe.  The reason I mentioned MOPS is because we start each meeting with brunch, and a HUGE part of our brunch is the breakfast casserole.  They. Are. Delicious.  There are a million different recipes for breakfast casseroles, but I wanted to make up my own.  Call me a control freak, but I like to make food my way :)  As always, use what you have and omit things that you don't like.  Don't like onion?  Leave it out.  Prefer ground turkey or bacon?  Use that instead.  Make it your own...the you like it.  Use my recipe as a blueprint.

Gather Your Ingredients

• 1lb mild or hot ground pork sausage
• 1lb frozen hash browns, thawed (use shredded or country style)
• 12 eggs
• 3/4 cup diced onion
• 3/4 cup diced sweet peppers (I used a mix of red, yellow, orange and green bell)
• 3 good size cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup milk
• a good size dollop of sour cream (1 to 2 T)
• 4 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp red pepper flake
• Lawry's seasoned salt and pepper to taste
• cooking oil spray

Make It

1. Brown pork sausage in skillet.  Begin adding veggies when the sausage is almost cooked through. (If you add too soon the liquid will cook out and your meat will boil instead of fry)  Peppers and onions first, followed by garlic and tomato and pepper flake last.
2. Drain meat mixture and allow to cool.  While it is cooling, grease a 9x13 baking dish.
3. Place hash browns in a large bowl and sprinkle with seasoned salt and pepper to taste.  Add meat mixture and half of the cheese, mix thoroughly and dump it into the baking dish.
4. Whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream and a sprinkle of seasoned salt and pepper.  (Cut down on dishes by using the same bowl you mixed the potatoes in)  Pour over the potato mixture.
5. Top with the remaining cheese.  Spray a piece of aluminum foil with cooking oil to prevent the cheese from sticking.  I like to let this sit in the refrigerator overnight to allow the flavors to meld.  
6. Bake at 350 for approximately 50 minutes.  Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer, or until the cheese on top is bubbly and slightly brown.

Button Bracelet - 15 Minute Craft

You will find these all over Pinterest right now.  Just google "button bracelet" and you will get thousands of tutorials on how to make them.  I am the creative activities coordinator for my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group this year.  That means that I am in charge of planning crafts for our moms to do at various meetings.  I need simple and inexpensive crafts for our 50+ moms to creative in a 20 to 25 minute time frame.  This craft fit the bill perfectly!

The longest part of this craft was selecting my buttons.  Once I had them selected, it only took 10 to 15 minutes to make the bracelet.  I read several instructions for these and tried a couple, but none of them worked for what I needed.  They either involved sewing (which takes too long for my time slot), used materials that were not in my budget for this large of a group or just didn't work (ie. the bracelet ended up too small for my 6.5 inch wrist).  So, what do you do when that happens?  You make it up yourself!

I was able to use coupons at my local craft store and plan this craft for about $10, and after 50 women make a bracelet I will have lots of left overs.

Gather Your Materials

• 24" of 1mm waxed cotton cording (in the jewelry making section)
• 10 to 12 buttons of various sizes, shapes and colors
• scissors

Make It

1. Start by folding your cord in half.  Tie a knot to form a loop at the folded end, this will become your "hook".  Make sure that the loop is big enough to fit your button through.
2. Before threading your buttons onto the cord, lay them out to make sure you like the pattern.  Then thread them on and slide them together to your liking.
3. Once you have them all on, wrap it around your wrist to check the length.  If it is too long, take some buttons off and if it is too short, add some more buttons.
4. Tie a square knot under the last button and trim the excess cord.

You are all done!