Breakfast Casserole

One of the great things about the internet is to be able to read recipes from all over the world. The term breakfast casserole keeps cropping up on American sites but they look far too rich for my simple breakfast tastes and they often use frozen potato gems or hash browns(bleurke lol).

Joe sleeps late and enjoys a cooked breakfast so I thought I'd have a go at this recipe which will make a nice lunch for me too.
Serves 4...
4 eggs
1/2 cup of milk(I used oat milk) whisked together

4 strips of lean bacon, chopped...I used hot salami today
up to 2 cups of chopped vegs such as onion, capsicum, zucchini, kale, (I used 1/2 cup of corn and peas too)
2 crushed garlic cloves
Sauted together and set aside to cool

4 cooked potatoes, chopped

Mix it all together, season well and place in a greased 8x8 inch tin or casserole dish, top with a cup full of grated cheese.
Now you can leave this covered in the fridge for up to 24 hours before you cook it...how's that for convenience?
Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes or until set in the middle, eat and enjoy.

As I was preparing my 'casserole' it became obvious that I was making what I call an oven omelette or even a baked frittata......it was delicious no matter what it's name!

My other project yesterday was to cut and hem a sweet tablecloth from the op-shop to make a kitchen curtain. I tried it for size...you can see my reflection in the window!

I really didn't want to cut it but realised overnight that I would have to...it looks better now, a new curtain for $3 and I used the off-cut to make a pelmet/fringe for our open plan wardrobe...

It looks so European...one of these days Joe is going to put my Eiffel Tower metal print on the wall...that was $5 at BigW. Bargain!

Sleeping Beauty is very well...another blurry photo I'm afraid...

Bye bye for now,
Love from Sue

Homemade Yogurt and Quark Cheese

Another useful food to make at home is your own yogurt and by draining it you can make a beautiful cream cheese known as quark.

I make mine in our vacuum flask overnight and start by heating up whole milk, about 750mls will fill the flask. Heat it until it begins to bubble lightly around the edges. I checked it with the thermometer so that I could tell you the temperature today and it was 70C. Allow it to cool to body temp or around 30C and then mix in 1/4 cup of good plain yogurt.

Heating the milk, can you see the bubbles forming around the edge?

Pour it into the flask and seal it tightly, I wrapped it in a thick towel to help keep it warm overnight, I left it about 18 hours in the end. Next day you should have creamy yogurt which you can use as is or make quark cheese spread by draining the whey off through a piece of muslin or cheesecloth, I use an old cheesecloth top of mine cut into squares.

Once it's stopped dripping fold over the edges of your fabric and place a saucer on top and weight it down with a tin of tomatoes or something to press the last of the whey out. The whey will be used in place of milk next time I bake so there's no wastage at all.

You will now have a cream cheese that you can use on bread or crackers, add honey or jam to it for a sweet treat or mix in chopped herbs and garlic. I love the slightly sharp tart taste and leave it plain.