Salvation Army Breakfast Casserole

My workplace participates in a United Way fund-raising and volunteer drive every fall.  This year, volunteers baked breakfast casseroles for the Salvation Army's Mobile Canteen.  Everyone was asked to make the same standard recipe.  It isn't anything fancy -- just eggs, cheese and Bisquick.

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for the latest food trends by visiting blogs and reading magazines. And folks are always looking coming up with ever fancier recipes -- using truffle oil, exotic cheeses, produce that comes from another country.  But there are many needy families who are just happy to get a hardy egg-and-sausage breakfast, especially if it's their only decent meal of the day.

Here's what the Salvation Army says in its recipe pamphlet for the breakfast casseroles:

" Each Tuesday and Friday morning, the Salvation Army's Mobile Canteen serves breakfast to more than 900 homeless and near homeless individuals in Des Moines. The menu features a hot egg casserole (recipe below) that provides a delicious high-protein meal.

The free breakfast also includes coffee or hot chocolate, milk and orange juice (when available), individual boxed cereal, donuts, hard-boiled eggs and more, depending on what is available at the time.

You and your friends and relevatives can help feed Des Moines' hungry homeless by preparing egg casseroles for the Salvation Army.

After preparing and baking the casserole, we ask that you freeze it and then deliver it to our eastside facility. 

Each casserole feeds 10 people, and we serve approximately 150 casseroles each week.

You can also volunteer to help the mobile canteen serve the breakfast. Weather and disaster permitting, we begin serving at 5 a.m. each Tuesday and Friday.

To learn more about the program and to volunteer to assist, call 515-282-3599.

You can help feed the homeless in Des Moines!"

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Egg Casserole

• 1 - 9x11 inch disposable aluminum pan greased or sprayed with cooking spray
• 2 C. grated cheddar cheese
• 1 lb. sausage, Italian sausage or hamburger, crumbled and browned, or 3/4 lb ham (or no meat for a vegetarian casserole
• 4 eggs
• 2 C. milk
• 1 C. Bisquick mix
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• Salt to taste (use less salt if you use ham)
• 1 Tbls. taco seasoning (optional)
• Paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place meat and cheese in a greased disposable pan. Combine eggs, milk, salt, pepper and biscuit mix in blender; blend one minute on high. Pour this mixture over meat and cheese. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until casserole is firm in the middle. After cooling, cover with aluminum foil and freeze. Note date and meat contents on cover with a permanent marker.

Learning to cook

When I say I'm a beginning cook, I really mean it.  I barely know my way around the kitchen.  My husband does almost all the cooking in our house.  He returns home from work before me, so he usually has supper almost done when I get home.  And he's a really good cook.

Most of my cooking attempts are subpar.  I like to try new recipes to learn, but most of them are failures.  Usually, my husband has to step in to "rescue" a recipe by adding a dash of this or that.

But I would love to give my husband a break from the kitchen on the weekends.  So I've decided to stick to the basics and try to learn to cook a few of my favorite meals that aren't in his regular weeknight rotation because they take more than 30 minutes or so to prepare.

When I was growing up, my favorite dish was chicken and rice.  You just throw together white rice, cream of mushroom soup, a little water and onion soup mix together, top with chicken pieces, cover with foil and bake for about an hour.  

I recently prepared this recipe along with my one of my favorite salad recipes, another retro classic from my grandmother.  First, heat crushed pineapple to a boil, then add your favorite jello flavor. Refrigerate until it gels, then mix in cottage cheese and Cool Whip.  No, it's not the fanciest, healthiest salad.  But I always think of my grandmother when I make it.  And she will also be my favorite cooking role model.