My Christmas Menu

It is tradition in my family that I make breakfast for everyone on Christmas morning. I love to cook, really love it, but I HATE to clean up after myself and I would rather starve than wash dishes. However, on Christmas I make breakfast and a few of my friends have asked for recipes. I am going to post them here.

Praline Pecan French Toast
In a 9x13 inch generously greased casserole dish lay 2 loaves of cinnamon flavored bread overlapping to fit. See photo.
In a blender mix together:
8 eggs, 1 1/2 cups half-and-half, 1/3 cup real maple syrup, and 1/3 cup packed brown sugar.
Pour this mixture over the bread evenly and cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight.
In the morning preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan melt 1 stick of butter, add 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, and 2/3 cup cup maple syrup stir constantly until warm. Add in 2 cups of chopped pecans. Pour this mixture over the bread, spread evenly and bake for and hour. (I keep mine covered with foil for 45 mins and uncover it for the last 15 mins so it doesn't dry out)

Christmas Breakfast Burritos
Fry 2 lbs breakfast sausage (I use one Bob Evans spicy, and one regular pork) in a large frying pan. When done, add in 3/4 cup green onion tops chopped and 1 red bell pepper chopped into tiny pieces. Spoon 1/4 cup of sausage mixture down the center of a flour tortilla, add 3 TBS of cheese (I use a Mexican blend), and roll up. Place the burrito seam side down in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Continue with the tortillas until the pan is full. If there is extra sausage mixture left just sprinkle it over the burritos.
In a blender combine 5 eggs, 2 cups of half-and-half, 1 TBS flour, and 1/4 tsp. of garlic powder. Pour this over the tortillas. Cover and put in the fridge overnight. Next morning bake at 350 for an hour. I keep this covered for 45 minutes and for the last 15 minutes I sprinkle a bag of shredded cheese on the top and ake uncovered for 15 minutes until brown and bubbly. Serve with sour cream. *You will not be able to eat them as burritos, you will need to cut them like a casserole, the egg mixture softens up the flour shells too much.

Ham and Cheese Quiche
I had chopped ham and shredded swiss cheese already on hand because we were having a ham later on Christmas morning.
In the frozen pie shell I combined 1 1/2 cups of swiss cheese, 1/2 cup of chopped ham, and 4 teaspoons of flour, I mixed them by hand to evenly coat with flour. In a seperate bowl I beat 3 eggs, added 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder. I poured the egg mixture over the ham and cheese. Cover just the crust with tin foil and bake for an hour at 350. If the center of the quiche isn't set you will need to bake it longer.

On Christmas I put all three of these things in the oven together. I found that the quiche needed more time.