Merry Christmas!

Happy First Day of Christmas! Today begins the 12 days of Christmas, ending on Epiphany, January 6. I hope you all had a blessed day on this the day of Our Lord's birth. The Murphy family had a wonderful time, and although a modest gift giving, I'll say the girls weren't any less thrilled than in Christmases past. I say it every year, we could have done less and it would have been just as joyful!

Each year for Christmas Day I try to make 2 main meals, a breakfast feast and a dinner feast, usually featuring "roast beast" (ha ha, that rhymed!). During the day we nibble on smoked meats, cheeses, crackers, black olives and the sweet Gherkins that Daddy gets in his stocking every year from St. Nick! (The girls think that is just hilarious!) I'd like to share with you this year's breakfast feast, as it was a huge success.

As a miserly mom, of course I save my bread ends! I keep them in a big ziploc freezer bag and I had accumulated about a loafs worth, maybe more. This recipe has been adapted from the one my sister-in-law sent me from NH, that she makes for her family on Thanksgiving morning.

French Toast Bake:

Last night, I thawed my bread ends and tore them into about 1 inch by 1 inch, some smaller, pieces and spread them in a 9 X 13 casserole dish


In a separate bowl I mixed:
10 eggs
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 cup maple syrup
8 Tbls melted butter
1tsp vanilla

I poured this over the bread and then I stirred it all together to make sure all the bread was soaked. I covered it and let it sit in the fridge over night.


This morning I baked it at 350 for 45 minutes.

It came out all golden and yummy and mapely...oh so good! My husband and kids added more syrup to it, and next year I'll have on hand some powered sugar to shake on top!

We also had Sausage Balls, one of my favorites as a kid. My mom made them every year.

3 cups Bisquik
1 lb HOT sausage
8 oz shredded SHARP cheddar cheese

Let the sausage and cheese come to room temperature. Since I don't like to touch meat so much, and I'm not into hand mixing, I put everything into the Kitchen-Aid and let it do all the mixing work for me!
Roll the mixture into small balls (about 1 inch) and place on baking sheet (I only use stoneware). Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
I did this last night and put them in the fridge when they were cooled. It was so easy to pull a big glass casserole of them out and put them in the oven to warm after I pulled out the french toast bake.

I hope your Christmas morning feast was as yummy as ours, I'd love to hear what you have for traditional foods! So much comes from family, handed down generation after generation. Enjoy the season and God Bless you all!

Now you can sing "On the first day of Christmas Mrs. Murphy gave to me...some awesome Christmas recipes!"

With Much Love,
Mrs. Murphy