Breakfast of Champions

Our usual breakfast when growing up consisted of opening the "cereal cabinet" next to the table and making a selection from a wide variety of cold cereals found next to the stash of napkins. In the winter, the options might include hot oatmeal or Cream of Wheat with chopped-up dates adding sweetness to a few lucky bites.

On the other hand, Randy grew up eating hot breakfasts the majority of the time. I got him converted in no time at all - ha!

I love eating an occasional breakfast out at a restaurant. In fact, it's one of my favorite meals to eat outside the home. And, at the Ladd B & B, where we often stay before or after K-State games, a hot breakfast is sometimes on the menu plan. This past weekend, Jill was already feeding a crowd after the homecoming parade Friday night with yummy slow cookers full of chili and chicken and rice soup. When I volunteered to bring food of some sort, she suggested Saturday breakfast.

I sometimes bring banana bread (and I did this time, too). But with an 11 AM start time for the game, I wanted to add a substantial start to our day ... and try to avoid spending a bundle at the stadium concession stand at the same time.

What did we do before we could go to a search engine, type in "breakfast casserole, sausage, eggs, hash browns" and get a list of possible ways to combine those tasty ingredients? Well, we used the shelves of cookbooks I have cluttering my kitchen, but the typing method is usually faster.

This time, I found a simple recipe at The Country Cook, a food blog. While it's not a blog I normally read, I definitely qualify as a "country cook," and the recipe qualified on the ingredients I wanted to use. I made a few modifications, and we ended up with a tasty, pre-game breakfast. (Check out the recipe below). 

Our whole family was able to sit together at the game this time, which was a lot of fun. 

After a week of rain, it was a perfect fall day. 

 And K-State even won the game vs. Oklahoma State with some help from this cute fan club!

Yes, Kinley was able to eat the breakfast casserole ... even with her current lack of front teeth.

Uncle Brent and Eric got to answer plenty of questions about the whys and where-fors of football games.

The girls actually made it the whole game, though they did take a brief time out to play with their cousins on "the hill."

We arrived in Manhattan in time for the Friday evening homecoming parade. The girls enjoyed hanging out with their cousins and a Sunday School friend.

 Who doesn't love a parade? (OK. Don't ask Brent that question. He's not a big fan.)

We saw Willie ... (Brooke hid from him) ...

... and the marching band ...

... and got a head start on Halloween candy. 

After all the candy collected, let's get back to that recipe, shall we? Besides a tasty breakfast, it would make a great breakfast for supper choice. Enjoy!

Breakfast Casserole

(Hash Browns, Eggs, Sausage)

Adapted from The Country Cook blog

2 lb. bag frozen hash browns, thawed
1 lb. pork sausage (you choose the spiciness level)
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 sweet red, yellow or green pepper (or equivalent of mini peppers), finely chopped
8 eggs
1/2 cup cream or half and half
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 13- by 9-inch baking pan with baking spray. Set aside.

Cook sausage, onions and peppers in skillet until the meat is browned and vegetables are softened. Drain any excess fat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, 1 cup of cheese, salt and pepper, mixing well.

In the prepared baking dish, spread out the thawed hash browns. Put cooked sausage mixture evenly on top. Pour egg mixture evenly over the sausage layer. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheese on top.

Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Take foil off, and bake for additional 10 minutes, checking to make sure the cheese doesn't become overly brown. Serve with fruit, etc.

Note: I put the casserole together the night before and refrigerated it. Because it started out cold, I baked it at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes before removing the foil and baking for 10 minutes more. I started in a cold oven so I wouldn't break my glass baking dish.

Wickedly Wild(Cat) Weekend

The soundtrack from Wicked has been playing in the car - and my head - since Randy and I saw it last week in Wichita. If you haven't seen it, the underlying message is that there is a back story to everyone. Was the Wicked Witch of the West really wicked? Or was she just misunderstood because she didn't look like everyone else? Is Glinda the Good Witch really just a pretty face or is there more substance there? 

It's been a long summer. With rain delays, wheat harvest took a month and ended when we had to hire a bulldozer to pull a borrowed combine out of hail-damaged wheat. That was followed with haying. The past few weeks, we've been harvesting fall crops and planting the 2017 wheat crop. Seeing Wicked was the first stop in a weekend away from the farm. On Friday, we drove the back roads from Wichita to Manhattan.

We missed the height of the red sumac season in the Flint Hills, but the region was still dressed in its fall finery. The rolling hills and the brownish-red tinged grass against the blue sky even caused this confirmed bookworm to put down the novel and instead feast on the surroundings outside the windshield.

 

We stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks and then made our way to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve on Kansas Highway 177 near Strong City. I'd been there once before, but this was Randy's first stop.

The National Park Service operates 32 acres there, including the 1881 historic ranch house, limestone barn and outbuildings, as well as a one-room schoolhouse just down the road. 

I suppose there is a fair amount of irony in the farm couple stopping at a farm during a mini vacation. But maybe there was an explanation on one of the displays at the preserve:

You must not be in the prairie;

but the prairie must be in you.

William A. Quayle

The prairie - and Kansas - are in us. Just like Glinda and Elphaba, we are products of our surroundings and our upbringing.

So, it's not a surprise when Randy wants to be photographed with a three-story historic barn. The barn where we live will be torn down this winter, so it was with a bit of nostalgia that we walked through the restored barn at the Preserve.

Further down the road, we visited another restored barn on the Kansas State University campus.

The Gardens at Kansas State University also have a barn for a backdrop. The K-State Dairy Barn and Milk House (caretakers cottage) was built in 1933 in the same location where it sits today.

The actual dairy production was moved to a new site north of campus in the fall of 1976.

The cottage, which today serves as the Gardens Visitor Center, once housed student workers that lived upstairs and milked for their rent. The first floor contained a weighing room, milk room, refrigerator, washroom and the herdsman’s office.

The gardens today serve as an educational resource and learning laboratory for K-State horticulture students and the visiting public.

After a visit to some of the older buildings on campus at the gardens, we were off to see the newest building. The K-State College of Business Administration moved into its new building just in time for the start of classes this fall. The grand opening ceremonies were earlier this month, but we were planting wheat and couldn't go. 

As Communications Coordinator for the College of Business Administration, this is Brent's new "stomping grounds." So we got a personalized tour on Friday. (He is his mother's son: He wouldn't let me take his picture. At least he didn't walk away from me while I was snapping away during the tour.)

I had to settle for a photo of Randy in Brent's office chair.

At my core, I'm a mom. So I like seeing where my kids spend their time. Besides experiencing the beauty in the new building, we also got to see some of the fruits of Brent's labor, since he updates the college's interactive displays.

There are places for group and individual study scattered throughout the four floors of the building.

Randy says he would never get any studying done since the huge glass windows would be the centerpiece for endless daydreaming.

It was homecoming week at K-State, and we had a mini family reunion on the steps of the Manhattan First United Methodist Church while we waited for the parade to pass by. My parents were there, along with my sister and assorted nieces and nephews. Eric brought the girls to their first homecoming parade.

Neither was very brave to begin with.  Willie was admired from afar, though other kids gave him exuberant high 5s.

The girls wouldn't wander very far away from Daddy.

Eventually, the lure of candy pulled Kinley out to the street. And Brooke leaped from Daddy's to Grandpa's to Grandma's laps. She admired the "big trucks" and "fire trucks."

The theme for homecoming this year was Growing Up Purple. (I wish I'd gotten the whole phrase on this shot, but I didn't see it until I was editing photos.)

Just like Glinda and Elphaba, we are products of our environments. Elphaba grew up "green." I grew up on a Kansas farm "bleeding purple." Through osmosis, our kids and granddaughters also have that heritage. And no matter Kinley's and Brooke's eventual paths - whether it takes them through the doors of a K-State classroom or not - the people and places of their childhood help form them into the adult people they'll be some day.

And that's all "For Good."

My favorite song from Wicked is "For Good," which says in part:

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives
For a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Now I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today because I knew you

...
So much of me is what I learned from you
You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart

... Who can say if I've been changed for the better
But because I knew you,
I have been changed for good.

See why that song has been playing on a continual soundtrack in my head?

Kinley: What Is That About?

Hello, all! It's me again, Kinley, reporting from Manhattan, Kansas, the home of the Kansas State Wildcats. This past weekend, I went to my first football game of the 2014 season. I got to wear my cheerleading outfit for the first time. (My Grandma Kim got it for me from her friend, Vi, before I was even born! That was a long time ago, since I am 2 years and almost 10 months now.)

My Uncle Brent lives west of the stadium, so my family thought it was a good idea to walk. It was a long way. I walked myself for awhile, but then Daddy carried me. My little sister, Brooke, is too little to walk at all. So Mommy carried her the whole way. What a deal!

Actually, I wouldn't have minded stopping to play in the leaves for a little bit, but we had places to be and people to meet.

One of those people was Willie the Wildcat. He was at a wedding reception tailgate that I went to with my Daddy's family.

I was a little intimidated. It's not every day you meet a superstar like Willie. I must confess: My cousin, Hannah, seemed to like him better than I did.

Then it was time to go to Bill Snyder Family Stadium and find my Grandma Kim and Grandpa Randy. I wasn't so sure about all the people and all the noise at first.

I like music, so I liked watching the band. My Daddy has been working with me on my rendition of the K-S-U Fight Song, so I knew how to sing along."Glory into combat for the purple and the white..." and all that!

That Willie is one busy guy. He got the stadium in time to lead us all in the K-S-U Wildcats cheer.

Then he led the team onto the field before the game. I guess I'd run fast too, if all those big football boys were behind me!

I saw lots of flags. I know my letters, but I don't know what things spell. My Grandma said that they spelled out K-State and one said Family. Hey, I guess they knew I was there with my family!

I have lots of questions. My favorite way to ask about things is to say, "What is that about?"

I wondered about lots of things ...
What was about that girl carrying water bottles to those guys? (The referees).
What were those boys doing? (Playing football, kicking the football, catching the football)
What was about that boy running onto the football field? (He was getting the football tee off the field after kickoff).
What were those girls in blue doing? (Dancing with the band.)
Why was that guy wearing horns on his head? (He was a poor, misguided Texas Longhorn fan, my Grandma told me.) I told her he was silly.  She agreed.

When I saw the cheerleaders, I had to get out my pompon, too.

 

Daddy taught me how to say, "Good for a Wildcat First Down!"

I guess Grandpa taught me about that at the first game I went to in 2012, but I'd forgotten since then (even though my Mommy says I don't forget much).

My Grandma kept trying to take pictures of me. Daddy and Uncle Brent smiled. I was too busy shaking my pompon. Priorities, people! There was a game to cheer for!

Even if it's a loud place, it's a pretty fun place to be, I decided.

After the halftime show, I had to go back to Uncle Brent's for a nap. A girl has to get her beauty rest.

Brooke and Mommy didn't get to go to the ballgame. I'm sure they were glad to see me. Brooke had her K-State outfit on, too, but she didn't have a pompon. 

When Grandma got back to Uncle Brent's, she tried to get Brooke to smile. I guess Brooke didn't feel like it. So Grandma had to borrow a smiling picture that Mommy took. Maybe next time, Grandma!

While we waited for supper, I explored Uncle Brent's backyard. He has his own clubhouse, kind of like a Micky Mouse clubhouse. My Daddy and I went down there to explore.

We found a bucket of toys down there. Uncle Brent didn't even know they were there. You're welcome, Uncle Brent. Glad I could help. Everyone needs more toys to play with.

It was a good day in Manhattan, Kansas!

Until next time,
Kinley Marie