Tried and True Recipe- Egg Casserole

You know you have a winner when everyone asks for your recipe~~and that is exactly what happened at a recent brunch. I’ve used this egg dish many times and have adjusted it according to what ingredients I had in the refrigerator or the garden. It’s easy to assemble and serves well either hot or cold. I’ve added corn, chopped tomatoes, cooked bacon, fresh herbs and the dish is always a crowd favorite. Start with the following ingredients: eggs, Monterey Jack cheese, cottage cheese, flour, baking powder, diced green chiles, butter and seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

ingredients

Melt the butter and add all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix until well blended and eggs are beaten.

adding cheese

Pour blended ingredients into a buttered 9×14 inch baking dish.

uncooked

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Egg casserole will be nicely browned on top –insert a toothpick and will be done if it comes out clean.

cooked

Let the casserole cool for 5 minutes before serving. Depending on the size of the piece, will easily serve 10-12.

serving

eating

Mary’s Green Chile Casserole

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

10-12 eggs

1/2 Cup Flour

1 T. baking powder

1 pint/2 cups cottage cheese

1 large can (or 2 small cans) green chiles diced

1/2 cup melted butter

1 lb. Monterey Jack cheese (grated)

Salt, garlic powder, pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until well blended. Pour into a buttered 9×14 pan. Bake for 15 minutes on 400 degrees and then 30 minutes on 375 degrees. Great for any meal of the day! Serve warm or cold.

Enjoy!

Save

Dinner in the Orchard

Each year we look forward to hosting our Dinner in the Orchard. It’s a charitable event for our church’s music program and seats are sold at the church auction. Many guests come year after year for a delightful evening of fine food, wine and friendship. We try and mix up the theme and this year, we decided to focus on the wine selection. So in preparation, we spent an afternoon with our dear friend, Jenna, who is the owner of a very hip wine bar/store in Phoenix called Central Wine.

Always looking for an excuse to have friends over, we purchased a few bottles of the wine favorites and then had our friends vote on which foods pared best with the wines. So with the wines selected and the menu finalized (thanks again to my favorite caterer, Julie Greder), we began the decorating and preparations.

centerpieces

After years of painstakingly stringing lights and paper lanterns through the trees (with my dedicated friend, Connie), my husband, Scott built a removable structure where he hangs the overhead lights in a stable and safe way. This year we tried something different-we suspended small glass vials and filled them with roses, which gave the appearance that the flowers were floating over the table.

The party begins on our front terrace with hors d’oeuvres, Prosecco and music. The terrace is large enough for 30-40 people but small enough to feel intimate.

frontporch

Before sunset, we moved to the orchard for the sit down dinner. This is the first year we had our guests pre-select their entree, so they were given a specific colored ribbon to tie to their chair so the servers would deliver the proper selection.

arch

Our good friends, Don and Leslie are so knowledgeable about wines, and Don agreed to be our sommelier for the evening. He did a fabulous job educating us on the different wine pairings between courses. From the crisp, bubbly Prosecco to the spicy Syrah, Don led us through the details of each wine and instructed our palettes to capture all the wine’s nuances.

orchardtable

table2

It was such a fun, lovely evening, with old friends, new friends, great food, fabulous wine and lots of laughter….and we raised some money too!!!!

~~Dinner in the Orchard Menu~~

Bacon wrapped stuffed dates with bleu cheese

Seared scallop with artichoke puree

Brie with caramelized apples on walnut toast

Botter Prosecco

Arugula with lemon olive oil and Parmesan

Chateau Graville Graves Blanc

Choice of Entree

Roasted Chardonnay Salmon with currant risotto and spring vegetables

Filet Mignon with caramelized onion, balsamic glaze, Yukon mash and asparagus

Domaine Faury Saint Joseph Syrah 2013

Trio of Desserts

Mini Lemon tart, Chocolate flourless cake, Pecan Bar

Miss Eva’s Beehives

Chateau Rieussec Sauterne 2010

Save

Hosting an English Tea Party at Our Historic Home

What an honor to host a charitable English tea party event at Bella Terra, our historic home in Phoenix, Arizona. Speaking at this tea is New York Times best selling author, Rhys Bowen. Since Rhys Bowen is British, our fundraiser’s theme is a proper English tea party. And if you aren’t familiar with her books, you must add them to your reading list! Many are on the New York Times Bestseller’s list.

The Entrance

This afternoon event is set outside. As guests arrive, they travel through the gated entrance with a tea cup wreath to the side garden.

The Attire

And what is a tea party without a fabulous hat! Nearly all participants arrive wearing such lovely head attire. Fortunately for me, Dillards has such a great selection of springtime head wear. And the tea length Ralph Lauren dress is a comfortable choice for this event.

With anys fundraiser, one needs to minimize expenses. My dear friend, Linda, let me to borrow her extensive collection of old English china.

The Table Setting

Susan, my lifelong friend and co-sponsor is the best person to help organize the event. Using Party People, we easily rent the tables, chairs and linens. Julie Greder is a very creative local caterer. She creates a fabulous menu centered around the English tea theme.

The tables, set in the side garden, remain cool under the shade of the immense date palms. As our guests gather and mingle, we serve chilled champagne. It is such a civilized time to make new friends and participate in interesting conversation.

The Menu

Everyone claims their seats at the tables, and we begin to enjoy the delicious menu. Teacups are filled English tea. The menu includes: Currant scones with fresh Devonshire cream and lemon curd; cucumber dill, champagne egg salad and tarragon chicken salad sandwiches (no crusts).

Next, for dessert, come lavender shortbread cookies and chocolate praline tarts. Rhys regals us with her stories of being an author. With a longstanding career as a an author, we learn about her inspiration for her settings and character development.

The Presentation

As a parting gift, our guests receive a package of French macarons from Bonbon Macarons. These macarons rival anything I’ve tasted in Paris.

The Charity

With nearly 40 people in attendance, we raise significant contributions for a non-profit organization that works through one of our local high schools. Family to Family Foundation provides scholarships to students in rural El Salvador.

Living in a low socio-economic area with no funds for schooling, these children are unable to receive an education. Each year the students from Brophy College Prep travel to this village in El Salvador to meet these scholarship students.

What an enjoyable and very informative day! Between the delicious food, stylish hats and outfits and Rhys’s delightful personality, it is the perfect afternoon. We hope this will become an annual fundraising affair.

Thank you for joining me on my very first blog post! I hope this inspires you to subscribe and follow more adventures from Life at Bella Terra. To see the second fundraising English tea event with Rhys Bowen, please click here.

If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share with others on Pinterest

This post shared with 617th Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

For more information about Rhys Bowen and her books (I just completed the Royal Spyness series), check it out here: https://rhysbowen.com/

Photos were done by Unfading Beauty Photography https://unfadingbeautyphotography.com/SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave