Wednesday, October 21, 2009

"Make It Minnesotan! Sesquicentennial Cookbook" - Omelets in a Baggie and Oven Hash Brown Potatoes



Date I made these recipes: October 17, 2009

Make it Minnesotan! – Sesquicentennial Cookbook – 150 Years of Recipes and Stories from Minnesota Kitchens by the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Cookbook Committee, edited by Patricia Miller, Foreword by Sue Zelickson
Published by: Nodin Press
ISBN: 978-1-932472-74-5
Recipe: Omelet in a Baggie, submitted by Jean Badovinac, Itasca County – p. 42-43
(By the way, I previously published a recipe from the Minnesota Centennial Cookbook. My how time flies!)

Minnesota-North Dakota Division – The National Secretaries Association [International]
Published by: The committee from the Minnesota-North Dakota Division – The National Secretaries Association [International]
© 1977
Recipe: Oven Hash Brown Potatoes, submitted by Randi Weisser, Moorehead, MN, Red River Chapter – p. 74

Today was Ladies’ Lunch day. As I previously blogged, I get together on a bi-monthly basis (more or less) with two former co-workers for a Meet and Eat (and gossip and bitch) session. (Not to be confused with a Walk and Talk that I do with other friends). When we started, there were six of us but now we are down to just three (the best of the bunch in my humble opinion).

A few months ago, Vicki had us over to her old house (she since bought a new one) and then Arlene had us over to her new apartment and well, you can see that my number was quickly up! So when the next luncheon date rolled around, I offered up my home and then set out to find something fun to make. (But note that after this, we are back to eating out in restaurants and having someone else do the cooking for us).

The omelet recipe was actually scoped out by Anna, the woman sitting next to me at a cooking class at Cooks on Crocus Hill. (How do I love that store? Let me count the ways!). Whenever you take a cooking class, Cooks gives you a discount coupon for an item in the store and I chose this cookbook. When Anna was looking through it, she found the recipe for an omelet boiled in a baggie and I was off and running.

Since I’m a big fan of potatoes, I decided to look for a brunch-style potato dish to accompany the omelets and oddly enough, selected it from a cookbook that one of Vicki’s friends had given me. In true casserole fashion, it featured two cans of cream soup and a small container of sour cream. No calories in that, no sir!

So Vicki brought some bread and Arlene brought some yummy fruit salad and I provided the omelets and potatoes and we had a great time getting caught up on what we were doing and of course, rehashing the good old days. (Actually, some of the years that we worked together were most certainly not good but that just gives us fodder for discussion).

As to the preparation of these items, as per usual (is it me, or what?) everything took longer than the recipes called for. The omelets took about 9 minutes to cook completely (and even then, a minute in the microwave was in order) and I think I went at least another half an hour on the potatoes, if not an hour. Each time I checked, the potatoes were crunchy and that wasn’t a good thing.

But other than that, we had fun boiling our omelets in a bag and just generally stuffing ourselves with food. I don’t know what I would do without these gals. We worked together for 8 years and just had a whale of a time even when the walls were tumbling down all around us.

If you have your own Ladies’ Lunch Bunch, I’m sure they’ll like these recipes.

Omelet in a Baggie - 1 serving
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of your favorite cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon of chopped ham, cooked bacon, mushrooms or other filing ingredients (optional)
1 freezer zippered plastic bag (1 quart)(use heavy-duty freezer bag)
boiling water

Break eggs into a small mixing bowl. Using a wire whisk or a fork, lightly beat eggs. Add cheese and filling ingredient(s) and stir to combine. Carefully pour egg mixture into zippered. Seal bag then open seal about 1-inch and press to remove air from bag. Reseal firmly.

Fill a 2-quart saucepan about 2/3 full with water. Cover and place on heat; bring to a full boil. Place the filled zippered bag into boiling water. Boil egg mixture for 5 minutes (Note: more like 9-10 minutes). Using tongs, carefully remove the zippered bag from the water. Open the bag and roll the omelet onto a plate. When the omelet is done it slides easily out of the bag.

Oven Hash Brown Potatoes - no serving size given
1 large bag frozen hash brown potatoes
1 green pepper (I used red)
1 onion, diced
1 can cream of potato soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 small carton cultured sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste. (Note: The instructions don't say but combine the ingredients first before salt and peppering!). Put in greased 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley. Bake, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours at 300. (Make that about 2 hours at 350 or until potatoes are done).

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