Craig Daily Press

Diane Prather

Diane Prather's columns appear in the Craig Daily Press each Wednesday and Friday. You can contact her at 824-8809 or e-mail .

Craig — First off, Iva Decker of Craig called me Wednesday with a question about “Rhubarb Coffee Cake,” the recipe featured in last week’s column. She wanted to know if the 1 1/2 cups brown sugar was the right amount. I checked the recipe, and that’s what Darlene had written down. So, I called her.

The 1 1/2 cups brown sugar is the right amount, but as we checked the entire recipe, the amount of diced rhubarb is not. It should be 1 1/2 cups, not 1/2 cup.

I made the cake last season. I don’t remember having a big flop. I wonder why not? And dicing up just 1/2 cup of rhubarb seemed so easy. Anyway, please make corrections in the recipe. My apologies.

Secondly, a reader asked for a beet jelly recipe. I can’t find one in my files. If you have a beet jelly recipe that you’d like to share, please contact me.

This past weekend, we moved cows to summer pasture. I knew that, with the sorting and everything, there wouldn’t be time to fry bacon and eggs for breakfast. So, about 6:30 a.m., I made breakfast casserole that I popped in the oven before going to do the first round of chores.

I had copied the recipe from somewhere on a piece of white paper, and every time I’ve gone through my recipe file, I’ve looked at it. This is the first time I’ve made it.

The recipe calls for: 2 pounds mild ground sausage, 6 slices bread, 16 eggs, 4 cups milk, 2 cups grated cheese (I used cheddar), 2 teaspoons salt and 2 teaspoons mustard.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. You’ll need a 9-by-13 inch ungreased casserole dish.

Brown the sausage, crumbling it up in small pieces with a big spoon. Pour off the grease.

Break the bread up into small pieces and place them into the bottom of the dish. Put the browned sausage over the bread. Sprinkle the cheese over top of that.

In a big bowl, whip up the eggs. Add the milk. Since I thought the mixture might overflow the casserole dish, I used 3 cups of milk instead of 4. It worked fine. See what you think.

To the egg/milk mixture, add the salt and mustard. You need to really mix it all up. I wondered about the mustard, but it turns out that I liked it.

The recipe calls for baking it, uncovered for 40 to 50 minutes. It took every bit of that time — maybe longer. Test with a knife. When it comes out clean, the casserole is done.

Most of the family said the casserole was OK. My husband said he wouldn’t want it every day, but I noticed that our son had two helpings with salsa on top. I liked the casserole. One thing’s for sure — it’s a good meal for a busy day like ours.

Please call if you have a beet jelly recipe. Next week there will be more rhubarb recipes. Send your recipes to me at Box 415, Craig 81626 or call me at 824-8809.

Thanks, Iva, for calling me about the coffee cake.