This morning I tried it, and it’s quite delicious!

My tips:
* Don’t forget the salt when you boil the water for the grits.
* Raw veggies added après baking is just as good! (Even better IMHO.)
* A dollop of cottage cheese on top of each serving adds a little something extra, and adds calcium!

Grits-and-Eggs Casserole
Salt and Pepper
1 1/2 Cups quick-cooking grits
6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
4 tablespoons butter
8 eggs
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 onions, thinly sliced
Hot Sauce, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish. In a medium saucepan, bring 3 1/2 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil. Stir in the grits, lower the heat and cook, stirring, until very thick, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cheese and butter until melted. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and smooth with a spatula.

2. Using the back of a spoon, make 8 evenly spaced wells in the grits. Crack 1 egg at a time into a small bowl and pour into each well. Bake the casserole until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still jiggly, about 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the bell peppers and onions and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are browned, about 10 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat to low and cook until the peppers are softened, about 5 minutes.

4. Serve the grits casserole with the peppers and onions; sprinkle with hot sauce.

From the March 2011 issue of Every Day with Rachel Ray

Three Nicknames
D
(That’s it, and only a few people call me that. Never had a nickname.)

Three Jobs I’ve had in my Life
Teacher
Bookseller @BN
Grocery store Cashier

Three Places I have Lived
Philadelphia, PA
Tempe, AZ
Phoenix, AZ

Three Favorite Drinks
Sweet Tea
Margarita – on the rocks, no salt
Pinot Noir

Three TV Shows that I Watch
Law & Order (original, LA, SVU)
The Big Bang Theory
Blue Bloods
(I miss LOST!)

Three Places I have Been (only 3?)
Paris, France
California and 35 other states
Bermuda

Three of My Favorite Foods
Mom’s spaghetti sauce
Maggio’s pizza
French Toast

Three Things I am looking forward to
Going back to France
Publishing a book
Being able to retire

Three Things that are ALWAYS by my side
BlackBerry
The book I’m reading
A pen and paper

Western Mac

1 package of Velveeta Shells and Cheese
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup chopped green peppers
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1 16-oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 cup water
Dash of pepper

Prepare mac and cheese following directions on package.

Brown the meat, green pepper and onion; cook until tender.

Stir in tomato paste, water and pepper; mix well. Stir in corn.

Add macaroni dinner.

Pour into 2-quart casserole; bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes.

Of course, I do a few things differently. I prefer raw vegetables, so I don’t sauté them with the meat. I also love peppers and onions, so I put in a whole pepper and half of a red onion.

Side note: Did you know there are male and female peppers, and they taste better for different things? Male peppers have three feet on the bottom and are good for slicing to eat raw or cook in stuff. Female peppers have four feet and are good for stuffing. (Thanks, Pampered Chef demonstration lady!)

I also don’t usually bake it in the oven; if it needs to be warmed up, I just nuke it in a bowl for 30 seconds.

And thank you to whoever told me about buttering crescent rolls before rolling and baking them!

Start by boiling four pounds of potatoes for 20 minutes. (I leave the skin on because I’m too lazy to peel the potatoes, and it practically falls off after they’re boiled, anyway. And aren’t all the vitamins in the skin? )

Pull the skin off and cut the potatoes into smaller pieces…

… making it easier to mash!

Then add eight ounces of cream cheese and one cup of sour cream. I mix these up first to make sure they melt and spread evenly throughout before adding the spices.

For spices, you need two teaspoons of salt, 1/8 teaspoon of pepper, 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/4 cup of chopped chives. (I don’t have anything that measures 1/8 tsp so I just use a quarter. Just don’t tell my dad because he doesn’t like garlic. )

Mix it all up, put it in a 13×9 glass dish, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate, then bake again before dinner at 350 for 45 minutes. (This is nice because you can make it the day before and just heat it up before dinner!)

It smells wonderful!!!

Here’s the recipe:

Twice-Baked Mashed Potatoes
4 pounds potatoes
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup chopped chives

Boil potatoes for 20 minutes; mash.

Add cream cheese, sour cream, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Stir in chopped chives.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. The next day, bake for 45 minutes only.

Enjoy!

First, drizzle some olive oil on an English Muffin before toasting. (This adds some flavor and gets you some “good” fat.)

When they’re done, cover with shredded Cheddar Jack cheese. Then pile on some cottage cheese.

On top, add a poached egg, seasoned to taste.

¡Delicioso!

Denise wrote about her favorite books, TV shows and songs.

Sunshine updated her Wish List.

Have you started your Listography yet?

You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq .

You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act was passed.

You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us. You didn’t get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn’t get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined.

You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq .

You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn’t get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.

You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden.

You didn’t get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits.

You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn’t get mad when we let a major U.S. city, New Orleans, drown.

You didn’t get mad when we gave people who had more money than they could spend, the filthy rich, over a trillion dollars in tax breaks. You didn’t get mad with the worst 8 years of job creations in several decades.

You didn’t get mad when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance.

You didn’t get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement, and home values.

No… You finally got mad…

When a black man was elected President and decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.

Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses by the millions, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, and the worst economic disaster since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping fellow Americans who are sick…

Oh, Hell No!!