Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday!
Fredericksburg Foodie and Fredericksburg Living partnered to bring you a couple of fantastic brunch recipes – Sausage & Brie Casserole and Strawberry Cream Cheese Bread. These two recipes will treat the moms in your life to a yummy feast on Sunday that is not only delicious but not too difficult either.
Having a good amount of food ready to eat after cooking, we invited over some friends to give these recipes a try and enjoy some “girl time.”
Preparations
The Saturday before our brunch we headed over to the Fredericksburg Farmer’s Market to purchase a few of the items we needed:
Asparagus – a Westmoreland Farm
White Bread – Great Harvest
Sausage – Walnut Hill Farm
A local friend gave us some fresh eggs from her chickens for the recipe and we purchased the other ingredients from the grocery store.
Fredericksburg Foodie made the Strawberry Cream Cheese Bread using local strawberries in advance and brought it with her the day of our brunch.
Setting the Table
Knowing that we wanted to make our brunch a treat for our friends, the table was set to be simple and feminine.
Using flowers purchased at our local Costco, I was able to create two arrangements for each end of the table. (The skills I learned at the floral arranging class with Charmaine Parton came in quite useful.)
A white tablecloth and white dishes provided a nice backdrop to highlight the food.
Enjoying Brunch
We had the Strawberry Cream Cheese Bread on the table with some Lemon Scones while each of the guests helped themselves to the Sausage & Brie Casserole and fruit salad that were set up buffet style in the kitchen.
In addition to the food, we served coffee, tea, water and mimosas with berries.
It probably goes without saying when you get six women together- the food and drink were fabulous – but the laughter and great conversation is what really made this brunch fun and special!
We hope you enjoy making these recipes for this upcoming Mother’s Day, for a special treat with your friends or just because!
Both of the following recipes were provided by Fredericksburg Foodie.
Sausage & Brie Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 8 oz. Brie Round
- 1 lb. hot sausage or applewood links
- 6 slices white bread
- 1 1/4 c. parmesan cheese
- 7 eggs, divided
- 3 c. whipping cream, divided
- 2 c. milk
- 1 tsp. dried sage
- 1 1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
- 1 tsp. dry mustard
- chopped asparagus to your liking (3/4 - 1 cup)
- parmesan cheese - garnish
Directions
- Step 1 Trim rind off brie and cut into cubes. Cook sausage, crumble.
- Step 2 Trim crusts off bread and place into a lightly greased 9×13 pan. Layer bread, sausage, cheese and add asparagus to top layer.
- Step 3 Whisk 5 eggs, 2 c. cream and next 4 ingredients. Pour over casserole. Cover and chill 8 hours.
- Step 4 Whisk remaining 2 eggs and 1 c. cream. Pour over casserole. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Garnish and bake 5 more minutes.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Bread
Ingredients
- 1/2 c. butter
- 1 c. sugar
- 4 ounces softened cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cups strawberries, chopped
Directions
- Step 1 Cream butter, sugar and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.
- Step 2 In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this mixture to butter mixture and mix just until combined.
- Step 3 Add buttermilk and be careful not to over mix.
- Step 4 Fold in berries. The batter will be thick.
- Step 5 Add to pan and bake in a 350 oven for 50-60 minutes.
- Step 6 Cool in the pan on a rack.
