| Steal a few eggs from the Easter Bunny for Texas eggs |
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| Written by KAREN NADLER COTA Sentinel Lifestyles Editor | |||
| Tuesday, 03 April 2012 10:15 | |||
The dish, called Texas eggs, is actually a brunch casserole that is also a little bit of heaven for lovers of cheese and mushrooms. Shaffer and his wife, Ruth, Perrysburg residents since 1968, say they’re not sure where the “Texas” in the recipe name comes from, since there are no obvious ingredients like hot sauce or chiles in the dish. “This was one we got out of the family cookbook,” Shaffer said. “It’s something we compiled back in 1993.” The Texas eggs recipe was actually submitted by Ruth Shaffer’s sister, Kate Descamps, also of Perrysburg. “But I’m the one in the family that makes it,” said Shaffer, thus it has become known as his dish. “On Christmas morning we have a family brunch at 10 o’clock” before the group disperses to separate gatherings, and he always makes sure Texas eggs is part of the menu. “Every time I’ve made it, everybody always likes it.” That’s certainly true for Shaffer himself. “I like everything in it! I like the cheese, the mushrooms in it, and of course the eggs.” He’s improved his preparation technique over the years. “I got better at it because I got a big 13-inch skillet. I can put all two dozen eggs in it and scramble ‘em all at once. “I’ve got it down so I can do it pretty handily, and the fact that you can make it a day ahead and refrigerate it is another thing that makes it pretty nice” for special occasions and large gatherings like Easter. Just as the recipe has been passed along through several cooks, so has it been modified. Shaffer offers both the original recipe and his current version for Cook’s Corner readers. One of his four children doesn’t care for onions or green peppers, both found in the original recipe, “so I leave them out.” The original also calls for cooking sherry but “I’ve not used sherry simply because I don’t have any.” Instead, he combines milk with the mushroom soup as replacement liquid. “The recipe is kind of flexible.” He also sprays the foil with non-stick cooking spray “to keep the cheese from sticking.” Shaffer is retired director of the health-science library at St. Vincent Medical Center. Earlier, “I used to work on the old New York Central Railroad when they still had steam” but were moving to diesel. “I rode on both... as a brakeman between Toledo and Cleveland in 1950.” Shaffer has a regional reputation as a lecturer and has given free talks to area groups on more than a dozen topics. “Railroading During the Last Days of Steam” and a six-week freighter trip from San Francisco to Perth, Australia are just two of them. Earlier this year Shaffer spoke to the CSI (Christian Seniors Interacting) group at Perrysburg’s First United Methodist Church on the “Tantalizing History of Cookbooks.” His wife owns “a couple hundred cookbooks” and Shaffer finds it fascinating that “the earliest cookbooks were Roman. In wealthy homes the recipes were read aloud to the cooks, who didn’t read.” The earliest American cookbook dates to 1796, but cookbooks really came into their own right after the Civil War. “You had women trying to raise money for returned and wounded veterans from selling cookbooks.” Today at 2 p.m. Shaffer is speaking at the West Toledo Public Library branch on Sylvania Avenue on the topic “English Equivalence,” about famous English and American counterparts, including the real-life woman who is England’s version of Betty Crocker.
Texas eggs (original version) 2 dozen eggs 1/2 cup milk 1 stick butter 8 strips bacon, fried and crumbled 1/2 cup chopped green peppers 1/2 cup chopped onions 2 small cans mushroom pieces and stems, drained 2 cans cream of mushroom soup 1/2 cup cooking sherry (optional) 1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese Beat eggs with milk. Melt butter in large skillet and scramble eggs in it. Spread in a 9-by-13-inch pan. Top with bacon, onion, green peppers and mushrooms. Warm mushroom soup and sherry; spread over all. Top with grated cheese. Spray sheet of foil, cover dish with the foil and refrigerate overnight. The next day, uncover and bake 50 minutes in 250-degree oven. Serves 12. Texas eggs 1 dozen eggs 1/4 cup milk 1/2 stick butter Enough bacon bits to cover dish 1/2 small can of mushroom pieces and stems, drained 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1/4 lb. grated cheddar cheese 1/4 cup milk (to add to soup) Beat eggs with milk. Melt butter in large skillet and scramble eggs. Spread in 4-by-7-inch pan and top with bacon bits. Warm mushroom soup with 1/4 cup milk and spread over all. Top with grated cheese. Spray sheet of foil, cover dish with the foil and refrigerate overnight. The next day, uncover and bake 50 minutes in 250-degree oven. Serves 6. |
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 April 2012 10:18 |
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