country breakfast 1 pound bulk pork sausage 1 box dehydrated (NOT FROZEN) hash brown potatoes 1 dozen eggs 1/2 pound shredded cheddar cheese In the bottom of the Dutch Oven, crumble the pork sausage. Cover with a water and boil until sausage is cooked. Add hash brown potatoes, cover with water, boil until water is dissolved. Fry potato/sausage mixture until potatoes are browned. Remove the Dutch oven from the coals. Using a large spoon, make several depressions in the top of the potatoes. Crack one or two eggs in to each of the depressions. Cover the Dutch Oven. Add heat to the top to cook the eggs. When the whites are white, sprinkle cheese over the top and return the heat to the top of the Dutch Oven long enough to melt the cheese. The yolks should be liquid. Eat and enjoy. Bob Harrold, Council Commissioner, Potawatomi Area Council (Wisconsin) Quick & Easy Breakfast Casserole (a.k.a. - Cholesterol Casserole) 8 slices of bread 2 pounds of sausage 16 oz grated cheddar cheese 12 eggs 1 qt. Milk 1-1/2 tsp. Dry mustard 1 tsp salt Line a 12" Dutch Oven with heavy-duty foil. Lightly grease the foil with butter. Break up bread into the oven. Crumble cooked sausage meat over bread and cover with cheese. In a separate bowl, mix eggs (lightly beaten), milk, dry mustard, and 1 tsp. salt (to taste). Pour the egg mixture over the layered bread/sausage/cheese in the oven, cover, and bake for 35 - 40 minutes, checking occasionally. The cheese rises to the top, melting into a golden brown crust over a fluffy layer of eggs, making a super filling camp breakfast for a crowd! Frank Chesson, Cubmaster - Pack 82, Assistant Scoutmaster - Troop 92, Stonewall Jackson Area Council Train Wreck Breakfast Take the Dutch Oven you used for Cherry Cobbler the night before. Scrape out the big chunks of uneaten cobbler. Toss in the left over hamburger from last night's foil packs. Cook it up so that the grease is rendered. Toss in the chopped onions left over from last night's foil packs. Stir. Pour the grease into the lid upside down over the coals and brown up the leftover thin-sliced potatoes from last night's foil packs. Once the potatoes are brown, dump them into the Dutch Oven. Stir, being careful to flip over the potatoes so that you don't mash them all up. Once the potatoes are cooked, put in about 6 eggs. Stir. Serve once the eggs are cooked. Sprinkle liberally with Tabasco (TM) sauce. If you've got some shredded Taco Cheese, throw that on top. Ron Fox, Cubmaster, Pack 69, Des Plaines Valley Council Mountain Man Breakfast 1/2 lb bacon (or pre-cooked sausage) Med onion 2 lb. bag of hash brown potatoes 1/2 pound of grated cheddar 1 doz eggs Small jar of salsa (optional) The following requires 6-9 bottom coals and 12 -15 top coals: Pre-heat 12" Dutch Oven. Slice bacon and onion into small pieces and brown in the bottom of the DO until onions are clear. Stir in the hash brown potatoes and cover; remove cover and stir occasionally to brown and heat potatoes (15-20 minutes) Scramble the eggs in a separate container and pour the mixture over the hash browns. Cover and cook until eggs start to set.(10 - 15 minutes) Sprinkle grated cheese over egg mixture, cover and continue heating until eggs are completely set and cheese is melted. Optional: cover cheese/egg mixture with a small jar (~ 1 cup) of SALSA. Cover and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes. Slice and server like quiche. (Real men don't eat quiche but I sure get lots of requests to cook up the Mountain Man.) Cooking times will vary with the weather and your state of awake but its almost impossible to screw up. Serves 6. Rich Locke, Adviser, Post 486, Williamsburg, VA Crustless Quiche 1/4 lb Butter 3 oz Cream cheese 1/2 c Flour 2 c Cottage Cheese (approx. 1 lb) 10 Eggs 1 tsp Baking Powder 1 c Milk 1 tsp Salt 1 lb Monterey Jack Cheese 1 tsp Sugar Melt butter and add flour. Cook into a light rue. Beat eggs, milk, 3 cheeses, baking powder, salt and sugar together. Stir into rue until well blended. Pour into dutch oven and bake 350 for 45 min. Breakfast Muffins 1/2 lb butter, softened 2 c sugar 2 c boiling water 5 tsp baking soda 4 eggs 1 qt buttermilk 5 c flour 6 c raisin bran Warning: This makes 6 dozen. Can be refrigerated for up to 6 weeks covered. Combine water and baking soda. Allow to cool slightly. Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs. Gradually add flour and buttermilk alternately. Blend in water mixture. Mix in raisin bran. Bake in 375 oven for 25-30 min. Biscuits & Gravy 1/2 lb ground sausage 3 tbs chopped onion 2 tbs flour 2 c hot milk Black pepper to taste Prepare Homemade Biscuit recipe. Brown sausage and onion together. Pour off excess grease. Stir in flour. Slowly add milk while stirring. Cook until thickened. Serve biscuits split with gravy on top. Breakfast Pizza All you need is biscuit dough pre-made from the store or homemade if you have the time, eggs, ham, bacon, sausage your preference or all three and cheese. First stretch the biscuit dough thin a spread it over the bottom of the dutch oven so none of the oven can be seen. Then pour a small layer of scrambled eggs over the dough. Add your preference of ham, bacon or sausage or all on top of the eggs if you use bacon pre-cook it. Then spread the cheese over that and cook for 10 to 15 minutes and the Scouts will eat it up. It work for us and was given to our lodge by a Scoutmaster and his troop credit must go to Troop 29 of Union, Mississippi. Happy Cooking. Joe Maxwell, Scouter, OA Lodge Advisor Blueberry Muffins 2 c flour 1/2 c Milk 2/3 c sugar 1/2 c melted butter 1 tbs baking powder 3/4 c blueberries 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 c sliced almonds 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 tbs sugar 2 eggs, beaten Combine dry ingredients. Save 1 tbs of mixture. Combine eggs, milk and butter. Add to dry ingredients. Stir until well moistened. Toss blueberries with reserved flour mixture. Stir into batter. Spoon into greased muffin pans. Sprinkle with almonds and 1 tbs sugar. Bake 15 min at 400 Cinnamon Sugar Donuts Several tubes of refrigerator biscuits Mixture of sugar and cinnamon Cooking oil Heat about one and a half inches of cooking oil in the Dutch Oven. Be careful not to allow it to become too hot. Heat over coals, NOT FLAMES! Prepare the biscuits by sticking your thumb through them to make a ring. CAREFULLY drop them from a spoon into the hot oil. Turn them once. Remove them from the oil and roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. WARNING: These are habit forming. Bob Harrold, Council Commissioner, Potawatomi Area Council (Wisconsin

Just cook them!! Sometimes Iwash them well ( well I always wash them well...LOL!) and cut little slits in one side with a knife....and toss them with EVOO and sprinkle on some chopped garlic, sea salt fresh pepper and rosemany....sometimnes I use oregano... And pop them into the oven at 350 for about 49 minutes. You can boil them, cream them fry them...whatever. Linda C

I'm not sure why you're still posting to me when it's obvious that your situation is/was much different and agreeable to all involved. And, since there isn't an actual "step" relationship that exists for you as the SM is out of the picture, it probably is hard to relate. Here's the whole story - worked w/ DH a couple of years, got along w/ this DD, helped her in tennis (I played through college on a scholarship) but saw that she wasn't a worker at it and had visions of playing at the next level. Tried to tell her that practice in this sport needed to be daily, not weekly if she really wanted to play in college. Then, the ex and DH split up due to her affair w/ this DDs tennis coach. As I said, she bought his groceries (DH found her unloading them once at his apt!), gave him $, displaced DH as the father - took this man w/ her and the kids to the movies, etc. Fast forward - my engagement to my fiance from residency broke up - he wanted me to move to central FL, I was caring for my Dear Nephews 7 days/week who hadn't been dealt a fair hand in the parenting dept. I was living at my parent's home, paying all their bills and cleaning the house entirely weekly. DH and I loved sports - began taking my DNephews to games, etc. We fell in love - I didn't see it coming as he was 19 yrs. older and I'd never dated anyone that much older. Our first kiss was months later, 5 days before his divorce was final. The ex's bf dumped her and she was very bitter learning that he and I were seeing one another. She trashed my name to patients, neighbors, etc. We had a mutual friend who worked for us and this woman tried to get our rec't to give her all the addresses of all patients so she could spread her venom even more. The rec't quit under the stress of being friendly w/ all sides, severing ties w/ the ex, but leaving us high and dry after she worked for my DH for 17 yrs. It hurt the practice. During the time we dated (1 1/2 yrs), my steps were nowhere to be seen. In fact, I didn't see them at all while dating DH. They didn't come to the office and I didn't go to his place on his weekends (felt they needed time to reestablish a relationship w/o the gf around), and his ex tried like heck to NOT have them see him - coming up w/ any excuse to not allow his EOW visits to occur. She would often just have the DD play tournaments on her weekends w/ her dad, so they'd often be busy there, sometimes out of town at them. The kids were completely lost to him. We married when they were 12, 14, 16. The DDs said they wanted to go to the wedding, so I took them shopping for dresses. I thought they had changed their hearts back to where they were before I dated their dad, but when we got in the middle of the mall, they screamed that they HATED me and to get out of their lives. It was a terrible scene. I was embarrassed, hurt, you name it. My SS attended the wedding, the girls did not. After the honeymoon, the ex cried that she was being evicted from her place - which was one room w/ her and these three kids. (DH paid handsomely and she skimped on EVERYTHING for these kids - the double dipping was sickening! The kids would come over w/ the clothes on their backs, and in one instance, w/ no shoes. Come on!) I immediately offered the rental I have (that I now have offered SD) or to allow us to house the kids while she found a place. Not willing to give up CS, that was opposed. I said that I wasn't worried about CS, just trying to help out. She moved the kids over and over and must have a small fortune stashed by now...never into the home I rent out. Anyway, on weekends, this SD usually had tennis - the ex would have her in tournaments on "our" visitation weekends that were out of town. DH would take her. Sometimes I'd have the other kids, sometimes she'd keep them. My weekends were filled w/ awkwardness. The kids did not respect me, I tried like heck to please them - made whatever they wanted, movies, amusement parks, etc. If I had them, they ALWAYS brought a friend to spend the weekend w/ us, so very little alone time was spent w/ me as the "buffer" friends were there and I didn't know what to do. If this SD and her sister were w/ us, the room was left in squalid conditions. Often, the beds would be moved so that I couldn't enter the room. I'd have to enter an adjacent bedroom, go through the connecting bathroom, then into their room. Sheets, comforters, wet towels would be all over the place. There were many other disgusting things that I'll spare you of related to their monthly cycles... Anyway, I'd complain to DH, he'd say nothing, and things didn't improve. By the time they came back, a gentle, "Please try to leave the room the way you find it, girls..." would follow. I was too unassertive to speak up. Then, a couple of years later, college followed - we paid, naturally, and they began to crash in on us each break, despite their mother now having a house and living alone. From never wanting to be around us, suddenly it was us they always with. They knew who buttered their bread. In they'd crash w/ a bunch of friends. Not one of them EVER made a bed, which is one of my few pet peeves - I have things cluttered up, but the beds are always made before we leave the house. By then, I had the boys, still worked, lived in our office bldg in cramped conditions, 2 bathrooms - showers only, etc. It wasn't comfortable for DH, me, his 3 kids, our 2-3 sons depending on the year, their friends, etc. The stepson, who had made fun of our old house (prior to its demo and this new one being built) HATED living in an office "basement" (ground floor of a 2 story bldg) and complained to anyone and everyone. Still, I tried to please him. I GAVE him my loaded Ford Explorer and he called it a piece of junk. It was no such thing - was very nice, 2 y. old. He was supposed to work for us, showed up twice in a summer in exchange for a car he felt was suitable. What did DH do? Bought him a LEXUS that we could not afford. Suddenly, DH was able to get financing (everything else is in my name as he has bad credit). The car didn't have xenon lights so the creep yelled, "I'd rather have a Honda Civic w/ xenon lights that this w/o them!" GRRRR - and I have a Honda and it's a GREAT car! DH and I fought. Later, the SAME situation occurred w/ the girls. They have a huge sense of entitlement. I realize DH's parenting caused a lot of this, but their mother told them over and over to basically try to take us to the cleaners and they have! DH married their mom as she was pg - said she was on the pill....They had broken up when she turned up pg. He stepped up, then a few years later, she stepped out, poisoned the kids, later tried to prevent me from having a relationship w/ them which worked for a long time. Then, suddenly, it could cost her to keep them from us. So, she and they all saw that Daddy would buy more toys - and so the story goes. Please, don't act like I haven't tried or didn't know this man had kids. They've made it clear how they feel and also that if they want anything, it wouldn't come from their mom. DH w/ the guilt or whatever, is a pleaser, and tries in the wrong ways to bond w/ these kids. I don't think it's right, but I DO understand. We all LOVE our kids, would lay down our lives for them, etc. I know he's in a tough position. However, I do not want my kids raised in the same manner and do not want any of their materialism influencing my children. I want to raise INDEPENDENT and happy, healthy men, not boys. My SD has received the benefit of the doubt so much of the time. She hasn't wanted for anything. I've mentioned that her father is stressed about our finances as we wait for some help from the ins. co due to the fire in '05, that he is stressed w/ time, still she forks over her bills and her errands, not handling anything. It's just making me sick. Sadly, these children have a huge sense of entitlement and are greedy people. The YSD never spoke to me, but after her mother found religion handed me a Christmas list and said, "My mother is baking a birthday cake for Jesus. She doesn't believe in the commercialism of Christmas, so I guess I'll have to give you this." I was dumbfounded, but off I went, buying everything on the list. It was ALL returned, and has been ever since. See, I still TRY, feel like there could be a window for a real relationship to form, but I'm always disappointed. Now, I have my own kids' well-being to be concerned w/. After the b-day, shopping trip that never happened to my oldest last month, I see a pattern and I won't have my own kids feeling disappointed like I have over the years. Guess I even tried to placate them materialistically - basically in any way I could. I've never had this situation. Don't you see, TOS, it's all about "her." For me being as close to my mother as I am, I'd rather stay w/ her in a hut w/o A/C, 'cause I love her, than w/ anyone else in a palace. I don't think these kids understand love. They all but dumped their mom when they began wanting things she wouldn't provide. What kind of love it that? And, now, living w/ me and DH and our three sons while her mother lives alone? Just doesn't make sense. I think when their mother found religion, they found Daddy again as mom started tithing to her church and not to them...maybe they see their mom's lies and severed some ties because of that, but regardless, these kids don't care for me. I allowed myself to be treated like a doormat, trying to be accepted, liked, etc. That's my mistake, but I'll be darned if it will continue or extend to my kids. This morning, she was yelling because my younger two woke her up 10min. before her alarm would go off and she needed that sleep (did her own laundry last night, hooray, but didn't like it apparently!) It's the youngest one's 3rd b-day and they were excited. I was making everyone breakfast, got a dirty look for not keeping them quieter, but I smiled, "Good morning!" She mumbled something back and that was that...agree to disagree yet?

I have a blender and a food processor. My food processor is used more than the blender. It does a great job on more solid things and lets me control the size or density of the finished items. I wouldn't be without the blender for liquids like pureed soups,sauces or anything pourable. If you look at the way it's made with the blades pushing things up and over and the tall pitcher like container you can see it's designed for those uses. It also does duty as an ice crusher. It's a must have for frozen or properly blended cocktails or frozen lemonade etc.