Gameday Breakfast

Mrs. Hullabaloo loves waking up on gameday. So much excitement to look forward to. One tip: it's best to just get your arguments with your husbands out of the way early. Then have a Zing Zang bloody mary with pickled asparagus and have fun!

Anyways, one of my favorite "go to" breakfasts for gameday is Savory Bread Pudding. Mrs. Hullabaloo makes a whole batch of these a day or two in advance, they keep beautifully in the fridge. Pop a couple in the oven at 200 degrees to reheat while your coffee is abrewin' and you have yourself a veritable feast.

When Joe Activia, the new athletic dictator in Baton Rouge, took over from Skip Bertmen (who sent his kids to Tulane); Joe's first order of business was to renege on the home and away agreement made with Tulane in a 10 year deal. So for 2 years in a row we had to drag ourselves to Baton Rouge. When Mr. Activia asked for a third variance on the agreement we thankfully finally said "No. So pay up." Shows why Tulane ranks #1 in the state as the highest income generating degree. Graduate from Tulane, make more money. and get everything in writing. So if they break a contract, they pay up. Very simple.

Honestly, the only thing I'll miss about those trips to Baton Rouge is stopping for breakfast on the way there. We had a delightful breakfast at Dot's Diner of all places. They have a delicious egg and biscuit dish that is topped with crawfish etouffee. What is not to love about that?

Here's a photo of Peggy in one of the fine academic buildings in Baton Rouge. Could you imagine this display in Uptown? ha!


And right out side this building was a tailgating group who had set up their grills next to a station of propane tanks. Just waiting for trouble. For real y'all!

So on this farewell tour of Baton Rouge, Koozie had made these hilarious million dollar bills with Billy Cannon's picture on it. See that day was special. Billy Cannon taking time away from his gambling and counterfitting career to participate in another activity other than pawning his heisman trophy for BBQ ribs. (You think I'm kidding? go google it yourself). This "university" actually honored a convicted felon at halftime as "Alumnus of the Year."

Friends, I use the term "university" in this situation very loosely. Can you call yourself a university and cut classics from your curriculum? forget it, they can't even spell curriculum...

... wait, I think conventional wisdom was that we were supposed to shed a tear over terminating one of the longest football rivalries in history here. I mean, after all they honor convicted felons as "Alumnus of the Year"!!!

Anyways, so we had a ball pulling out these bills and asking some very confused people for change. Peggy and I had to educate a very irate purple fan sitting next to us who was completely in the dark about Mr. Cannon's legacy. Apparently she had wanted us to stand up and clap.

a gratuitous photo of the ingenuity on display in Baton Rouge.


They totally failed in the wooden cut-out shape games most of us played with as children.

Well, let me tell you: your tailgating crowd will give you a standing ovation with this breakfast bread pudding.

SAVORY BREAD PUDDING


Nonstick cooking spray
Canola oil or a few pats of butter
half medium sized onion chopped
1 (8-ounce) package sliced mushrooms
6 or so breakfast sausage links
4 eggs
2 cups milk
dash mustard
dash hot sauce, like Tabasco or Crystal
dash worcestershire sauce
dash Italian seasoning
dash chopped fresh sage
(it won't hurt to add pinch of any other fresh herbs you might have)
stalk or two green onions, chopped
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 long french baguette*, or 2 or 3 smaller pistoletes

*At the Vietnamese groceries, they sell amazing french baguettes usually 3 for $1. So I stock up and freeze them. If you take them out as you start assembling your ingredients, they are soft enough to tear when you need to add them in the recipe.

So spray a 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray and set that aside.

Saute your onions in the canola oil or butter for a bit until softened, then add sliced mushrooms. Once mushrooms are brown, add your chopped fresh sage and herbs (leave italian seasoning for later). once combined, set pan to the side to cool off. Meanwhile cook your sausage links to your preferred method (I toss mine in a toaster oven). Once cooked, slice up the links and add to onion mixture.

Preheat your oven to 325. Prepare yourself a cup of coffee.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, Italian seasoning, hot sauce, worcestershire, mustard and salt and pepper. Add in onion, mushroom mixture. Add in the chopped green onions. Now take your french bread and start tearing off bits and toss them into the egg mixture. Keep tossing torn bits in until the liquid is absorbed, but still juicy and soft. Turn the ingredients around a touch to distribute the onions, mushrooms, etc. Put the bowl in the fridge while you enjoy your coffee and peruse the newspaper for a few minutes.

If your mixture is super runny, add some more torn bits of bread. You want the pudding mixture to still be moist.

Now take your muffin pan and put batches about 3/4 way up in each crevice. Set your oven timer to 30 minutes. (If you want, you could add a dash of shredded cheese on top of each: cheddar, gruyere, whatever you like). Change into your cute gameday outfit, set your breakfast table and pack up one of your ice chests with tailgating grub.

Remove the puddings from the muffin tins and place on a serving platter. Take your place and wait to receive a rain of applause from your breakfast guests.

Mazel Tov!