Brunch

Breakfast casseroles usually aren't the prettiest looking dishes, but they definitely are tasty!

But first, an update on how the home improvements are coming along. As I mentioned previously, Jason and I are replacing our carpet with wood laminate... ourselves. It's been a learning experience at every step of the way. We decided to start with our old guest room/new office since it's a low traffic area and it could be our "practice room." We were able to finish putting down the floor in about a day and a half. There were a few kinks along the way but we learned (often through trial and error) some valuable tips that will help us complete the other rooms more easily.

Where we really ran into trouble was with the baseboards. Jason measured and cut all the molding, and was going to nail them in by hand, but this proved to be really a pain in the butt because the boards were shifting as he was nailing and didn't line up properly in the end. So after only doing two small boards in a corner he decided we were going to have to use a nail gun instead. We considered renting tools from our local Home Depot or Lowes, but decided to buy instead so we wouldn't have to worry about renting multiple times as we finished the floor in each room (or have to wait to put the baseboards up until we were done with all rooms so we could rent only once and do them all at once).

After doing a lot of research I thought we would end up having to get a pneumatic finish nailer and a compressor. I bounced the idea off of a college friend who is a big DIYer, and he said we could probably get away with using an electric nailer which would be much cheaper. I am a big advocate of reading reviews before purchasing anything, so I looked for an electric nailer that got good reviews. This was very difficult to find. Most people complained that the electrics didn't have the same oomph behind them that a pneumatic gun had, and often couldn't sink the nails in all the way. I finally found one that had decent reviews and purchased it. Our concern was that the biggest size nails it could hold were 1 3/16 inches (it was a brad nailer), but the packaging said it was good for trim, molding, baseboards, etc., so I figured it would be okay. When Jason started to use it though he realized that it wasn't... he was having problems with boards pulling away from the wall after they had been nailed in. (I should also mention that we lost over a week's worth of work time on this while I tried to find that biggest sized brad nail in a local store... it was like a wild goose chase.) So we decided to suck it up and buy a compressor and finish nailer when we saw a set on sale in today's Sears ad.

So here we are, hopefully with the proper tools so that we are ready to get these baseboards up there for good, and then we can move furniture in and pronounce that room DONE. And then move on to one of the other four rooms we still have to do. We did get started on some prep work for the next room last night (Saturday). We pulled up all the carpet and padding in the living room and removed all the nails/staples that were sticking out of the floor. We worked hard (there was a lot of furniture to move out of the way, and then a LOT of staples stuck in the subfloor) and ended up working on this until almost 2 in the morning.

Consequently, I didn't get out of bed until close to 11 this morning!! When I woke up I decided that brunch was in order, and fortunately I had everything I needed to make this casserole. This was a recipe I had torn out of a Kraft "Food & Family" magazine. It's very similar to other breakfast casseroles I have made in the past, but unlike other recipes it doesn't require being refrigerated overnight. It's quick and easy. I would definitely make this again. (One tip though... it took longer than 25 minutes for the center to set up. I probably had to bake it for about 35 minutes.)

Breakfast Bake

1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

1 package cubed ham

6 eggs

1/2 cup cold milk

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Unroll dough in 13 x 9 inch baking dish; press to cover bottom of dish, firmly pressing holes and seams together to seal.

Sprinkle ham over crust. Beat eggs, milk, and pepper with whisk until blended; pour over ham. Top with cheese.

Bake 25 minutes or until center is set.